Outreach and the Artist: Evangelism WITH the Arts
Post Series
Evangelism “with” the Arts
Evangelism “through” the Arts
Evangelism “to” the Arts
The arts are a precious gift of God. Music, painting, dance, sculpture, theater, and so many other art forms enrich our lives and give expression to the human condition. They challenge and comfort us. They inspire and humble us. They feed us and demand our energies. I can’t imagine life without the arts. What a miserable and shallow existence that would be! —Con Campbell, “Outreach and the Artist,” 11.
My day job is pastor of an Evangelical Covenant Church in West Michigan. But I also moonlight as a writer, as a freelancer and author. Which makes me part of two minority groups in two cultures: pastor in America and artist in the Church. While the former is expected, the later is unfortunate.
It’s unfortunate this is the case, that artists are a minority, overlooked group in the Church. It’s been shown time and time again that the church is struggling to remain connected to the next generation of young creatives (including, musicians, artists, writers, designers, and actor). Which is why I am thrilled about a new book by Jazz musician, Con Campbell, called Outreach and the Artist: Sharing the Gospel with the Arts.
This book is an important resource that fills a crucial gap in the available literature on outreach, not only for artists but also pastors and others in ministry leadership.
This book does two crucial things well: it encourages artists to use their gifts for evangelism and help them to think through the issues involved in doing that; and it encourages pastors and “ordinary church folk” to engage with the arts and the artistic community in their midst for the sake of reaching them for Christ and reversing the trends.
As an artist I need this book. And as people in ministry we need this book. Beginning with exploring how to do evangelism with the arts. Thankfully for us ministers, Con charts a doable path toward marrying jazz and Jesus.
What are the Necessary Components of Effective Discipleship? Jim Putnam & Bobby Harrington Explain in “Discipleshift”
For the past few weeks we’ve been talking a lot about discipleship (check out HERE and HERE). Jim Putnam and Bobby Harrington in particular have been encouraging us ministry leaders to make a shift in how we do ministry, a discipleshift.
In their similarly titled book Discipleshift: Five Steps that Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples Jim and Bobby have shared their refocusing journey around forming people who are following Christ; being led by Christ; and are committed to the mission of Christ. And such formation requires a shift: a shift “from simply making converts to reaching people and discipling them.” (51)
Ok, fine. But how do you do this? And what are the necessary components to effectively form such people?
Let’s stop here and throw these questions your way: How do you form disciples? What are the absolutes you’ve found necessary to disciple effectively? Consider dropping your own hows and whats in the comment section and then come back here and read on.
So then what are the necessary components of effective discipleship? I’m glad you asked!
Jim and Bobby believe “there are three necessary components to the disciple-making process—the Word of God, the Spirit of God, and the people of God. These three components work together to bring about spiritual maturity in people’s lives.” (137)
The “Stuff-Your-Shelves” NIV Application Commentary Sale
When I was in seminary just a few years ago I was a bit of a commentary snob. I thought that the only pastor worth his salt was the one who owned ”quote-unquote” academic commentaries—like Anchor or Hermeneia. So I filled with my shelves with these lengthy, heavy tomes, thinking they would help me craft the perfect punchy, provocative, academically informed, theologically tight sermons West Michigan had ever seen!
Then I got into ministry. And things changed.
Yes, those lengthy, heave tomes still inform my sermons and have tremendous value. But I’ve found I have less time for sloshing through 20+ pages on the nuanced exegetical views of a given passage. I still want to understand the original meaning of God’s Word, but I need more. I need resources that will pluck my sermons from the clouds and help my people apply it to my people’s lives on the ground.
That’s where the NIVAC series comes in.
Not that these commentaries aren’t academic. Each NIVAC volume certainly holds their own against others in their field. The blissful twist with these resources, though, is that they are made for you and me to quickly access, digest, and use the information to craft application-centric sermons.
Case in point: the newest NIVAC edition on the Book of Deuteronomy. Maybe it’s because I’m a green preacher and haven’t taught on the Old Testament often, but applying Deuteronomy to 21st century living is a head scratcher. Yet Daniel Block’s 870+ pager manages to do just that, apply it to everyday life.
Like every NIVAC volume, Block opens with a healthy intro, complete with a handy outline of Deuteronomy. He then exegetes each passage using the three-fold “Original Meaning,” “Bridging the Context,” and “Contemporary Significance” structure. The latter is the commentary’s real bread-and-butter. For instance of the Shema, the famous 6:4-9 passage, Block writes:
Moses taught his people and he teaches us and Christians everywhere that true spirituality arises from the heart and extends to all of life…This passage suggests that that the very decorations of our homes should bear testimony to our faith, declaring to all guests and passers-by the fundamental theological outlook of those who live within… (189)
This Fall my church journeyed through The Story, a thirty-one week teaching series through Scripture’s big narrative. I had few OT commentaries to start and 9 times out of 10 I gravitated toward these handy commentaries to help me craft biblically informed, academically sound, yet applicational sermons. They were still punchy and provocative, but they also had boots; they reached the ground so my people could understand how they could find their story in God’s Story.
If you haven’t already I’d urge you to stock your shelves with these pivotal pastoral resources—whether you’re a preaching pastor, youth pastor, or small group leader. And this week is no better week to start stocking those shelves because the ebook version of every volume in the series has been discounted to $4.99! So do yourself a favor and stock up, because this super sale will end next Monday, May 13.
Has an NIV Application Commentary helped you in your preaching or teaching?
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Jeremy Bouma is a pastor with the Evangelical Covenant Church in West Michigan. He is the founder of THEOKLESIA—a content curator dedicated to helping the 21st century church rediscover the historic Christian faith—holds the Master of Divinity and Master of Theology from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, and writes at www.novuslumen.net.
The Four Main Roles of a Disciple-Making Pastor
This morning I’m going to speak with pastors. If you’re a small group leader you may listen in, too. But this morning I want to hit on a crucial section of Jim Putnam’s and Bobby Harrington’s important new book Discipleshift: Five Steps that Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples, because if it’s implication for us pastors.
First take a look at section from Paul’s letter to the Church at Ephesus:
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Eph. 4:11-13)
Read it again if you need to, because these verses tell us our goal as pastors: to equip people for works of service and ministry so that the Body of Christ may be built up, so that we all can reach unity and spiritual maturity.
Among all the hats you and I wear, one of our most important hats is disciple-maker. We are called to guide and equip our people to do Christ’s ministry. And that hat necessitates a shift in how we do ministry, a discipleshift, if you will.
Jim and Bobby are helping me make that shift as I help lead my own church through a season of significant change, beginning with understanding and embracing the four main roles of a disciple-making pastor.
Exponential ’13 Church Planting & Ministry Post-Conference Resource Sale
If you’ve never been to an Exponential Conference, you’re missing out! Exponential is a growing community of leaders committed to accelerating the multiplication of healthy, reproducing faith communities. And this community and conference has a special place in my heart.
It was one year ago last week that I received the call in the Detroit airport on my way to Exponential ’12 to take over a struggling church plant. One year later I am pleased to share that God has done a mighty wonder in stabilizing, renovating, and growing this small plant! So it is with special pleasure that I can announce a super-amazing deal for a solid set of church planting and ministry resources.
Most of these same resources have informed and encouraged my year-long effort at prayerfully, carefully tilling the soil of this dying church in order to nurture it back to new life. While some of them are geared for church planters, anyone who is neck-deep in re-launching, re-imagining, or renovating an existing church will benefit from their insights and encouragement.
At the Exponential ’13 post-conference sale page you’ll find resources to inform your ministry method; shape your ministry focus; give you vision for effective, city-wide transformational ministry; and care for your soul along the way. There really is something for everyone at every stage of ministry development.
The Exponential conference this year was centered around the new book Discipleshift, by Jim Putnam and Bobby Harrington. (I introduced it yesterday in my Monday column.) Speakers ranging from Francis Chan to Ed Stetzer, Wayne Cordeiro to Dave Ferguson, and Larry Osborne to Hugh Halter all spoke on gearing up for growing more disciples. If you missed the conference you don’t have to miss the resources that will help you do just that: equip you to grow more disciples in your community. But don’t wait too long to grab these resources, because this super-amazing deal will end next week Monday, May 6!
Did you make it to the conference this year? If so, what’s that one insight you learned that has stuck with you?
What is a Disciple? Are You Making Them? Making the “Discipleshift” with Jim Putnam and Bobby Harrington
These are two important questions. Before we take a crack and answering the first one, though, how would you answer it yourself? How would you define a disciple?
Is it about what a person knows? What one does? How he acts? Where she goes, or doesn’t go?
The reason I ask this question is because it seems like we’ve lost perspective on what it is we should focus on as church leaders, which is having massive consequences for how we do our job and the results our ministries are producing.
Prime example: Willow Creek Church.
A few years back Willow Creek revealed the results of a months-long study into their church effectiveness, called the Reveal study. The results rocked their world, which revealed that they simply wasn’t producing the people they were hoping for, mature disciples of Jesus.
Here is what Bill Hybles wrote in response: “Our dream is that we fundamentally change the way we do church. That we take out a clean sheet of paper and we rethink all of our old assumptions. Replace it with new insights. Insights that are informed by research and rooted in Scripture. Our dream is really to discover what God is doing and how he’s asking us to transform this planet.”
That’s the dream of Jim Putnam and Bobby Harrington, as well, which they outline in their new book Discipleshift: Five Steps that Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples.
They dream of a massive, radical shift within the American church that peals away outdated, ineffective ministry models in order to re-discover God’s original dream for the church.
This radical shift is explained at length in their crucial resource for every ministry leader. Not only will it help you answer our important question. It will help you produce the results for which we ministers all long: people who are following Christ, being changed by Christ, and committed to the mission of Christ.
A Post-Conference Sale in Honor of Missio Alliance’s Inaugural Conference
Growing up I can recall several “Mission Sunday” Sunday evening services. Our sanctuary was festooned with flags representing all of the countries to which our church sent missionaries. And we’d have those missionaries come and give an update from the out-there-over-there mission field.
That idea—that missions is what happens out there and over there—however, is a thing of the past.
Now “Mission Sunday” Sunday services throughout America should be festooned with flags representing the states to which our churches send missionaries or sponsor ministries because North America itself has become a mission field. In fact, by many estimates if the amount of unchurched people were their own nation, they’d be the 5th largest nations, behind China, India, Russia, and Brazil!
In large parts of our culture, Christianity now exists at the margins and is met with a sense of antagonism amidst the growth of religious pluralism. That’s the foundational assumption of Missio Alliance, a group of theologians, practitioners, and missiologists “seeking to launch an initiative that offers in-depth theological and practical direction for the many pastors and leaders attempting to navigate the challenges of ministry in a Post-Christianizing era.”
Last week they held their inaugural conference in Alexandria, VA called “The Future of the Gospel: Renewing Evangelical Imagination for Mission.” I’m pleased to share that Zondervan has discounted the eBook version of several solid resources by several session speakers for only $3.99.
These are essential reads on gospel, scripture, and the kingdom of God. They will equip you and your ministry to carry out God’s mission in the world. And since you’ll save up to 66% on these reads by Scot McKnight, Roger E. Olson, Alan Hirsh and others, now is the perfect opportunity to own these eBooks.
I’ve read most of the books on this list, and they have heavily impact my own ministry in post-Christian West Michigan. Get them today by clicking on this link, because these deals end next week Monday, April 29.
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Jeremy Bouma is a pastor with the Evangelical Covenant Church in West Michigan. He is the founder of THEOKLESIA—a content curator dedicated to helping the 21st century church rediscover the historic Christian faith—holds the Master of Divinity and Master of Theology from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, and writes at www.novuslumen.net.
Is Discipleship Only for Christians? Randy Pope Charts a Model for Non-Christian Engagement
Several years ago I remember a conversation I had with the director of outreach for the ministry I worked for on Capitol Hill. This was a unique non-partisan, non-political discipleship and evangelistic ministry in Congress. I was a pastor of sorts in that community of 23,000 congressional staffers who met with guys for prayer, bible study, and discipleship.
The conversation with my boss centered around my activity report. Each week I would record the name and the nature of my many meetings. Most of my breakfast, lunch, coffee, or dinner appointments were discipleship appointments. They were life-on-life engagements in which we would pray, study scripture, and talk about life. One particular person, though, was a not-yet-Christian. And I labeled him a “discipleship” appointment.
My boss, though, that was an odd designation. He thought I should have labeled that appointment and relationship “evangelism,” because he was a non-Christian; only “discipleship” should be applied to Christians, or so he thought. I disagreed. And I think Randy Pope would side with me in that disagreement. Because his new book Insourcing: Bringing Discipleship Back to the Local Church emphasizes life-on-life not only as a way to develop the spiritual journeys of Christians, but also as a way to impact those who are ready to meet Jesus.
First, what say you? Is disciples only for Christians? Or could (should?) we use the life-on-life model in our relationships with non-Christians, too?