by Jason Joyner | Jun 18, 2012 | Blog, Jesus, Mission Monday, missional, organic church, Outreach Saga, parks are cool
Two down. Not sure how many more to go.
So far this is a three week series. In the first post I explained how a group of friends in Christ decided to do church a little differently. Last Monday I told the story how we didn’t even get the right date on our invitations, but God showed up anyway. Also some people.
We decided last week to meet again at this local park. It is in the midst of a low-income housing area, with over one hundred apartment complexes. In our city it is known as a rougher area of town. The thing we found last week is that people were receptive to us coming and spending time with them.
After some preparation and more invitations (with the right date, thank you very much) we showed up again on Sunday morning. The first gentleman I talked to asked what denomination we were with.
“Well, we’re just a home church trying to do something a little different.”
We had another good day. People came back from last week. New people showed up. We prayed for people, made arrangements to help one person move, and ran out of hamburgers.
The takeaway point for me was one woman saying, “Our complex needs this. Thank you for making a little community time together.”
There are many people out there who are proponents of home church who say it is the only way to do things. I’m not in that camp, but I think our modern American lifestyle does not allow for true coming together as neighbors. We don’t sit on the front porch anymore – we huddle in our backyards behind privacy fencing. We don’t go to the local church – we drive 30 miles to the one that “makes us feel good” and “meets our needs.”
I know we’ve only done this twice, and I can’t make too many generalizations from just a couple of events. However, it seems that people are hungry to find some grace out there, and I would suggest that the followers of Jesus are the ones to bring it.
A minister friend of mine, Tom Brock, says something to this effect: “Belong, Believe, Behave.” We need to make people feel that they belong, that they are welcome and that they are worthy. If we help them belong, then they will come to believe. Out of that, they will learn to behave. So many of these folks have gone to church, sought after God, and have been rejected.
It grieves my heart.
We’re on a little adventure right now. I know we’re going to that park again on Sunday, and after that we don’t know. I’m not sharing this because I have some secret or that we’re doing things “the right way.”
We’re doing things one way, and God is showing up. It is refreshing. It brings life. I hope to share a little of what we’re learning here is all.
And if you’re bored on Sunday, drop me a line. I know a cool place to hang out.
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by Jason Joyner | Jun 12, 2012 | Blog, Jesus, Mission Monday, missional, organic church, Outreach Saga, who needs the right date anyway
Putting the wrong date on an invitation is usually a bad thing.
Last week I told how our home group was planning to meet in a local park, next to a low-income apartment complex. We decided to have a free BBQ, but we didn’t want to do a “bait-and-switch,” so on the flyers we delivered to every apartment we told them we’re inviting them to hang out with us and talk about Jesus. They knew up front what we were doing. We planned it for Sunday morning from 11-1.
The flyers went out on Thursday, June 7. We talked, planned, and most of all prayed. We got burgers, watermelon, chips, and cookies together and got together early to prepare and wait for people to come.
We waited.
Finally we talked to one guy. We told him we put out flyers. “Oh, the ones that say ‘June 6’ with no day of the week on them?”
Yes, that would be us.
I’m certain the computer automatically put the date of when it was done. So we now had 50+ apartments, 100 burgers, and 0 people.
We decided we’d better go knocking.
We went around to each complex again, inviting people to come. My wife and I knocked on the door of one woman who was fairly sick and couldn’t come out into the windy cold weather. We said we’d bring her a plate of food. My wife nominated me since I’m medical and the woman was visibly ill. I brought her a plate and got visiting with her. It turns out I had something left over from my mom that was used twice and would be a good help to this new friend. She was very excited to get something that would help her in her illness, and I was excited to give her this device after holding onto it for several years.
I came back to the park and we had several people come and go. I think we ended up with around 20 adults stopping by, with many kids as well. The cool thing about this is it was a good number for us to start with. Between our group of 9 adults, we got to talk to everyone who came for at least a few minutes. I got to meet a couple of guys who were happy to hang out. They liked that people gathered at this park to spend time with them. I talked with them, learned about some of their troubles and their lives. I never had to force it, but I was able to share about Jesus with them.
Everyone in our group had similar stories. It was an amazing time. We wrapped up and I think we all were thinking, “Why hadn’t we done this before?” It was so simple. We served people. We treated them with respect and listened to them. One of our group had prepared a talk, but it didn’t work out.
We hadn’t even decided what we were going to do next week, but we had such a good time we realized we should go back again and build some relationship. We might move to other parks during the summer, but for this week we’ll take the next step. Even though the wrong date could have torpedoed our plans and our resolve, God was good to give us what we could handle.
If you have questions about what we are doing or how things went, I’d be happy to discuss it. We’ll see what the future holds.
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by Jason Joyner | Jun 12, 2012 | Blog, Jesus, Mission Monday, missional, organic church, Outreach Saga, who needs the right date anyway
Putting the wrong date on an invitation is usually a bad thing.
Last week I told how our home group was planning to meet in a local park, next to a low-income apartment complex. We decided to have a free BBQ, but we didn’t want to do a “bait-and-switch,” so on the flyers we delivered to every apartment we told them we’re inviting them to hang out with us and talk about Jesus. They knew up front what we were doing. We planned it for Sunday morning from 11-1.
The flyers went out on Thursday, June 7. We talked, planned, and most of all prayed. We got burgers, watermelon, chips, and cookies together and got together early to prepare and wait for people to come.
We waited.
Finally we talked to one guy. We told him we put out flyers. “Oh, the ones that say ‘June 6’ with no day of the week on them?”
Yes, that would be us.
I’m certain the computer automatically put the date of when it was done. So we now had 50+ apartments, 100 burgers, and 0 people.
We decided we’d better go knocking.
We went around to each complex again, inviting people to come. My wife and I knocked on the door of one woman who was fairly sick and couldn’t come out into the windy cold weather. We said we’d bring her a plate of food. My wife nominated me since I’m medical and the woman was visibly ill. I brought her a plate and got visiting with her. It turns out I had something left over from my mom that was used twice and would be a good help to this new friend. She was very excited to get something that would help her in her illness, and I was excited to give her this device after holding onto it for several years.
I came back to the park and we had several people come and go. I think we ended up with around 20 adults stopping by, with many kids as well. The cool thing about this is it was a good number for us to start with. Between our group of 9 adults, we got to talk to everyone who came for at least a few minutes. I got to meet a couple of guys who were happy to hang out. They liked that people gathered at this park to spend time with them. I talked with them, learned about some of their troubles and their lives. I never had to force it, but I was able to share about Jesus with them.
Everyone in our group had similar stories. It was an amazing time. We wrapped up and I think we all were thinking, “Why hadn’t we done this before?” It was so simple. We served people. We treated them with respect and listened to them. One of our group had prepared a talk, but it didn’t work out.
We hadn’t even decided what we were going to do next week, but we had such a good time we realized we should go back again and build some relationship. We might move to other parks during the summer, but for this week we’ll take the next step. Even though the wrong date could have torpedoed our plans and our resolve, God was good to give us what we could handle.
If you have questions about what we are doing or how things went, I’d be happy to discuss it. We’ll see what the future holds.
—
by Jason Joyner | Jun 5, 2012 | Blog, Christian life, Jesus, Mission Monday, missional, Outreach Saga
Life is interesting, and you never know when you’re going to hit a curve in the road.
Through a series of strange and unusual events, my family and some dear friends have found ourselves not associated with any organized church. My wife and I had been in a situation where we were between churches before, but we left a church that was getting off in theology and practice and it took us a while to find our last church home. This circumstance is different though.
The cool thing is God is using this circumstance to allow us to experiment and try doing church or the Christian life a new way. The friends that are with us are all mature believers, who have walked with us for a while. We know each other well and have been through the normal ups and downs of church life together. We’ve had a heart to reach out to our community for a while, and have done some things to reach out in the past.
Now that we’re not tied to an organized church and don’t have to hold to a certain set of expectations, we’ve been praying and decided to use this season, however long it may be, to try something different. Perhaps it is radical. Maybe it is more of what we should be doing all along.
Our little group is going to spend Sunday mornings trying to reach out to people who aren’t in church. We’re going to meet in a neighborhood park, invite the people around, and have a time of sharing Jesus with whomever comes. We’re trying to make it relatable with stories and testimonies and just spending time with them. If it is relationship building we want to do that, but if it is straight evangelism we’ll do that. Ultimately, we’re going to try to do whatever the Lord speaks to us about doing.
We have friends watching out for us, so we’re not being lone rangers. We are taking time together to study the Word, pray, and worship as we’re lead. We may not have much worldly success, but we realize you don’t change the world, or change your city, without taking risks.
We’re not mad at church and we bless all our friends who serve faithfully there. It seems at this time that the Lord has something else for us.
If you are so inclined, I would certainly appreciate your prayers. Our group (working on a name!) wants to see Jesus lifted up in our community, and we’re trying to be willing to whatever comes up in front of us. If you have questions, let me know and I’d be glad to answer them the best I can. As this seems to fit the theme of “Mission Monday” rather well, I’ll post about our adventures from time to time.
For now, it is a new day!
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by Jason Joyner | Jun 5, 2012 | Blog, Christian life, Jesus, Mission Monday, missional, Outreach Saga
Life is interesting, and you never know when you’re going to hit a curve in the road.
Through a series of strange and unusual events, my family and some dear friends have found ourselves not associated with any organized church. My wife and I had been in a situation where we were between churches before, but we left a church that was getting off in theology and practice and it took us a while to find our last church home. This circumstance is different though.
The cool thing is God is using this circumstance to allow us to experiment and try doing church or the Christian life a new way. The friends that are with us are all mature believers, who have walked with us for a while. We know each other well and have been through the normal ups and downs of church life together. We’ve had a heart to reach out to our community for a while, and have done some things to reach out in the past.
Now that we’re not tied to an organized church and don’t have to hold to a certain set of expectations, we’ve been praying and decided to use this season, however long it may be, to try something different. Perhaps it is radical. Maybe it is more of what we should be doing all along.
Our little group is going to spend Sunday mornings trying to reach out to people who aren’t in church. We’re going to meet in a neighborhood park, invite the people around, and have a time of sharing Jesus with whomever comes. We’re trying to make it relatable with stories and testimonies and just spending time with them. If it is relationship building we want to do that, but if it is straight evangelism we’ll do that. Ultimately, we’re going to try to do whatever the Lord speaks to us about doing.
We have friends watching out for us, so we’re not being lone rangers. We are taking time together to study the Word, pray, and worship as we’re lead. We may not have much worldly success, but we realize you don’t change the world, or change your city, without taking risks.
We’re not mad at church and we bless all our friends who serve faithfully there. It seems at this time that the Lord has something else for us.
If you are so inclined, I would certainly appreciate your prayers. Our group (working on a name!) wants to see Jesus lifted up in our community, and we’re trying to be willing to whatever comes up in front of us. If you have questions, let me know and I’d be glad to answer them the best I can. As this seems to fit the theme of “Mission Monday” rather well, I’ll post about our adventures from time to time.
For now, it is a new day!
—
by Jason Joyner | Jun 23, 2010 | Blog, CSFF, Imaginary Jesus, Jesus, speculative fiction
What, pray tell, is Imaginary Jesus?
First of all, you’ll have to check out my introductory post from yesterday. It is considered a novel by its publisher. It has a memoir-feel about it, if a memoir can have time travel and a talking donkey, along with a huge supporting cast of fake Jesuses.
I wonder a little bit how the Christian Sci-fi and Fantasy blog tour came to review it. It counts as “speculative” due to the bizarre unusual premise and the time travel aspect, I suppose. Suffice to say, it isn’t our usual fare of swords, magic, or space travel.
First, the writing. It is hard to discuss characters, as the main character is the author, Matt Mikalatos, and a plethora of Jesuses. Not your traditional novel in this aspect (I sense a theme here…). The writing is funny, quick to read, and generally quite clever. There is a patch toward the end that just gets frentic and confusing, but overall this book moves fast and fun. Again, it is a very non-traditional novel, but you can’t call it “creative non-fiction” either.
So, what about the message/theme/theology of a book that starts off with “Jesus” getting punched in the face? The whole premise is that Matt is confronted with the idea that the construct he believes is Jesus is an imaginary Jesus. This Jesus is a mash-up of ideas that makes Matt confortable. He feels chastened mildly by his Jesus, but usually this construct keeps him happy enough.
Matt has a visit by the apostle Peter who exposes this fraud, and the two chase off after the runaway Jesus. Matt is forced to confront this imaingary Jesus before he can meet the real Jesus. He takes a trip to the first century and gets a glipse of the Rabbi from Galilee. He then returns to modern day Portland, where he encounters many fake Jesuses (very creative here: Perpetually Angry Jesus, Testosterone Jesus [the Jesus of men’s retreats], and New Age Jesus are among the copies).
Finally, after confronting some tragedy in his own past, Matt pushes through all the distractions and cultural assumptions and meets the Master.
If one is to read this book, you have to realize that it is full of whimsy and satire. As someone else said in the tour, Matt never makes fun of Jesus – he is always highly respectful of the true Jesus. It distinguishes from the other Jesuses running around. It may be a little disconcerting seeing how he plays off of modern American church culture to construct these fakes, but if the reader keeps his eyes open, they should see the critique is on us Christians and how we all can create our own ideas of Jesus.
One could say it is the fun (and more theologically correct) version of The Shack. Sometimes the humor is thick enough to be distracting, but overall the message is potent. Is such humor appropriate to communicate a serious message? Mike Duran discussed this idea this week. I think the humor disarms us to allow the message to get past our defenses.
Final impressions: this is a book that takes chances. Hard to consider it a novel, but it doesn’t really fit anything else. It is an entertaining, quick read, especially if one has a sense of humor. There are some good challenges to how comfortable we get with our own Imaginary Jesuses, rather than fully seeking the Holy One of Israel, the King of Kings. George Barna even gets in on the action, having an appearance in the book and discussing our American habit of redefining Jesus.
Don’t let the back copy or cover scare you off. If you want a challenge to look at Jesus clearly, this book has a humorous poke at our sacred cows. And if you want other opinions from the CSFF crew, Becky Miller always keeps a running tab.
Special thanks to Tyndale House Publishers for supplying me with a review copy of Imaginary Jesus.
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