Spiritual Formation vs. Conversion
In certain circles I continue to read/hear some things that disturb me. The way and tone and directness with which it is expressed is almost Pharisaical or Gnostical and neither of those approaches are a good marriage with the Way of Christ.
When I read/hear comments like:
“I’d rather have 500 sold out deeply spiritual people worshipping on the weekend than 5000 that are skin deep.”
“We need to focus on growing the one’s we have before we can go out and get more.”
“Knowing the Bible should be the priority right now.”
I cringe and in all honesty I tend to boil over with anger and passion.
If every church had focused upon “growing deeper” would any of the folks who make these kinds of comments have even come to a life saving relationship with Jesus?
We often forget that while people are lambs, most of the ones we are frustrated with from a spiritual growth standpoint are also adults. They have every right to exercise free will if only for the reason that this is the way that God wants it. They are not children who can be made to read their Bible, internalize the scripture, and be transformed by the knowledge. They can, and often do, choose not to.
None of us want a spiritually immature congregation. It sucks trying to lead people who choose to know very little, and obey even less. However, at the end of the day the Bible makes it very clear that the one responsible for the growth that we complain about, that we judge, that we often condemn is God.
God is responsible for the growth. The only thing we laborers are responsible for is planting and watering, but even then growth is God’s responsibility.
I’m thankful for the disunity in the Corinthian Church because if it were not for the problems that they faced we wouldn’t have what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, “6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.”
It may seem like semantics because now you can just complain that not enough watering is going on, but even so God is still responsible for the growth. In fact, just because we plant and water there is no guarantee growth will happen. Sometimes it could take several seasons of sewing and watering before the first sprout springs forth from the ground of the heart.
In reality conversion is spiritual formation. At conversion the Spirit is formed in us. I would argue that the most significant and abundant growth happens at this moment. All growth that follows will pale in comparison to what happens at the moment someone is transformed by the Word of God. It is a death to life experience, and as an embryonic growth happens a rates unparalleled in the rest of a humans life so it is with our rebirth.
Conversion is Spiritual Formation. It isn’t an either/or proposition. It should be a both/and proposition.
We cannot forsake being a light to the world for the sake of focusing upon the sheep we already have in the pen. We must find a way to water and not compromise the sewing of the seed. Too many people will die and go to Hell if we don’t find a way.
Seatbelt Communication
Jeff Meyer of The Church passed this video on to Will Mancini, who blogged about it and then tweeted about his blog.
That’s how I came across it. It’s amazing how connected The Church is becoming. It makes me think Jesus will make a visit in my lifetime.
That may be the most compelling video on wearing a seat belt I’ve ever seen, other than the accident scene in Seven Pounds, which also doubles as a deterrent to texting, emailing, tweeting, etc. while behind the wheel.
For all of my creative friends out there see what Will had to say about grabbing attention.
In Church Unique, I cover the integration principle, “Grab attention or hold nothing.” According to studies as reported in the book, The Attention Economy, there are four primary factors for getting attention. I immediate thought of these four things as I watched this video.
Four Keys to Really Get Attention
1. Is the communication personalized?
2. Is the communication coming from a trustworthy source?
3. Is the communication brief?
4. Is the communication emotional?In the case of this video, it is not necessarily personalized, but it does feel very personal. The trustworthiness of the source is carried by the quality production and the “embrace life” message and logo. The brevity and emotion of the piece are stunning.
I agree.
If I could impact as strongly with the gospel in as short an amount of time shouldn’t I be willing to invest in the effort and time to produce such a message? Or does the ego just get in the way?
The Blog that spawned The Conversion Investment Series
Are You a Slacktivist? | Donald Miller’s Blog
A friend of mine has a non-profit in which he raises money to provide academic scholarships to kids in South Africa. It’s a terrific organization doing terrific work. He raises funds on the platform of Academic Equality, and mostly mobilizes college students to host parties and fundraisers then works closely with students who are being provided scholarships. As he started his organization, I couldn’t help but notice it grew much more quickly than The Mentoring Project, an organization I started to provide positive male role models for kids growing up without fathers. I couldn’t help but wonder why.
As my friend and I talked about it, we wondered whether organizations that simply raise money in America and send that money overseas weren’t easier to grow because, quite frankly, they don’t require you to change the way you actually live? I know that sounds harsh, but think about it, if you could feel like a humanitarian for simply wearing a t-shirt and attending an occasional rally or updating your facebook status, or if you could feel like a humanitarian for taking a few hours a week out of your life and working with an actual child in an after-school program, which would you rather do? In other words, would you rather wear a t-shirt that says you are a humanitarian, or would you rather be a humanitarian?
My friend shared with me a term he’d learned that summed up our current dilemma: Slacktivism.
Are you a slacktivist?
Now to be fair, organizations building wells and freeing child soldiers and stopping sex-trafficking are doing extremely important work, but I don’t think we should feel all that altruistic for throwing them a twenty in exchange for a t-shirt. People need more than money, they need other people.
What if you laid out all your non-profit t-shirts and asked how you were directly dealing with the issue? And what if you no longer considered yourself altruistic unless the causes you supported were actually making your life more complicated? What if slacktivism wasn’t actually social change? What if it was just another way of exploiting the poor and marginalized, using them to foster our own false identity as humanitarians?
Does your activism cost you anything besides money? And in exchange for that money, do you get a social commodity and identity as an activist?
