The Wall v.2.0

If you are a regular to the weblog, you may have seen a post back in December (Discipleship Pathway from the Underside) in which I posted the following photo of The Pathway to Discipleship as laid out on the wall of my office.



It has grown and changed a bit (and someone insisted I get a giant bulletin board.) Last night I tore it all down and started over. Here is v.2.0:

The picture is pretty small but there are a couple of things that stand out. Besides being neater and cleaner, it is actually complete. Also, you can't see this very well in the photo, but there is green string connecting the pieces of the pathway with uchoose cards and response letters. A new addition to my wall is the red ribbon. The red ribbon represents the biggest difficulty in the pathway. A pathway to discipleship would be really easy to implement if everyone followed it in a linear fashion, never pausing, stopping or getting derailed. But people are people. People sign up for stuff and don't take it. People finish one phase and then take some time to ponder the next phase. People take a break between phases to be involved in some other learning opportunity or ministry. There is nothing wrong with any of this. However it makes it more complicated to encourage people in their journey because it becomes more complicated to know where they are. So the red ribbon simply marks when people divert. If someone takes our introduction class (uconnect 101) but doesn't choose to fill out a uchoose card to begin the pathway, we want to check with them to be sure that they are involved in some ministry or small group. If someone signs up for a course on a uchoose card but doesn't show up, we want to give them options for another course or see if they got plugged into something else.

Whenever I talk or write about tracking systems like this, someone always tells me that it sounds legalistic. I understand the fear behind that. However, we are not mandating that people follow any certain pathway. We are just remembering our responsibility to make disciples. I do not believe it is okay for someone to join our fellowship of faith and then be told, "you are on your own." We have a responsibility to help them gain the tools they need to begin their journey of sanctification, their journey of discipleship. In a large system like University, where I can't possibly keep track of everyone's journey in my head, we need a system to help us do that.

If you have questions about The Pathway to Discipleship, whether you are a University member of someone interested in implementation in your own church, feel free to post them here or email me.

peace,

will

Beginning to hit critical mass

This has been a good couple of weeks for the Pathway to Discipleship. Here is a list of pathway offerings that have been taking place over the last two weeks.

Meeting:

Alpha: Pop Culture – began Monday
Jesus 101 – ending tonight

Message:

New Testament Survey: The Message of Jesus – ended last night
Disciple Bible Study – going on through May

Mission:

Coaches Directed Study – There are three studies currently underway
The Walk to Emmaus – We had people on a walk this past weekend

I had Michael run the numbers and he figured out that over the span of this week and last we have about 110 people actually engaged in courses in the Pathway to Discipleship. There are an additional 30 or so who are actively involved in the pathway, have signed up for the next step and are just waiting for it to start. We also have a number of people in the pathway who are still deciding what they are going to do next.

These are fantastic results for so early in this process. It takes a long time to implement a system like this and it takes even longer for it to become part of the culture of how a church does things. But we are getting there.

Peace,

will

Exorcism!

I had the opportunity to preach in our traditional service this past Sunday on the fun and easy topic of exorcism. If you care to listen, you can listen to or download the podcast here:

http://media.uchurch.tv/exorcism/

peace,

will

A Little Swamped

The number of posts on my weblog is often a good reflection of the state of my ministry. When there are large gaps between posts, it is usually a good sign that I am swamped. The weblog is pretty important to me. It is more than just something for people to read. It forces me to think and reflect at a level a little higher than just the long to-do list in front of me. So, when there is a lack of posts, it sometimes means that I have not been able to get my head out of the tasks at hand. That is not too bad for short lengths of time, but if I go too long without time to think about the big picture it starts to create a downward spiral of creativity. The "right now" tasks seem to get harder to do and take more and more time - meaning there is even less time to get out of the weeds.

According to my calendar and to-do list, once I get through this week, I will get to come up for air. If you start seeing some more posts, you will know I made it.

peace,

will

Worth reposting

A link to this weblog post was sent to me this week and I believe it is worth reposting here. Follow the link and watch the video before you read the post. There is a lot of wisdom regarding evangelism from a professed atheist. Check it out and feel free to return here to comment.

Talking to All Men - Life's A Blog - Ecclesia Austin

peace,

will

Jesus Wants to Save Christians

Rob Bell’s latest Jesus Wants to Save Christians, A Manifesto for the Church in Exile, (co-written with Don Golden) has been sitting on my “read” pile for a while so it is way past time to post some comments. Bell gets a lot of criticism from across the theological and intellectual spectrum, but I think his is an important voice in modern Christianity. One of the first things I learned as a first semester seminarian was that we all read and interpret scripture through a lens. Whether we like to admit it or not, there is a lens between us and the word of God that can work to clarify or can work to distort God’s message to us through the text. For me, what is most useful about Bell’s writing and teaching is that he forces us to consider the lens through which we look. A good preacher/teacher/writer will know his or her own lens. Bell tells about his in the “Introduction to the Introduction.” He names his theology, “a particular way to read the Bible, referred to by some as a New Exodus perspective.” (p. 8) If you are not familiar with the perspective, you will have to read for yourself. I really like this book, not because of this particular perspective, but because the authors make interpretation of this sort accessible. Looking at the Bible through the New Exodus perspective will make some people feel like they are reading it upside down. Passages that may have seem familiar, passages that you may have thought you understood look different. It is not that you will always land with a changed perspective but that you might realize you have a perspective and that the words of scripture might not look the same to everyone.

Jesus Wants to Save Christians is heavy one whitespace. Just like in Velvet Elvis Bell

likes

to

play with space.

That has drawn some criticism. I even said to my wife as I was reading, “This could have been a pamphlet.” But, at the end of the day, I am glad it isn’t. When we are asking the average Christian to reevaluate the worldview through which they understand the word of God. Maybe

we should

leave

some space.




peace,

will

How Goes the Pathway? Part III

In part two, I left off with phase two of the pathway, so on to phase three.

Phase 3 –Mission – “What is my call from Jesus and what am I supposed to do about it?”

Again, remember that each phase offers a Bible study, a small group experience and an immersion event. We have a mix here as well as two of the offerings were created here at University and one of them was created by someone else. Also, like the other two phases, two of them are new and one has been a part of University for some time. Because all of these are dynamic and complex offerings, I will only offer a glimpse of them in this post.

Our Bible study option for this phase is something the Vision and Values Team created and our Coaching Team implemented. It is called Coaches Directed Study. I think this is one of the most exciting pieces of our pathway. This option offers participants an opportunity to explore their calling in the context of a one-on-one Bible study with one of our coaching pastors. Depending on the area of desired exploration the participant is paired with Rev. Adam Knight, our Outreach Pastor; Rev. Leslie Tomlinson, our Shepherding Pastor; or with me, our Discipleship Pastor. The coaching pastor assigns a series of scripture readings and some additional reading. The participant and the coach then meet and study together and decide on some final project that will reflect their work together. This is just a thumbnail sketch of how this all works, but we have had a lot of success with our first participants and we believe this will be a really important part of the pathway.

Our small group option for this phase was written by and will be led by our Directing Pastor, Rev. Charles Anderson. It is called The Pastor’s Academy and it is a small group course in Christian leadership. It is not designed solely for people who feel called to elected leadership in the church but for anyone who feels they may be called to be in a formal or informal leadership role in God’s church. The course will focus on attributes and practices of Godly leaders. This is a new course and will launch this fall.

Our immersion event offering for this phase has been a part of the culture of University for some time. The Walk to Emmaus is a little different than the rest because not only is this not something we wrote, it is also not something we run. The Walk to Emmaus is its own ecumenical organization and while many of our people are involved in it, it does not belong to us. To use their own words, “The Walk to Emmaus is a spiritual renewal program intended to strengthen the local church through the development of Christian disciples and leaders.” We have been sending people on walks for years but with the rollout of the pathway, we are doing things a little different. First, we are encouraging people to go on a walk after they have completed the other phases of the map. Second, we are encouraging people to come and meet with a coaching pastor after their walk to talk about how they are feeling led to respond to the experience.

All of the options in this last phase are designed to help people take a next step. We are hoping that people will be able to clarify where they might go next, whether that is further study and development, opportunities to serve, or a move into leadership. I get a lot of questions about what is next. The truth is that we really hope that through the pathway, we will give people the basic tools that they need to figure that out for themselves. If not, we hope that it will give people enough that they will be able to ask better questions about what is next. Our support for people in their journey of discipleship does not end, but the programmatic element does. This is a good thing. The trouble with programs is that they can leave people just waiting for the next part of the program. God has much more in store for us. God is calling us as individuals to respond to the abundant grace God offers and everyone’s response is different.

That’s where we are so far. Your thoughts questions and insights are always welcome.

Peace,

will