Shifting Again - Member To Disciple Culture
Mark Tidsworth, Team Leader
This morning I’m on the verge of a deep dive into three days with a church staff for a retreat in the mountains (with social distancing in place). I’ve lost track of what number retreat we are approaching, partnering for many years in various ways with this staff team and their church (Advent UMC, Greenville, SC). As I prepare, I’m aware this church is in the top five I know when it comes to shifting their culture from membership to discipleship. Even before we published Shift in 2015, Pastor Michael and I spent quite a bit of time discussing what it means to be people who follow Jesus. Since, they’ve shifted their culture through a myriad of ways. Perhaps we can arrange for a video interview or webinar for those who want to learn more about their specific journey.
In the meantime, I’m convinced one of the great gifts of this Coronavirus is the refining of our faith, followed by implementation of church culture change. None of us interested in transformation and growth will come out of this the same. God works good from every circumstance for those who are interested in appreciating God’s work. The chaff is blowing away while we appreciate the wheat so much more in adverse conditions. At some point in the near future, I expect to dive into Shift 2.0 since the world is irrevocably changed, requiring the church to adapt again. In the meantime, here’s a slight shift in the three questions driving individual and church shifts.
In 2015, the driving questions pushing us to shift were:
What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?
What does it mean to be a gathered community of disciples?
What does it mean to be a gathered community of disciples who join God’s mission in the world?
Here in 2020, I’m slightly shifting the driving questions, opening new ways of understanding God and our calling:
What does it mean to live in the Way of Jesus?
What does it mean to be a community gathered around the Way of Jesus?
What does it mean to be community living into the Way of Jesus in our neighborhoods, communities, and larger world?
Slightly different wording can open doors to insight and meaning. Clearly we are pursuing a way of life shaped by Jesus’ teachings and example, empowered by the Holy Spirit. These are the driving questions of growing numbers of Jesus-followers here in 2020.
Notice what these questions do not ask. When these become the driving questions of our lives, then we start laying aside others. Previous driving questions become castaways; less relevant to our real lives. Examples:
How can we get more people involved in our church?
How can we increase our budget?
Where can we find a pastor who will lead us back to our glory days?
How can we keep those programs we appreciate going?
How can we motivate more people to volunteer?
How can we make our church more appealing to younger people?
When churches start making the shift to Jesus-focused living, their interests shift. They discover the pearl of great price and the treasure in the field, pursuing this with all their effort, forgetting the lesser questions of life. Of course you can imagine what happens. Either they come so alive that others want to join their faith community influencing their metrics to improve OR they come so alive that they attach less importance to their metrics, enjoying their freedom in Christ, while experiencing the spiritual courage needed to deal with their reality in healthy ways. Either way, their faith becomes vitalized.
So, during this exceptional transformation opportunity, perhaps it’s time to shift the questions, pursuing those which reflect the beautiful Way of Jesus. Give it a go and I would love to hear from you as you journey along.