Carey Nieuwhof

A Bias Against the Bible?

This post isn't about the media or 'secular' society.  It's about people who say they follow Jesus and our attitude toward the Bible.

The last month has brought me into contact with an attitude I've seen over the years that just doesn't seem to go away.  The attitude?  Nearly everybody wants to hear from God, but a lot of Christ followers really don't like to read their Bible. 

Let me say that again - a lot of people just don't like to read their Bible.  So they don't.  And then they wonder why they don't hear from God.

The issue's been a live one during our Signs from Beyond series - I really believe we mostly hear from God through scripture - not direct revelation. 

But I've heard variations of this over and over again over the years and intensely again in the last month:

Yeah, I just don't really read my bible.
I find the Bible too confusing.  
I don't get anything out of the Bible when I read it.  
I wish God would just speak to me directly.  

Bottom line:  if you don't access God's word, your probably not going to hear from God.  And your faith won't grow.  And you won't develop an intimate relationship with Him.  And you will end up making foolish decisions because you didn't consult God, but then you'll blame him for your misfortune.  And you'll be frustrated because you'll think God bailed on you.  But in reality, you bailed on Him.

As to whether the Bible's too hard to understand, I'm not sure that ultimately holds water. Check this out. 

No, I'm not in a bad mood.  I'm just sayin.... Because I've seen it over and over and over again.

What do you think?  Do people like to read the Bible? Do we read our Bibles? Is it too hard to understand?

On Monday, I'll come back with a plan I'd like to propose to change people's views about the Bible. In the meantime, chime in....

Wanna Get Your Copy of Hip 2B Holy?

Many of you have asked how you can get a copy of Global TV's Hip 2 B Holy, a documentary that heavily profiled our ministry at Connexus and several other Ontario churches.

The cost is $30 CDN ($28 USD) + GST (6%) and PST (8%) for a total of $34.20 CDN.  Send your requests to:

90th Parallel Productions Ltd
203 Gerrard St. E.
Toronto, Ont  M5A 2E7
Phone: (416) 364-9090
Fax: (416) 364-0580
E-mail:  [email protected]
www.90thparallel.ca

They'll send you a DVD. 

Thanks to our friends at thinkyouthministry.ca for the info.

I Only Got to Verse One

So in Part Two of the series "Signs from Beyond" (yesterday in Barrie, this coming Sunday in Orillia), we talked about God's will being revealed mostly in scripture.  

The assignment?  Read Romans 12.  Why?  Because most of us don't want to read the Bible. Most of us would rather hear from God directly rather than read the Bible to hear from God, even though direct communication is NOT something God does very often.  And even when we read the Bible, most of us don't read it as though God is speaking to us.

So the assignment was simple: read Romans 12 every day for a week and try to apply it to your life. I promised to do that too.  

This morning I started. I only got to verse one.  Actually, just the first part of verse one.  I didn't eve make it through one verse before I got stopped in my tracks.  Here's what hit me: the part about giving our lives (bodies) fully to Godin light of all He has done for us. 

Now I preached on this text yesterday.  I studied it during the week.  I've read it 100 times in my life, maybe more.  But I missed the part that says in light of all He has done for us. That stopped me dead cold.

I started thinking:  Do I really think about all that God has done for me?  What if I did?  That could change my motivation.  That could double or triple my gratitude.  If I really think about all God has done for me, my brain would melt. The Christian story isn't about what we can do for God, it's about what He has done for us.  It's about grace, mercy - God standing with us when I least deserved it. Wow! 

So I didn't read any further today. I had enough to saturate my little brain in applying just one verse to my life.  Usually I read 3-5 chapters of the Bible a day.  I got stuck at verse one.  And it's still eating at me.  I wonder what the rest of the week will hold?

Who says God's Word doesn't speak?  Try it.  Romans 12.  What's it saying to you?

A Growing Relationship - TakeAways

We're wrapping up a series we called a growing relationship, which is a rework of several series our partner church, North Point Community Church, has done (most recently....Five Things God Uses to Grow Your Faith).   You can access our series here or North Point's here.

It's no secret to any teacher that when you teach something, you learn.  Here are a few reflections/insights that really hit me during the series:

• At the heart of faith in God is trust, not just belief.  To trust someone is to have confidence in them.  If you don't have confidence in your car to get you to Toronto, it's because you don't trust its reliability.  Same deal with God.  If you don't trust him, it's basically that you don't have confidence in him. The more I think about that, the more I realize that what I really need to grow is my confidence in God.

• I'm convinced we've totally misdefined spiritual maturity in the church today. I know I've been on this one for a while, but I just get more convinced all the time that many Christians today are missing the boat.  Like I said early in the series, many Christians think knowing more makes us mature. Wrongo bongo. Knowing more just makes us more hypocritical.  Application grows us.  When we apply what we learn from God, it stretches us deeply (Ever read the bible?  Seriously, it's stinkin' crazy counterintuitive stuff!)  When we get stretched, we have to trust God.  And when we trust God, we grow.

• If we're not careful, most of us will become spiritual voyeurs (watching other people grow) or spiritual consumers (getting but never giving and, ironically, never being happy).  Jesus is the opposite. He applied.  He gave.  Maturity comes from giving, not getting.  (Thanks to all of you who stepped up to serve for the first time during this series!!)

Well, there's more, but that's enough for now. 

What thought is stretching you these days?  Any take aways from this or other things that are growing you into a fuller and more intimate relationship with Christ these days?

Why I'm Tempted to Take Over Customer Service

So yesterday, my frustration peaked again with companies that act like they really don't want your business.

I have spent a disproportionate amount of time trying to get home internet in the last three weeks.  Without boring you with the details, here are some of my frustrations:

• The modem for my original ISP died December 14th.  It was 10 days out of warranty.  They would not honour the warranty and were going to charge me for a service call and a new modem.  I purused other options.
• One company billed me $376 for a new install on home internet, and then did not call me for 10 days.  I called them several times and finally canceled when they were still unable to do an install or explain what happened.  I got a full refund, but no internet.
• Another company said they had two potential solutions.  One was not in stock anywhere in Central Ontario and no store knew why.  The company wasn't shipping new units, leaving the local dealers at a loss to figure out what happened.
• I bought portable internet in another form from that company.  It wouldn't install on my computer (and the signal strength wasn't that great.)  They gave me a full refund.  But then their parent company billed me for the first month anyway.  They refunded it.  Spent over five hours in line or on hold in the process though.
• I went back to my original company for new technology they offer.  It's been nine days.  They promised an install in 3-5 days.  No one has called.  I have called them twice.  They sent the order to the wrong store.  No apologies.
• Total time invested in getting home internet - probably 10-12 hours in the last three weeks.  Yikes.
• I still have no home internet.  Maybe today.  Maybe tomorrow.

I'd really love to take over the customer service industry.  I'd love to bring back a customer centered angle.  At Starbucks recently they forgot to put vanilla in my drink.  I brought it back (only because I'm not man enough to drink it black).  They offered to make me a new one (not necessary, I said, so they just put vanilla in my drink) and then they gave me a coupon for a free drink next time.  Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about... They exceeded my expectations.

Sometimes I think that many people would rather defend the institution than serve the customer.  And here's what worries me...do we do that in the church?  I worry that the answer is yes. 

When we meet people, are we more interested in how we can serve them or how they can serve us?  When any organization becomes more interested in how people can serve us, we lose our soul. You don't need to know much about Jesus to know that somehow the Gospel takes the side of serving others, not self.

What good practices/bad practices do you see in the church (any church)?  And what can we do to get a service mentality back?

Life circa 2009

Hope you had a great holiday.  Happy New Year 2009!  I played a lot of Rockband 2, made it to a game of the World Juniors in Ottawa, and got just enough downtime to come back fresh for a new year.

Thought we'd start off the conversation for a new year with some thoughts on life, mission and getting in position to let God leverage our lives and leadership. I don't have a list of specific goals, but here's what I'll be working on in 09.

• I'm refreshing my daily bible reading by switching to YouVersion, an online bible set up last year by the great folks at Lifechurch.tv.  Two days in, I already like it for two reasons:

• I'm reading in community.  The decision to move to YouVersion started December 31st when I twittered about that day's reading from Malachi.  By late that afternoon, six of us decided to read the bible together in a year on line using YouVersion.  If you want to join, just sign up, search for me, and follow me.  Should be fun!
•  Reading on a screen (in this case, my phone) makes me physically read the text differently than off the printed page, which I've read all my life.  It's making words and phrases pop in fresh ways.  Love it!

• I'm reading more intentionally in 09.  Recently, I picked up a dozen or so business/leadership books to sharpen my leadership skills.  Here's a sampling of what's on my list for early 09:

• Tribes, by Seth Godin.  Already done it.  Loved it.
• Planet Google, by Randall Strauss.  Believe in big brother?  Should be fascinating.
• Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell.   Bought one for a friend for Christmas too.  Gladwell always makes me think.
• Love the Work, Hate the Job, by Dave Kusnet.  I'm in leadership.  I want to be the best boss I can be. 
• Made to Stick, by Chip and Dan Heath.  Read their column in Fast Company...gotta read the book.
• I'm fully aware there are no theological books on this list.  That will come.

• I'm joining a gym.  Frankly, for two reasons.

• I need to get in shape.  Doing it on my own has lost me ten pounds in ten years.  Not good enough.  Looking at hiring a personal trainer to keep me accountable and get me moving.
• I need to get out of the Christian bubble.  I need new environments in 09 that get me more deeply into the fabric of the wider culture. A gym is one of those places.

I could say much more (I haven't talked about personal growth or even spiritual growth), but that's enough for now.  I'm deeply pumped about 2009 and excited about all that could happen.  God's faithfulness last year was far beyond any deserving, and I'm confident He's going to stretch and grow me and us more than we can imagine this year.

 How about you?  How is your 2009 starting, and what will be different about 09 than 08?

Encouraged or Discouraged?

Today, I want to encourage you.  And I mean that in the literal sense. To encourage means to give courage.  This isn't encouragement designed to make you feel good about yourself, it's affirmation designed to give you more boldness, to take more risks, to give you courage to do what you couldn't do otherwise.

The opposite of encouragement is discouragement.  Which, naturally, means feedback that results in you losing courage, losing the willingness to tackle issues.  

That's why this week has been so refreshing for me and others at Connexus. We took some big steps in faith last year, and while we've had some real highs, we've had moments where it was downright discouraging and scary to live this kind of mission.

This past week, in some small but important way, we've gotten a glimpse into how God is using a tribe of people who call Connexus home to shape live change over the last year. I was so excited for our team - our volunteers, congregation, staff and elders.  Their courage is making a difference!

I want to share those findings in the hopes that they will encourage you to think about how God is using you. The whole exercise will take 2-4 minutes.  If you're ready, jump here to read this week's posts on the Connexus blog. You'll read posts about how God is impacting lives, how the ministry at Connexus impacted people, some phrases that summarize the life change and more. 

As I read some of the comments, I was amazed at how many stories God is writing that none of us have heard yet.  And yet the are incredibly meaningful to God and to the person/people involved.

We all run into this coming weekend feeling some emotion.  If you are encouraged, don't let the encouragement simply make you feel good, let it give you more courage to step out into new places with Christ.  If you are discouraged, ask God for more courage.  He's probably using you more than you think.

Encouraged, or discouraged?  Regardless of how you feel, I promise you God wants to encourage you to take more risks, to trust Him more.  Because He - guaranteed - is willing to use any life surrendered to Him.

Apply Now

One the great things about the Revolutionary Love series at Connexus is that it's had such practical application points every week.  Bring food and clothing.  Buy a mosquito net.  Build a health clinic.  All tangible, "doable" stuff.

To be honest, peoples' response has been incredible.  I'm wondering whether it's not just because people's hearts have been moved, but because the "ask" has been so clear, direct and specific.

Often in preaching, we're vague about what we ask people to do - how we ask them to respond. "Be generous" is far less tangible than "buy a mosquito net".  And while I've tried to get clearer and clear on how people can respond tangibly to the teaching of scripture, I feel like there's still a gap we can close.

As we get ready to leave this series, I'm thinking actively about how to make more concrete asks with regular series.  I'm not sure doing a "project" a week is realistic or tangible every single weekend.  But clearly, we're not preaching so people can simply say "nice message" or "I didn't know that before."  We want to preach for transformation.

So, week to week, what kinds of things would help you better apply what we're talking about.  What's worked well in the past, what crazy ideas are floating in your brain, and what might work well in the future. Ideas?

Call Us Crazy, Please

Last night I was on a groups tour (we're visiting our community groups just to connect with folks and talk about life at Connexus). The tour's been great!

At one of the groups I was at last night, I caught a comment in passing that I loved.  One guy was telling me he was talking to friends about being a part of Connexus, and his friend said to him - "Connexus - you guys go to Connexus? Man, Connexus is crazy!"

To me, that's one of the highest compliments anyone can pay our ministry.

Our culture needs more out of the box, crazy, over the top people willing to risk something for the Kingdom.  Current Christianity is so sanitized that if any biblical figure jumped out of the scripture into most churches, we'd run them out of town.  The Bible is less Christian book store figurine and more like a crazy man who needs a shower.

One of the things I've been thinking about as 2009 rolls in is that we need to do more crazy things for the Kingdom - take risks no one else is taking so we can reach people no one else is reaching. We've got one idea rolling around right now to engage the unchurched that's bound to draw a ton of criticism from people if we actually pull the trigger. I say bring it on. (Stay tuned for details).

Is crazy a part of your spiritual journey?  Are you taking enough risks in your leadership for people to call you crazy?  Truthfully, not sure I am right now, but in 09 I definitely want to change that.

2009: A Missional Marketing Decision

Last week, we talked about why we stopped a lot of outside marketing at Connexus in 2008 and asked some questions about when marketing might be helpful.

Yesterday we had one of our final 2009 budget meetings.  We had $5000 budgeted to market a parenting series we're doing in February of 2009. The problem is, you can't reach many homes with $5000 when your ministry area has 200,000 unchurched people in it.

So here's what we decided: we'll try to do more for less. We cut the marketing budget by several thousand dollars and decided to focus all of our marketing on putting invitations for friends into the hands of people who already attend Connexus. What we mean is things like cards and invitations our attenders can share with friends and family, or even gift cards for meals out for people who come for the first time. That's less money, but we hope it's more impact.

Here's our thinking:

• $1000 designed to produce resources regular attenders can use to share with their friends might produce greater results than $10,000 or $20,000 randomly distributed in neighbourhoods.
• It will help us stick to our belief that growth happens best when people invest in relationship with friends who don't go to church and invite them to come with them.
• Viral growth is always the best kind of growth. Buzz generated by people who love something is always compelling.  That's how the early church grew.
• People who come in on the invitiation of a friend have a friend to guide them through their spiritual journey.

So in 2009, no external advertising.  Just a few well made resources in the hands of attenders who can share it with friends.

Would love your thoughts, reactions and ideas.