A Grace Day

In my last post I spoke of the first of two areas of attention to which I believe the Holy Spirit beckons me in these early days of 2009. It is the ministry of mentoring. Each follower of Jesus needs at least one person who serves as a discipleship guide, and each follower needs to offer such guidance to others. The second area involves grace. This concept, based in the Greek word charis, means a gift that is unearned, undeserved, unanticipated, yet freely given. Grace describes what God offers us in and through Jesus the Christ.

While I served a church in the Kansas City area, our church's program minister was Paula Smith, who now pastors the Mount Washington United Methodist Church in Independence, Missouri. She developed a mentor training program for disciples in our congregation. In that program, she created a unique way for people to experience giving and receiving grace. On a hot summer's weekday evening she took the training group to the baseball complex in our community. In groups of two she gave us coolers filled with iced down bottles of water. Paula told us to move into the crowds of spectators and players and give the water away. No explanations, no expectations - just give people water; no strings attached. It was an amazing experience. Potential recipients were hesitant at first; even distrustful. People couldn't believe that they were receiving something free, without some catch. Once they realized what was happening, it was as if we made their day, with nothing more than a cheap bottle of water.

This taught us how foreign grace is to our lives and our world. Everything costs something. The other shoe always drops somewhere. Grace happens so seldom that people can't believe it when it comes in the form of something as simple as a bottle of cold water. How can we who are communities of Jesus-followers bathe people in grace? People don't need to hear about grace in a sermon, sing about grace in a song, talk about grace in a small group or Bible study, or read about grace in the latest vogue Christian book. People need to experience grace! How could we immerse people in a direct encounter with grace?

Many people are involved in movements such as Cursillo in Christianity, Camino in Christianity or The Walk to Emmaus. These are impacting "grace-bathing" experiences. I've had a chance to be involved in all three since 1990, and I've seen lives transformed through them. As valuable as they are, they involve a four-day commitment apart from one's local church. How can we offer grace directly to any seeker invited to experience our congregations? How can every guest be a recipient of a "grace day"?

I think this is vital to disciple making. What do you think? I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

More Caught Than Taught

On Monday I re-established a spiritual discipline that kind of went by the wayside in the latter part of 2008. (Over-busy scheduling, then my wife's extended illness...Explanations, not excuses.) Once a month I had tried to get away for the better part of a day; just me, a Bible, pen and paper, and God. I try to spend the time as receptively as possible, inviting God to direct my heart and mind. It was great to get back into this rhythm, especially with a new year upcoming. I seek to ask, "God, what are you doing? Where do you want my attention directed? Where should my focus go in 2009?"

God is faithful. In spite of my endless distractions and in spite of the constant, insidious infiltration of my personal agenda, God manages to get through, if I just listen. Two areas at attention bubbled to the surface, and I'm pretty sure God wants me to watch and see what He is doing in each, and to be obedient to the ways God wants me to contribute. The first area is that of mentoring. I'll address the second area in my next post; probably Saturday or Sunday.

If you have a relationship with Jesus, do you remember the key components that helped the relationship to start and to grow? Do you remember the details of the sermon that caused you to make a commitment to Christ? Can you recall the detailed curriculum of a newcomer's class you attended? Can you quote from whatever inspirational book you read? Possibly. I imagine, though, that when most Jesus-followers are asked to identify key components of their faith development, they'll point to people. Most of us become Jesus-followers by watching and relating to others who are Jesus followers. It's a cliche, but it's true - Christianity is more caught than taught.

As we work to connect people to Jesus, then, perhaps we shouldn't work only on invitational worship services, good preaching, personal evangelism techniques, church information booths, brochures, video presentations, etc. etc. Perhaps we need to pour some energy into identifying and equipping those Jesus-followers amongst us who can best serve as mentors of discipleship. At our church we're going to start identifying our best faith mentors this month. Many of you likely are involved in churches where intentional mentoring is a central component to disciple-making. Give us all some details and direction on that.

People don't need slick techniques to come to Christ. They need honest, humble, passionate examples of Jesus-followers to come to Christ. That's what I think. How about you? I'll see you around the next bend in the river.