The concept in Chapter 5 that has stuck with me is this:
If we were left to ourselves with the task of taking the gospel to the world, we would immediately begin planning innovative strategies and plotting elaborate schemes. We would organize conventions, develop programs, and create foundations. We would get the biggest names to draw the biggest crowds to the biggest events. We would start megachurches and host megaconferences. We would do…well, we would do what we are doing today.
Er, 4 days ago, actually Pastor Platt. Now I’m not knocking Catalyst. Trust me, to experience what I experienced and come away with what I did, no one will ever convince me there is not worth in what they are doing. But that’s what we jump to don’t we? I mean, since leaving I think that’s what I’ve been trying to do…strategize and plot and organize and just…figure out a way to make a difference. And not saying organizations are bad either. But Jesus gave us this clear picture of going alongside just 12 guys and changing the world.
Even through Sisterhood of the Traveling Belt I’ve learned you just need a handful of people to make a difference. (over $1,000 raised!) It doesn’t have to be complicated. If you yourself can just use your own talents and gifts for him it’s enormous. I just think so many people are stuck in trying to use their gifts and talents for themselves. They’re still stuck in attaining that American Dream. But if we we didn’t? What if we banded together with our friends that had the same mindset and just WERE the church? There are no limits. I love David’s closing comments:
A community of Christians each multiplying the gospel by going, baptizing, and teaching in the contexts where they live every day. Is anything else, according to the Bible, even considered a church?
Man, I pray that me and you and you(!) and(!) you (!) would come alongside each other and be the church together. I don’t need to create anything brand new. I just need to jump in where God is already moving. I love what my friend Dani wrote today…she’s working on being more frugal because people even at her own home church are being turned away. I’m learning there isn’t a magical formula for making a difference. It’s just me using my passions and you using your passions and us doing that together to meet needs we already see. I love what Christine Caine said at Catalyst. She said the Samaritan in Luke 10:33 had compassion and then he went and bandaged his wounds. The passerbys before had seen the man too but they did nothing. Christine said compassion is only sympathy until we cross the road and do something about it. Guys, I’ve seen. If you’re reading this, you’ve seen some of the needs. Are we going to be sympathetic or compassionate? Jesus says in Luke 10:37 “Go and do likewise.”
Today I printed our Shoebox labels and had the kids watch a video on it (going alongside my family). I also volunteered to man a Compassion table at a concert next week with my friend Becky (Attention locals: Jeremy Camp/Carlos Whittaker/John Mark McMillian in concert in FM next week!). I’m not saying that to boast but to let you know I’m not just spouting this stuff out to you. I’m challenging me too. What if we did stuff like that every single day and not just once a year. You know what I think?
We just might end up being RADICAL.
Read more Radical Responses here.
It really is amazing how complicated we sometimes make it isn’t it? When really, all He told us to do was love Him and love others.
Dani recently posted…Give Me Your Eyes…Ten Things He’s Allowed Me to See This Week
Yes…that’s exactly what He told me last night. Amy, you’re making it too complicated. Just love people. Love IS the gospel.
To understand why people do nothing is understanding that most Christians do not understand that they are DEAD in Christ. They don’t understand that in Doing is doing for the glory of the Kingdom of heaven and not ourselves. Its coming to a point in our lives when we finally get it! We finally get that its not about the crowds, the image, the selfishness of being about us, but, instead about God, for God, IN God and that we have nothing outside of God. We first have to to die to live and to learn to live in death with Christ. Rev.14:13
Thank’s Amy great peace!
Yes! I’ve been waiting for this post from you, Amy. I read chapter 5 well before going to Catalyst. I’m with you. The folks with Catalyst are doing some incredible work, and the conference had a big impact on me…even viewing the everything through the lens of Platt’s statements in chapter five. Is it not a huge contrast, though, to the map that Jesus laid out for us? You know, though, when Perry Noble called out people for spending more time at the vendor booth’s than on their faces praying, that’s when I felt like God was confirming, “Yeah, I know this is big and loud and there is a bunch of cool stuff that you really don’t need…but I’m still in this. I’m still in control and I’ll use it all for My glory!”
I finished reading Radical over a month ago and the stuff about the conferences didn’t really jump out at me until I prepared this post after coming back. I think there is value in Christians coming together, even at a large scale but I think BEING the church happens within personal relationships. That’s at least how I’m processing it so far. As I said, you just can’t say that God didn’t use those 2 days for His good…
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