Army of Priests

I figure I have talked to roughly 60 people so far this year about God. That sounds impressive, but it is actually incredibly humbling. The fact that the almighty God of the universe would use a sinner like me to do such work is purely miraculous. I thank him for the privilege often.

But one thing I have learnt as God has used me is that evangelism isn’t all that difficult, nor should it be considered the domain of those who make money to do so. I often say that not everyone is called to place themselves in situations for the purpose of evangelism, but everyone is called to evangelise in the situations where they are placed. I just so happen to be placed on a university campus and God has been using me here. The great news is that if God can use me, than He can use you to. The great commission is for all of us and it is an amazing privilege.

I am no expert on this subject, merely a faithful no body. But allow me to share what I have learnt on my journey with God.

The Purpose of Evangelism

There is a common misconception that the purpose of evangelism is to get people saved. This results in a lot of frustration and loss of hope as people believe that God is not using them. In actual fact evangelisms success can be measured by only one thing: faithfulness. We are commanded to spread God’s word, if we do this than we have been obedient to God. Obviously we want to be as effective as possible, but it is our obedience and not our effectiveness that determines if we are following God.

There is another reason not to be discouraged by poor results from evangelism. Allow me to draw you a “salvation meter”:

People to the far left of this meter do not know God. They may never have heard of his name. As you move towards the cross you find people with some understanding of Him, people who are searching for Him, and people who are ready to accept Him. Then you have salvation. Heading into the red you have religious yet uncommitted persons, involved Christians, and passionate followers of Christ. Now the purpose of evangelism and discipleship is merely to move a person up that metre – for someone who has never heard the name of Jesus before that means telling him about Jesus; for the uncommitted Christian that means getting them involved.

A person’s salvation is usually the result of the long term work of God in their lives. Therefore, it is unwise to measure success in evangelism as being the point where people are pushed across the salvation line when many “unsuccessful” evangelists were required to get them to the point where they were ready in the first place. Personally, I derive great joy from planting small seeds in people deep into the blue, knowing I will never see the results of my labour, yet hoping that God will use my small effort as a part of a chain of action.

The Focus of Evangelism

Last year when I started talking to university students with one of my mentors I was very self conscious. I kept my distance from the action and was very nervous that people I know would see me. This is a typical response for someone new to what I was doing. The general progression of peoples focus during evangelism looks like this:

Self Conscious -> Message Conscious -> Other Conscious

As I suggested, when most people start talking to people about God their overwhelming thought is “I hope I don’t look like an idiot.” They are very much focused on themselves. Eventually their focus shifts however and they become more focused on their message. This is where they learn about the 4 spiritual laws, or improve their apologetics. I used to be involved in a lot of Christian discussion on a primarily atheist internet forum. In this challenging environment the logic and wording of my message was extremely important. I learnt a lot about how to challenge my own beliefs and also improved my apologetics remarkably.

Yet as time continued I found my focused shifted from this, and onto others. I am cursed with eyes that can see pain in people everywhere I look. My concern is no longer about how I look, or if my message is good enough, but rather on whether I am making some small difference, and giving some hope to the person I am talking to. My message and appearance are unimportant compared to their brokenness and the fact that God loves them. I am less interested now in saying the right things as I am in showing them love. Not because words are unimportant, but because words are simply an extension of that love.

The Prime Mover

You cannot save someone. Only God can do that. In fact, you cannot even make a dint against a person’s sin. Only God can call people to himself, you are merely a small, yet vitally important, tool He is using as part of that process. God does not send people on errands to do something under their own might. Rather, He uses us as His hand in this world and works through us.

If you can understand that you are merely a small tool of God, unable to save anyone, it becomes easier to accept you also cannot screw up and prevent God’s plan for someone. You are too small. You could, by inaction, paralyse God’s body and thus make it difficult for Him to act (God almost always works through His people) but I doubt that God would allow you to act, seeking to glorify Him, and then ruin someone’s chance when you say the wrong thing. Therefore, the only way you can prevent someone’s salvation is through inaction. It is better to do something than do nothing.

Methods

The how of salvation is very situation dependant, but here are some ideas to help you get started:

1. Tell people about your Christian activities. When someone asks “How was your weekend?” tell them you had a great time at Church. Don’t hide your faith. It is sad when I find people are Christian only after I have approached them about God. We should not be ashamed of our God for He was not ashamed of us. Who knows, maybe they are interested.
2. Have some conversation directors ready. Most people who study at my university come from Christian schools. When I talk to people I often ask “What school did you come from?” when they reply with some Christian private school I ask, “Really? Does that make you a Christian?” It takes a while to have some tools like this handy for your context, but they are very useful.
3. Have some materials on you. The knowing God personally booklets has a very useful summary of the gospel (essentially the 4 spiritual laws: God loves you, you sinned, Christ died for you, and you have a choice). Having this handy always means I have something to give to someone to talk through with someone. This gives me extra confidence. Similarity, I often use surveys as a way to start a conversation about God.
4. Learn from others. If there is someone you know who is passionate about evangelism spend time with them and learn from them. Also spend time with as many people as possible and tell them about who you have talked to this week. Become accountable and support one another.
5. Multiply. Once you are confident begin to teach other people. I have just finished taking someone out weekly to talk to people and they are now ready to take someone else out and teach them. By the end of this year I will have multiplied myself from 1 to 4. Even Christ did not aim to reach the masses, but rather train just 12 (or 11) people who could then multiply themselves among others.
6. Give it a go.

This is very brief, but I hope it offers some understanding of how God can use you. It truly is a privilege for God to use us in any of His pursuits and I pray that you will get to experience this privilege. I encourage you to reply here about anything you do as a result of this post.

Inspired by the events of Friday, the 25^th of May:

I saw him sitting there, on the concrete floor;
He was holding his sign, just begging for something more.
But I just kept on walking, being sure to look astray,
Lest he stare me in the eyes, and take my heart away.

But I cared so little, for needs that weren’t my own.
I walked as though I own my life, but really it’s on loan.
And as I passed him latter, I saw he’d sat all day,
I think that all he really wanted, was to hear “I care” as some would say.

But I loved myself, more than him this one time.
God’s roaring voice of love, was reduced to just a mime.
I couldn’t give him everything, I could never erase his fault,
But in just five minutes, I could have acted like real salt.

Yet with eyes focused, on only my own goals,
I know I walked past He, who lives in holy souls.
And now I fear, what I did not do,
I have one thing, I must confess to you.

Today, I starved my Christ.
Today, I threw God on the street.
Today, I tore His cloak of love.
Today, I walked past my King, Jesus.

Just a quick note that this blog has now passed 1000 views (far higher when feed viewers are taken into account).

One of the great challenges I that has been raging on my mind is how to spend myself showing love to people. On Monday night I got an idea for a social experiment that I did yesterday. The details of it follow:

The following idea came to me. Write the message “I love you more that this money. You can keep it or pass it on.” On 5 pieces of paper which I would wrap around $20 bills and give to random people. Yes, I am insane.

This is what I like about the experiment: Firstly, in a world where everyone is looking after themselves, seeking to increase their own wealth, this makes a statement that at least one person exists that loves them more than money. It may be hard to believe. It also states that you don’t need to know me, for me to love you.

Secondly, it is a note that challenges human greed. If you’re handed some money, would you keep it or pass it on? This is money that has cost you nothing, not money you have earned; it should be much easier to give away. And if they do, then they learn about love both as a receiver and a giver. One of the hardest things getting people to understand is God’s love. It is contrary to everything that seems natural. The only way to understand it is to experience it in some small way; that small way can bring someone one step closer to God.

But there is an almost prophetic dimension to it. I live in Australia. Australians are amongst the richest people in the world. Because I was born in this place at this time I have naturally been given blessings and wealth. I didn’t earn it. God gave it to me. In fact, God has given everything to us. And it goes to show that even though we haven’t always known God, he has loved us. The words I think he has for us are, “See, I’ve given you this gift. Will you keep it or pass it on?”

And so, the experiment proceeded like this:

Firstly, I have been sick the last few days. On Monday I took a day of work (I am a uni student and only work on Mondays) from a bug. Thus, I will earn no money this week. As night approached it was looking like I would still be to sick to go into the city on Tuesday. After cutting up the notes I prayed two things: a) that they would find whoever needed to know they were worth more than a twenty dollar bill, and b) that I would be well enough to do it. My stomach got better pretty much as soon as I prayed that and I had a great night sleep and was able to go into the city yesterday. I am still battling the remnants of a head cold though.

Secondly, after I reached the city I went up to an ATM and withdrew a hundred dollars in $20 bills. I then sat down at a park bench and wrapped the first bill around the first note. I put it in my pocket and started heading towards my campus (conveniently located in the inner city). I stopped at a book store and stealthily slipped the first one behind the front cover of a book at the front of the store. I felt so clever. It was a popular book, so someone is sure to find it.

When I had arrived at my campus I had the second note all ready in my pocket. It was fairly quiet at this time of morning and an Asian student was alone, reviewing his notes before a class. I walked up to him, said “hey”, and pretty much dropped the note on his books. He called after me as I headed up the stairs. Real smooth (not), and, suffice to say, a bit outside my comfort zone (and I’m a budding evangelist). I started wondering what the heck I was doing; if I had truly gone insane and what people would think.

I didn’t get to distribute any more of them until night (I have classes all day). After deciding that I wasn’t really brave enough to hand them to people I decided to hide the last three. I hid them at bus stops and in newspaper stands. After hiding my last one in the groves of a seat at a bus stop a woman with pizza walked past me and sat there. I drew some satisfaction from at least seeing the face of one person who was sure to find it.

So this is the story of my daring foray into losing my mind. But as I planted these notes I started to realise this was not a social experiment to see what would happen. It was an experiment on me. The question was would I through away $100 on a week when I earned nothing? Would I have enough faith to believe that maybe God could use the foolishness of a mad man? It was about stretching my comfort zone and seeing if I was really ready to place just the possibility of helping other people over my income.

Yesterday I won a battle against the greed in my own heart. I may be a fool, but I am a fool for God and not my own good. If God can somehow use what I have done, that is awesome. But if he can’t, then I will still be more faithful to some crazy hope than a wallet full of cash.

Thick paper to write on: $1

5 $20 bills: $100

One small victory against my own greed: Priceless

36 million people starve to death each year. Meanwhile, 300 million adults are obese.

1 billion people are so poor that their lives are in danger. Meanwhile, the global economy is worth $46 trillion dollars.

There are 8.6 million refugees, and 21 million “people of concern”. Meanwhile, the UN has received only 4% of the money it needs for 15 world crisis.

28 million children die from easily curable diseases each year. Meanwhile, the church is the biggest financial power, wealth accumulator, and property owner in existence.

I wonder: would Jesus be ashamed of us? After 2000 years we have done little to change the world. Jesus said people would know we are his disciples if we love one another (John 13:35) yet people post bumper stickers begging “Jesus, save me from your followers”. We are called to be like Christ, yet Ghandi spoke: “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.”

I remember walking through the city one night around a great, impressive Church. Inside the choir was practising but what shocked me is that they had forgotten the homeless person left sleeping on their steps. I was moved to pen this:

Under the Steeple
Of the old, stone Cathedral
Lies man with no cradle
Bar the cold, hard, steel rail

And under that Steeple
Of the wise, holy People
The sound of the faithful
Rips the dark night’s new veil

Yet under this Steeple
Of the great, powerful Symbol
The hungry man will wail
For some food, love, or ladle

For under this Steeple
Of the old, stone Cathedral
The folk of the temple
Are too busy, yet idle

Cos’ no one is faithful
To the man with no cradle
Hoping peace will prevail
Laying under their Steeple

I latter tried to find this man and show him that Christians are more than good singers but was never able to.

I am a Christian because I believe God is guilty of scandalous and unfair grace. I believe he loved a broken world and a broken people so much he came and died for us. I believe ‘love’ is a verb – an action word. I believe God loves us so much, even though we were so wicked, that he moved heaven and earth to show just how much he cares. I believe that if God can love me, than he can love anyone.

In this world everyone is trying to do what is best for them. Three people feast on more than they can eat whilst another seven are permanently hungry. I believe there is enough food for all ten. I believe that God did not make the mistake of putting more people on this Earth than it can support but rather that there is enough for everyone’s need, but not everyone’s greed.

I believe greed is unsatisfying. No matter how much one acquires there is always more to acquire. I believe there must be a better way. Jesus showed us that way. He did not seek what is best for himself but rather placed other’s first. I believe that love is a choice to place other’s before you. In this way I believe that God’s kingdom is countercultural. I would rather a shack on the rock than a castle built on sand.

I believe that Christ did not die to get a rabble into heaven but rather to create a Church that would revolutionize society. I believe he came to plant a Church which the Gates of Hell will not prevail against (Mathew 16:18). Gates are defensive fortifications, thus I believe the Church is called to be offensive – to storm the gates of sin, pain, shame, anger, and greed in this world and to change it through contagious love.

God’s plan to save us from our sin is to teach us to love. I believe love hurts. I believe that love costs. I know that the only way to undo the damage done by a self-serving culture is to become part of an other-serving culture. I believe that God loves homosexuals, immigrants, criminals, porn stars, the hungry, orphans, widows, the handicapped, the lonely, the unloved, the depressed, and the abused. And I believe that God loves me. I wonder that if God, who is infinitely huge, can love them than who am I not to?

I am a fraud. I live in comfort whilst others are uncomfortable. I eat my fill whilst others starve. I walk past people in poverty with my pay check in my pocket. But love is an action word. And love is hard. And love is costly. But love will save the world. And love has saved me.

I long for a church that reminds the world what it is to live in community. I long for more than programs on Sunday morning. I long for us to see the pain around us and ask ourselves “what does it mean to be Christian?”

I believe another world is possible. If we humble ourselves and remember that whilst we were still wretched Christ died for us than maybe we could be motivated to show that same love for other wretches. I believe that as we place others before ourselves we will infect the world one person at a time and take it over with our love. I know we won’t get it right till after we are dead, but I believe it is worth the try.

I believe we are in this world, but not of it. I think we must somehow balance the requirements of living in a corrupt world with the values of our true home. I believe God has given us the Holy Sprit and each other to help guide us on this type rope walk. I believe Christianity is not a destination. We don’t simply become saved and then exist as the end point of the gospel. I believe Christianity is a journey of imaginative, deeply expressed, and aggressive love.

Another world is possible. Another world begins in each of us.

God loved Saddam Hussein

God loves George Bush

God loves Hillary Clinton

God loves Tony Blair

God loves John Howard

God loved Mao

God loved Hitler

God loved Nero

God loved Pharaoh

God loves Liars

God loves Cheats

God loves Cowards

God loves the Weak

God loves Scammers

God loves Spammers

God loves Idiots

God loves Geniuses

God loves Porn Stars

God loves Paedophiles

God loves Insurgents

God loves Soldiers

God loves the Homeless

God loves the Hungry

God loves Fags

God loves the Lost

God loves the Lonely

God loves Prostitutes

God loves Outcasts

God loves Unpopular People

God loves Popular People

God loves Orphans

God loves Widows

God loves Dreamers

God loves the Depressed

God loves people that don’t Shower

God loves Stupid Drivers

God loves Bullies

God loves Haters

God loves Evil People

And God loves You

Only one question remains: Do you?

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. (Mathew 4:18-22)

“Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Mathew 10:38-39)

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. “” (Mathew 16:24-25)

I think that there comes a point in every Christian’s life where God asks “will you follow me?” This is a big question. Before this point Christians usually hear what God wants them to do and then decide if they are going to do it. What God is asking is that you commit to following him before he tells you what to do. No buts. No trying to talk yourself out of it. No thinking you’re insane. Just do it.

For me, this point came a few months ago. I struggled with it for a few days for I knew the enormity of the question. Would I follow God completely? Would I give up anything he asked? God had been “radicalizing” me for a while but I knew this was still a big step. In the end, I said yes.

I had never fasted a day in my life. The day I said yes was a Sunday. I work as a programmer on Monday. After I said yes the first thing that came into my mind was to fast on Monday. So I did. For the first time in my life I went from 6 am – 7 pm without food. It was an amazing experience. It seems small but it was a big step from someone who got very hungry very quickly. It took a risk (on my comfort) to do.

A few weeks latter I started this blog. I knew I had a message to say but I never had the guts to say it. But I felt compelled to start this. So I did. I never told anyone it existed for a fair while as I built my confidence. I risked being a fool for God.

These two scenarios sound small but they build up. Eventually I think I will reach the point where I will be unable to say “no”. Then I will be completely sold out for God.

Christianity is not for cowards

According to Kierkegaard, “To want to admire, instead of follow, Christ is not an invention of bad people; no it is more an invention of those who spinelessly want to keep themselves detached at a safe distance from Jesus.”

Are you ready to die? God wants your life. We can’t hold onto our old culture any longer. When we become Christians we enter a new nation. This is a nation in which we fearlessly place ourselves last. That is scary. To meet the needs and desires of other’s instead of your own is risky. To work towards God’s good, without regard to your good is dangerous. What if others or God isn’t looking out for you?

Radical Christendom takes courage. You have to be willing to lose everything. You must be willing to give up your comfort, your desires, your dreams, and your hopes. You must die to yourself. If you are too afraid to do that than stop reading now, but be wary: “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).

Placing God First

The problem with this world comes down to this: we place ourselves first. This is pride and it is the root of all sin. God restores us by striking a blow to this root problem. Love causes us to place ourselves last. It fixes the very essence of what is wrong with us.

If we want to change the world, we must learn to place ourselves last. Christianity is not about us. It is about God’s glory, and God’s good, and God’s plan. Our lives were not created for our own enjoyment but for God’s. He is infinitely bigger than us.

One of the primary problems with Western Christianity is that we still place ourselves first. We are interested in more comfortable Church buildings. We want to be seen and popular. We want to be saved, but not at a cost. This compromise is untenable. True Christianity is seeing the pain in this world and caring for it. To seek out the widows, the orphans, the lonely, the hungry, the poor, and the despised people of this world and show them that someone cares for them. Place them first.

Once we have our motive right (God’s glory) we can begin transforming our life by raising the bar and lowering the barrier.

Raising the Bar

Raise the bar on your faith. Be frugal so that you can give more. Get up early to read the bible. Eliminate the sin in your life. Look at your life and find just one thing you can work on this week. The Radical Christian is always evaluating his faith to find where he (or she) falls short and tries to do better. There is not much to say here.

Lowering the Barrier

Honesty is one of the most difficult things you will ever do. One of the most powerful events in my life was when I opened up to people about my own struggles and hurts and desires. I stopped wearing a facade and became real.

The reality is that we all sin. Try and find someone who you can confess one of your small sins to. Tell someone you got really angry at that guy on the road and you feel bad about it, or that you got too much change from the store and didn’t give it back. Start small if you have to. But start somewhere. Eventually you’ll work your way up as you build upon your relationship and as you get used to honesty.

Another major influence on my Christian walk has been getting people involved in it. About 7 months ago I started meeting with two friends just to pray. This grew into an incredible relationship and has had an incredible affect. It seems small, but things build up. Now I send emails when I learn things from God. We ask questions on each other. It is a real church. No walls – just life.

There is much more I can say on what you can practically do, but once you get your motives right and once you have made a commitment to following God with all you have He will start to work in you on his own. I leave you with one last passage:

“Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”

Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” (Mathew 19:27-30)

The Radical Christian: An Overview

The Radical Christian: Being the Gospel

The Radical Christian: Revolutionising Society

The Radical Christian: Place in Ecclesiology

I’m interupting my Radical Christian series to link you to a great discussion at Outside the Four, another wordpress blog.

Here is a preview:

If you had a “lost” friend tell you, “Alright!!! Time to shut you up. I’ll give you one shot at this. I’ll come to church with you! ONE SHOT!”

1. What exactly would you hope he or she experiences during that “ONE SHOT?”

2. Will they get that at your church?

3. Are you part of the progress or the problem?

Check it out here

“It is a universal tendency in the Christian religion, as in many other religions, to give a theological interpretation to institutions which have developed gradually through a period of time for the sake of practice usefulness, and them read that interpretation back into the earliest periods and infancy of these institutions, attaching them to an age when in fact nobody imagined they had such a meaning.” – Richard Hanson 

Ecclesiology is, in essence, the theology of Church. Wikipedia defines it as “that branch of Christian theology that deals with the doctrine pertaining to the Church: its role in salvation, and its origin, its discipline, and its leadership.” Angel fire describes it as follows: “the field of theology which deals with the nature of the church and what it means for the church to be the ‘body of Christ’.”

Protestant theology (particularly soteriology – the study of salvation) changed considerably during the reformation, its ecclesiology did not. This is what a typical Church looks like:

• There is a pastor or clergy or official staff
• There is a laity or general congregation
• There is a church building or special meeting place
• There is a special time each week for a service
• That service primarily involves a sermon from a single preacher and the rest of the congregation listening to him
• Communion may be distributed
• Some songs may be sung
• There may be various announcements for other events the church organisation is doing

All of the above elements were borrowed from Catholicism and, in tern, from Paganism (for a history of traditional Church practices I highly recommend “Pagan Christianity” by Frank Viola at www.ptmin.org). Not one of these elements is present in the New Testament (or at least not as practised today).

The result is a Christianity in which “the ears are the only organs of a Christian” (Luther – something he thought was good). This ecclesiology of Church creates a comfortable Christianity. The common problems with the “Clergy Driven” Church are outlined here.

The plan of the gospel

Church cannot be understood without understanding its place within the rest of theology. In short, humanity sinned and spoiled God’s creation. God has been working on restoring (redeeming) it since then. This is more than salvation. God does not merely want his creation to survive, we wants it to be “very good” again.

This entails change. The good news is not “accept Jesus and survive for eternity” it is “accept Christ and be made into a New Creation”. As Shane Claiborne puts it, “Few people are interested in a religion that has nothing to say to the world and offers only life after death, when what people are really wondering is whether there is life before death.” (The Irresistible Revolution, pg 117) It is not the purpose of Christianity to get people into heaven; its purpose is to enact change in people on the earth now.

If the Old Testament used the plan “create external laws to change people” then the New Testament uses the plan “change people’s hearts to change their actions”. By being filled with the Holy Spirit our character and actions begins to change. We begin to become noticeably different from non-Christians.

This gospel of redemption is further detailed here.

The purpose of Church

In light of this the purpose of Church is to transform Christians and the world. The Church is the “advance guard” of God’s kingdom (a redeemed world). The Church is the bride of Christ (an organism with an intimate relationship with God). Let us investigate these two dimensions:

The Church is the forbearer of God’s kingdom. God’s kingdom is one in which human nature is corrected and people place others before themselves. It is a place in which God is honoured by all of us and in which the stains of sin (placing ourselves first) are washed away. Essentially God’s Kingdom is a community where every member places the other members of that community before themselves. This is the result of the transformation I speak of. The Church is meant to be the bearer of this community.

The Church is the bride of Christ. It is a body. The same love that causes us to place others above ourselves results in radical interdependence between Christians much like can be found in an ant colony. I have often wondered how as a Christian I am worthy of being the “bride of Christ” (a bit weird for a guy) but I now realise it is like wondering how a single ant can build a colony – it doesn’t. The Church is greater than the sum of its parts, great enough even to be the bride of Christ. It is our mission, on God’s behalf, to present that bride perfect before Christ. We must get ourselves and the Church ready for our wedding day.

Radical Christians and Ecclesiology

Radical Christians are the key to carrying out the purpose of Church. God’s kingdom is a kingdom made of Radical Christians. Christ’s bride is perfect only if it contains them. As Radical Christians duplicate they slowly transform the Church and the world, perfecting his bride and showing his kingdom.

The Church does not exist just to get people into heaven. It exists to change people at a deep level. Radical Christians are central to this. They are both the result of these processes and the initiators of it. I have talked about Church being changed by Radical Christians, but in reality the church should be changing people and making them Radical Christians. This catch 22 results in a situation where Christians (the Church) begin to build and change each other.

This post has been heavy and far too rapid. In my final post I will take this theory of Radical Christendom and show how it is practically applicable to our lives. In the mean time I remind you of Stanley Hauerwas’ quote:

“The work of Jesus was not a new set of ideals or principals for reforming or even revolutionizing society, but the establishment of a new community, a people that embodied forgiveness, sharing and self sacrificing love in its rituals and disciple. In that sense, the visible church is not to be the bearer of Christ’s message; but to be the message.”

The Radical Christian: An Overview

The Radical Christian: Being the Gospel

The Radical Christian: Revolutionising Society

The Radical Christian: How they got there

Also Recommend: Seven Suppositions about Church

“Imagine you are a great evangelist (like Billy Graham great) and share you faith with one person every day of every year for sixteen straight years. Assuming al those people accept the message and commit their lives to Christ, you will have led 5,840 into a personal relationship with Christ. It’s simple addition. Not bad. You might say, “No, unbelievable!” Now imagine that you train or disciple two people in year one, and they train two people each in year two and so on. In year sixteen, because your training curve is multiplying geometrically rather than merely adding arithmetically, you will have infected 65,536 people. That’s unbelievable, but that’s the Jesus way. Jesus did His math and knew that multiplication would get the job done faster and better than addition.” – Kenny Luck (Risk pg 176)

Are you familiar with the term “social networking”? A social network is a map of relationships over a large number of people. Imagine I know persons A, B, and C. A in turns knows person D and E; B knows F, G, and H; and C knows persons I, J, K, and L. By virtue of friends A, B, and C I have an indirect relationship with persons D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, and L. I once heard someone estimate that each person has on average 100 acquaintances. Assuming there are no double ups, this means that by the 5^th level you are “connected” to 10 billion people (the Earth’s population is currently about 6.5 Billion). What this means is that you don’t have to be Billy Graham to change the world.

The worst disasters are diseases. Malaria infects 350-500 million people and causes about 3 million deaths annually. This bug is not a major weapon, it causes no mass destruction, and it does not raise breaking news headlines. Malaria has only a very small area of effect: its victim and the people in their immediate vicinity. Christianity works the same way. Jesus was no headline. He slipped very quietly through history only truly training 11 people and leaving about 100 followers. Yet he is clearly the most influential person of the last 2000 years.

A Radical Christian contains a passion that is infectious. Whenever someone asks me how to revitalise Christianity or fix the Church they seem to expect some massive plan to launch a huge new organisation or new-breaking project. The reality is that the most effective change is far more personal and challenging. I tell them that if they want to change the world, they have to raise the bar on their walk with Christ (which we have covered) and lower their barrier with other people.

Lowering the Barrier

A while ago I had the opportunity to hear from people who used to go to the same Church as I. People come and go and this Church in particular had seen some massive changes. What became apparent from people’s reflections was that everyone in that Church had been lonely. You would never have known from the outside. It appeared like any ‘healthy’ church. People smiled, there were plenty of social outings, and people were friendly. But no one ever found the intimacy they were looking for. As a result, people remained the same year in and year out, never changing.

Christians tend to be individualistic. Our salvation is individual. Our relationship with God is individual. Our lives are separated during the week. A couple of hours on a Sunday morning and some programs during the week simply aren’t enough to build a relationship that will turn a group of people into one ‘body’. This type of relationship requires you to share your life, your insights, your fun, and even your relationship with God with other people. They require a great deal of trust, brute honesty, and intimacy.

As Christians we must reach the point where we begin to personally feed and support each other rather than relying on a small clergy on Sunday mornings to do the work. To be truly effective in building one another we must know one another. We must take the risk of removing our Church mask and revealing ourselves to one another. As we do this, we find more acceptance and assurance than ever before. We find other like minded people with similar problems to our own. We find sleeping soldiers waiting for someone to stir their passion.

If you have God in your bones then you can show someone God by showing them yourself. As you break down your mask and show people how you live out your authentic walk with God people will see that you are different and will feel challenged on their own walk. This isn’t to be done in pride (“Look at me, I read my bible”), but as simply showing what is real (“I was reading Isaiah 58 this morning and…”). Share your challenges and your triumphs. Talk about the things that are confusing you as well as your revelations into truth. Your passion and your life will rub off.

Changing the World

Diseases only affect their victim and the people around them yet change the world. As a radical Christian (the “victim”) your faith should affect the people around you and thereby change the world. As radical Christians reproduce (and they are – more and more stories from around the world are arising) they slowly take over the world. We could end poverty if everyone was a radical Christian. We could stop suicide. We could provide a shoulder for every hurting person. We can change the world. We don’t need to wait for Christ to return – we can begin changing the world now. Simply by raising the bar on our own faith, and exposing our faith to others by lowering the barriers between us.

The Radical Christian: An Overview

The Radical Christian: Being the Gospel

The Radical Christian: Place in Ecclesiology

The Radical Christian: How they got there