Journey to Jesus - Stage One: Seeker, Part 2

After having presented the four stages of conversion (previous post), it's time to unpack why conversion is necessary. What's the big deal?

As I mentioned before, kids at this stage are transitioning from being concrete thinkers to becoming capable of more abstract thought but they still need bridges to get there. The bridge for this week is one of my favorites, and one that I borrowed from a favorite teacher from my junior high years.

I show the kids a plate (a mug or a bowl would work equally as well) and I ask them to tell me what it is and what purpose it serves. If they don't give me much, I go into a long treatise, extolling the wonders of the plate and its functions in our society (imagine a server bringing handfuls of pasta to the table or clearing the table after dinner). After we are all very appreciate of plates and the purpose they serve, I suddenly throw the plate against the wall. The plate shatters. Parents flinch. Kids gasp. I have their attention (thanks, Mr. Grasmeyer).

At this point, I'm actually surprised how upset some of the kids can become. This last time I did it, my younger son was in the class and he groaned, "I really liked that plate!" This is only a minuscule glimmer of the grief God may have experienced when he saw us shattered. We, like this plate, were created to serve a purpose. And we, too, have been shattered, no longer able to serve our purpose. I ask the kids if they can help me put the plate back together. We try, but eventually, we give up. We cannot fix the plate. The plate cannot fix itself. It needs to be remade.

From here, I begin to talk about our original purpose. We go back to Genesis 1:26-28. We were made in God's image, as eikons, to be his fruitful vice-regents. We were created to 'image' God, the One who creates, rules, speaks, names, orders, establishes variety and beauty, tends the earth, provides fellowship, instructs, and rests. We are to be in union with God, in communion with other eikons, for the purpose of participating in God's good and loving rule of the world. We were designed for relationship with God, with one another, and with the world He made. The mission statement at Life on the Vine is "Living in Christ, with one another, for God's mission in the world." As eikons, this is what we were designed to do.

But we were broken. And in our brokenness, we are bound to sin and cannot break free (Remans 7 again). And we are blamed for our sin (Romans 1 and 3). We are like this shattered plate, hopelessly unable to fix ourselves or to fulfill our purpose. But there is good news. Jesus Christ is the perfect Eikon (Colossians 1:15) and as we turn from our own attempts to fix ourselves and turn toward Jesus Christ, trusting in him and his work, we can be restored to our original purpose. "The goal of the atonement is to restore cracked eikons into glory-producing eikons by participating in the perfect Eikon, Jesus Christ, who is redeeming the entire world" (Scot McKnight, A Community Called Atonement).

In Christ, we are no longer broken, bound, and blamed. Instead, we are fixed, free, and forgiven! The challenge is to begin to recognize our brokenness, our bondage, and our shame and give up our futile attempts to piece ourselves back together. Instead, we turn to Jesus, receiving his fixing restoration, freedom and forgiveness. I challenge the kids and their parents to be attentive to ways they get tangled in their own attempts to make things right and challenge them to remind each other that only Jesus can fix, free, and forgive.

Throughout this journey toward Jesus, I remind the parents that they are the primary disciplers of their children and that their children need to hear their stories. I challenge parents to tell their kids about ways they have experienced the brokenness, bondage, and shame (blame) of sin and how they have turned to Jesus for restoration (fixing), freedom and forgiveness. Honest, authentic stories of walking in obedience daily are absolutely essential for these kids as they prepare to meet their own failures and turn to Jesus for restoration.

Next post: Beginning to tell their own story of conversion.

Journey to Jesus - Stage One: The Seeker

If you haven't read the first post, start there to make sense of this.

The Seeker stage is designed to be a period of evangelism for those who are "seeking" the good news and the life of Jesus. For our community, this is generally kids who are between the ages of 9 and 12. They have been hanging around our community because they have been coming with their parents. As kids, they have been participating in our Children's Worship and have been exposed to many of the core stories of the Bible: Creation, the Flood, the call of Abraham, the Exodus, the tabernacle, Israel demanding a king, the building of the temple, the destruction of the temple, birth of Jesus, miracles of Jesus, institution of the Lord's Supper, Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension, and Pentecost.

Having been concrete, black & white thinkers, they are now beginning to be capable of abstract thought and shades of gray. However, they still need a lot of concrete bridges to get to make sense of the abstract thinking. Because of this need, I often begin our times together with some kind of concrete story or activity and then draw connections to an abstract idea. There's a reason why object lessons work well with kids, especially at this age!

For our first session, I have used Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar as a jumpstart to a conversation about conversion. It's obviously an imperfect connection and the parallels are a stretch and definitely fall short, but they provide a launching pad (and it's fun to watch kids who are 'too old' for this story enjoy hearing it again).

Before I read the book to them, I ask them to consider what this book might possibly have to do with them and their life of faith. In other words, "why on earth am I reading you this book?"

When I finish reading it, I let them tell me why I read it to them. The answers vary and can be quite interesting. We talk about what the caterpillar did to prepare for becoming a butterfly. We talk about his stomach ache after eating a bunch of junk food and how he felt better after he ate the nice green leaf. He spun his cocoon (actually, a chrysalis for those butterfly experts out there) and he waited. He could not turn himself into a butterfly. Eventually, one of them will usually arrive at the conclusion that the caterpillar's transformation into a butterfly has something to do with their desire to become baptized members of our community. Of course there are major differences and no metaphor is perfect, but we generally have an interesting discussion.

This conversation serves as a springboard into an explanation of the four stages of conversion (from Webber):
- recognize that I am a sinner (Romans 1:18-20; 3:10-23)
- repent from my sin and turn toward Christ (Romans 7:18-8:2)- faith and trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ (Romans 3:24-26; Romans 8)
- walk in obedience daily (Ephesians 3:16-4:32)

I ask them to spend time in the coming week, talking with their parents about ways they recognize their own sin and slavery to sin (Romans 7) and questions they have about the person and work of Jesus Christ. Because these kids have had exposure to the concept of the tabernacle / temple and sacrifice, they can generally grasp the concept of substitutionary atonement. However, the "God With Us" thrust of the whole story of God is not always as clear. Throughout the journey together, I am constantly wanting them to see the significance of God made flesh, dwelling among us, God's Spirit within us, always with us, always enlivening us and always enabling us.

Next post: Eikons - made in the image of God.

Journey to Jesus - a Preparation for Baptism Part 1

Over the years, I've had many conversations with leaders from other churches where we wonder together about how to invite new believers and children into the life of our communities of faith. I hear from them, they listen to me, and we talk about sharing resources with one another... and then we never do.

I have said I would offer these resources many times, and then I just can't bring myself to package it in any sort of static form and send it off to another community. Contextualization feels so important. I feel paralyzed by the hesitation to offer something that has worked well in our community and assume that it will work well elsewhere. After feeling guilty about not putting it together in any kind of coherent way for a long time, I'm finally going to blog about it. That feels safer... I can do it smaller chunks, less permanent pieces, and get feedback along the way.

So here goes... I'm going to offer the nuts and bolts of what I have done with kids at Life on the Vine over the past years. I willingly admit and recognize that not all of this material is easily transferrable to adults. For adults, I highly recommend Robert Webber's books, which is where the general frame for what we do with our children has come from.

The time we spend together is divided into four basic stages (and these are Robert Webber's):
- Seeker stage: evangelism - what is the gospel? what is conversion?
- Hearer stage: learning the doctrines of the church, discipleship - what do we believe?
- Kneeler stage: spiritual formation - how do I become more like Jesus?
- Walker stage: moving into the full life of the community of faith - how do I become part of this?

I plan to blog about each of the stages, giving an overview of the stage, scriptures I refer to, activities we do together, conversations we have, etc. I invite your questions and comments and hope you'll share your ideas!

NOTE: Every part of this series will be specifically geared toward kids in a community of faith. Because of that context, not all of this will fit for people who have no knowledge of the Bible, of Jesus, or for adults. I am specifically writing out of the experience of leading the children of believing parents into discerning their own baptism and becoming part of the community of faith out of their own belief.

For the Love of the Bride (or, why I am attending ENG#14)

It's hard for me to imagine Christ being excited about returning for His schizophrenic North American bride, who is constantly tearing at her own face and hands, trying to remove the 'blemishes' that cause her to despise her complexion. With her teeth, she tries to chew through the cords that bind her ankles, while her hands tie new knots in the same places. But He loves her still. And He is longing to fill her to overflowing that She might be a beautiful picture, a compelling foretaste of the coming kingdom.

In the book of Revelation, we are presented over and over again with a strong and compelling image of a triumphant body of faithful witnesses who follow the Lamb at all costs and in all circumstances. Church with a capital C. The bride of Christ, who remained steadfast in her allegiance despite all temptation, seduction, and abuse.

In a world full of back-biting, defensive, belittling sarcasm, and stubbornly drawn dividing lines... we, the bride, must be different. We are committed to following the slaughtered Lamb all the way to the cross, and this includes our dialogue with one another. Too many vocal church leaders use words and The Word to accuse, blame, attack, and attempt to tear down those who oppose, making claims to be the truth tellers of our generation... which is why I cherish the Ecclesia National Gatherings. Although there is bound to be some banter and self-aggrandizing wit, there is also an honest admission of ignorance, weakness, and a humble longing to hear from Holy Spirit and from one another as we seek the Spirit's leading together. Although there are still more men than women, still more whites than non-whites, there is a longing and a hope to see the Church more fully reflect the diversity of the wedding feast of the Lamb.

This group of people, who long to see the fulfillment of God's Story, played out in the life of the Bride, are the people that I want to explore some of the hard questions of Scripture with. These are people I trust to be good listeners, humble learners, and Spirit seekers. Will you join us as we seek to bring the Word to life? Find more about ENG#14. Register here.

Wisdom Begins in Wonder (Or, Why I will be attending ENG#14)

What does scripture have to say about men & women? Homosexuality? War? Justice?

These questions have managed to divide the Church and have been the seed of contention and animosity between believers, denominations and traditions. So why bother to have a conference where these questions are stirred up? What is the point? Is it to settle debates? To point fingers at all who disagree? To come up with some sort of binding agreement and then ask local congregations to form a coalition? Or is there something more?

Unfortunately, Scripture has been debated and debatable in many evangelical conversations. When these issues are “debated”, the conversation becomes oppositional. The stance taken is one of “us” vs. “them.” The point of the debate is to find flaws and weakness in the other side’s argument with the goal of affirming one’s point of view and simplifying a clear position on particular issues. In essence, the goal is to “win” the argument, affirming current view points while pointing out the fundamental “sin” or “wrongness” of the other side of the issue.

I will be attending ENG#14 because, at Ecclesia National Gatherings, I have never experienced an atmosphere of debate. Instead, there is an attitude of collaboration, of openness. Multiple viewpoints are encouraged and judgment is suspended. Ambiguity is tolerated. But rather than creating an individualistic or relativistic environment, this openness actually allows us to collectively seek deeper understanding of complex issues together as we listen to the Holy Spirit and to one another. 

Listening to one another actually has a way of enlarging our point of view and even possibly changing the way we think. Rather than simplifying issues, we better understand the complexity of issues and acknowledge our inability to control or neatly package God’s story into moralistic mandates. Instead, we humbly submit to God’s Spirit and to one another, seeking to be faithful participants in His unfolding Story and proclaiming His good news, even as we receive it afresh.

While at Ecclesia gatherings, I am often brought into a place of wonder at what God is doing in His Church throughout North America. I hear stories of pastors and leaders from local communities who are depending on God’s leading. We wonder and celebrate together at His work, while admitting that we don’t fully understand and certainly can’t take credit. When I leave Ecclesia gatherings, I go home with a renewed sense of belonging to a tribe of humble servants who are grateful to be written into God’s Story and are watching with wonder at what unfolds.

It seems right that this gathering will be taking place in the season of Epiphany. At this time of year, we welcome “aha” moments, where Christ, the Word made flesh, is revealed to us in all His glory. I know there will be moments of revealed glory as we seek to receive the Word in all His fullness together at ENG#14.

Won’t you join us?