Footloose Pastors

Kevin Bacon danced his way onto the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon last week, reprising his role from the 1984 original version of Footloose.  It… was… awesome!

Do you remember the story?  It’s the classic tale of teenage rebellion, where the young rebel in tight jeans and a white t-shirt finds himself in a town where rock ‘n’ roll music and dancing are illegal.  The bad guy:  his love interest’s father, the local Bible-thumping town Pastor.

That’s right.  The Pastor is the bad guy.

I wonder if a lot of people view the Pastor that way, today.  He’s the morality police, here to take the fun out of everything.  I wonder if people, in general, really have any idea of what a Pastor is and does.

I was recently asked to be interviewed about what it means to be a Pastor.  I could easily recall my seminary training, the books I’ve read, and the Biblical foundations of what it means to be a Pastor…  Instead, I found myself thinking about the role that the Pastor actually plays in our post-Christian, postmodern culture, and how and why I actually do what I do.

Here, then, is my list of essentials of being a Pastor.

1.  Available

Office hours are over.  No one makes appointments to open a bank account anymore; you can do it with a few clicks of your mouse while you’re sipping your favourite latte at Starbucks.  No one goes to a movie store to rent Footloose on disk, because you can watch it on demand.   No one calls a church office and talks to a receptionist, because now we text each other, and the conversation happens anytime, anywhere.

Being a pastor means being in the people business.  People matter.  People’s lives matter.  And people want to know that they matter to their pastor.  So a Pastor is available to people when they text in the evening.  Pastors engage the conversation on Facebook.  Not responding, because it’s after office hours, just shows people that they aren’t important enough or that the popular perception of the Pastor is true:  they’re out of touch with the culture and how people communicate.

2.  Accessible

This is very similar to point #1, except that it’s not only about being responsive:  it’s about being known. A Pastor that spends his days in the church office is a pastor that no one in the community knows.  And it’s a pastor who doesn’t know the community, either.

If you’re not a church person, then you should know that your local pastors really, really care about you.  In fact, we long for you to talk to us about life and relationships and jobs and parenting and dating and purpose and love and the things that keep us awake at night and and and… It’s just that most of us (and I’m sorry about this) still kind of expect you to come to us.

Today’s Pastor, on the other hand, recognizes that talking with people happens in the normal rhythms of life, and not in the stuffy offices of a building that the community often perceives as irrelevant at best, or invisible at least.  In short, the Pastor should be recognized on the street or in the grocery store or in the coffee shop, and when he’s there, he needs to also be…

3.  Approachable

A Pastor shouldn’t only be well-known in the community; a Pastor should be well-liked.  This means that he not only is present in the community, but he is active in the community.  Today’s Pastor makes a positive contribution by serving and volunteering, and by engaging with local organizations.  Today’s Pastor doesn’t draw a line between the church and other community agencies, but seeks to find the places where there is overlap or where he can simply plug in and help when needed.  Today’s Pastor doesn’t serve the community so that he can invite people to his church; today’s pastor serves the community because it’s the right thing to do and because that’s what people value today.  It’s probably what Jesus would value, too.

It’s in the context of being active in the community where relationships are built.  People like people who care about the same things that they care about.  When you see someone in a coffee shop who you met while volunteering somewhere, aren’t you more likely to approach them and say hello?  Today’s Pastor does life with people in the community, and so he understands the challenges of daily life that is common to everyone in the marketplace, the schools, and the neighbourhoods.  And that makes the Pastor approachable.

* * *

The days of the local pastor as the respected, wise sage of the town like in Little House on the Prairie are long gone.  The days of the Pastors of our cities being perceived as the judgmental rule-keepers like in Footloose should be just as far behind us.  The biggest challenge for Pastors, today, is overcoming the irrelevant label.  It begins by getting out of the church offices, and into peoples’ lives.

What would you add to this list?

Why people won’t go to church with you… and how to change that

How do you help somebody to feel like they belong in your group?  When you’re the outsider, how do you connect with a new group?

I’ve been wrestling through the issue of how to build community.  The trouble is, we often set up a system, whether it’s intentional or not, that makes the process difficult… or even uninviting.  If we’re not careful, we might create an us and them mentality, and not even know it.

I’m talking about church.  The process that I’m questioning is the linear path from Believe to Behave to Belong.  More on that, later.

If you’re not a Christian or if you’re not attending church, what is keeping you from trying to get involved?

If you are a Christian or if you are attending church, what is it about church that keeps your friends from coming… or keeps you from inviting them?

3 Types of People Who Won’t Go to Church:

As I talk with people on the streets and in the coffee shops, and when I mention Church, I can usually tell from their reaction which one of these three categories they fit in to.

1.  The Inferrent

I made up a new word for this first type of person.  Someone who infers something is someone who speculates or even draws their own conclusion about what something is like.  The inferrent is someone who decides what a group or experience is like without ever trying it.

Let’s be honest:  the church gets bad press.  And people believe it.  From the extreme views and self-righteous judgmentalism of Westboro Baptist Church to the most recent scandal involving money, our church buildings (and the people in them) are being looked at with very critical eyes.  Many people think that churches are full of judgmental hypocrites who want to take you on a guilt-trip to brainwash you so that you will give them your money.  The church has a bad rep with a lot of people.

2.  The Indignant

Some people have been hurt at church.  They went to church, and they held Christians to a higher standard, and then they were disappointed when someone let them down.  Or maybe someone bludgeoned them with a rule and treated them with a lack of grace and love.  Maybe they simply didn’t feel like they fit in.  Maybe this is you.  When I’m talking with people about church, more often than not I find that they’re not affording me a neutral position to start from; I begin with a trust deficit, and need to figure out how to regain the ground that was lost before I even showed up.

3.  The Indifferent

When I was kid, we said the Lord’s prayer at school, everyone knew the Christmas and the Easter stories, and every kid on the block was picked up on a school bus to go to Sunday school at the local church.  Not any more.  Increasingly, we’re faced with a post-Christian society in which the Church has lost its voice and its influence.  The church is no longer where people turn for help with their marriage, their kids, or their grief, and in this postmodern culture a variety of views and philosophies prevail.  Tolerance and pluralism are valued most, and the church is just an old fashioned institution with out-dated views.  The indifferent people aren’t angry at the church and they haven’t been hurt by her; they just don’t care.  The church has no relevance in their lives.

So… How do People Transition from Outsider to Belonging?

We need to rethink the linear approach to the Believe-Behave-Belong process.  Or maybe it’s Behave-Believe-Belong.  Either way, if people are going to belong to our tribe, we tend to make them behave like us and say that they believe what we believe, first.  But maybe the process isn’t a straight line.  What if people found a loving, caring community of grace and purpose, and found a place where they belong, first?  A place where they were valued and were invited to get involved before they believed and behaved to an arbitrary standard?  A place where the rest of us made them feel like they belong?  How would that change how people progressed in their own spiritual journey, and would more people who might be inferrent, indignant, or indifferent to our community be more open to joining us?

What do you think?  Your comments are welcome.

Hope on TV

I was pleasantly surprised to be invited to be interviewed on our local television station.  The producer told me that they wanted me to talk about what I was hoping to accomplish with Hope Barrie, and how I was “changing the way that people view the church and religion”.  The interview was only a few minutes long, but I was asked about my own journey in becoming a pastor.

Here’s the interview:

When Someone Swears at Church

On Sunday at our church meeting, someone dropped the “f-bomb”.  We ignored it and kept on going with our Bible study discussion without (I hope) missing a beat!

When people swear in church, we consider this a good thing.

The gathered church needs to be a place where anyone feels free to come as they are, and are comfortable enough to dress, sound, look, and act like themselves.  If we don’t hear the odd curse word, we’re worried that either we’re attracting the wrong kind of people, or that we’ve created a church culture where people feel like they need to conform to something that they’re not.

Here are several things I value about the place we are at in our journey of starting a church.

1.  We don’t have any reservations.

There’s nothing stopping us.  There are no limits on what we can and cannot do, short of following Jesus faithfully and holding on to “sound doctrine“.  No one in our tribe is going to say something like, “That’s not how we do things here” or “We’ve never done it that way, before.”  Instead, we’re going to be like Jesus, who hung out with people he shouldn’t have, who spoke with people who he wasn’t supposed to speak with, and who was known for bringing the best wine to the party.  We’re not going to be prevented from our mission by someone who thinks it’s not “proper” to keep the company we keep and go the places we go.

2.  We don’t have any traditions.

Organs and pianos versus guitars and drums; wearing suits and dresses versus jeans and camouflage jackets; sitting in someone elses’ seat versus giving the best seat to a homeless guy:  Tradition stifles Mission.  Why?  Because when we focus on what we’re comfortable with, what we’re used to, and our own rules and preferences, we lose sight of the things that are really important.  Things like loving people and welcoming them into the community, humbling ourselves to serve them, and applying the Gospel to every conversation and activity.  Take this a step farther, and we begin to focus on producing quality programmes to entertain ourselves and people like us instead of being invitational to people who need Jesus.

3.  We don’t have any money.

We’re not limited by our resources.  If God calls us to act, He will equip us.  That’s why Jesus told us to make His Kingdom expansion and our right relationship with Him our first priority, and then He will provide everything else we need.  Someone I know is in India right now and is learning how the Indian Christians live day-by-day by faith that God will provide.  And he does.  Why should it be any different here in Canada?

4.  We don’t have any expectations.

We don’t expect that people will show up to our gatherings every week.  And when they do show up, they don’t expect that there’s going to be a polished, professional production for them to enjoy from their comfortable, back row seat.  We don’t expect people to give to the cause, and they don’t expect that we have the resources to help them financially.  We don’t expect that God will grow us into a mega-church of thousands, but we do expect that God will transform people, one life at a time.  We expect that God is going to act in the life of our community every week, that He will provide everything that we need, and that we’re going to see His grace in the life our community and in the homes, business, schools, and streets that it touches.

5.  We don’t have any roots.

There’s something to be said for not owning or leasing a building.  Not only are we not tied down by the expense of it (and the worry that that might cause!), but we’re not anchored to a particular place.  God’s Kingdom is advancing; it’s moving forward.  We may not be in the same place next year, but wherever we find ourselves, I can guarantee that we’ll continue to be a movement with a mission!

6.  We don’t have any limits.

Because we’re a movement, there’s no limit to how far we can reach with our message and how much the mission may advance.  Since we’re not anchored to a location, our movement and our reach can extend as far as we can imagine, and as far as God calls us.  Our philosophy is that Church is not where you go — it’s who you are.  That means that most of our activity, by definition, happens outside the church walls.  Whenever and wherever we gather as a community, it’s to celebrate what God is doing in us and through us the rest of the week!

7.  We don’t put on a show.

We’re a community, not a spectator sport.  We don’t expect people to come to our gatherings and consume our product.  It’s all about relationships.  We love people for who they are, not for what they can give or for how much they can serve.  Not only that, but we don’t try to hide who we are behind masks.  We value authenticity and transparency.  The moment we begin to portray something other than real people doing real life with real problems pursuing a real God, we cease to be who we are.

* * *

If you’re committed to a church, please don’t think I’m throwing stones at the way that you do church.  God has given me the rare and exciting opportunity, along with a team of other trailblazers, to create a new culture for a new Jesus-movement in downtown Barrie, and it’s a responsibility that we take very seriously.  At Hope City Church, we’re in the beginning stages of creating a new community that God is already using to Reach, Restore, and Reproduce followers of Jesus Christ in Barrie.  We’re casting vision for us, not throwing stones at anyone else.

Can you think of other things that we should value in our Church Community?  Comment below!

7 Things I’m Learning About Church

“I won’t go to church,” he said.  “But I’ll have coffee with you.”  He explained how he’d been hurt by people at church, before.  I could see the anger in his eyes, and his body language told me that he wouldn’t easily be convinced to go back.

Another guy:  “I just don’t fit in there.  I don’t like the way people look at me at church, and nothing they talk about there really makes any sense to my life, anyway.  I’m not going back.”

Then there’s someone else I know who lives a good life and does good things… I think that maybe she just doesn’t see how church can be relevant to who she is or what she does.  I can’t blame her.

Conversations like these are part of my journey in “rediscovering church”. 

If you don’t go to church, then there’s something I need to tell you:  Church isn’t a building.  Church isn’t a tradition.  Church isn’t a service.  Church isn’t a place, a religion, a ceremony, a morality factory, a boring, meaningless rite, a superstition, or an exclusive club.  It’s so very much not those things, and it’s so very much more than those things.

If you do go to church, then let me encourage you to look beyond your routine of services, small groups, Christian friendships, and service, and join me in rediscovering that church isn’t where you go or where you serve or what group you’re a part of; it’s who you are.

7 Things I’m Learning about Church

1.  It’s more about “Go and Be” than “Come and See”.

Sure, Jesus’ first invitation to his potential disciples was “follow me”, and then they would tell others to “come and see” (like right here).  But once we begin to follow Jesus, we join him in his mission.  He trained his followers to do one thing, and to do it well, and he sent them away to do it.  Are you able to be a better “witness“, testifying to what Jesus has done, inside the church walls or out in the world?

2.  If it’s “Come and See”, it’s about Community.

If you get invited to church, it’s probably because someone wants you to hear the message the preacher is giving on Sunday morning.  If you have invited someone to church, admit it:  it’s probably because you want your friend to hear a special “outreach” message to newcomers.  That’s a really ineffective way of asking people to follow Jesus and of growing the church, and it looks nothing like what the followers of Jesus did in the early years.  Christians were originally known for their care and concern for their communities, for their compassion for the sick and the poor, and for their sharing of resources and their love for one another.  What if, instead of inviting people to church, we invite them to be part of the church, the loving, inclusive, caring community that shares life outside of the church walls?  What if instead of sending people the message that being a Christian is about going to a church service, we invite them into our lives and show them how being a follower of Jesus changes who we are, how we live, and how we cope with the same challenges as everyone else?

3.  He who stays inside the walls, falls.

This one is a warning.  If we Christians isolate ourselves from the world, then instead of engaging the culture and people with lives that are being transformed by the Gospel, we will inevitably develop an “us-and-them” perspective:  We are the Church; They are the world.  We are holy; They are not.  We have been saved; They need to be saved.  And then the way we tell the difference is by judging others by our morality code.  The danger is not only that we’ll blow our witness (unchurched people already think we’re judgmental and hypocritical!), but we’ll begin to rely on our own moralism as our standard of Christianity.  It’s not your morals that make you a Christian, and if it were, then when you’re outside the protective bubble of the church or your Christian friends, you’re going to fail.  Jesus’ prayer for you applies here.

4.  The Available Prevail.

One of the habits that I’ve gotten into over the past few months is to be at the same place at the same time every week.  I have a favourite perch at a local coffee shop, and people are used to seeing me there.  Almost every week people will stop by to see me and chat.  When I skipped a week, people let me know it!  Yesterday, one of the people that I’ve met texted me and asked me for help:  I picked him and his groceries up at the Food Bank and gave him a ride back to his rooming house.  Do you think I’m showing him the tangible kind of love that Jesus would show someone, while earning the right to speak into his life?  You bet!  Try it yourself!  Being the Church, and not just going to church, means being available for people when they need you.

5.  Intending Trumps Attending.

One of my favourite encouragements in the Bible is in 1 Corinthians 15:58.  I refer to it often because it reminds me that, as a follower of Jesus, I am living a life on purpose.  It reminds me that everything that I do should be about the one thing that Jesus has told us to do (see above), and to not get distracted by other things.  It reminds me that when I live intentionally like that, it is God who is responsible for the results.  Church is not about being a passive consumer of programmes and services.   Church is not a spectator sport.  Get into the game!

6. Exclusively Inclusive.

Would it surprise you to find out that most non-Christians view the Church as exclusive?  If you want to join us, then you need to believe what we believe, you need to act like we act, and you need to look and sound like we look and sound.  We don’t really let people “in” our community, to actively participate in our community, until they meet certain requirements.  What if, instead, we all recognized that every person, you and I included, are at different points on our spiritual journeys, and we accepted people where they are it?  Church should unite, not divide.  That’s what Jesus accomplished when He tore down the religious wall between the religious people and everyone else.  Our job isn’t to hold up a red light to people and tell them that they can’t proceed until something else happens; our job is to give them the green light and encourage them forward in their faith.  Instead of feeling like they need to conform to our subculture, people who come to church should be welcomed as they are, with, literally, open arms.

7.  It’s All About Love.

Love God.  Love others.  It’s just that simple.

* * *

At Hope City Church, this is what we’re learning to apply as we try to become part of the downtown community in our city.  Our agenda is to simply follow Jesus, and invite others to follow Jesus with us.  What else would you add to the list?

Making Plans, Holding them Loosely

Have you ever made a plan, only to have the whole thing unravel and fall apart?

We all do it, right?  We get this great idea, we have this wonderful vision of how our day is supposed to go, what our vacation will be like, or how our career/marriage/family will turn out, and then rarely do things turn out like we planned.

Maybe we shouldn’t hold on to our plans with a tight fist.

3 Things We Can Learn about Making Plans from Following Jesus

Several months ago, I set out on a journey with a new vision for a new kind of local church in my city.  While the goal for what this new missional community should look like hasn’t changed, the strategy to accomplish that dream seems to be fluid and ever-changing.  When our plans change, often because of circumstances beyond our control, we so easily lose sight of the vision or even try to change it.  But what if the problem isn’t about vision-casting, leadership, or strategy…  What if we focused on the Gospel, instead?  What if we brought the Gospel to bear on all of our plans?  This is what it would look like:

1.  We should make plans.

Jesus made plans.  Not only did He have a plan, or a strategy, but He wouldn’t let anything deter Him from it.  He made this point very clear when the crowds were looking for Him and wanted more of Him and His miracles.  He knew His purpose, and He had a plan to carry it out (see His strong statements in Mark 1:38 and Matthew 16:21-23).  Earlier, Jesus stated that His purpose was to “proclaim the Good News” (Mark 1:15), and so He made plans to fulfill that purpose by traveling throughout the area and visiting as many people as possible in order to accomplish that goal.

We should make plans, and when we do, we need to know our purpose.  As a disciple of Jesus, the Gospel is always central to all of our plans (that’s what this blog is about!).  What is the over-arching purpose of your life, and of all of your plans?

2.  We should be ready for our plans to change.

While we always keep our purpose in mind, the way we get there might have to change from time to time.  I’m certain that the Apostle Paul didn’t plan to fight with his colleagues and part ways (Acts 15:36-41).  Paul never wavered, however, from his goal of accomplishing his missionary journeys.  He didn’t throw up his hands and pack it in; he didn’t give up his purpose for someone else’s; and he didn’t complain and wait for divine intervention!  He remained focused on his purpose, even when his plans changed.

As I work with people toward accomplishing the vision of Hope City Church, I’m finding that the original plan of establishing groups of people to engage our city, and then bringing those groups together into one, large, organized worshiping community (a church service!) is working out differently than I had planned.  It’s like a journey, and as we take each step toward our goal, we’re encountering different kinds of people, different circumstances, and — wait for it! — different opportunities along the way.

Don’t miss the opportunities to live out the Gospel right now because you’re too focused on your goals and strategies for the future!  As we follow Jesus step-by-step in faith, He will present more missional opportunities to you (see Matthew 25:14-30).

3.  We should recognize that there is a bigger plan at work.

When it comes down to it, Gospel-centred living means this:  my life no longer belongs to me.  Jesus said that to follow Him, we have to be willing to give up everything else (Luke 9:57-62; Luke 14:25-35):  our material possessions, our comfort, our goals, plans, and dreams… It doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t make plans, and it doesn’t mean that God doesn’t want us to think about our future, but it does mean that His plans become our plans.  It’s about lining up our wills with His will (1 Peter 4:2).

Sometimes, God’s plans don’t look so good to us.  Like when Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers.  By the end of the story, in spite of that and other tragic events in his life, Joseph could say this to his brothers:  “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” (Genesis 50:20).

*  *  *

Not long ago I was faced with a major crisis that affected all of my plans.  When we’re surrendered to God’s will, we’re able to see beyond our immediate plans, keeping our purpose in mind.  And instead of asking why my plans got flustered, I was able to ask God, “What does this make possible?”

When you make your plans, and you hold on to them loosely, what does it make possible for God to do in you and through you?