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A Missional Epiphany
Posted by Cyle Clayton in Uncategorized
We live in west central Louisiana, bordering Texas, alongside Toledo Bend Lake. The lake is a 70 mile long portion of the Sabine River that separates Texas and Louisiana. Every square inch of developable shoreline has houses on it. Some people who live and work in the area have moved to the lake, but many are retirees from Houston, Lake Charles, Dallas, and places far beyond. They’ve built retirement homes on the lake in cul de sac neighborhoods. They were wealthy enough to do so, which means that many were educated professionals. They didn’t move to the lake to connect to people, their communities, or their churches. They moved to the lake to get away from it all. And, they have. There are about 24,000 people who live in Sabine Parish. At least 18,000 are unchurched. The percentage of lake-dwellers who are unchurched and/or lost is even greater than the parish at large. (So much for the stereotype that everyone in the south goes to church.)
Bennie is a life-long resident of this parish. He knows the people who were born and raised here. Recently he’s been trasitioning out of his chicken house business and has taken a job with a local exterminator. That moved him into a whole new world – the land of the unchurched lake-dwellers.
After the deacon’s meeting this morning, he stopped me and told me how his eyes have been opened by his job. He never knew there were so many people who knew so little about God living right here in Sabine Parish. As he goes into house after house to spray for bugs, he continues to find people without Bibles, who don’t know God, and who clearly don’t go to church. Bennie asked me what I thought about him leaving Gideons bibles in the homes of the people he serves now. He wanted to know how to start conversations with people who are there, and how to be faithful to his employer while he does that. He said that so many people on the lake are lonely, they just want someone to talk to and he wants them to know about Jesus.
Bennie’s always been a servant. He’s always cared about people. Now, more than ever in his life, he’s become missional. He’s on mission with God, and he’s been given a mission and an open door by God to bring the light into the darkness.
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Bennie sounds like Epaphroditus to me; a great guy made to be right were he is. Not a foreign mission field church planter like Timothy but every bit as worthy of honor as a missional servant for the work of Christ. (Phlp 2:29)
If I were a rich lake dweller and my exterminator came by and just always had something good to say but wasn’t intrusive, I would be glad. If I heard him noting the beauty of the lake with the me(not necessarily the beauty of the stuff I had) I might feel connected and willing to open up. If he ever offered to pray for me, and I already knew it was just because he cared, not because I was a project for the local church, I would probably be real grateful.
I pray that Bennie has a flourishing ministry of opening lake dwellers’ eyes to the glory of God in creation and the hope of relationship through Christ.
thanks Cyle, good story.
ps. my Dad is like the lake folk but in Florida. I pray he has a Bennie for an exterminator.
We need hundreds of thousands of Bernies. And I believe God will supply if we continue to help people see worship as not ending at the sanctuary door and equip them, encourage them, and join them.
Russell,
Thanks for the comment. Every time I hear the “not because I was a project for the local church” comment, I wonder how to do that. If I believe that lost people need Jesus and born again people need church, how can I be genuine if I deny those beliefs? I don’t think that the judgement is in the eye of the beholder. In other words, I don’t think it’s up to the lost or out-of-church person to determine my motives. It’s up to me to examine them with God. If I came to you in full sincerity of heart, loving you and wanting to care about you simply because of Christ, I would do so with the very real desire that you know Him and that once you knew Him you grew in him by becoming part of the church I attend and pastor. I think taht some believe they have to give up on similarly held convictions in order to convince skeptics that they are sincere, and are not just treating them like a number (a.k.a., a church project).
I think that giving up the belief that lost people need Jesus and saved people need church is harmful. I don’t think it’s incongruous with just loving people in Jesus’ name. There will always be skeptics, and some of them are justifiably skeptical about Christians. I believe we can love people, be genuine, and want them to know Jesus and join our churches.
It is great that Bernie has eyes to see that this is the post-Christendom world in which we live.
In places like that the one describe in this post some people speak of the 80-10-10 formula. Some 10% of people regularly attend a church, a further 10% maintain a loose affiliation, while 80% are effectively outside the influence of local churches. The problem comes when most if not all of the evangelistic effort of churches is spent on the 10% with loose affiliation while we are largely out of touch with the 80%.
The most obvious place where the committed 10% encounter the 80% is in the workplace, as illustrated with Bernie. Go Bernie Go!
Cyle, it warms my heart to know of Bennie’s desire and I will pray for his witness in the area the Lord has so led him. This is indeed an example of what we should all be about as we walk through our daily lives whether in the workplace, supermarkets or malls. Being a Believer is about being who our Lord has given His life for us to be wherever we are. selahV
Praise be to God for opening Bernie’s eyes to the spiritual condition of the community around him and for placing in Bernie a desire to share Jesus. May God open our eyes and hearts as well.
Les
[Cyle wrote: Every time I hear the “not because I was a project for the local church” comment, I wonder how to do that.]
Cyle, it sounds like your story shows how to do that and that you are doing it. I get your point and think it is good. My response to the question, rhetorical or otherwise:
Bennie sees and cares. It starts with him seeing how the goodness of God should be shared with people who have stuff but not necessarily appropriate love toward God and others. They need Jesus.
What I was doing was writing from the perspective of the person being visited. I wouldn’t know exactly how I felt safe with Bennie, I could just tell there was something real about his concern; that he wasn’t using me for a story to tell all his church friends.
Scripturally I consider Jesus’ explanation to the disciples on how to be telos: mature, complete (Mt. 5:48 ff). In Mt. 6 he advises to avoid doing our works of righteousness before men. We do not give money to get a photo with us and a jumbo check, we don’t pray only when there is a microphone on, we don’t fast only when it gives us a gold star for being spiritual; we do what we do because we treasure the things of God regardless of whether others notice and affirm us. Some people really do treat people as a project for status with other religious people, and some people make that excuse even when it is not valid. We can’t help that. We can just seek to follow Jesus’ advice and keep our hearts right.
Your story of Bennie is an excellent example of that. It sounds like Bennie treasures God and people and just wants to introduce them. The more the church is made up of people like that the better.