Today for May’s synchroblog several bloggers are writing about how to help Christians know what to do and what to say when others are going through times pain or hardship.

It’s not easy finding the words for these but here are my four tips based on my own experiences:

1. Be approachable – not intimidating

I remember being intimidated when everyone gathered round me to pray. I’d just been made redundant. I am sure that that everyone wanted the best for me. But I found myself backing away from them as they offered their loudly hyped up ‘faith filled’ prayers on my behalf.

2. Be approving – not patronising

On another occasion I remember feeling the Holy Spirit comfort me during a time of worship. I was experiencing something deep. I must have looked upset because someone asked if they could pray for me. Again they were well meaning but somehow they came over as patronising because I hadn’t ‘got it all together’.

3. Be available – not too distant

More recently when my mother died I was so grateful to have our church home-group that meets in our home around me. They were just getting on with activities as normal but being there for me. It was great to be given some space but still be able to get a sympathetic listening ear when I needed it.

4. Be adaptable

I’ve appreciated when people have just been there for me, rather than when they have felt they have needed to sort out the situation. But over the years I’ve heard others sometimes complain because the church hasn’t been given the support they expected. Everyone is different and it isn’t always that easy to tune into their needs.

I wonder what you would add as number five.

Here are the other synchroblog posts:

• Comforting those who Hurt – K. W. Leslie
• Unto the Least of These – J. Stahl
• Like a Motherless Child – Carol Kuniholm
• Exploding Bridges and How to Help People – Phil Lancaster
• The Ministry of Presence – Glenn Hager
• The Problem of Pain – Chris Jefferies
• When Sorry Seems to b the Hardest Word - Doreen A Mannion
• What Seems to Help in the Midst of Pain – Kathy Escobar
• Mourning with those who Mourn – Jeremy Myers
• What He Told The Home Crowd – Tim Nichols
• Manifesting the Spirit - Margaret Boelman

Anyone as who knows a bit about the church year will tell you that Easter is not just one weekend it is a whole season stretching from Easter Sunday until Pentecost. We have fifty days, including eight Sundays, to celebrate the resurrection.

I have recently been studying some of the traditions of Easter. To some these may be clichés but they are virtually unknown to many evangelicals and charismatics.

During each of the Sundays of Eastertide traditional liturgy reminds us of the following truths regarding this resurrection life:

The first Sunday: The ressurection

Just as Christ has enabled us to overcome spiritual death he enables us to overcome difficulties of living in this fallen world and ultimately to defeat death.

The second Sunday: Church

Together as God’s people that we can overcome our doubts and misgivings by encouraging one another in the faith. On our own our faith with dwindle and die.

The third Sunday: Worship

As we gather for worship we learn and experience this resurrection life. It is in our experiences together that we are strengthened to live in the good of the resurrection.

The fourth Sunday: The good shepherd

Jesus is the good shepherd who has laid down his life for his sheep and taken it up again. He leads us to green pastures and feeds in the midst of our enemies.

The fifth Sunday: Ministry

During his time on earth and especially between his resurrection and ascension Jesus taught his disciples how to be Jesus after he had left – to live this resurrection life.

The sixth Sunday: The Holy Spirit

Jesus taught them to expect the Paraclete – the Spirit that would come when Jesus went away. The Spirit is given to empower us to live the resurrection life.

The seventh Sunday: Unity

Despite our many differences the fact is we as Christians all have this resurrection life in common and the important fact that will bring us to unity and so glorify God.

The eighth Sunday: Pentecost

Following Jesus ascension the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost on his church bringing a boldness to proclaim the gospel and live the resurrection life to the full.

These wonderful themes are emphasised every year as the traditional church works its way through the Easter lectionary readings. Treasure these if they are part of your heritage. If they are not then I would encourage you to study them more and maybe even incorporate them into your Sunday worship.

A quick way to research what people are searching for on the internet is to use Google’s predictive feature. You start typing a word and Google with give you a few suggestions based on popular searches. By typing a word followed by each letter of the alphabet it is easy to collate an A to Z of that topic by just picking one of the four words or phrases that Google gives you.

A is for Missional Alliance

B is for Bible – ten scriptures on missional by Ed Stetzer

C is for missional communities as in CMS’s small missional communities

D is for Defining Missional – what does it actually mean?

E is for Missional Entrepreneur – making social enterprises missional

F is for missional formation – see these top ten books from Jesus Creed on missional formation

G is for God of Mission or Missio Dei

H is for hermeneutics – watch this video on how we interpret the Bible in the light of mission

I is for imagination. Here is Mike Frost speaking on Missional Imagination

J is for joining God in the neighbourhood. This is what missional is all about. Buy the book Missional: Joining God in the Neighborhood from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

K is for Keller as in Tim Keller. In this short but important video he distinguishes between missional and evangelistic

L is for leadership as in the MA in Missional Leadership at Springdale College

M is manifesto. Read Ed Stetza’s blog posts under the heading Missional Manefesto here

N is for Network as in The Missional Network – a team of ministries coaching and supporting missional leaders

O is for order – missional orders are related to new monasticism. As in this post by the Blind Begger

P is permaculture as in the Missional Permaculture Network – Christians seeking to be missional through permaculture – an organic approach to gardening. They are on facebook here

Q is for quotes. There are some missional quotes from Good Reads here

R is for Rhythms. Missional Rhythms by David Fitch

S is for Songs – a playlist of missional songs on YouTube here

T is for theology. There are four elements of missional theology from Jesus Creed here

U is for urban. God is moving in the inner city with organisations like Urban Expression

V is for verses as in missional verses evangelistic (see K is for Keller) or missional verses attractional. Mike Frost explains this here:

W is for Missional Wear – come on! Is wearing a t-shirt with a Christian slogan on it really being missional?

X is for Generation X which has been a topic discussed in missional circles. There is a cool looking guy talk about this here

Y is for Youth Ministry. How can we make youth ministry more missional? asks Steve Knight.

Z is for zip code – in the UK we call it a postcode. Demographic data on your area can be important in assessing the culture and the needs of the people you are aiming to reach.

Here are the results from the poll I ran the other week: 92% said they knew a good balance of Christians and non-Christians and the other 8% felt that they knew more non-Christians.

These results appear to be very encouraging. If we are to be truly missional we do need to mix beyond our Christian circles and it looks like most of you are. You feel that they know a good balance of both Christians and non-Christians. Not knowing non-Christians isn’t a problem for you.

Of course it could be you tend to have closer relationships with people who are also Christians. I wonder if the poll might have got different results if I had referred to friends rather than just people you know.

It is interesting that one comment did indicate awareness that this might be problem for Christians. “I think there is a real danger to becoming cut off” my friend Ann said.

Speaking as someone who remembers “experiencing exclusion in many areas” she wrote: “I am determined not to do what was done to me – how ever I can see and do experience people who say they are Christians… [who] are selective in who they are Christian towards”

Perhaps how to get to know people outside Christian circles isn’t the issue. But perhaps you need help developing or maintaining those relationships? Or could it be serving those you know whether they are Christian or not is more important as well as how to have conversations about spiritual issues them?

Today for April’s Synchroblog several bloggers are posting on the question “What if some or all of the Bible narrative is not necessarily true history, but is myth of one sort or another?” This video post is my contribution. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for a list of other contributors.

Evangelical author Peter Enns has recently suggested we interpret the early parts of Genesis not as literal history but as the unique style of writing of a creation myth. This leaves room for evolution to have taken place.

We often use the word myth in a dismissive way implying that a story is a hoax. But scholars have understood for some time that a creation myth can be allegorical truth. This is an issue of interpretation of the Bible not a question of its reliability.

Where does creation myth become actual history? Genesis 11 perhaps? But what to make of the genealogies that go all the way back to Adam? I don’t know.

I’m a lot less comfortable with the idea that the later Bible stories are mythological. If I came to believe that I might feel more at home in a more liberal church. If we took this idea to its extreme then Jesus death and resurrection would not be historical fact. What would be left of the Christian faith and even the Church?

Doubting the historical accuracy of the Bible could destroy our faith. But for each part of the Bible we do need to understand the style of writing. Is it history, poetry or allegory?

I’ve no problem with the idea that God may have used evolution to create us. I believe that if we interpret the Bible correctly it doesn’t have to be at odds with science.

I wonder what you think of this.

Below is the infographic Is The Theory of Evolution True? courtesy of Visual.ly showing some of the history and current state of the creation-evolution debate.

Theory of Evolution true? – Darwin infographic

Further reading on Peter Enns

PDF Summary of Peter Enns’ Inspiration and Incarnation
PDF Summary of Peter Enns’ Evolution of Adam
Peter Enns own blog
Peter Enns at Biologos

Other posts from this month’s synchroblog

• K.W. Leslie – When People Believe Christianity Is A Myth
• Jeremy Myers – What If The Bible Is a Myth?
• Bud Brown – What if Paul was wrong about the life of Christ living in me?
• Chris Jefferies – What If … Creation Was A Myth?
• Paul W. Meier – Is The Bible A Myth?
• damannwrite – The Bible As A Source of Wisdom
• Phil Lancaster – What If the Bible Were A Myth
• Carol Kuniholm – What If Newness Was The Norm
• Liz Dyer – Penultimate Truth
• Glenn Hagar – Myths in the Bible? So What?

A quick way to research what people are searching for on the internet is to use Google’s predictive feature. You start typing a word and Google with give you a few suggestions based on popular searches. By typing a word followed by each letter of the alphabet it is easy to collate an A to Z of that topic by just picking one of the four words or phrases that Google gives you.

Using this technique here is my Google A to Z of the Holy Spirit:

A is for “aint got a pen” as in “the Holy Spirit ain’t got a pen” Russell Brand’s response to the members of Westboro Baptist Church when discussing inspiration of scripture

B is for Bryan and Katie Torwalt from the Jesus Culture Music of Bethel Church who sing about the Holy Spirit

C is for Bryan and Katie’s ‘Holy Spirit Chords’

D is for dove and then when you’ve typed dove Google then suggests “dove tattoo”!

E is for experience such as the tremendous experience with the Holy Spirit described by Denzil Washington

F is for female depictions of the Holy Spirit – controversial!

G is for Gettymusic resources for churches by Keith & Kristyn Getty.

H is for hymns such as “Holy Spirit Living Breath of God”

I is for “in the world today” as in “Holy Spirit in the World Today” a conference organised by Holy Trinity Brompton’s Alpha ministries

J is for Jesus Culture

K is for Kim Walker another American singer, songwriter and worship leader

L is for “living breath of God”

M is for “move me now” as in “Holy Spirit Move Me Now” another song this time by Vinesong

N is for novena – prayers for nine successive days such as the nine days before Pentecost (a Catholic tradition)

O is for “of fire” as in “Holy Spirit of Fire” a more traditional hymn

P is for Pentecost

Q is for quotes about the Holy Spirit from the Bible and from Christian writers and speakers, which abound on the internet

R is for “rain down” as in “Holy Spirit Rain Down” by Hillsong

S is for school. It is amazing how many Catholic schools are named after the Holy Spirit. You need to put “sp” before you get speaking in tongues!

T is for “thou art welcome in this place” as in “Holy Spirit Though Art Welcome in This Place”

U is for university – as well as schools there are other Catholic educational institutions such as the “Holy Spirit University of Kaslik” in France

V is for videos not just of songs but of people encountering the Holy Spirit in some unusual ways

W is for worship songs such as “Holy Spirit We Welcome You” by Chris Bowater and many of the others already mentioned.

X is for XVI as in Pope Benedict XVI (although I have heard a rumour that Pope Francis I is more open to the Holy Spirit than his predecessor)

Y is for “you are welcome here” as in “Holy Spirit You Are Welcome Here” by Bryan and Katie Torwalt

Z is for Zac Poonen – a preacher, teacher and writer who among other topics has written about the Holy Spirit.

Please try this yourself to see if you come up with something similar or try different words.

One vital key for Christians to be missional is to have some influence on people outside of the Christian faith. God’s heart is to reach the world. He wants us, as Christians, to be rubbing shoulders with people outside our faith.

I believe God wants us, as Christians, to know and build relationships with non-Christians. He wants to us to be having genuine conversations with people who might see things very differently from us. God especially wants us to be chatting about our faith.

Do you feel that you know many people outside of Christianity? Perhaps you know lots of people from a variety of backgrounds including those who are Christians and those who aren’t. But it may be that most or even all your friends are Christians.

Please let me know your response to this poll. It is completely anonymous. If you want to discuss this further please feel free to leave a comment on this post. If you have a tip of how to get to know people outside of your Christian circles or any insight on this issue I would be pleased to hear from you.

I will post the results of this poll in a week or two and discuss the points it raises.

Following his post about the charismatic-missional tension Andrew Wilson suggests some ways forward for churches in this post Becoming Charismissional.

Here are his ten tips aimed at leaders, slightly paraphrased, on how to be both Spirit-filled and missional.

1. Being Charismissional is possible

The early church had both strange charismatic experiences and clear explanations of the gospel.

2. Be honest – how charismatic are you?

To what extent are your contributions really God speaking? To what extend are they just your own thoughts?

3. Be honest – how missional are you?

Are you sharing life with those outside the church and having conversations about the gospel?

4. Think about the words you use.

Avoid Christian jargon. Use terms new people can understand.

5. Explain what is happening when you meet

Clear explanations throughout can help visitors feel comfortable with what is happening e.g. when someone speaks in tongues or when you lay hands on someone to pray for them.

6. Understand 1 Corinthians 14

Take care with spiritual gifts. Use them primarily to build up the church. This is why they should be intelligible.

7. Acknowledge individual differences

Some non-Christians are sceptical of emotionalism but some actually prefer more passionate gatherings. Don’t over generalise.

8. Train people to use gifts evangelistically

Why not teach people to use spiritual gifts in conversation with their non-Christian friends.

9. Share the teaching

Some speakers may excel at doctrinal teaching others at gospel preaching or charismatic experiences.

10. Lead by example

Eagerly desire more of the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts and engage with your culture and with non-Christians.

What do you think?

Related posts on this blog

Why CharisMissional?
Becoming CharisMissional
Post-Charismatic? A book review
7 Charismissional links
5 Examples of the Charismatic-Missional Tension

Posts by Andrew Wilson

Becoming Charismissional
The Charismatic-Missional Tension

I recently found this post where Andrew Wilson an elder at Kings Church in Eastbourne discusses what he calls the charismatic-missional tension. In this first post he raises some interesting questions about spiritual gifts, healing, ministry times, preaching and how we use social media.

Spiritual gifts

Some missional churches in attempts to be more seeker-sensitive have all but banned spiritual gifts in their meetings in favour of communicating clearly to those outside the faith. But shouldn’t we be able to be charismatic and exercise gifts in our meetings without being wacky and incomprehensible?

Healing

Praying for the sick may mean seeing some people not healed. Andrew Wilson discusses how we can tackle this with honesty and integrity – not exaggerating, appearing deluding or destroying people’s faith when the healing doesn’t occur. Is it more charismatic to pray for healings but more missional not to?

Ministry times

This refers to a charismatic practice where people respond to a sermon by coming forward to be prayed for. We may still long to experience God more deeply but also feel that visitors may be spooked by some people’s highly emotional responses during such times and so experience this charismatic-missional tension.

Preaching

Here he discusses the balance between teaching doctrine, preaching the gospel and encouraging Christians to experience more of the Holy Spirit. Wilson observes that most good preachers excel at one or two of those but rarely all three.

Social media

To what extent do we discuss our Christian experience in front of non-Christians? Some charismatics may freak out their friends whereas some missional types may say next to nothing and miss opportunities to testify.

He tries to make sense of these in his following post, which I will discuss next week.

Further Reading

The Charismatic-Missional Tension by Andrew Wilson
Becoming Charismissional by Andrew Wilson

This post from NPR (America’s National Public Radio) includes a fascinating and helpful interview with psychologist and anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann who has recently studies what it means to hear the voice of God and have a personal relationship with Jesus.

Tanya Luhrmann is a professor at Stanford University who has visited a number of groups in the Vineyard movement. She describes the findings of her observations and interviews with these Christians in her new book When God Speaks Back.

In the radio interview she outlines what she saw and heard and some of the conversations moved her to tears.

“They learn to experience some of their thoughts as not being thoughts from them, but thoughts from God that they hear inside their mind,” she says.

In When God Speaks Back she describes people building a conversation with Jesus like this – based on their understanding of God – who is primarily loving and accepting. Interestingly she describes how people to learn to discern which thoughts come from God and which are purely from their own imagination.

Overall I found Tanya Luhrmann’s comments about evangelical Christianity respectful and helpful in articulating the idea of hearing God. Personally they gave me valuable insights into my own experiences and into some of the ways that people talk about hearing God especially when they recount word for word dialogues.

Please have a quick look at the summary of this interview about When God Speaks Back on the NPR site or even better take the time to listen to the radio interview.