[photopress:dave_web_color.jpg,thumb,alignright]Dave is cofounder and a board member of Off The Map. Dave is a Christian and high-tech business leader. He’s been a worship leader, small group leader, led multiple youth groups and assisted in planting a church in the 90s. On the business side, Dave has led many high-performance software teams and marketing efforts. Dave and his wife Sharon are the proud parents of three children and live in Seattle.

Bangladesh, one of the world’s most populous (140 million people) nations, is the international poster child for poverty and natural disasters. In fact many leaders have given up hope that Bangladesh will ever amount to anything more than a black hole for foreign aid.

Mohammed Yunus was born in what is now Bangladesh. He came to the US on a scholarship, earned a Ph.D. in Economics and then returned to the newly formed country of Bangladesh to head up a university economics department. While there, Yunus became increasingly disillusioned with the rampant poverty and quickly realized that the economics theories he was espousing were functionally irrelevant.

Do Something
Yunus chose to do something. He visited local villages and discovered that the poorest people were paying local moneylenders 10% interest per month (or even per week!) for working capital to purchase raw materials and small equipment for their self-employment livelihoods. This practice of abusive usury consumed their potential profits and trapped them in an unrelenting cycle of poverty.

Yunus decided to do what he could do. He began offering tiny (micro) loans to the poorest people with amazing results. Out of this emerged the Grameen Bank.

Grameen Bank’s primary focus is providing very small loans (as little as $25-50) to the poorest of the poor to be used as working capital in their own micro businesses. Today the Grameen Bank is the largest bank in Bangladesh and still focuses exclusively on making loans to the poorest of the poor.

Challenging The WHBS (Widely Held Belief Systems)
As is the case with all significant change, there have been innumerable critics and naysayers. Yunus doesn’t fit nicely into either the conservative or progressive philosophical camps and he’s had to challenge and overcome many objections and widely held [mis]beliefs about poor people. Here are a few of them:

Widely Held Belief		Grameen Bank Experience/Results
Poor people could not find remunerative occupations		Millions of poor borrowers are successfully self-employed without any training
Poor people would not be able to repay loans		Repayment rates have reached 97%
Poor rural women were not bankable		96% of borrows are women
Poor people cannot save		Micro-savings have proven as successful as micro-lending
Rural power structures would make sure that the bank failed		As of July 2004, there are 3.7 million borrowers with 1,267 branches in 46,000 villages, covering more than 68% of the villages in Bangladesh.

The fundamental reason Yunus has succeeded is that he believes in the built-in entrepreneurial survival capabilities of poor people and their commitment to keeping their word. As a result, Grameen Bank has never required any collateral from borrowers.

Widely Held (mis) Beliefs about Ordinary Christians
In a similar way many pastors have Widely Held (mis)Beliefs about Ordinary Christians. The problem looks something like this: fewer and fewer people in their communities are excited about evangelism activities/programs and participating in evangelism on a regular basis. When they (pastors) put more energy, attention and money on big events to re-invigorate people to care more and do more about evangelism, the resulting returns are weak. In many ways this is similar to the frustrating situation the various governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) found themselves in Bangladesh. It took a new approach with fundamentally different assumptions to begin the gradual process of creating an effective, working, sustainable approach.

Perceptions of Ordinary Christians
Here are some (unhelpful) perceptions I’ve held at times about Ordinary Christians. See if you can relate.

1. Ordinary Christians don’t tithe without constant “encouragement”
2. Ordinary Christians are looking for religious entertainment experiences [and complimentary childcare], not the sacrificial service of true servants
3. Ordinary Christians can’t remember the correct full and life-giving Christian doctrine, so we have to keep reminding them
4. Ordinary Christians have kind of messy [sinful] lifestyles/habits which makes it very difficult for them to be “used by God” as “witnesses”
5. Ordinary Christians are too busy focusing on their jobs, kids, work, leisure time, non-Christian social groups than being good servants in their local church

Embracing The Ordinary
My biggest Widely Held (mis)Belief, when it came to understanding Ordinary Christians, was thinking that all of these “issues” needed to be overcome rather than embraced. I also began to understand why Jesus was so angry with the religious leaders he encountered. It was simply because they were not making the journey of faith doable for the ordinary folks around them.

Yunus believes that “religion … should take into account the reality of people’s lives; moreover, religious leaders should strive harder to improve people’s lives here on earth” [Give Us Credit, Alex Counts, Time Books, 1996, page 322]. He believes that if financial resources can be made available to the poor people on terms and conditions that are appropriate and reasonable, “these millions of small people with their millions of small pursuits can add up to create the biggest development wonder” [Grameen Bank Info web site, Dec 2004]. I am particularly struck by his term “appropriate and reasonable”. When it comes to providing Ordinary Christians appropriate and reasonable approaches to evangelism we have much to learn from Yunus and the Grameen Bank.

Inappropriate Evangelism
The problem with most evangelism programs (like bad lending approaches) is that they are “inappropriate and unreasonable” and therefore are not sustainable or scalable. They require people to stop doing what they normally do and do something different. We ask people to put their normal lives on “pause”, do something “unnormal” and then work double-time to catch up on the things in their lives which have been queuing up. All of which (to the Ordinary Christian) feels like the abusive usury I mentioned earlier in this article. It may even be fun to “act” bold for a while but eventually we head back to our ordinary lives. It seems like we leaders are addicted to the dramatic and allergic to the ordinary.

What about an evangelism approach designed for ordinary, busy, distracted people? One that didn’t require people to remember much, present/pitch anything, didn’t cost money, and something they could do everyday even on their worst days? Could this be the key to unlocking the hidden potential in each ordinary Christian?

If you’re interested in some ideas of what this might look like, check out Ordinary Attempts. If you like these ideas, you might be interested in investigating an upcoming Evangelism For The Rest of Us event.

Interested in learning more about microfinance? Read: Banker To The Poor or check out this recent study reports that there are now estimated to be some 10,000 organizations involved in some form of microfinance yet together these organizations are only supplying about 1% of the estimated $300 billion need for micro-loans. Two (of the many) Christian organizations that are leaders in microfinance are Opportunity International (a “pure play” in microfinance) and WorldVision/VisionFund (offering microfinance integrated with other development services.)

Before Luther officially started ?The Reformation? many other reformers preceded him. Luther got the press but they paved the way. Perhaps the same comparisons could be made with the missional movement. The missional movement is primarily about refocusing the church’s attention back on the people Jesus misses most. While some see this as a new idea it is actually an old idea gone fallow. Groups like Alpha have been exploring how to make this connection for a number of years with much success. Marti Clark is the Alpha Regional Advisor for the Southern California area and an Off the Map colleague. We asked her to tell us about her work with Alpha.

These are the words of Melissa (not her real name), a 28 year old “never-churched” psychic, previously involved in Reiki, Tarot, and other “New Age” activities, who only a few weeks before had described Christianity as a “dead religion”, and her goddess as “a vibrant, life-giving force.”

Melissa developed a spiritual friendship with Brian. She and Brian are both teachers. Brian’s church was joining with three other churches in the Southern California region to launch an Alpha Course so he invited Melissa to come along.

The Alpha Course is an 11-week practical introduction to the Christian faith. Perhaps because many conventional churches have embraced Alpha, I have heard it sometimes dismissed as “just another contrived program dreamed up by the modernist church

Being the leader of a missional community and a long time participant in Alpha, I have come to appreciate the intentionality and thoughtfulness of Alpha. In fact one of the primary missions of our community is to serve traditional churches by helping them put on Alpha events.

Here are some elements of Alpha that I think the missional movement might learn from as it seeks to find its way toward intentional missionality and faith sharing in contemporary culture.

Food: Each Alpha session begins with a meal. Small groups eat together. Friendships form around a shared meal. That sense of friendship provides a “safety net” for spiritual conversation. For Melissa, that friendship spilled over into email conversations with her new Christian friends.

Joy: Laughter, jokes, and fun are an important part of the Alpha ethos. Humor defuses the intensity that so often accompanies spiritual discussions. It’s interesting to me how Jesus used humor when communicating spiritual truths. It was a relief to Melissa that these Christians didn’t take themselves too seriously.

Grace: Alpha training places the highest value on gentleness, humility and deep respect towards every person, regardless of their beliefs and attitudes. The aim is to make the church a safe place for people with questions. Melissa told us that until meeting Brian and coming attending Alpha she had avoided Christianity, because she didn’t think “the Christian god had a place for people like me”.

Content: At some point we need to communicate the content of our faith in a culturally relevant way. Alpha expresses that content of the gospel through talks that are carefully screened of any jargon or language that would be incomprehensible to people like Melissa, and make them feel like outsiders.

Conversation: After each talk there is a time for small-group discussion. The rule in Alpha is that no question is too simple or too hostile. This discussion time is by far the favorite part of the Alpha evening. Group facilitators are trained not to “answer” questions, but to encourage discussions around them. As George Hunter has said, the “ministry of conversations” over time has perhaps never been as important as it is in our current culture. It doesn’t seem to matter whether we can answer their questions. In fact regarding such questions as suffering and evil, they (our Alpha guests) don’t necessarily expect satisfying answers. Just the experience of conversation about things that matter has a powerful influence. Most inquirers like Melissa have never in their lives had an intelligent conversation with a Christian that didn’t become defensive or judgmental in the face of penetrating questions.

Power of the Holy Spirit: Melissa and many of her contemporaries are very experienced in encounters with the supernatural. Any faith claim that leaves out the experience of the transcendent is for them “a dead religion”. The Alpha Course includes a “Retreat” that concentrates on the person and work of the Holy Spirit, and a teaching on “Healing”. Both sessions include “ministry times” where participants are invited to receive prayer. Countless Alpha guests have had life-transforming experiences through these encounters with the Holy Spirit. The ministry time on the Healing night was a moment of power encounter for Melissa. “I felt a powerful presence that I can only describe as the “fire of the Spirit” surging through my body. I knew God was talking to me?”

Community: Alpha allows people to “belong before they believe”. Their faith exploration takes place in the context of a community that is there for them through all stages of their journey. Melissa again: “When I went up to the front, the other members of our group went up to pray for me. The love and support I received from them was absolutely wonderful!” Like many small groups formed in Alpha, Melissa’s group has chosen to continue to pursue their journeys of faith together. They are even planning to do Alpha again and invite some of their non-Christian friends.

[photopress:kelly_bean2.jpg,thumb,alignleft]This spring, Off the Map founder Jim Henderson’s book of practical inspiration for evangelism “AKA Lost” was released for sale. Within weeks of this happy event our family sold our spacious home in the country and prepared to move to town, to scale down and simplify.

Selling a large house and buying a small house meant we had money in the bank. Since we do not currently attend an “organized” church, tithing takes on new forms. We gather regularly in our home as a small community of 20 adults and 10 children. I serve as cultivator/leader for this group named “Third Saturday.”

For years, I have thought of trying a simple group experiment with money. Along with my flexible husband Ken, I determined this was just the time to give the experiment a try and to let ‘Third Saturday’ in on the fun as well.

Here’s the idea: We took a portion of our “tithe” and converted it to crisp $50 bills. Each person in ‘Third Saturday’ was given $50 with simple instructions and one month to use it. This is where “AKA Lost” comes in. I read “Lost” only days before our house sale and saw that Chapter One would be a perfect instructor for the money experiment. The chapter concludes with the following suggestions for ordinary attempts at evangelism:

Ask someone this question. “How are you?” Now here’s the tricky part. When the person begins to answer, actually listen. Don’t interrupt with your own story. Spend a few minutes being unusually interested in the person and leave it at that. Don’t witness, preach, or say anything religious.

Practice noticing the people God has put around you. Here’s how: take a small notebook or tape recorder with you this week and begin to write down observations (or record oral notes) about the people you notice whom you’ve never “seen” before, kind of like relational peripheral vision. Ask God to give you new ideas about how you could serve these people.

The only guideline was to practice Paying Attention and notice a need. Since God is already at work in individuals and in the world, whatever we really learned when we watched and listened was fair game. The money could go to a neighbor, a stranger, to an organization or, even to meet a need of one’s own. We were investing in taking time and making space to Pay Attention to what God was up to and then take action.

‘Third Saturday’ is made up of a handful of twenty-somethings, young couples and families, empty nesters, single divorcees and families with teens. We hail from homes as far flung as South Africa, The Horn of Africa, Albania, New York, and California as well as the Pacific NW. We are a collection of artists and musicians, computer programmers, stay at home moms, and students, along with an engineer, a social worker, a midwife, a nurse/entrepreneur, a realtor, a missionary on furlough, and a masseuse in the mix.

When we gathered a month later to share our stories, the diversity of our group was reflected in the assortment of stories told.

The point of the experiment wasn’t as much about giving away $50, as it was a call to Pay Attention and realize we can make a difference when we really “see” people. Although the money wasn’t the main thing, it was interesting to hear how people felt about being given responsibility for “someone else’s money” (it’s all God’s money right?) to do with as they would.

For some of us the experiment was freeing; for some it was a tenuous stretch of faith; for others it was a serious matter that required thorough research and verifiable outcomes; and for some of us the desire to “do it right” was rather paralyzing. There were also a variety of feelings about practicing the ordinary attempt of “Paying Attention”. Many found it natural, for others it was weighty; others experienced it as exciting but uncomfortable.

Money went to encourage a young artist, cover a month’s expenses for an indigenous pastor in Africa, send flowers to a new divorcee struggling with depression, take a co-worker to lunch, help with the mission budget at a tiny country church, buy a goat to be roasted at the end of Ramadan for a group of Somali refugees in Portland, buy a fine bottle of wine for a wedding, help an uninsured elderly couple who lost everything in a fire, to send a young single mom and her kids on a movie date, provide a special anniversary dinner for a low income couple, establish a fund for feeding the elderly in Albania and help a two year old with autism access treatment. One community member was inspired to invest in micro-finance to help with development in the Third World. She used the $50 as seed money and added $950 more of her own funds to get started. Another couple combined their money, matched the funds and sent it to a Doctors Without Borders work in drought affected West Africa because they noticed that this terrible situation was going largely without response in the world. Several people are still holding their funds, waiting and learning.

There is a story worth telling behind each one of these experiences, a story of opening up to God and people, a story of serving and caring and a story of learning and growing, a story of many lives touched. Fifty dollars doesn’t go too far, but, in this case, it may go further than we will ever know.

More than anything, the $50 served as a tool to remind us that we all have something of value to give- our time and attention. I wonder how these experiences might begin to shift all our views about our “own” time and our “own” money. What if we were to play with this experiment each month or even each day?

What if?

[photopress:bill_yaccino.jpg,thumb,alignleft]“Pastor Bill?” said the unfamiliar voice on the end of the line. “My fiancé and I need help, will you help us?” Her name was Jennifer. I had never talked to her before this phone call.

As a pastor, I naturally responded by telling her to buzz off and then slammed the receiver down. Not really. Unless you are depraved beyond what Calvin said we all are at birth, most of us would say something like, “Well, I’ll try.”

That’s what I said.

Jennifer replied, “My fiancé, Mike, and I consider ourselves spiritual but not religious. We are getting married in a few months and we kind of think it is one of the most important days of our lives. We’ve called seven churches, talked to six receptionists and one minister, and all have told us they can’t help us.”

“How so?” I asked.

I’ll never forget the rejection in Jennifer’s voice. “Some asked if we were members of the church – I guess we gave the wrong answer. Some asked if we were living together – again, wrong answer. Others asked if we were previously married. Still, others required we go through a 10-week counseling session. I guess we just had the wrong answers to some of the questions. Honestly, it made us feel pretty sh#%@y!”

Here was a couple looking for spiritual guidance. Christian pastors were nowhere to be found.

“How did you get my name?” I asked.

Jennifer informed me their caterer gave them my name. The caterer told them that I was a great guy that seemed pretty “normal.” I’m not kidding; she said that!

Jennifer continued, “We took a look at your website and thought you seemed like the type of minister we wanted at our wedding. Can you help us? Oh, and what do we call you? Reverend? Father? What?”

To be honest, a few years ago I was one of those “wrong answer” pastors. I was sure that by being selective about whom I married, I was saving the institute of marriage. I was being righteously selective, as if marriage was only valid for Christians. I wonder how many couples I made feel terrible about themselves?

After this encounter, I went through my own personal “Dan Puhl” (A New Kind of Christian, Brian McLaren) type of experience, and I began hanging around people who did not attend church regularly – many spiritual, but not religious. You know, the type of people we all read about, but never meet because we are so busy being pastors!

Long story short, I was invited to officiate several weddings for these “unchurched” people. They liked the way I lived out my faith and how they felt free to question and reconsider their own. So I performed a few weddings. I loved it! And guess what? They loved it! So did their families, their friends, even the secular wedding professionals with whom I partnered.

And here’s another really cool thing – they paid me well! Not like the cheapo weddings I had done for the previous 12 years in the church. Most importantly, for the first time in a dozen years, I felt Missional. I felt authentic. I felt empowered to serve these couples without an agenda. I echo Rob Bell when he said; “I am learning that the church is at its best when it gives itself away.” (Velvet Elvis, p. 165).

Just two weeks ago, I sat in Starbucks and talked with Amy and Raed about their wedding. Amy is a young, attractive professional raised in a Greek Orthodox family. Raed is a young, well-educated man born in Lebanon to a Muslim family.

While their families are not overly devoted to their religious heritage, they are also not super pleased that their children are marrying outside of their cultural beliefs. Both Amy and Raed are respectfully and culturally connected to their faith backgrounds, but neither lives out or embraces their faith actively. They are, however, in their own words “spiritual,” and very interested in living out life the way it is “supposed to be.” Isn’t it interesting how human nature takes a look around and notices that things are not the way God intended them to be!

Anyway, at the end of an incredibly interactive discussion, Raed said, “You know, I’ve always been curious and intrigued with the teachings of Jesus, but the whole Muslim/Christian thing never allowed me to go there.” Wow! Amy and Raed called me, a Christian pastor, to help them celebrate on one of the most important days of their lives. I can represent my faith in Jesus best, by serving them best.

Here is my dream for Pastors: Will you reach out to couples in your area looking for help? Will you help them even if they might be “wrong answer” people? Isn’t this what it means to be ‘Missional’? George Barna said in his new book, Revolution, that people will increasingly look outside the church for any type of spiritual connection or interest. That is exactly what I have experienced!

I’ve put together a website that will connect Pastors with couples looking for a minister to perform their wedding ceremony. The world is in need of pastors who are willing to be Missional, authentic and empowered to serve without an agenda.

Let’s do it together!

Pastor Bill Yaccino
(847)961-0479

These two Catholic nuns say they never dreamt of running away to join the circus when they were children. But their faith has brought these women to Ringling Brothers Circus. Sister Dorothy Fabritze, 54, and Sister Bernard Overkamp, 58, say their mission at the circus is like any other they would undertake — to bring the word of God to people who have not heard it. Members of the Missionary Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, they are determined to “let people in this circus know that there’s a God who cares about them no matter what’s happened in their lives.”

The interview with The Circus Sisters was for many
the highlight of the conference. We videotaped that interview
and are making it available for you.
View Video

Some people collect coins, some collect cars and some collect cans. I collect people, or more precisely, their stories.

One of my jobs at Off The Map is to find interesting people who are doing intriguing things with God. I’m kind of the company talent scout.

We then introduce them via the old IdeaLab ezine, our conferences or an Off The Map Road Show.

Several years ago, I came across an article in the local newspaper (which I read religiously) about two Catholic nuns who upon returning from missionary service in Papua New Guinea decided to join the circus. I know a bona fide Off-The-Mapper when I see one, so I pasted the article on my wall and began to pray and scheme about how to make contact with these two unusual women.

Earlier this year while planning for our recent Off The Map conference in Fort Wayne, I began the search in earnest. Of course being truly spiritual women, they refuse to use email and only receive written mail once a week. I called their convent looking for them and was told to write a letter and they would eventually get it. I obeyed and a couple of months later received a phone call from Sister Dorothy Fabritze.

“I think what I’m going to tell the (other) Sisters is that I survived 48 hours alongside evangelicals!” Sister Bernard

She wasn’t sure what I wanted them to do. I explained that Protestants talk a lot about connecting with non-Christians, but had kind of lost the touch of how to go about doing it in non-weird ways, and we could use some help from some people who seemed be have figured it out. She agreed to come to our event along with Sister Bernard as long as they could get time off work. Ringling Brothers agreed to give them the (unpaid) time off if they could pass out flyers (it’s all about trades).

Yes, these women have real jobs at Ringling Brothers. Sister Dorothy opens and closes the curtains (about 100 times per show), while Sister Bernard repairs costumes for the women. They work about 30 hours a week and receive the same wages the lowest paid workers receive.

They drive a Dodge Ram pickup and haul their travel trailer behind them, moving each week to another new site. As word gets around about the “two nuns” people begin to approach them for all sorts of “spiritual conversations” as Sister Dorothy puts it. They are not chaplains and receive no special “clergy” privileges.

They simply see themselves as following Jesus as he seeks to connect with “people on the move” — people who are often neglected when it comes to spiritual care or discounted because of the kind of work they do.

The interview with The Circus Sisters was for many the highlight of the conference. We videotaped that interview and are making it available for you to view online.

Enjoy and let us know how it impacted you.

[photopress:MarionAldridge.jpg,thumb,alignright]Marion Aldridge has been a pastor in South Carolina for more than 20 years, most recently at Greenlawn Baptist Church in Columbia. He became coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of South Carolina in July 1998. http://cbfofsc.org/

Listening is not easy for evangelical Christians. We are taught that our task is to go and tell, to talk and to preach good news. We have information that other people who are not Christians need to hear.

Add to that mandate a bit of Old Testament (pre-Christian) theology and ethics, such as Psalm 1:1 (Don’t walk or sit with pagans.), and evangelicals will avoid mingling with non-Christians as if they have a disease of the spirit that might be contagious and bring us down before we can lift them up. We avoid contact with the contaminated.

However, Jesus gave us a different perspective. Luke 15: 2 records one of the criticisms against Jesus: “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Given the choice of following the Psalmist or Jesus, I will follow Jesus.

Waitresses at Willie’s
Willie’s is the local watering hole next to my office building where people go for an adult beverage after work. I go there, too. I am no longer the pastor of a congregation, so my office is not in a church, safely separated from “the world.” Nowadays, I work for a young parachurch, denomination-like organization, and my office is in an old warehouse in downtown Columbia, South Carolina.

The waitresses at Willie’s have become some of my favorite people. When they are not busy, they will sit and chat with the regulars. At first, I discovered they were reticent about talking with a preacher about some matters. Our record, apparently, is that we are more typically condemning than forgiving, more likely to lecture than to listen. I have tried to change that perception, and have found these young women to be desperately in need of an adult friend. Their fathers die. Their boyfriends mistreat them and then leave them. They struggle financially. They are uncertain of their career path. Slowly, I have entered this world. It is an honor to have earned their trust. I would never have met these waitresses in my church.

Perception is Reality
Christians, unfortunately, have a lot of negative baggage to overcome. We are often perceived, not as kind, generous and compassionate, but as demanding, uncaring and, to these young ladies, as poor tippers. One fellow patron, sitting at my table one evening, told me that when cigarette smoking was still allowed on airplanes, although he didn’t smoke, he chose the smoking section because he didn’t like the self-righteous people in the non-smoking section. If you allow these “unchurched” people the privilege of being honest, they will give you an earful.

The DaVinci Code Solution
It is one thing for Christians to be persecuted for righteousness sake, and another entirely to be disliked because we are seen as offensive boors, consumed with our own issues, know-it-alls, grace-less. When these friends from Willie’s read “Letters to the Editor” by Christians in the local newspaper, they invariably see Christians as self-serving, mean-spirited and judgmental. One waitress told me she had gave her grandmother the DaVinci Code for Christmas. She said her grandmother needed her narrow, tightly wound world destabilized.

Obviously, there are plenty of compassionate and caring Christians in the world. And, the average bartender or barfly is not a saint. Whether these waitresses and the patrons of Willie’s are right or wrong in that antipathy toward Christians is up for debate. But, the view from Willie’s is that there really isn’t all that much attractive about the Christian faith. We need to listen to our critics.

[photopress:randy_siever_1.jpg,thumb,alignright]I had a great email conversation with a guy in my church (Sparks Christian Fellowship in Sparks Nevada) named Dave. He is part of our Doable Evangelism Practice Group. Our recent assignment was to do an OA (Ordinary Attempt) and then report on our experience. This is an edited version, which he agreed would be good to pass along as an educational moment. My concern continues to be that this new paradigm of ordinary evangelism is so simple that almost everybody misses the point. Dave allowed me to “coach” him in how to “keep it simple” so with Dave’s blessing, I submit the following example:

From: Dave
Sent: Sun 12/11/2005 8:07 PM
To: Randy Siever
Subject: OA

Morning Randy….After church Debbie and I had a little time to kill before doing the Angel tree wrapping. So I decided to go to In & Out for a Burger to bring back. I decided to take the back streets down (which I never do) and went by the post office. Well I saw the guy selling news papers eating out of a McDonald’s bag. I said to myself. Its cold I can at least buy him a cup of coffee. I did, I put the Scripture slip that was in Sunday’s bulletin in the bag, gave this to the paper guy and told him it was from Jesus, bought a paper , tipped him and said a small prayer.

Have a great day
Dave

Dear “Brave” Dave

Way to go, Dave. But I’m not sure that qualifies as an Ordinary Attempt…you may have been much too brave!

Hit and Run Evangelism
Most of the time Christians will do such things but will not buy the paper, tip or otherwise help the person or “target”. They usually pummel the guy with a tract of some sort, offer a barrage of Christian cliché’s, and then drive off thinking they scored one for The Ghost (you know, as in Holy Ghost). It’s sort of like “hit and run” evangelism.

Thanks for buying the paper, tipping, and praying. Without a doubt, you went the extra mile. But with your permission, I would like to use your evangelism experience as a way to help you and all of us who are trying to acquire this new paradigm for evangelism called Ordinary Attempts.

Bottom Line: OA’s are about listening and offering attention (no strings attached)

You appear to be a gifted evangelist trying hard to NOT say something, indirectly satisfying that urge with “This coffee is from Jesus!” and then sneaking the (obligatory?) scripture into the coffee bag.

Close But No Cigar
This comes dangerously close to the style of evangelism we’re trying to unlearn, however buying the paper, then TIPPING him PLUS the coffee was probably a mix of spiritual metaphors he rarely if ever encounters in his line of work. So it was really pretty cool – but still not quite where we are heading when we talk about OAs.

The primary point of OA’s are to get Christ followers who would normally not engage with the paper guy (and who are not as brave as you!) to connect with him in some meaningful way, which might lead to a conversation or two which could be spiritual.

Helping Christians Learn How to be Normal
We want to help Christians stop being disrespectful and arrogant and become more kind, respectful and other-centered. And ultimately it’s also about helping those who are missing get found by the God who is nuts about them. So even though we stumble and blunder our way in the effort, God uses every intention, every act and every attempt in ways we cannot see or understand. There is really not a bad way to express the love of Christ. The only bad way is to not share it at all…which is what you and I are going to try to alleviate at SCF with this doable evangelism strategy.

Most people think evangelism is AT LEAST what you did with the paper guy (must mention Jesus, must leave printed material, etc.), and so they never do it. There is nothing wrong with mentioning Jesus or leaving printed material, but all of that is simply MORE than what is doable for ordinary Christians, and therefore they don’t do anything at all.

The Bleeding Front End of the Process
We’re trying to help people celebrate the easy stuff (noticing, praying behind people’s backs, saying “How are you?” and listening, etc.) so more people will get in the game. This is totally bleeding front-end stuff, but it is what most people never see or appreciate in terms of evangelism. They usually look at guys like you and me and say, “I could never do that”. Our job Dave is to help them see how what they are already doing matters, as long as they do it with intention. This is doable evangelism. And that is what ordinary attempts are about.

You’re Assignment
Please hear me, Dave…I am NOT “talking down to you”, far from it! A hearty “way to go” is in order. But I do want you to understand (as a new team member and potential doable evangelism facilitator) that when it comes to OA’s the key is listening – not speaking or telling. This is only the first step, but it is the most important one since it sets the tone and environment for any future connections with the people Jesus misses most.

So here’s your assignment: Go find that guy again this week (or another paper guy somewhere else if going back would feel to weird to you), bring him a coffee, buy a paper, and ask him “How are you?”…and then just listen (no speaking on your part except to ask clarifying questions as he tells you). If he seems warm to you after this first step, ask him if he would be willing to take a sixty-second survey. If he’s game, make sure it only takes sixty seconds. Keep it moving. No comments from you. Your goal in this assignment is to listen without telling. Thank him for his time and tell him you hope to see him again next week. If he asks what this is for, tell him “I’m just interested in spirituality and what others think about it.” Then email me a report on your experience, perhaps comparing and contrasting it with the first contact. This would be very helpful to all of us.

Are you game?
Please know that I am proud of you for stepping out and sharing the love of Christ with others, and I am awed by your passion and tenderness toward the people Jesus misses most. You are on my team, and I appreciate your being coach-able on these matters –many people even though they are followers of Christ would not permit this level of input – so thank you for being brave in a different kind of way.

Why Your Experience Matters
Dave, this is so simple it is easy to miss…which is what the entire evangelical movement has done for the past 75 years or so. Our greatest task will be to convince others that their intentions matter to God…even if they don’t say a word. Few people in the Christian world are saying this, so our voice must be clear and consistent and loaded with examples like this one. If a handful of Christ followers who formerly sat on the bench get up off their butts and into the game with OA’s, then we’ll have done our job.

Marilyn is interested in investigating faith/spirituality and asked if she could attend church with her friend, Dee who about 18 months prior decided to become a committed follower of Jesus through our church.

The second Sunday Marilyn attended church the message was on the spiritual practices of fasting and prayer. We’d already decided that as a church we were going to participate in a community fast and prayer time for three days. After listening to the message and also being moved by the music that day, Marilyn told her friend she was going to fast with our community.

DURING THE FIRST THREE DAYS OF THE FAST AND prayer, Marilyn began reading A Case For Christ by Lee Strobel. We began our fast on a Thursday and ended on Saturday evening. The following morning at church, Marilyn had not broken her fast. That morning there was a particular sweet presence of the Holy Spirit among us. Again, Marilyn felt very moved by the music. She told me after, “I don’t know what happened to me; the music so moved me all I could do was weep.” Her friend Dee told her that what she was feeling was the presence of the Holy Spirit. Marilyn thought that was awesome, that you could actually feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. She told Dee that while she was engaged with the music that morning she had made some important personal decisions. One decision was to try to reconnect with her father whom she has been estranged from for some time.

As Dee talked with Marilyn about all that she was experiencing she sensed the Holy Spirit nudging her to pray for Marilyn. Dee said to Marilyn, “I think I got a prayer for you,” to which Marilyn responded excitedly, “Really, from who?” Dee said, “The Holy Spirit.” Marilyn felt loved and very receptive to Dee’s prayer.

This is an amazing experience to witness and be a part of. People searching for faith, investigating spirituality, wanting to have an experience with God to the extent they would be involved in a community fast and prayer before even believing. I’m amazed and grateful of being able to just be who we are and invite others to join on our journey. While being sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s work in their lives, we continue to invite them to follow Jesus.