Round Table Discussion
Notes
Transcript
Big Idea: Our mission as the church as communicated by three different pastors. How are they working this out in their respective contexts? What are some things we can learn from them? What are the imperatives we should understand if we are to effectively make disciples in the community of Yelm?
Plan: This Sunday should be a question driven conversation between Ron, Patrick, Greg, and me over how we should view and engage in the mission of Jesus to reach the one’s in our city.
Introductions:
... “I have regularly wanted to take the conversations we have had and bottle them and pour them over our people.” By that I mean I want people to experience the process of working out how to best engage in the mission of Jesus. That process is so much more than an intellectual pursuit. It’s emotional, its relational…and to best be experienced, you have to engage in the process. As much as I would like to pair all of our people up to have that conversation one on one with each of you…nobody has time for that. And so the next best thing is just to have that conversation here in a way that everyone can share in it. And so, if at any point in our conversation you have a burning question you would like to answer, please shoot a hand up. The goal isn’t to do a panel style question and answer session but I also don’t want anything to be confusing or unclear.
Now, what I know from all of the many hours of conversations we have all shared is that we are all different in our approach to the mission of Jesus and yet still working towards the same goal. I can’t think of a single conversation we’ve had that I didn’t walk away saying “YES” I needed that and I’m going to use that. And I think I can say with confidence that that has been all of your experiences as well.
And so I just briefly want to touch on the why behind this conversation.
We are getting ready to start a series next week that will take us to the start of summer break entitled “For the One.” In this series we are going to talk about how we…this collection of people known as The Outpost are going to engage in the mission of Jesus to bring the message of hope to our community this summer. An oversimplification of this is series is that it is about evangelism. That is a scary word/topic for a lot of people and honestly there were probably some people here in this room just now that utter a silent nope in their mind. But that’s where we are headed and I hope to approach it in such a way that it is accessible for everyone. And honestly for the people who are here and you are just trying to learn more about this whole Jesus thing, it will be incredibly beneficial and informing. And so my hope is that this morning, we can get a really practical look at what it looks like in different contexts.
But before we head down that rabbit hole let’s all introduce ourselves.
Have all the guys go around and introduce themselves and their wives. Also have them tell us the name of their church and give a 30 second description of your church for the people here because all three of your churches look radically different than The Outpost (and honestly that is why we stand to gain much from this conversation).
I just want to start with that word evangelism. Sharing your faith. Spreading the Gospel. I wasn’t kidding when I said there were probably people in here who immediately uttered a silent ‘nope’ in their mind and started making plans for what they were going to do for the next seven Sunday mornings until this series is over. And so my question is this:
What sorts of feelings, thoughts, or emotions does the subject of evangelism typically evoke in people and why?
Or said another way:
Why don’t people think it is something they can actually do?
My two responses (if one of you guys don’t hit it first):
Cringe-worthy tactics that are so out of touch with reality and social norms that people are embarrassed to engage in them. People don’t want to be seen as having some agenda or ulterior motive to their kindness or in their relationships.
Often, a part of evangelism has been just invite people to church. And while we do want this place to be a place that people can come to experience the beauty, truth, and blessing of God. BUT maybe their church is so out of touch with the reality of people who don’t already believe what they believe, speak the same language they speak, or understand the Bible the way that they do that their church is honestly not a safe space to invite them into. Either they would just get lost or confused by the language used, or even worse, they could take something the wrong way and be genuinely hurt by it. Not that what was said was necessarily hurtful but that perhaps their unchurched friend was missing a critical piece of context that would help them understand what was actually meant by what was said. Said a simpler way, it isn’t an environment that is friendly to outsiders who may be genuinely seeking to learn more about Jesus and following after Him.
Talk about calling next and why it is important to this whole conversation. Ron I will probably start this question with you in hopes of drawing out our disagreement around this word. I felt like that conversation was super helpful for both of us the other day and would like to drag it back out again.
How does calling factor into how we engage in the mission of Jesus?
Perhaps define that word and how you use it in your context...
And as a follow up question:
What are some examples of how people are working this out in your context?
Greg - Backpacks & Genesis Acres (as well as anything your people are doing) and anything else you want to share on this…those were just the examples that came to mind immediately.
Ron - How has your job enabled you to do this? Your involvement in the Olympia homeless task force or anything else you want to share.
Patrick - Anything you or the people in your MC are doing to live out their calling in the job, places of play and leisure, or avenues of service.
**Feel free to share any stories you guys want here…these were just things I know we have spoken about before. The goal of this section is to show that literally anyone can do this. We all have jobs, neighborhoods, places of leisure, and rhythms that God wants to use to share the good news of Jesus that we are uniquely equipped to share in.**
What role does relationships play in this? And, specifically, how have we met failure or done damage as we have tried to share the good news apart from a real relationship with the people we are trying to share with?
Let’s talk barriers for a second. Namely the barriers that people have up that keep them from receiving the message of hope and good news in Jesus, and specifically how real relationships help us to overcome those barriers.
What are the barriers to people receiving the message of hope and good news in Jesus?
Wherever we go with this one, I want to end with the barrier that we often introduce by approaching people as a project and with an agenda. That barrier is going to lead directly into our next question:
How do we keep from approaching people as a project and with an agenda?
People can spot that from a mile away. Nobody wants to feel like a project. Nobody wants to feel like we’ve got an agenda in our love and service, and attempts to build community.
Maybe speak directly to some of the unchurched in the room…what would you say to them? Do we need to apologize for approaching them with an agenda? What could they stand to learn by leaning into this study…even if they themselves don’t follow Jesus.
Perhaps they can see a true spirit of authenticity. We want to share what we have experienced in Jesus…namely the hope and life transformation we have found in Him.
I want to finish with this question drawing off of your experiences. Not just as individuals engaging in mission of Jesus yourselves but as pastors of churches also.
What is a piece of advice you have learned personally in your own engagement in the mission of Jesus? AND/OR: What advice would you give us as a new Church plant as we engage in this mission corporately?
Perhaps that is something you wish you would have started early on. Maybe its a trajectory you wish you would have led out in earlier. Maybe its something you have done well and would be good for us to follow suit in.
I will ask one of you guys to lead us in prayer…praying over our people and our church as we seek to engage in the mission of Jesus.
When you finish praying we will exit the stage and have Roger come up and speak for a few minutes.