THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

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The Journey of Faith

On at least two occasions in the New Testament we find people asking the right questions. Nicodemus asked "What must I do to be born again"? The Philippian jailer asked "What must I do to be saved"?

Wouldn't it be nice to pick up the phone and somebody just come out and ask: "How can I find Jesus". I know that this does happen. It just doesn't seem to be the norm, does it?

Let's remember something. For the first time in the history of the world, we have arrived at developing a culture in which anything spiritual or sacred has been written out of the equation. Science, maths and philosophy has brought us to a place we've never been before; people grow up without a concept of the sacred, the spiritual. Our young people are confused. They are told to live the "secular" life but they feel there is something more.

The questions which Nicodemus and the jailer asked are
foreign to (secular) Western culture.

But something is happening. People are discontent with a sacred-less and spirit-less life. There is a spiritual revolution evolving. The Christian Community must take up the challenge before her in developing Safe Spiritual Environments in which people can pursue, uncover and discover again their inner spiritual self.

Only then will we once again find right questions being asked which we will be ready and willing to answer.

NEXT WEEK -- What will Safe Spiritual Environments look like?

My 20-60-20 Rule...

This past Sunday I shared what I have come to propose as the 20-60-20 percent rule; well, actually it's a guess-timate. Let's see what you think...

Around 20% of the population, on average in Western Culture, is not only open to "spiritual things" but also ok with religious frameworks, forms and jargon. These are the people you could and, perhaps, would invite to special events at Church.

On the other end of the spectrum, the other 20%, are people who continue to reject any having to do with the spiritual. They continue to defend the scientific revolution and the God-is-dead philosophy underpinnings of modernism.

The middle 60%? They are individuals in our culture who appear God-less, religion-less and antagonistic to the Christian Community. Nonetheless, these 60%, when questioned, are open to the spirit world, the sacred and find secular life to not provide satisfaction in their inner being.

Guess who the Church has traditionally connected with? The first 20%, of course! But what if, the Christian Community, looking past the antagonism, the sense of rejection and the suspicious nature of the 60% and found new ways to connect with this sector of society? What if we could find neutral territory upon which we could develop Safe Spiritual Environments to nurture spirituality in the 60%. What would it take to change the way we "do" church in order to walk a journey with those who sense "the sacred" and desire to explore and discover what lies ahead?

What is Spiritual Hunger ? ? ?

What do you think of this definition of "Spiritual Hunger"?

Uniquely human and inner desire to pursue and connect
with that which is considered "the sacred".

Notice that there is both an active and a passive character of Spiritual Hunger. The passive is described with the words "inner desire". We all know this passive characteristic of physical hunger. It creeps up on us. We don't have to ask for it, worry about orencourage it. We get hungry.

….spirituality is a human instinct and a deep-seated personal hunger….

There is also an active or participating side of this definition of "Spiritual Hunger". The words "pursuing and connecting" describe this characteristic. Just as physical hunger drives us to satisfy those urges, so the urge to satisfy spiritual hunger is followed by a pursuing and a connecting and a seeking after that which is sacred.

Often the Christian Community is concerned with only the "participatory" side of Spiritual Hunger in people. But what if the Christian Community found new ways of being able to encourage the "passive" part of spiritual hunger? What would it look like if the Christian Community nurtured Spiritual Environments in which people come to realise they are hungry, really famished, for a connection with something sacred outside themselves?

I think its an exciting thought and possible. Do you?

Listen Closely ! ! !

Not to me! Listen closely to the people around you. What do you hear? Do you hear signs of a change of spiritual climate? I think I do. But don't take my word for it, listen closely.

Oh yes. There will be those who say that the world is "going to hell in a handbasket" these days. But let's remember...

We hear completely opposite statements being made about the state of the world. One person will insist that civilization is going to the dogs, and we are regressing to paganism, hedonism, and atheism. Another person will argue that the world has never been more spiritual, and that spirituality can be discerned not only in the arts and popular culture, but almost anywhere we care to look. The former will say that people are leaving the churches because they are becoming unholy, the latter that people are leaving churches because they want a more intense kind of spirituality than organized religion can deliver.

But look around you. I see something different. I went into a local bookstore and paroused the shelves. Almost a fifth of the store was taken up with a section of books regarding "spiritual" matters. Now I know bookshops are in the business of making money. Those books would not be there, in that quantity, if there wasn't a market for them.

In a secular society, a culture which has written off the sacred and pronounced God is dead, people are interested in something more. People are searching to fill that "God-shaped hole" in their inner person. But come on Christian, do you think for a moment a book entitled Change Your Life in 10 Days (Mind altering CD included) is going to provide lasting answers to that deep search? No way!

So look around. Listen closely. There is a sea change happening. And we, the Christian Community, should stand at the doorstep of this great opportunity poised to walk a journey with our culture which will take us through the spiritual and into relationship with Jesus himself.

False Assumption 5:

Christians are God's "matchmakers"

I start with two quotes. The first a common Bible verse:

Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I'll come right in and sit down to supper with you. Revelation 3.20

Now one taken from David Tacey's book, spiritual revolution. This is an excerpt from a student of his who was writing on spirituality. For Tacey this students reflects the dilemma in which young people are finding themselves.

I made the transition to the secular society, but still did not feel satisfied. The secular world said I was free, but I did not really feel free. I began to feel something was missing; there was a God-shaped hole in my life. The secular world says I need to consume more goods, take more holidays , or seek more entertainment, but somehow this seems unfulfilling

When Christians read these two statements, they think like this -- "Somehow I got to bring these two together." Christians see themselves as God's matchmakers. They act as if God and this person don't have a clue the other exists and without a matchmaking process they won't come together.

We got to remember two important points -- First, God really doesn't need our help, He's doing just nicely, thank you very much. Second, people today don't want to be pushed, pulled or lured into any relationship with anybody without having the first and the final and the total say in the matter.

Imagine with me a Christian Community where God is allowed to be God; the pursuer, the knocker-on-the-door person, the engager-of-human-heart God. A Community where God is trusted to do that job better than we ever could. A Community in which Safe Spiritual Environments are developed where people have freedom to pursue their spiritual self at their pace, in their time and for their goals. Imagine a community where Christians don't have the pressure on themselves to play divine matchmaker, instead, we just "wait on the tables" of people who are interested in "having supper" with God.

You know what? In that kind of Community I imagine there will be a lot more "relationships made in heaven" than we could ever imagine.

False Assumption 4:

It is the role of the leadership of the Christian Community to organise and categorise the ministries of the congregation for increase effectivity

I just love organisational charts. I enjoy systematizing concepts into structured fashion. I don't like loose ends. I like to know where everybody is and what everybody's doing in managing projects. I dislike very much surprises to plans which have been carefully laid out.

Unfortunately I'm finding out that God and I don't always agree on this one. I'm finding that God isn't as containable as I like and a relational style of community connection is very hard to manage. I'm learning to let go. I'm learning what it means to grasp ahold of the Body of Christ as a movement, a mystery and an organism.

A Christian Community that has as its basis for "belonging" a network system of relationships will find it impossible to organise and categorise everything and everybody into neat little organisational chart boxes. The Christian Community which is driven by a desire to be a "movement of God" will find that ministries spring up and fade away overnight sometimes. It will be hard to determine who's in and who's out, and, frankly, it won't matter. The edges at the periphery of the community will be soft so that people won't feel alienated or on the outside.

In this type of community the leadership will give itself to the equipping of its people in the APEPT (apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, pastoral and teacher) gifts so that ministries become "decentralised". Mentoring will have a high priority. Small groups will develop their own vision for finding ways to connect with its culture and on a trial basis will fine-tune ministries on their own.

It's always exciting to try to function out of one's "comfort zone". But how much more wonderful it is when standing back and looking at the bigger picture we can see God working in ways which are, indeed, "out of the box"!

False Assumption 3:

The Christian Community's role in the culture is to provide clear, Biblically-based answers to common issues

The Church has taken up the role of "defender of truth" in society. This often puts her at odds with law-makers, politicians and ethicists. The heated debates seem to end up alienating whole sectors of society from ever desiring to engage with the Christian Community and creating a lot of grumpy Christians. Is it really the role of the Christian Community to try to provide answers to these tough issues. Is there another way through the arguments? I think there is.

In reality our culture is going through a deep revolution. People in society are caught between a rock and a hard place. They have found themselves in a secular society which has basically written the spiritual, the sacred and the mysterious out of the text-books of life. But these same people are believing more than ever that there is more to life -- that there is something spiritual, something or someone sacred and definitely something mysterious in this life.

Because of this, people are confounded. But they are not so confounded to the point of giving up. Rather, people in our society want freedom and safety to explore this inner sense that there is something more. More than discovering answers, they want to pursue the questions a bit deeper without dogma and doctrine placed up them. People want to spend more time on the journey of discovery of the sacred and the mysterious. They want space to do so.

So what might the role of the Christian Community be? To allow space for such exploration to happen. To apply restraint from answering questions to soon along the journey. To assist people to understand the inner turmoil they are experiencing being spiritual in a secular society. To be patient with people as they journey along in the process of exploring, pursuing and discovery of a faith which comes to experience the sacred and the mysterious. To walk this journey with the community rather than try to coerce, cajole or convince. To enjoy this place which she has been given at this moment in history; a place of real spiritual potential.

Perhaps it is time for the Church to exchange its soap box for a round table at which she can sit and explore with the culture the deep meaning of pursuing the sacred and develop with it new ways forward.