The ALS Challenge, Justice for Aarron, and Changing the World

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Pastor Jesse

What’s your plan for changing the world?

You have probably heard of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which spread all over the world through social media.  If you get nominated to take the challenge, you can either donate to the ALS Association or take a picture/video of ice water being dumped over your head as you nominate three others.  It is beautifully simple.  Someone shows you what to do, invites you to do it, and you do the same, inviting others.  I did it (and put a link to the YouTube video at the end of this post.  So did my youngest.  It is a bit adventurous, out of the (physical) comfort zone, and kind of fun.  As of August 23, donations have reached $62.5 million.

That simple little act, repeatable and clear, went farther and touched more lives than anyone would have guessed.

At the same time, another social media campaign has “gone viral.”  Justice for Aaron featured a video of Andrew Wheeler, 18, brutally beating a helpless Aaron Hill, 16, in a back room at a party while others looked on.  It is a disturbing video.  And the campaign worked.  It heaped shame and humiliation on Mr. Wheeler and the party-goers.    The police took action.  The attacker and an accomplice have been arrested.  But people are still outraged.  The reaction has gone over the top.   Andrew Wheeler’s family has received death threats.  Apparently, some want to go beyond justice to exacting revenge.  Shame and humiliation campaigns tend to pull people that way.  The world is not a less of a mess as a result.  It’s a bigger one.  It all proves that our world needs a change.

Do you agree?

So what’s your plan?  How do you plan to change the world in the right way?

It’s not that we’ve figured it out.  But we do believe Jesus did.  And that is why we center our ministry on discipleship.  Discipleship is basically learning to live more like Jesus. We are learning to follow and imitate Jesus and we are teaching people to follow and imitate Jesus.  We are also equipping them to help others do the same.  Best I can tell, over the course of history, making disciples of Jesus Christ in this way is the only approach with a proven track record for consistently changing the world in a significant way in the right direction.  For that matter, during those times when the church made the world worse (and it has), it was usually when the church wasn’t interested in helping people live like Jesus.  It happens slowly, one heart at a time.  While it goes deep, it is beautifully simple.  Someone shows you what to do, invites you to do it, and you do the same, inviting others.  It’s a legacy that goes back to Jesus.  Jesus said, “Make disciples (Matthew 28:16-20) and that was after Jesus had showed Peter what to do.  So Peter showed Barnabas what Jesus had shown him.  Barnabas showed Paul, who showed Timothy, Silas, Titus, the Ephesians, Galatians, Romans, etc.,  who showed…   And God has been working through discipleship to change the lives of all people everywhere for the last 2,000 years.   And the world has been changed.

So I’d like to thank our donors – and to invite you, dear reader, to give to FCMC.  Through donations to FCMC, you will be doing something to turn cruel hearts toward kindness.  You will be teaching people to respond with compassion when they see injustice.  You will be setting into motion something that will protect those who are weak and vulnerable.  Your gifts will inspire courage in unlikely places to do what is right and responsible.  You can give online here to be taken to our secure giving site or click here for instructions to make donations by mail.

Better yet, learn to use some tools for discipleship and teach others to use those tools – because then you are getting into the game.   Either by giving or by practice, you will have done something to change the world.  I can’t say thank you enough.

Here’s the link I promise to the video of my daughter dousing me for the ALS challenge.  And it’s more than okay by me if you decide to honor God by sending donations to the ALS Association.  God cares deeply about victims of ALS.  You can learn more about Justice for Aaron on the FaceBook page of the same name.  You can learn about the Life Shapes discipleship tools from 3dm.

Whenever I talk about Jesus, someone will want to know what we believe at FCMC.  Go here.

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The second thing to understand about our MCs

Posted on August 15, 2014 by Pastor Jesse

“Discipleship is not just about learning the words of Jesus or learning to do the works of Jesus.  It is also about learning the ways of Jesus.”  – from a talk by Mike Breen

The Discipleship Square can help you understand what it’s like when you come into an MC (aka missional community, micro church).  You come in and everything is new and (if things are healthy) you feel well directed, led, and included.  You get to watch what’s going on, participate some, and really just enjoy yourself.  That can be a lot of fun for a little while.  But it’s important to remember that as a community, we are trying to imitate very intentionally the lifestyle of Jesus.   We want people to know they are welcome, important to us, and included (invitation), but we also work to get people engaged in mission and discipleship in ways that lead to spiritual growth (challenge).  We give attention to all three dimensions we see in Jesus’ life – Up, In, and Out.  Most people are good at one or two of those dimensions – and maybe not so good at the other.  As you get more involved, it’s pretty common to feel challenged and stretched, especially in that not-so-good-at-it dimension.  You may feel out of your comfort zone and uncomfortable.   It’s tempting at the point to try to go back to the easy “observer” phase or even to drop out. The discipleship square helps us all anticipate that and work together to push through it.  It also points to the time when you will be more comfortable and competent in all three dimensions.

When Jesus called his disciples, he began training them systematically and intentionally over time to do the sorts of things, Up, In, and Out, that he was doing.   He taught them, showed them, sent them, and celebrated with them.  This pattern of growth shows up in all of the accounts of Jesus and we see it in the early church as well.  (For that matter, many professions follow a very similar pattern to bring people along to learn skills).

Mike Breen and the people with 3dm articulate this very clearly in the “Discipleship Square.”  You can read about it in depth in Building a Discipling Culture, available on Amazon or through 3dm.

Leadership square

Discipleship Square

All of us at FCMC recognize that the discipleship square is a logical, helpful way to track how we are growing as disciples and as a communities.   As you look at the illustration, L stands for “leader” and D stands for “disciple”.  It is tempting, especially for leaders, to take shortcuts.  D2, for example, is pretty difficult.  The leader needs to invest extra time with the disciple during that phase.  But as we work through the square, we can anticipate taking on new and challenging things.  Along every leg, the discipleship square helps our leaders to understand better how to lead and encourage, and it helps the disciple to anticipate how things unfold.   For example, the leader gives more time leading by example for the disciple in the difficult D2 stage but shifts to more of an encouraging role as confidence and competence grow for the disciple in the D3 stage.

We recognize that not everyone has much ambition to be a leader, but all of us are commissioned by Jesus to make disciples.   All of us are expected to help someone else become a disciple.  That requires developing some skills for leadership.  Jesus’ first disciples were not prepared to lead when they met him, but were equipped to change the world by the time he was done.  Our vision is to be a part of that same movement of discipleship and mission, allowing God to work through us to impact and change the world today—one heart at a time.  And that will require all of us helping one another grow as disciples.  Of course, we can’t make that happen.  Spiritual growth is something God brings about.  But the square helps us understand the way Jesus made disciples. It gives insight regarding what participating with God looks like.  That way we can encourage one another on the journey.

 

 

 

 

 

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The first thing to understand about our MCs

Posted on August 5, 2014 by Pastor Jesse

As a church, we center our ministries on  discipleship and mission in community.  Most churches center on worship.  We worship together monthly response to what God is doing around us, in us, and through us.

Mike Breen and the talented folks at 3dm have developed some shapes that we use as tools that help us think about discipleship and how we do life together.  Here’s the first.  It’s called the Up-In-Out Triangle.  Easy enough.

Up In Out

Jesus told us to make disciples (Matthew 28:16-20)  So this is how we try to do that in our missional communities/microchurches.

First, we recognize that Jesus lived a 3 dimensional life.   So we try to follow Jesus by living out a 3 dimensional  ministry together.

UP: In Luke 6, we see Jesus going up on the mountain to pray.  “Up” refers to prayer, worship, Bible study, and seeking God.

IN: Then Jesus named each of the twelve disciples.  He formed a group to be with them.  “In” refers to doing life together, eating, sharing, praying for one another, supporting one another.

OUT: Finally, Jesus goes down the mountain with the disciples to meet the needs of the crowds, to heal, teach, and restore with God’s grace, love, and power.

If a disciple is someone who learns to imitate Jesus, then we believe all three dimensions need to be in place in our lives.   So we are very intentional about giving energy to each of these dimensions.

If you try it, you will likely find one of these dimensions to be more challenging.  Most Christians do one or two pretty naturally.  For example, being good and worship and prayer  (Up) and spending time with people (In), but not so good at being public about faith (Out).   For that person, being in a group that does “Out” intentionally can be a little challenging.   But that’s natural.  Things feel awkward when we aren’t used to them.  And we understand what that’s like.  We’ve been there.   As we’re learning, we try to be like a family where we challenge one another to take responsibility and learn new things, but to do so with a supportive environment where relationships come first and everyone has a place at the table.

 

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Microchurch Micropost

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Pastor Jesse

Our microchurches are about two things: Discipleship and Mission

We motivate and equip people to live as disciples of Jesus in such a way that they are able to motivate and equip others to live as disciples.

We help small communities gather, discern, and engage in mission to meet needs with God’s love, grace, and power.

We develop leaders through activities related to discipleship and mission.

We gather to worship to celebrate what God’s doing around us, in us, and through us (mission) and to provide teaching (part of discipleship).

That’s basically what our church does.

And, praise God, we’re seeing fruit.

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Who Are We Looking For: Updated

Posted on July 23, 2014 by Pastor Jesse

I reread what I wrote once before – and simply put, there wasn’t enough grace there.  And there still isn’t – but with grace in mind, I’ve provided an update.

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What sort of people are looking for at FCMC?

We are looking for ordinary people who want to walk with an extraordinary God.  We consider ourselves to be pretty ordinary people.   We call Jesus Lord, and as Jesus welcomed us so we welcome others.  And we find that when we do, it’s a lot of fun.  And as Jesus challenges as we seek to follow him, we find that we grow as we challenge one another.

We know God delights to do extraordinary things through ordinary people surrendered to him.  Because of that, we try to surrender daily to God and encourage one another to do the same.  In that way, we look expectantly for God to do amazing things.

We know Jesus started an extraordinary movement of discipleship and mission and by God’s grace, we were brought into that movement.   We are praying that this movement of God is extended right here on the First Coast of Florida, and that God will extend his grace to others around us.

More specifically:

1) We are looking for ordinary people who know they need God, who love Jesus and who earnestly desire to experience God authentically, personally, powerfully, and continually.  That’s part of what a surrendered life looks like.  We want people who want God more than comfort, safety, and security in the world.

2) We are looking for ordinary people who know they were made for a purpose greater than themselves.    We want ordinary people who pray, “Use me, Lord, anyway you can…”  when God reveals need to be met or a problem to be addressed.  We are looking for ordinary people who love Jesus, who have figured out that praying “Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” it begins with us.

3) We are looking for ordinary people who love Jesus and who know they were made for community and want to follow him with friends, who become like family forged in the fire of mission and discipleship.  We want people who want to build communities where ordinary people experience the presence of Christ and express the love of Christ to one another.

We are looking for people who don’t want to just go to church, but who want to be the church – a movement of grace and truth, moving, serving, and loving the world, centered on Jesus.  We are looking for ordinary people willing to be surrendered to an extraordinary God.

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