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Blessing the Difference

Blessing the Difference. The Evangelist as “Sanctuary”. A basic question for any relationship: “Can I truly be who I am and be with you?” If answer is “yes”, a healthy relationship is possible.

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Blessing the Difference

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  1. Blessing the Difference

  2. The Evangelist as “Sanctuary” • A basic question for any relationship: “Can I truly be who I am and be with you?” • If answer is “yes”, a healthy relationship is possible. • If answer is “no”, then either the relationship will be sick, or the person’s self-orientation will be sick….or both • Rabbi Zusya

  3. Rabbi Zusya said, “In the coming world, they will not ask me: ‘Why were you not Moses?’ They will ask me: ‘Why were you not Zusya?”

  4. A basic question for any relationship: • “Can I truly be who I am and be with you?” • If answer is “yes”, a healthy relationship is possible. • If answer is “no”, then either the relationship will be sick, or the person’s self-orientation will be sick….or both • So… part of the Evangelist role is the creation of “safe space” in which persons are given freedom to be their true selves when in relationship with the Evangelist

  5. Are there similar issues for congregations as a whole? • Can we (as a congregation), be who we truly are, or must we be in some other way? • Personal belief: a high percentage of congregations in the US / Canada live their lives out of a template rather than being who they truly are. • Structure and program similarities • Language issues • The result is a “disconnect”

  6. The “disconnect” • We believe God is calling the church into mission yet many congregations (especially in Western cultures) seem to have a hard time “getting around to it” • Service in the church is supposed to be a joyful thing, yet pastors struggle to find volunteers and often speak of fatigue and burnout • We say that a relationship with God is a great blessing and that life in the church is a wonderful way to nurture that relationship…yet in many places persons often hesitate to invite friends

  7. Why the Disconnect? • People are busy, frantic, tired. If outreach is “just another program”…not interested • For some, congregational priorities, style, content less than relevant to their lives • Outreach programs often “added on”, rather than aligning systems • So many things to do…it’s hard to give attention to spiritual formation matters • There are pressures to fill slots and sustain programs, yet these are often out-of-alignment with gifts and interests (who we really are)

  8. When congregations live and work unaligned with what their gifts / joys/ senses of calling are: • There is an energy drain… • Question to pastors: vision, training, energy? • Best way to drain vibrancy and spiritual vitality from a congregation is to take your most dedicated, active people and place them in roles that are unaligned with their gifts/joys/ sense of call. • There is an authenticity deficit • Why were you not Zusya?

  9. Results • Leadership / member fatigue increases • Quality of worship, etc. suffers • Church becomes more “mechanical”; less transformational • Church seen as not relevant to day by day, “real life” • Given the above, persons are less likely to invite friends / engage in mission

  10. But what if… A congregation works to identify its gifts / true self; and then orients congregational life around those? A congregation did what it is well-postured to do and gave itself permission to stop doing what it cannot do well? A congregation stopped “filling slots” and living the “template life” and attempted to be who it really is? Might this introduce an “abundance” mentality?

  11. Leadership / member fatigue increases Quality of worship, etc. suffers Church becomes more “mechanical”; less transformational Church seen as not relevant to day by day, “real life” Fatigue may be lessened Quality of worship, etc tends to increase Church can become more authentic, more genuine ????

  12. God wants to renew us … this begins when we are willing to be us

  13. So… • Can evangelists be sanctuary to the congregation as a whole? • Helping the congregation discover the OK’ness of being who they really are?

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