Showing posts with label Mentoring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mentoring. Show all posts

A Culture Shift

Posted by Randy | Labels: , , , , , , , , , | Posted On Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 3:47 PM

On Wednesday night, April 13, I shared with our church family a sense that God is calling us as Gateway Community Church to a culture shift. I said this, and I continue to talk about this, not because of a momentary experience in my life, but what feels more and more like a tidal wave of leadings from God.


The essence of this culture shift is that the mission and the ministry of our church are not the responsibility of the institutional church but of the living, breathing organism of the church made up of the individual members of the body of Christ who attend Gateway. In other words, each one of us is called by God to live as "fully devoted followers of Christ." The mission belongs not so much to the church as a whole, but to the church as in each member of the body. The effectiveness of the church is most obvious when each one in the church family owns and lives the mission, rather than when the mission gets bumped up the line to the overall church body or institution.


I'll admit that I'm still working on the words and language to express just what I sense God saying in all this. I've been talking it out with staff and in Grow Gatherings on Sunday evenings. I've been thinking about it and reflecting on it, and actually preaching on it more than I realized. I see it already happening in the accountability and encouragement that occurs in Celebrate Recovery, as individuals take on responsibility for other individuals and come alongside them. I see it already happening in our Marriage Mentoring ministry, where one couple comes alongside another couple to help and encourage them in their journey. I see it as we've been talking lately about how to help grow and encourage brand-new followers of Christ, who need someone to come alongside them and show them the way. I see it already happening as we talk about investing more into the parents of our children and teens, so parents feel empowered to accept their God-given responsibility to teach and encourage their own kids about Jesus Christ, with the church serving in a helping role.


I've been sensing it in a scripture that has really jumped out at me in the last few weeks:


Jesus: “‘For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.’” (Matthew 18:20 NLT2)

I've always wondered about this scripture. Why "two or three"? Why not five or six, or a hundred to a hundred fifty? Then, a few weeks ago it struck me - it's in settings of two or three that our relationships are most exposed and open, where vulnerability as well as accountability are most possible and most likely. It's the essence of relationship, and much of our spiritual growth comes in our interaction with another. In the New Testament the phrase "one another" is found nearly sixty times: "accept one another," "be devoted to one another," "greet one another," "serve one another," "instruct one another," "honor one another," "encourage one another," "do not slander one another," and especially "love one another."

There's a sense of Christianity and love being personal - not something that can be done through an institution nearly as well as through one individual to another. We are called to come alongside one another to help, encourage, hold accountable and love one another. And it's in these small settings of two or three or four, where it's impossible to hide from each other or wait for someone else to answer or explain, where we become known deep down, behind the walls.

Yet, too often in my ministry "career" I've rationalized that working mainly with large groups is efficient and a better use of my time. I thought I could reach more people faster, better. But in fact, what I think I've been doing is at the very least fooling myself. It definitely takes more work and we experience more pain when we get up close and personal with someone, yet it's only there that I see behind the curtain of who that person really is, who I am, and who God really is and what He desires in our lives - where two or three of us are gathered.

This is why I believe we need a culture shift. We need to move away from thinking about how others will do ministry and instead ask God what do you want me to do? What person do you want me to come alongside? How do you want me to love another? Words and phrases that have been coming to me lately include "accountability;" "360ยบ mentoring," where as we mentor another, we are at the same time being mentored by someone else; "sacrificial love is normal for the Christ follower;" "every ONE matters to God;" and "personal responsibility for my own spiritual growth." 

And I really don't see this as a program of our church so much as a part of our essence, our culture. We don't plan it and orchestrate it - we empower it and release it. The church then fulfills it's God given purpose "...to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ." (Ephesians 4:12)

I've got a lot more praying and thinking to do on this, but I don't plan to wait until it's all clear, either. I'm diving in, wanting to go deeper into the love of God. I hope you will, too. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, too. This is definitely a work in progress, but I really feel God's presence in the midst of this. And I believe seeking to live our lives this way will radically change our church, but more important than that, it will change our community and our world. It will take time, because relationships can't be rushed or pushed. But I believe God has been planting seeds all around our church, and over the next two to three years I expect to see a real culture shift. The church will be the church, and God will be glorified!

Membership Update - Dedicated to Reaching Others (September 2010)

Posted by Randy | Labels: , , , , , , , , , | Posted On Thursday, September 23, 2010 at 4:44 PM

Late last Spring I began a Membership Series for our Gateway members (and anyone else) that is intended to help us grow and become more and more like Jesus Christ. I'm using a tool that we at Gateway call the GUIDE (which is a part of our Membership Covenant). It's an acronym that both describes what a "fully devoted follower of Christ" looks like, and at the same time lists biblical disciplines and practices that God has given us to guide us in our spiritual journey. You can read more about the GUIDE in my May Update.

This month I turn to the "D" of GUIDE, which stands for: "Dedicated to Reaching Others." We understand this to mean that "I will seek opportunities to develop relationships with everyday people, recognizing my role as an ambassador to the life-changing message of Jesus Christ."

As you probably know, "Reach" is an important part of our church's DNA, and has been from our very beginning. It's a part of Jesus' own mission: "And I, the Son of Man, have to come to seek and save those ... who are lost." (Luke 19:10 NLT) Every ONE matters to Jesus. No one is beyond his love or his desire to develop a relationship with them.

In the Great Commission Jesus told us, "Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 28:19 NLT) The Apostle Paul wrote:

"So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, 'Come back to God!' For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ." (2 Corinthians 5:20-21 NLT2)

Paul says reaching others is what Christ followers do. It's not up to some of us. It is a fundamental part of what it means to be a Christ follower - period!

But before you start sweating that out and wondering if that means we're supposed to all head out to the street corners and stand on our soap boxes, hear me out. That may be true for a few of us, but notice that our statement above says, "I will seek opportunities to develop relationships..." Reaching others is almost always done best and most effectively and most naturally through relationships. Most often it's relationships we already have, though Christ followers also seek to develop new relationships to share the life-changing message and love of Jesus Christ. It means looking at those around us to see whom we can become more intentional about growing our relationship and, at the right time, sharing our story of our journey with Jesus Christ.

Think about it - an ambassador represents his or her homeland to others. Paul tells us we are Christ's ambassadors, so we represent Jesus Christ and the hope and joy and life-changing love he offers us to others. God often uses us as the "go-between" to help one of our existing friends or relatives get to know our best friend and brother Jesus Christ. We aren't responsible for their relationship with Christ, but we are responsible for looking for natural opportunities to make introductions and even walk alongside our two friends as they get to know each other better.

Our dedication to reach others begins with wherever that person is in their relationship with Christ. From no relationship to a relationship that has slipped, to a relationship that is growing. A significant part of this dedication is coming alongside others in what I would call a mentoring relationship, regardless of where they are on their journey. Mentoring is simply being intentional about sharing with another person or persons about our journeys with Christ. It's an intentional decision to reach out to another, but it invariably becomes a two-way street as God's Spirit works in and through both of us to grow both of us. We may think it's all about the other person, but God has designed this act and process of reaching out to others, of being ambassadors for Christ, as a growth opportunity for both of us. We are always blessed as we allow Christ to use us to reach others, and, in fact, there are some blessings God has reserved for us that we will never experience unless we do reach out to others.

Ultimately, this dedication to reaching others isn't a program or something we do only when the church is making a push. God intends this to be a part of our lifestyle as Christ followers. He intends it to be a natural part of the culture of any church, and we certainly want that here at Gateway. We offer opportunities for you to invite a friend, including regular events such as our Sunday services, and special outreach events, such as Ladies Night Out or our recent Date Night or our regular Bring-A-Friend Sundays (the next one is October 24!). 

I know many of us have some feelings of insecurity or even fear about reaching out to others - I certainly do, and I have to work on it! Yet, Christ wants to use us, and God has already been working in the person we feel led to reach. Even if the results don't seem to go anywhere in our first tries, God is using us to plant seeds. Sometimes we see the fruit of our efforts, and sometimes others do - and we reap the harvest that others planted before us. 

But nothing happens if we do nothing. That's why this begins with us dedicating ourselves to this journey - of allowing God to work in and through us to make the choice to be Christ's ambassador to reach out to the relationships around us. After all, in Christ we represent the one and only way to help people live forever in heaven with Jesus. There's no more important work or task in our lives, because nothing else we do can affect the eternity of another like this. God has given you and me the greatest opportunity there is - to be a part of His life-changing plan to save lives and change the world!

We All Need a Little Help Along the Way

Posted by Randy | Labels: , , , , , | Posted On Sunday, October 18, 2009 at 12:01 AM

Our reading for today is Acts 8-9, and there's so much good stuff here that it's hard to pick one thing to write about. The story of Saul's conversion is one of the great events of the Bible, and we will see him telling it on three different occasions in Acts, with Acts 9 being the first time.

However, I felt drawn to the story of Philip and the Ethiopian for today, so that's where I'm going to camp out. Philip, like many of the disciples, left Jerusalem because of the persecution that had begun with the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7). So Philip went to Samaria, a region between Jerusalem and Galilee that had once been part of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, but was now an area that included many folks who had mixed Jewish heritage. These folks were looked down upon by the pure-blooded Jews in Jerusalem and Galilee.

After a time, though, an angel of the Lord came to Philip and sent him south (8:26 NLT). As he traveled, he encountered an Ethiopian government official traveling in a carriage. He apparently had become a Jew and had gone to Jerusalem to worship at the Temple, and was now headed home. As he traveled, he was reading aloud from the book of Isaiah when the Holy Spirit led Philip to walk over alongside the Ethiopian.

Philip asked the man, "...'Do you understand what you are reading?'" (vs. 30) "The man replied, 'How can I unless someone instructs me?'..." (vs. 31) So, Philip joined him in the carriage and proceeded to explain to the Ethiopian how the Scriptures pointed to Jesus Christ as the Good News.

As the Ethiopian learned of this Good News, he wanted to be baptized, and Philip baptized him. The Holy Spirit then sent Philip on his way farther to the north. The Ethiopian continued home, but now he was so excited because he had invited Christ into his life.

Here was this man who was seeking to know more about God and His ways, but he needed someone to help him understand. So, God sent Philip to come alongside him and help him for a time. I have discovered that God often nudges many of us to seek one-on-one help from another Christ follower in our journey, and at other times He nudges us to come alongside someone and talk with them about our faith journey and Jesus. Sometimes we hear God's nudge, but sometimes we think we don't know enough or the other person might think we're weird, etc.

But I've come to believe that all of us need someone to come alongside us from time to time in our lives and just help us talk through and walk in our faith. Sometimes a person is still checking out Christianity, and sometimes they've made a decision to trust Christ. Either way, God wants to take them further (as He does all of us), but they need some help. Reading their Bible, going to worship, even being in a small group are all great and necessary. But sometimes a person just needs another person to come alongside them and help them take the next step or steps in their faith journey. We call this mentoring.

I know I sometimes need some extra help, and there are other times when I see someone who could really use a little extra one-on-one help with their Christian journey. Are we willing to ask for some help? How can we come alongside another person, not as someone better or smarter, but just a fellow traveler who happens to be a little further along the journey, at least at this point? This isn't about pride or arrogance but love and compassion. It's recognizing that the journey of becoming more and more mature in our faith requires all of us to get help sometimes, and give it at other times. Sometimes we're the Ethiopian, and sometimes the Holy Spirit wants to use us as a Philip.

I'm convinced the Christian journey needs more of us being mentored and mentoring others. Faith is caught more than it's taught, and that means experiencing it personally in the life of another Christ follower. We don't need permission from the church or a pastor to look around us and identify someone who can help us, or someone we can help.

The Good News is that the Holy Spirit always works in these mentoring settings, giving us what we need, and enabling us to give to another, even when we aren't aware that we have something to give. Trust Him to work in you, whichever side of the conversation you find yourself. In fact, many times when we're in a mentoring relationship, we discover ourselves being both the Ethiopian and Philip at one time or another. Like Philip, listen to those subtle leadings, and join someone else on the journey - you'll be amazed what God does!
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