Update Tuesday 10/01/12

I am weird, I admit it.  It seems that I never really fit in and yet I never really stand out either.  At times it seems like I am a combination of contradictions that make up the whole, an living paradox.  I am analytical and logical but at the same time emotional and sensitive.  I like sports - both playing and conversing while at the same time I love the arts - both watching/listening and doing.   And really these examples are just the tip of the ice-burg, don't even get me started about rural/urban or politics!  I have been thinking about this part of my personality again this week as I have been considering discipleship.  On the one hand, I have been thinking about the process that we use and excited by the prospect of new diagrams and flow charts as we consider moving people from point A to point B.  But then there are those very people we are trying to disciple, and my heart starts to long for time over a cup of coffee, to hear their stories, meet them where they are and share in a very organic, relational way.   At the end of the day however, maybe these aren't two mutually exclusive things, and maybe by embracing both these sides of my personalty I may come up with something that works.

Maybe it is because I am reading the Gospel of Matthew as I follow my reading plan this year that I have been thinking about discipleship these days.  My wife, who is also following the same reading plan and thus reading Matthew, was commenting on the structure of Matthew around Jesus' five main discourses and about the underlying theme of discipleship.  I then immediately began think about the possibilities of using this as the basis of laying out a program, a specific process to walk people through.  How could this complement what we are currently doing?  Is this better and could it replace what we are doing? Is there a more direct way of walking with people from point A to point B?  I think that these are valuable questions, and ones that I will continue to contemplate.  After all, the reality is that much like anything in life, where there is no plan or process things rarely just happen naturally.  Discipleship is a process with purpose and direction as we move towards becoming more Christlike and more obedient to what Jesus would have for us to be and to do.  I have learned that if we want to see lives transformed and if we long to see a movement begin in which people are discipled to Christ and eventually become those who are discipling others, there must be intentionality.  It will not just happen on its own, especially if people do not see the need nor feel equipped to do so.  What I need to avoid, however,  is just creating a program - a checklist to run people through and check them off the list.  I also know that my greatest flow chart, slickest power-point, and hippest logo won't see changed lives either.  I know that if I focus too much on the program it will only lead to frustration in the end.  Things rarely go exactly according to script, run perfectly smoothly and follow a predictable path.   I prefer to use the term process rather than program for this very reason, if only to remind myself of the reality that, no matter what we are using, we are walking with people through life and people and lives are messy.

"I was never a crackhead 'till I turned 50." 

"I am on disability cause of head trauma from when I had a pro boxing career."

"I took my son to the doctor this morning because he had a cold that he could not get rid of.  They said he had leukemia, sent me here and told me we could be here for months."

"I have fallen and I think I broke a rib but I have a turkey in the oven,  can you come and take it out of the oven and carve it for me?"

These are just some of the conversations that I have been a part of over the last few weeks that help to remind me that no matter what process or program I intend to use, nothing is going to be as smooth and direct as my flow charts.  People are real, living beings, existing in a broken, messy world and that reality demands authentic, organic relationships to be the heart of any plans for discipleship.  Everyone has a story, everyone is at a different place and until we spend time listening and getting to know an individual, it is almost impossible to meet them where they are in order to walk with them towards God's best for them.  And as we walk it will be messy, it will not take the shortest route from point A to B, and there will be victories and set backs, sprints and stalls.  If I am more concerned with my program as it looks on paper I will only be frustrated.   But this stuff, this messy life stuff, these amazing stories and amazing people are extremely exciting and invigorating to me.  I am learning that rigid and formulaic programs are probably not flexible enough to meet the realities of people and of life.

So there are two sides of discipleship, the need to process and direction and then the reality that life is messy and these two aspects seem to appeal to different parts of my personality.  But I think that there is somewhere in the middle that I should be looking for, aiming to be.  To use a sports analogy, there is a sweet spot that we should be aiming for that when we connect at just that right spot on the bat we might be able to drive the long ball.  Or maybe for an artistic analogy, it is like painting.  We can begin with a very basic background wash over which we draw our foundational sketch.  It maps out the painting, provides a basic image and enough structure that we know the shape of the final product.  But then the real art begins as we experiment and mix colours to get just the right colour and hue, we layer in lights and darks and textures to bring it to life, and add the finite details to take what was a colour by numbers sketch and allow God to craft a masterpiece.   

We appreciate your continued support as we meet our neighbours in the city, those next door and those on the street, and prayerfully look for opportunities to meet people where they are and walk with them towards God's best for their lives.  Please also be in prayer for our next outreach to the homeless in the city as we collect hats and gloves to deliver along with a meal on January 15th.  If you have hats or mitts to donate, let me know and we can arrange to get them from you.  Thanks again for all the support.