It’s Not About the Lab Rats

If Lance Armstrong went to jail and Livestrong went away, that would be a huge setback in our war against cancer, right? Not exactly, because the ­famous nonprofit donates almost ­nothing to scientific research. BILL GIFFORD looks at where the money goes and finds a mix of fine ideas, millions of dollars aimed at “awareness,” and a few very blurry lines.

The article raised an interesting question that we discussed as a staff: Does contributing to awareness about a need or cause make you feel like you’re helping without actually helping? The article raises disturbing questions of whether we really know where our money goes when we contribute to organizations. Gifford makes the point that most people who buy the little yellow “LiveStrong” bracelets believe that by doing so they are contributing to cancer research and helping to fight cancer. The truth is that none of that money goes to research. While the value of the LiveStrong programs that the money is used for is debatable, the point is that whether or not buying one of those little yellow bracelets actually helps in the fight against cancer is questionable. Yet everyone who has bought one or contributed to LiveStrong did so, because they thought they were helping the cause. And after they had done so they felt like they had helped. So did giving in this way effectively anesthetize them from feeling the need to continue contributing to this need?

These days there are hundreds, probably thousands, of organizations that claim to be working for the common good by addressing the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of our world. The question is, how much of that work is engaging those needs through action and how many are just raising awareness? And at what point does contributing to awareness about an issue make us feel like we’re helping when we really aren’t? Where has our awareness anesthetized us from actively engaging? This conversation helped reinforce our desire at New Denver to develop strong relationships with the people and organizations with whom we partner to contribute to the common good of our community, our city, our country, and the world. We need to make good choices about where we invest our time and resources and ensure that we aren’t just raising awareness about issues but also actively engaging the issues. Awareness is a good thing – a necessary step before engagement. But it’s not the final step.

To close this post I’ll throw out some deeper and more personal questions that this raised for me, and I’ll come back in a later post (more likely a series of posts) to address them. Has the way we’ve presented Jesus and the gospel effectively anesthetized people from discipleship (the process of actively following him with their lives)? By focusing on gathering large crowds to church on Sunday and teaching about Jesus have we raised awareness about him and given people the feeling that they’re following him when they really aren’t? Have we truncated the full message of the gospel into the plan of salvation (read Scot McKnight’s book King Jesus Gospel to understand what I mean by that) and called people to a decision instead of discipleship? Has doing so given them the impression that their journey of faith is complete when in fact they have only taken a first critical step?

Awareness is an important and necessary first step, but it cannot be our last step.

Below are (most of) my notes from today. Unfortunately Evernote let me down for the first time and I lost some notes from the afternoon session. As with my previous posts where I share notes from a conference or class, hopefully these will make some sense. If anything in the notes intrigues you, check out their book. It’s a worthy read.

Notes

Introduction (their story)
* Oak Hills followed Willow’s seeker-driven model of church. They grew quickly and saw tremendous external results. Looking back they realize that this approach was driven by the paradigm of seeing the Christian life as a two-stage process. The first stage is about getting them to make a decision about what they believe about Christ. This decision secures their eternal salvation and “gets them into heaven.” The second stage is the process of Christian growth and discipleship. While it is not presented this way, this is more of an optional step. The decision is what is most important.
* Oak Hills’s approach to their Sunday service was summed up in the slogan, “You’ll be surprised.” The goal was to surprise people and cause them to reconsider their perception about church. The problem is that when you surprise them one week you’ve got to figure out how to do it again the next. The expectations get higher and higher. This forms people spiritually. It creates a paradigm of church that is based on entertainment.
* They realized that by using the tools of consumerism, it wasn’t just a bait and switch – it was working against people rejecting the values of the world and embracing the values of the kingdom.
* How has your weekend service changed? Focusing on God’s story of redemption (Robert Webber model influential), engaging with the church calendar.

What is the Gospel?
* Mark 1:15 – Jesus announces the good news that the kingdom of God is here and available. We are invited to live in “the Way” (Acts 19) of Jesus. Jesus announces the kingdom and invites people to follow. This was his understanding of the gospel. This is not the understanding in the broader evangelical subculture. The understanding of the gospel in that context is that Jesus came offering forgiveness of sins, and the response is to believe that and receive forgiveness.
What is Discipleship?
* In the first chapter of Oak Hills discipleship was equated with attending church, getting in a small group, and serving in the church.
* As time went on, they began to try and break down people’s preconceived ideas. Often as they tried to explain discipleship they would often bump into preconceived ideas (e.g. “walking in the Spirit”, discipleship programs with a focus on completing a course of study).
* One tool they used were “one thing” groups. These groups helped people to identify the one thing in their life they felt God wanted them to change. The group then focused on helping people take steps to address their “one thing.”

Ecclesiology
* Our current understanding is based on the church (organization) is the end game. Our goal is to get people engaged in the activities and programs of the church. The end game is the great commission. The goal is to establish beach heads (church planting, Willard’s analogy) that will provide encouragement and resources to people to live as part of the kingdom of God in their lives.
* Judgmentalism can arise as your understanding of discipleship and the role of the church changes. There is a danger to see yourself as a part of an enlightened few who really “get it.” “One of the problems of the missional movement and the spiritual formation movement is that they often badmouth the church.” We need to see ourselves as a small part of a bigger movement. Just as monastic orders found their place to exist and influence the Catholic church, and the Methodist movement started within the larger Anglican church.

Afternoon Session
* “Does the church (the organization) matter?” There was tension between formation and the organization. After wrestling they concluded that it does. Not just the organic church but it’s local organized expression.
* The nature of the church is such that there is going to be a diversity of devotion within.
Ambition/Consumerism:

Co-Pastoring:
* “It is easier to talk & teach about formation than it is to do it. Yet it is impossible to teach it unless you’ve lived it.” -Mike Lueken
* “I believe God is more honored by formative work done in the shared process of decision-making than by an expedient decision.” -Mike Lueken

What Now?
* There is a tendency in all of us to want to know “the path.” We all want answers. The hard answer is that we all have to find our own path in our own context.
* Willard’s Vision – Intention – Means is a helpful path forward. Vision – imagine what your life would be like if you stopped trying to live up to an expectation you know you can’t reach and began trying to live in step with Jesus, learning to become who he intends you to be. Life can be substantially different.
* Take a subversive approach. Don’t try to go top down, come from the bottom up.

Books/Authors Mentioned:

* Mulholland – “Invitation to a Journey”
* Robert Webber
* Willard (vision/intention/means)
* Chris Heurtz’s book about life w/people on the margins.

As I sat there thinking I was stunned to realized that after living in Atlanta for twelve years and doing ministry there for over seven years of that time, I knew very little about churches in the Atlanta area outside of the church I worked for and its associated campuses. Oh, I could recall some big churches I knew of and had even listened to a few radio broadcasts or watched some messages on local TV. But I didn’t know any pastors or churches well enough to make any recommendations to my friend.

This struck me as especially odd, because our experience in Denver has been so vastly different. Thinking back on our first three years in Denver, one of the things I am most grateful for are the good friendships I have made with pastors around the city of Denver. Maybe our experience has been so different because we’re a church plant and went looking for anyone and everyone who could teach us about our new city when we first arrived. Maybe our experience has been different because when we went to them, the pastors of Denver welcomed us with open arms without a hint of territorialism or competitive spirit. Maybe it’s different, because in a city as spiritually apathetic as Denver, there’s no need to be territorial. Like-minded church leaders who desire to reach those who don’t know God realize there’s more than enough work for all of us. Maybe it’s different here simply because we made the time and put the effort into making connections.

Whatever the reason, I am grateful for our experience here. I’m not just grateful for what New Denver Church is doing but for what is happening in this city through the combined efforts of the Church of Denver – the Body of Christ, living and active, advancing the kingdom of God. I’m grateful for our friends who pastor churches here in Denver and for the friends we have who are part of their congregations. Great churches here in the city like Denver Community Church, TNL, Bloom, Fellowship Denver, Adullam, and many more around the metro area (I probably shouldn’t have started listing…too many more to type…I’m sure I’ll be hearing from the guys I left out…apologies!). We regularly send people who don’t feel like they fit at New Denver to these other churches in town, and they do likewise for us. I’m grateful for this bigger vision. I’m grateful that I get to be a small part of a much bigger story.

My only regret is that I didn’t do ministry like this sooner. I regret that there’s not a list of pastors in the Atlanta area (outside the North Point network) that I pray for. That I cheer for. That I consider friends. If you are in ministry and you are reading this post, ask yourself this question:

Who are the pastors or ministry leaders in my city who I consider friends?

I know we’re all busy, and I know there is more to do in your church/ministry every day than you have time to do. This is not something that will ever be urgent. But I believe it is vitally important. So make the time. I don’t think it’s something you’ll regret.

**Images from Flickr user Ali Smiles, used under Creative Commons license

When I look back on my life and journey of faith thus far, it is divided into two parts. In the first half, faith for me was mostly about a decision. The decision was to accept that Jesus’ death on the cross and his subsequent resurrection accomplished something for me. It was about deciding that I believed who Jesus claimed to be and that his sacrifice accomplished something on my behalf that I could not accomplish for myself. I was accepted, loved, and redeemed by God based on what Jesus did. The problem is that for too long, this is where faith ended for me. What I didn’t realize for many years was that the decision I made was a first step not a final step.

When my two boys first learned to walk, they both had a similar experience. Both stood and took faltering first steps before deciding that crawling was way more familiar and comfortable to them. Walking was scary, uneasy and unpredictable. They couldn’t get very far crawling, but they also couldn’t fall down. Crawling was safe and predictable. But you can’t really grow and mature as a human being and insist on continuing to crawl.

In his letter to the church in Galatia, Paul addresses a somewhat similar situation. Having taken their first steps of faith, some were actually going back to crawling:

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
Galatians 5:13

Paul sees these new followers of Jesus who have taken their first steps of freedom. They have made a decision to believe in Jesus and to follow him. But Paul also sees that these followers want to stop and rest after taking their first few steps of faith. But he pushes them to keep moving forward:

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Galatians 5:15

So Paul has now contrasted two different ways of life – “indulging the flesh” and “walking by the Spirit.“ Paul goes on in Galatians 5:19-26 to explain more what each of these ways of life look like. To continue my metaphor, indulging the flesh is about continuing to crawl in your familiar habits and ways even after you’ve taken your first steps of faith into a new way of life. Walking by the Spirit, in contrast, is the awkward stumbling-forward process of learning to walk, in the way of Jesus.

But the question still remains – how do you do this? Unfortunately I can’t give you the process or formula (did you read the title of this series?!). What I can give you are the words of Jesus. These words have been immensely helpful for me on many occasions:

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Matthew 7:7

While there are no formulas, Jesus does give us a process that is helpful in understanding how we can continue taking steps forward, learning to walk in step with the Spirit:

• Ask – God invites us to come to him with our cares, concerns and questions. So take him up on it. Go to God in prayer, ask him for wisdom, for guidance, for strength, for courage, for support. We ask, he gives.
• Seek – This is an invitation to action. Seek people who can guide you in the process. Seek books and resources that provide insight and wisdom. Seek truth, beauty, and justice, knowing that these come from God.
• Knock – Try things, and be willing to fail. The invitation to follow where Jesus leads is an invitation to learn from him. This will not be a perfect process. You will stumble. You will fall. But you never learn if you never try.

I can’t give you a formula or tell you what your journey of walking with God will look like. But I can tell you that God is found by those who seek him, and there is more joy and life in stumbling forward, learning to walk, than there is in going back to crawling. Who knows, we might even move beyond walking one day and actually get the chance to run. That’s something to look forward to.

**Photo from Flickr user cc511, used under Commercial Commons license

As I considered the consistency of this sadness and brokenness that I experience nearly every time I attend a church leadership conference, it made me conscious of a few things. First it reminded me of the unseen drama that rages behind the work of building God’s kingdom. In Ephesians 6:12 Paul said, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” I am probably guilty of dismissing challenges as simply the difficulties of life without recognizing what’s happening behind the scenes and seeking God’s help and protection. Second, it reminded me that none of us can lead others where we are not going ourselves. It is a sad and terrifying reality to look in the mirror and realize that you are not living a life worthy of calling people to imitate. Yet that is the reality for far too many leaders in the church. The best thing any of us who endeavor to lead God’s church can do for ourselves and those we lead is to attend to the nurture and care of our own souls. Yet too often this gets dismissed as unproductive and unworthy of our time. Often we realize the value and necessity of this difficult work too late.

Finally it reminded me how important community is. It is important for all of God’s family to live in community together, but there is something unique that is shared within the brotherhood and sisterhood of those who endeavor to lead the church. I am so grateful for my many friends who devote most of their waking hours to building God’s church and for the blessing it is to celebrate, vent, and commiserate with them.

**Images from Flickr user Jason Pier, used under Creative Commons license

Overall this was three days well spent. As is often the case, the information that was received was helpful, but what was even more helpful was the conversations that took place over lunch, in between sessions, and in the intentional huddles created by the conference organizers. The more I hear from 3DM the more I appreciate their humble and open-handed approach to helping the church get better at understanding how God shapes disciples and how we as leaders can partner with him. They emphasize over and over that they have simply developed tools that may be helpful in that process. They constantly push against people who want easy answers or a simple process to implement. Through all my years in ministry I have heard so many people pushing their system, and I have even been guilty of pushing a system on people myself in the past. I guess that’s why it’s refreshing to encounter people who say, “Here are some things we’ve learned and some things that have been helpful to people we’ve worked with. Take what works and use it how it makes most sense.” So as you read these notes, remember – these concepts are just tools that may or may not be helpful in your context. As the old saying goes, “Eat the fish, leave the bones.”

Session 3, Mike Breen

• “I’ve rarely been as concious of the significant spiritual battle over a city as I have been in Denver.”
• Hebrews 12:26-13:7 – The message of Hebrews was written into an environment of threat and persecution for the church. In the face of this strong opposition the writer of Hebrews encourages that Jesus is greater than any power they will face. This was a time of seismic shifts and enormous change.
• We similarly live in a time of seismic change. Literally. There are more recorded earthquakes during our lifetime than any other in recorded history. This text is therefore for us as well.
• In a time of social and cultural earthquakes, do we function as victims or the rescue team?
• ** Mike’s depiction of the cultural earthquake that shook the foundational institutions of life in the west. Just listen to the audio **
• Church attendance in Europe fell off precipitously after WWI. America has not followed suit as rapidly, but sexual scandals have rocked the perception of the church in America – Catholic and Protestant. Some people perceive the institution of the church not just as irrelevant but dangerous.
• The foundational institution of the extended family has been shaken and destroyed by mobility of modern life. People hoped that the concept of the western nuclear family would be enough. But waves of feminism and sexual revolution have shaken the institution of the nuclear family to the ground.
• If you were a cultural anthropologist, one of the primary artifacts you would look at to understand modern culture would be media. What are these artifacts speaking about? They speak about the loss of something. Twenty years ago the most popular TV show was Home Improvement – the last stand of the nuclear family. Just a few years later, this conception of family gave way and Home Improvement gave way to Friends and Seinfeld. Today we see a re-emergence of the conception of extended family in popular shows like Modern Family.
• What does the Bible indicate should be our response in the face of the earthquake? Our first response should be compassion. “Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” (Heb 13)
• What is behind the prevalence of personal and sexual disorientation? People in an earthquake are disoriented. They don’t need a rescue team to judge their disorientation. The Bible is clear about God’s intent for human sexual orientation. But people in our world who suffer from disorientation need compassion first, not judgment.
• After showing compassion, the next thing that is needed is community. A rescue team needs to bring victims to a place to receive shelter and sustenance.
• Mike’s discovery doing ministry in England was that if they could re-create the experience of extended family, people would gravitate to it. People are hard-wired to be drawn to this experience.
• ** Wal-Mart/Coke commercial. “Joy to go around” – An expression of the value of extended family **

• After community, when they begin to regain some sense of stability, people need a connecting story. They need to understand how their story connects to a larger story.
• Years ago in a discussion with his staff Mike said he thought the next wave in music would be hip-hop and new country. He made that prediction, because he felt people needed stories. Hip-hop and country are people telling stories. If people don’t feel connected to a story they will adopt the story of others, by claiming the icons and markers of a culture or story.
• We have a story. A great story. The story. The story of God. If we learn the storyteller’s skill, people will listen and identify with the story. When you listen to the story, you place yourself in it and identify with one of the characters in it. Our story gives people identity, as children of God who are part of his great story.
• If you have been in an earthquake, the maps don’t work anymore. Likewise in the aftermath of a cultural earthquake the maps of culture and ministry that have been given to us by seminaries and religious institutions don’t work. When the maps don’t work, we need a compass.
• Discipleship is our compass. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. What people need is a compass to find him.

Q&A

• How do you connect people to the grand narrative outside the context of the church? Discipleship happens when you connect the text (Scripture) and context. Taking someone’s context and applying the Bible to it – revelation, interpretation, application. If you switch those words, it is where you connect Word to flesh – incarnation. “The best Gen X could do was clear the rubble of the cultural earthquake. That’s why their first response is always deconstruction. Millenials look at the rubble and want to build something with it. If the connecting story has old and new components, it is more compelling.”
• How do you think about the rise of interest in eastern philosophy and religion? In response to the earthquake, people look to find something compelling and solid. Eastern religion seems stable and is an answer, a connecting story.
• How do you develop the craft of storytelling? Listen to the best storytellers available. They are usually comedians. Don’t worry about the content; focus on the craft. Stories have a beginning, middle, and end. Tension usually arises in the middle and is resolved at the end. Comedy relies on the unexpected humorous resolution. Documentary “Comedian” by Seinfeld.
• What do you do when people reject compassion and go back to the rubble? Peter asked Jesus a similar question about forgiveness. The answer was simply, “keep doing it.” Our identity is the rescue team. It’s who we are.
• Does the existence of an extended family that holds influence work against this idea of the church trying to create one? Find the influencers within that community and connect with them.

For notes and audio from day 1 check out my previous post. Just as yesterday, if my notes don’t make sense or you want to hear more click here to download the audio from this session.

Session 2, Mike Breen

• Discipleship is a simple concept that is difficult in practice.
• Luke 22:24-27 – Jesus is offering a covenant and kingdom to his followers. In Jesus’ world power was understood as a means to advance your own interests, but Jesus says that in God’s kingdom it doesn’t work that way.
• Power and Provision
• When the church was embraced as the religion of the Roman Empire, the oikos (house) movement of the church became institutionalized. As that happened the church was conformed to the social structure of the day. Priests became part of the nobility, people of power and influence.
• After the Roman Empire fell, feudalism became the dominant social system. The nobility had the power – they owned all the land. The peasant class was given provision as they worked the land that they didn’t own and paid taxes to nobility. This social contract was stable for centuries. It failed when droughts or disasters destroyed this system. The peasants came to the nobility whom they had empowered, expecting provision. But often it had been squandered by the nobility. This led to revolution.
• In Europe history erased this system, but it has been exchanged for another form of feudalism. The state has been given power, and the expectation is that they will provide. Thus high taxes and large state programs.
• When America was settled, new ideas propagated based on the rights of all people. Power derived from the people participating in their own governance. Land ownership and provision would be available to all people. But feudalism wasn’t quite done – it remained in the church. The clergy had power and were expected to provide in return for the congregation’s faithful payment.
• Jesus taught a different way. Every person is given power. Every person is expected to be fruitful and provide for themselves and others. No longer would they look to a small group of people to provide for them spiritually.
• Jesus does this with his followers through a process of discipleship. It is a mix of invitation and challenge.
• Matthew 16:17-19 – Jesus invites Peter into covenant relationship. He shares a name with Jesus, his covenant brother. He becomes Petros (little rock) and on the Petra (big rock), Jesus, the church will be built. The keys to the kingdom are given in exchange as part of this covenant, and power comes with this kingdom authority.
• A high invitation/high challenge environment is an environment of discipleship.
• A high invitation/low challenge evnvironement is a “cozy” environment. This is an environment where leaders are chaplains, and it creates a consumeristic environment.
• A low invitation/low challenge environment is a “boring” environment. This creates apathy. We often do this with children. We create a boring experience for them as children and are then surprised when they “check out” as adolescents.
• A low invitation/high challenge environment is a “stressful” environment. This creates discouragement.
• Most churches live in the high invitation/high challenge quadrant. It is nearly impossible to move people from this environment to the discipling quadrant of high invitation/high challenge. You usually have to pass through the valley – into a low invitation/high challenge environment. People may leave, but those who stay will be ready to enter into the high invitation/high challenge environment.

Below are my notes from the day. If they don’t make sense or you’d like to hear more click here to download the audio from the day.

Session 1, Mike Breen

• At 3DM we are committed to an integrated life. What you’ll see from us is an attempt to integrate everything we do.
• Two key concepts are at the heart of what we do: Covenant and Kingdom
• Two key concepts at the heart of what Jesus did: Invitation and Challenge
• The metaphor we have used for this integrated life comes from the computer world
• Our “programming language” is the Bible (covenant and kingdom as binary code).
• Our “operating system” is discipleship. This is not the operating system active among followers today. For most the church is the operating system. If you build a church you will not necessarily get disciples, but if you make disciples you will get a church.
• The GUI (graphical user interface) is the parables. Text and context come together through illustrations. For 3DM, these are the Life Shapes.
• The “Killer Apps” of 3DM are the huddles and missional communiities.

Binary Code: Covenand & Kingdom

After God’s relationship with man is broken, God comes to Abram to reinitiate relationship. He points to the stars and says, “Look at my family Abram.” The starry hosts are God’s creation, his family. God promises Abram that this is how his family will be. Abram asks how God can assure him of this relationship, and God responds by initiating a covenant with Abram. He “cuts” a covenant with Abram. They divide animals in half, signifying that the parties lives are joined together. One would die for the other. In this covenant God and Abram become one. God gives Abram a piece of himself – part of his name. From YHWH, Abram becomes Abraham. Sara becomes Sarah. A scar is given, a private mark (circumcision), is given as a reminder of this covenant.

There are three primary elements of covenant and kingdom.

Covenant:

God comes to us as Father

From God our Father we receive our Identity

In light of our Identity we act in Obedience

Kingdom

God comes to us as King

As King he gives us authority.

That authority comes with power.

Our identity is connected to our authority.

Our obedience is connected to our power.

Q&A

The metaphor of the disciple disappears in the early church. Why is that? The metaphor changes from teacher-disciple to a family. Paul tells the Corinthians that they had many teachers but not many fathers. He became a father to them. The process of a teacher developing a disciple is analogous to a father developing a child. There is information (the Bible), imitation, and innovation. In the church we have focused mostly on the information.

Social Space Breakout with Doug Paul

Introduction to the proxemics research about people and relationships: Public space (75+), Social (20-30), Personal (6-12), and Intimate (2-3). This describes how people experience life. How does what we do in our churches reflect engagement in these spaces?

Is there a tension between people identifying too strongly to a social space (missional community) and not having a strong identity to the public space (corporate gathering)? No, not if they see that connecting their story to something bigger gives them longevity. A missional community may make a difference for a couple years, but connecting to a larger body gives them the opportunity to have impact for a lifetime.

In part one of the series I talked about Jesus’ call in Mark 1:15 to “Repent and believe” that the kingdom of God had “come near” or was “at hand.” We really focused in on what it meant to repent – or literally to change your mind. In this second half, I zeroed in on Jesus’ call to “believe” and explored what Jesus meant by that.

The way I think about what it means to “believe” has changed a lot over the years. One great catalyst for thinking about the concept of belief, and the corollary concept of doubt, was a book by John Ortberg entitled Faith and Doubt (available for Kindle or in paperback under the title Know Doubt). In my life I had always thought of belief as a binary concept – you either believe or you don’t. But through reading John’s book and others, my own reflections on Scripture and my own experience of belief, I now think about believing very differently. So what’s changed?

First, I no longer thing of belief as solely or even primarily an intellectual exercise. For most of my life I thought of belief as something that took place in your head, or perhaps if you were acting based on intuition or emotion, your heart. I saw it as a strongly held conviction about something that you believe to be true. While this is an accurate understanding of the concept of belief, it is incomplete. Second, as I mentioned I used to see belief as binary – you either believe or you don’t. Ortberg was the first to help me see that belief is more of a continuum. In Faith and Doubt he describes three types of faith that I would say are actually points along a continuum:

• Public – What we say we believe.
• Private – What we think we believe.
• Core – What we really believe as reflected by our actions.

So our belief in something moves along this continuum – moving from being an intellectual process, something that we say we believe to ourselves and to others, until it comes to fruition in our actions. Our core beliefs are reflected in our actions. All you really believe is what you do. My first attempt at sharing these ideas was in 2011 in the series I did at New Denver entitled Moving Beyond Belief, which was an exploration of the idea of belief through the lens of Paul’s letter to the Colossians. But in this Walking in Circles message I was really able to zero in on Jesus’ call to believe the good news that the kingdom of God is at hand and explore what that means for us who choose to follow.

So when we come to Jesus’ imperative to “believe,” what was he asking us to do? I believe he was calling us to move along that continuum toward a life that reflects a core belief that we can live as part of the kingdom of God. Here. Now. Wherever “here” and “now” happens to be for you. Through the people, circumstances, and events of your life, God is trying to move you further down the continuum of belief. Currently the best paradigm I’ve found for how we practically do that is the learning circle developed by Mike Breen and 3D Ministries.  I talked about the first half of that circle in part one of this series, but I wrap it up here in part 2.

The first half of the circle is the “repent” half. It is about asking the question, “What is God trying to teach or tell me through this kairos moment?” The second half of the circle is the “believe” half. After you have clarified what you believe God is saying or asking you to do, the next question is, “What are you going to do about it?” This comes by walking the second half of the circle:

• Plan – After reflecting on the kairos moments you observe in your life and then discussing it with a trusted friend or group of friends, you need to clarify what it is that you need to do in response to what God has shown you through this moment.
• Accountability – Often in life we know what we need to do but lack the resolve to actually do it. Herein lies the importance of community and making yourself accountable to others. When you share what you believe God wants you to do and what you plan on doing, close friends can offer you the challenge and support to follow through.
• Act – This is where your belief becomes core belief. What you believe in your head and heart becomes action. Be ready, because usually this isn’t the last step. Stepping in faith into the reality of the kingdom often opens new kairos moments as God invites us to experience more of the kingdom as we continue repenting and believing.

If you’d like to listen to the audio of this message it is available online at our website or through our iTunes Podcast.

A little over two years ago I was introduced to a book called Building a Discipling Culture by Mike Breen (hard copy book available from 3DM’s website) which introduces an approach to discipling known as Life Shapes. As someone who has led small groups ministries for over a decade, I’ve seen my share of group models and curricula. But after hearing friends who are pastors in Ecclesia (the church network we’re part of) rave about this book and its intentional approach to making disciples – teaching people to learn to follow Jesus more closely in their everyday lives – I was definitely intrigued. After reading the book, my first thought was, “Is that it?” It seemed too simple. I didn’t see how this approach would be any more effective than any other small group material I had ever seen. I struggled for a year, talking to the most ardent supporters of this approach, trying to understand what was so different about it. They all said the same thing, “You just have to be in a group and experience it to get it.”

Finally in March of last year, thanks to my friend Ben Sternke who is a pastor from our church network, I got the chance to experience a group. That experience more than lived up to the hype. In the four months we spent together as a group, learning this intentional approach to discipleship, I experienced personal growth in my relationship with God and instantly saw the potential inherent in this approach. I have personally adopted the Life Shapes paradigm of spiritual growth and applied it to my own life and spiritual journey. It has also influenced how I lead and guide others that I lead or mentor do the same.

So what made this so different from other groups? First and foremost is the paradigm with which you approach the process: God is already directing and discipling you. The question is, “Are you listening?” In the past I have looked to systems or curriculum to figure out how to help myself and others engage the felt and unfelt spiritual needs of people’s lives. But what if God is already in the process of doing that? What if God is already trying to get our attention and direct our growth through the events, the people, and the circumstances of our lives? What if what we need isn’t more information or talking through curriculum that may or may not address the issues God wants us to address? What if all we had to do was to begin paying attention to what God is already trying to do and responding to him? That is the simplicity and the power behind the Life Shapes approach to discipleship.

Since I finished my group with Ben last summer, I’ve started three different groups based on this approach at New Denver Church. Each one has proven more effective at helping people take real steps of growth in their life and faith in a shorter period of time than any other group approach I’ve ever seen. As a result, the language of Life Shapes has begun to take root at New Denver and become our way of understanding discipleship and spiritual formation. In order to begin disseminating some of that language into New Denver I decided to share the principles behind the core of the Life Shapes approach – the circle.

Last Sunday I taught through the first of a two-part series called Walking in Circles. In this first part we explored Jesus’ call in Mark 1:15 to “repent and believe” by looking at what it means to “repent” or to change your mind about what we experience in life. The process of repenting involves three steps:

Observe - Pay attention to the events of your life and be attuned to possible “kairos” moments that God may be trying to guide or direct you. Here are some questions to help you discern kairos moments in your life:

• What were the high points or the low points (of my day, my week, my month, etc)?
• Where did you experience stress or peace?
• Were there any relational conflicts or tension?
• What do I want the most in life right now?
• Is there something I’m thinking a lot about?

Reflect - Once you have identified the significant “kairos” moments it is important to reflect on those and to seek to understand what God may be trying to teach or tell you through those moments. Here are some questions that may help you:

• Why did I react to that situation in that way?
• What emotion was I feeling in that moment? What does that emotion tell me?
• What is it God may be trying to teach or tell me by bringing this moment to mind?

Discuss – We all need the objectivity of others to help us discern how God may be leading us. Sharing the significant events of your life with others and talking about how you feel God is leading you may help to clarify what your next step should be.

If you’d like to listen to the audio of this message it is available online at our website or through our iTunes Podcast. In my next post I’ll share the second half of the circle and talk about the steps we take to believe that the kingdom of God is present and available to us.

**Thanks to JR Briggs for the circle diagram we used during the series.