A Christian's response to the tragedy in Orlando

A lot of people have been asking me what Christians response should be to the tragedy of the shootings in Orlando. If you are a Christ follower, I would encourage you to think twice before responding about this over social media. And here's why: that this happened in a gay bar shouldn't even come up. The fact of the matter is, everyone is made in the image of God. We all struggle with sin, but in a different ways. 

So here is what we pray for: We pray for justice for the people who have been killed and injured, and that God will somehow use this to capture everyone's hearts and bring them into a relationship with a Heavenly Father that loves them. I'm sure a lot Hateful Christians-- which should be an oxymoron -- will spew venom all over social media and continue to close doors for the church to love and influence to a group who already feel alienated by religion and the church. Hate-filled Christians will start to cry that the reason why this happened because God's judgment. Well think of it this way: if God judged all of us for our sin? None of us would be alive. In fact, that is the reason why Jesus died on the cross-- He died for our sins. Praying for those who lost their lives and that God will use this somehow to let everyone know that God longs to have a relationship with everyone.

Tim Cooper - Training Leaders to Engage Culture - Re:group 2016

Pointing to Jesus’ ability to focus on core issues of the faith while moving time and again “toward the messes,” Tim Cooper emphasized that we need to treat core issues of the faith differently than peripheral ones (as Jesus did when he went to Matthew’s house).

“Address core issues of the faith differently than peripheral ones.”

To help train their leaders to distinguish between core issues and peripheral issues North Point developed a “beliefs assessment” that measures a leader’s ability to make the distinction. You can see their beliefs assessment right here.

Here are some tips to help distinguish core versus peripheral (from the Beliefs Assessment):

• Core issues are beliefs that are essential to faith.
• Christians have considerable differences of opinion about peripheral beliefs.
• While core issues have endured over time, many peripherals have changed over time.
• Even if something is peripheral, that does not mean it is unimportant.
• Statements about core beliefs can be pronounced publicly in the local church, but conversations about peripheral topics are many times better handled privately.
• Whether a topic is core or periphery determines how much energy and emotion it warrants.

In explaining the thinking behind the beliefs assessment, Cooper pointed out that “the more issues that are core to you the harder you make it for people to turn to God.”

“The more issues that are core to you the harder you make it for people to turn to God.”

You can see their beliefs assessment right here.

Can you see their thinking? Have you ever thought through this tension? Have you ever trained your leaders to manage this tension?

Tim Cooper - A Higher Standard than Jesus - re:group 2016

There are times every once in a great while when something a speaker says is so convicting it causes an audible gasp or sigh in the room. There was one of those times on Day Two of re:group in the session by Tim Cooper called Training Leaders to Engage Culture.

“If what someone is doing keeps you from ministering to them them, you have a higher standard than Jesus”

Tim Cooper - Influencing Culture: Jesus’ Model vs the Pharisees’ Model - re:group 2016

One of the big takeaways was embedded in a careful look at the difference between Jesus’ model for influencing culture vs the Pharisees’ model for influencing culture. Sharing an insight into Jesus’ model, Tim Cooper talked about an incident that Matthew records in Matthew 9:9-13:

“As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me,’ he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
¹⁰ While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. ¹¹ When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’
¹² On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'”

Pointing to verse 13 and citing an insight from Richard Beck’s Unclean, Cooper noted that sacrifice is intentionally moving toward purity (away from what is impure) while mercy is moving toward what is different.

“The Pharisees, seeking purity, pull away from the sinners. Jesus, seeking fellowship, moves toward the sinners.” Richard Beck, Unclean: Meditations on Purity, and Mortality.

And once again, I have to circle back to a great question from the breakout: “What’s encouraging your small group leaders to push through their natural instinct to avoid people God is trying to influence?”

Training Leaders to Engage Culture - re:group 2016

One of the most powerful takeaways I came away with was a renewed commitment to the importance of training small group leaders. Yes, adults learn on a need to know basis, and yes, I still believe the best practice is to do TO and FOR your leaders whatever you want them to do TO and FOR their members, but when leaders are well trained they will be better prepared to do something beyond facilitate a good discussion. And they will almost always need to be trained to engage culture.

Let me share an aha moment from the Community for Everyone breakout:

“The wider the diversity (you hope to include) the better the leader must be.”

Did you catch it? Do you see it? I can’t assume every small group leader has my passion for reaching people who are far from God. I also shouldn’t assume they have my intuition about what to say or how to engage. And as a result, I need to make sure I’m actually equipping small group leaders to engage culture.

Training Leaders to Engage Culture

Here is the introductory paragraph from the session notes of a breakout called Training Leaders to Engage Culture:

“From politics to sexuality there are numerous topics where culture intersects with faith and opinions vary. How we think about these issues is as important as what we think about them. In this breakout, we will take you through how we train volunteers to engage with culture. We’ll explore some root causes of existing cultural tensions and focus on how to walk alongside someone who has a viewpoint different from your own.”

I loved the 5 declaratory statements that were part of the breakout notes:

1. We have to decide if we really want to influence the culture we live in. Note: The difference between what churches believe is true and right and what the culture believes is true and right creates a gap. How we teach people to handle the gap influences how we view and treat the people on the other side of the gap.
2. Our ability to influence culture is limited by our disgust toward it.
3. To overcome disgust, we must intentionally move toward the messes. Great Question: “What is encouraging your leaders to push through their natural instinct to avoid people God is trying to influence?”
4. Jesus models how to influence culture. Note: It was right about here that Tim Cooper said, “If what someone is doing keeps you away from ministering to them, you have a higher standard than Jesus.”
5. Managing the tension between theology and ministry requires work.

Can you make out the flow of the discussion?

I have to tell you, I’ve thought of little else since I attended this breakout. I am convinced that as the West becomes an increasingly post-Christian culture, it is imperative that we become better at engaging culture.

I found the conclusion of the breakout notes captivating:

“How we educate volunteers to engage with and influence culture is one of the most important things we will do as a church. When our devotion to God is illustrated, demonstrated, and authenticated by our love for others, we make it possible to change our culture…and our world.”

Andy Stanley - Saved By The Church - Orange Conference 2016

• I am more excited about the local church than I’ve been in my life. The church really is the hope of the world! The church saved my life.
• Treat people the way you would want to be treated and Fear not pretty much covers everything.
• I Grew up with a fear of sin. Preventative.  The church didn’t just save me from hell. The church saved me from me.
• If you grew up in church, imagine if every single influence of the local church- the knowledge, influence, songs and people--imagine if it was all sucked out of your life--imagine how different your life would be?
• The church and the influence of the church prevented me of having to experience pain. You are preventing more than you can ever imagine in students. 
• The church prevented me from experiencing so much pain from me and sin.
• The church informed my conscience in my formative years. "You dare not live with bitterness because bitterness will destroy. It was the church where I learned to forgive." "It was in the church where I learned purity paves the way to intimacy."
• The church installed in me a sense of purpose. I was created on purpose for a purpose. Don't miss it. A sense of destiny and purpose for me.  God has a plan for your life. Do not settle for second best.  I was created on purpose for a purpose. Don’t allow the mundane to pull your eyes down to your current circumstances.
• My first journal entry in the 11th grade was “If I ever have a son I’m going to tell him God has a plan for his life. This has guided me through some of my greatest temptations.”  If you know God has a purpose for your life, you will make better decisions.
• It was in the church where I learned friendship. The church provided the context for lifelong friendships. Without the local church, I would not know my friends. Because of the local church, you will have friends that will last the rest of your life.
• Don't attend a church that teaches your children to hate church.
• The church served as a window for God's activity all over the world.
• The church taught me how to be generous. Rich people aren't generous. Generous people are generous.
• You are connecting many kids who will be friends for life.
• You’re not just dealing in content. You’re dealing in relationship.
  When kids connect to one another, they want to go to church.
  When kids connect to a small group leader, they want to go to church.
  We are all acceptance magnets. We do not necessarily gravitate to environments of great content.

Following Jesus will make your life better, and make you better at life.

• Invite people to follow Jesus before they believe.
• The church provides the strongest argument for the dignity for individuals and human rights. Everyone has interim is value because they are made in the image of God. 

“Church history has seen many activists who take on causes such as slavery, racism, war, poverty, and women’s rights. Gradually, like the melting of a glacier, change takes place and what first seemed subversive becomes an accepted feature of the landscape. A post-Christian society is quick to remind us of our faults, which we should humbly acknowledge. Yet wherever the gospel has taken root, it has borne fruit. Much that we value in the modern world — ​freedom, democracy, education, healthcare, human rights, social justice — ​traces back to a Christian origin. The smallest seed in the garden has become a great tree in which the birds of the air come to nest.”

Yancey, Philip. Vanishing Grace

• Jesus brought dignity to women. Jesus brought dignity to children.
• The church inspires us to embrace the one mandate that could change everything.
• The government describes how low we can go before getting locked up. It is designed to protect us from the worst of the worst.
• Love your neighbor as yourself. Treat people the way you want to be treated.
• Outside of your family, the greatest investment you will ever make is in the local church.