Tag: optimism

  • Dear 2012

    Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.

    Philippians 3:13-14

    Dear 2012,

    We, the undersigned, are ready for you. 2012 will be better than 2011. Not that we’re ashamed of 2011… we just want 2012 to be different.

    Rejecting apathy – For too long we’ve been defined by our apathy. We come to church to listen and not change. We engage Scripture to learn and not make a difference. We apply biblical truth to our hearts but not our blocks. We wait for the church to do something so we can feel good about funding it. We hire experts to teach our kids because we’re too busy doing nothing important.

    Apathy will not define us in 2012. We’re done talking about what we are going to do. We are done dreaming. We are done crying about what hasn’t been done. And we won’t wait for a program to do what we can do on our block. We don’t need a tax break. We don’t need a sermon.

    2012 will be known as the year of being Good News in our Neighborhood.

    Foregoing aestheticism – Sure, we didn’t live 2011 in the desert eating locusts. But we were way more reclusive than we wanted to be. When we were home we hung out in the house or in the backyard. We spent time with our family and deepened friendships with people who aren’t on our block. We were reclusive. We were loners. We defined ourselves by how we lived and not how we impacted our community.

    This year will be different. We will be social. We will be a front porch type of neighbor. We will not just have our little circle of friends chosen by a shared hobby or faith. Instead we will choose to be different. Our relationships will be defined by proximity, not affinity. We recognize that Jesus told us to love our neighbor and we will stop trying to redefine the word neighbor to fit our comfort level. And we recognize that Jesus has us living where we live for His purpose and not our own.

    2012 will be known as the year of being Good News in our Neighborhood.

    Living as the best neighbor ever- Yeah, we saw opportunities in 2011. And we blew it. The elderly neighbor who lost her husband. The person who hired a gardner to weed because they were too busy. The latch-key-kid who sat at home all afternoon waiting for her mom to come home from work. We saw it. We heard about it. But we didn’t do a darn thing about it and we’re sick of feeling guilty.

    This year we’ll go from observer and shoulder shrugger to opportunist. Our neighbors will know that they can depend on us. We will rearrange our schedule to serve. We will stop being busy at the church so we can be the church on our block. We will know their names and they will know ours.

    2012 will be the year of our neighbors knowing we are Good News in their lives.

    And finally- We will rally others because Good News spreads fast! We will lay aside petty differences for the sake of our neighbors. We will let forgiveness and grace reign. We will become block uniters instead of block dividers.

    This year will be marked by it’s impact!

    Making 2012 count,

    [signed]

    Leave a comment to join me. Feel free to add to the letter, too. 

  • The other 90%

    I think some people are writing me off as a deconstructionist. As if I’m a leftover from a bygone fad when it was hip to rip on the church.

    Part of me says, “Call me what you want, who am I to tell people what to think?”

    But I think that’s an incorrect label.

    My aim is the opposite. I want to be a reconstructionist. I have this crazy, insane belief that the best days for the American church can be in front of us and not behind.

    If you need to label me something, label me this: “Passionate about the other 90%.”

    I will take that to the bank all day, every day.

    The simple fact is that I won’t be satisfied with reaching 5-10% of the population with the Good News of Jesus Christ. If that were a grade in school it wouldn’t even be an F… it would be an I.

    Incomplete work. I know we can do better. I know I can do better!

    I’m unashamedly passionate about that. And I readily admit that I keep company with people who think the same way.

    When I run into “satisfied Christians” I kind of wonder what is wrong with them? How can we be so comfortable and happy when we believe what we believe and 90% of the population doesn’t even care?

    • Nearly all Christians believe that a life on earth knowing Jesus will be better than a life lived on earth without Christ.
    • Nearly all Christians believe that when you die you will be judged. Those who know Jesus spend eternity with Christ, those who don’t know Jesus spend eternity separated from Christ.

    That drives me to think: What is “wrong” with the “system of church” we practice that leads to reaching only 5-10% of any given community? And what could we change, while holding on to what is dear and true, that would help us (the church, the body, the people of Jesus) reach… 11%. 20%. 25%. 45%. In my lifetime.

    It is up to me and you.

    When I go down this road, people always say the same thing: “Adam, we don’t have the power to do anything about that.”

    I reject that idea. Flat out.

    You may not be able to change entire systems of power or government or even the momentum of your church.

    But you can change you.

    And if you can change you and God has called you to lead others. They will change, too.

    When I look at reaching 10% of the population I don’t first think, “We need to change everything.” I first think, “What do I need to change about myself?”