Reaching the UnreachedAn annual conference for churches trying to reach out in the hard places of our land

When we had our first baby, Megan, I was blown away by the generosity of people in our street. Next door gave us a mountain of baby clothes, even though they’ve got a full house, with 13 grandchildren in and out. Our new neighbours on the other side, who we’d spoken to a handful of times, seemed to have bought something new for the baby every time we saw them. And it’s not just a baby thing. I’ve been put to shame as I’ve received far more practical help and love from those in my street than I’ve given.

We’ve been reading through Exodus as a family recently, and have reached the practical laws in chapter 21 onwards. It seems there were to be no boundaries for the Israelites in their concern and compassion for others. Foreigners were not excluded (22:21). Personal grievances were not to prevent aid (23:4-5). As much as I would love to just obscure the moral teaching of the Old Testament law under a blanket of redemptive-historical-fulfilment mumbo-jumbo, the truth is those laws reflect the heart of our generous God. Jesus was clothing himself with that law as he went about ministering grace to those in need, and summarising it’s teaching in the always-challenging parable of the Good Samaritan.

So why am I such a stinge-meister? Why am I so slow to seek out need around me? Why is generosity an effort rather than a knee-jerk reaction? (continue reading…)

So here’s where I’m coming from. At New Inn Church (www.newinnchapel.co.uk) we’d been running a youth group for a couple of years, with secondary-school-aged kids coming, mainly from nearby council houses, and almost entirely not Christians.

We’d started with simple talks based on their hardest questions (‘Why does God take good people and leave bad people?’ ‘Did God make dinosaurs?’ and ‘When Jesus comes back, will he be wearing old clothes, modern clothes, or will he be… naked?’ – ok, we didn’t do a whole week on the last question!). Then we began doing some narrative sections in the gospels, but still without directly engaging with the Bible text. Then this last year, we began by looking at the promises made to Adam, Noah and Abraham, all pointing forward to Jesus, and we used the Bible passages for that.

By this point, we had a consistent group of about ten teens, and were gradually piecing together the gospel with them. Ok, so most weeks we still had to send home a couple for bad behaviour, but the routine had been set – half an hour of Bible study, followed by half an hour of dodgeball (always, every week, without fail – their request! My knees have never been the same since…)

So I felt they were about ready for something like the Soul DVD – a nicely repackaged form of the youth Christianity Explored course (buy it from the Good Book Company here). How did it go down? (continue reading…)

Watch the last of the sessions from this year’s conference, by Pete Jackson.

To watch the rest of the videos from the weekend, go to the 2011 conference page.

Watch the second of the sessions from this year’s conference, by Tim Chester.

To watch the rest of the videos from the weekend, go to the 2011 conference page.

Watch the first of the sessions from this year’s conference, by Andy Mason.

To watch the rest of the videos from the weekend, go to the 2011 conference page.

A few weeks back Pete Jackson and me did a seminar together at the Northern Evangelist’s Conference about reaching out to council estates. Pete’s material was excellent and he’s kindly agreed to let us all have a look.

Confidence to take the gospel to council estates: The sufficiency of the gospel for ministry in socially hard places.

Something strange has happened in conservative evangelical circles in recent decades. It seems that a strategy for gospel ministry has developed that goes something like this: Let’s reach the brightest and most influential people in society, because if we reach them we’ll reach the nation. And so there has been a concerted focus for the evangelization of our nation on university cities and towns (but mainly the bits of those cities and towns where the predominantly middle-class students and graduates live). To our shame the working class and, for want of a better term, the ‘benefit-dependant underclass’, have by and large, been ignored by our constituency.

But it seems that God’s strategy is very different to the way we have played things. A quick look at how Scripture reveals that God has operated in redemption history should give us confidence to take the gospel to the council estates and the high-rise flats and the visibly broken communities – as well as the other places!

We already know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is God’s power to save those who are perishing – and that alone should be enough to send us to wherever people live, for there is no other power, no other good news that will save those who are perishing.

But it seems to me that God’s word gives us further reasons for confidence to take the gospel to those places which from a worldly point of view would be considered the lowliest: the places where many people, given the choice, might not choose to live.

1. Through the gospel and for his glory, God chooses the places and people that we would never choose.

In salvation history God chose a people for himself – he chose a nation through which he would draw men, women and children from across the globe to himself through Jesus Christ. But God didn’t choose one of the large, great, powerful nations of the time like Egypt or Assyria. No, he chose a small, unimpressive, often dysfunctional nation – Israel (raised up, incidentally, from one of the most screwed up, dysfunctional families in Scripture!)

Over and over again we see God choosing and using individuals that the world would never have chosen… Abel not Cain; Isaac not Ishmael; Jacob not Esau; Rahab (the prostitute); Ruth (the Moabitess); Gideon (least in his family and from the smallest tribe); Nineveh (a place with a human-rights record worse than China and North Korea put together); and David (the shepherd boy with seven brothers all of whom, in worldly terms, were far more impressive than he).

When Jesus was born, to whom did the angels announce the birth of the Saviour? Not to kings or princes but to smelly shepherds – the equivalent of young men with an ‘ASBO’ who were only good for looking after dumb sheep. Then there are the twelve apostles – the world would never have picked them! How about that woman in Mark 5 – an unclean social outcast due to twelve years bleeding? She came trembling to Jesus aware that having touched his garment; his power had healed her and turned her life around. In the previous chapter, Mark tells of how the disciples were also terrified of Jesus when they saw his awesome power to calm a storm. Both the woman and the disciples were afraid… but Jesus calls the female social outcast ‘Daughter’ because of her faith, but criticizes his disciples at that stage for their lack of faith.

Jesus was not impressed with social status or riches. He commended the poor widow who gave two small coins to the work of the LORD, and implicitly criticized the rich who gave proportionally very small amounts from their vast wealth.

And there are plenty more examples in Scripture of God choosing those that the world would never choose. But why does He do it?

All for very good reason: Listen to what the apostle Paul said to the Corinthian church (a church, incidentally, with probably more ‘issues’ than any other that he wrote to). 1Corinthians 1:26-27

‘Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many of you were influential; not many of you were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are…’

Isn’t that brilliant! God intentionally chose those who the world would not choose. He did not target the well-qualified or the respectable, but instead, chose the low achievers and the people whose lives were a right mess (as a quick read through of 1Corinthians confirms).

The church then (and today) is living proof that salvation is not a human trick and is not to do with human wisdom or greatness. We look like a pathetic and feeble bunch compared to the wealth and celebrity and greatness of many in the world.

And the reason? So that on the last day, no-one may boast before Him. On the last day, no-one will say, ‘Of course he’s here in heaven… he was so wise, he knew so much… She was such a bright cookie – I knew she’d work it out eventually.’ No! On that day, apparently insignificant people who have responded to God’s word of the cross (the foolish message of the cross), will shame the one’s that the world in it’s wisdom would have chosen… the beautiful, the so-called ‘wise’, the rich, the famous, the powerful – and all who with them who turn their noses up at the word of the cross.

I used to be in a bible study home-group made up predominantly of professional working people most of whom had been Christians for many years. There was also a dear lady in the group from the local council estate. Her son was an alcoholic and drug addict, and her husband was chronically depressed. The family lived entirely on benefits and in worldly terms were nothing special. But this lady got saved. The striking thing about her was that although she was not academically bright… and though she was a new believer, she had a humble willingness to actually see what the Bible said (rather than assume that she knew the answer already), and so had understanding of the Scriptures that put the entire group to shame. And God gets all the glory!

I have a Christian friend who has been in and out of work – eight jobs in six years and various spells of unemployment. I have sometimes (perhaps naively) thought to myself that if things don’t work out for me I could get a job in Tesco. My friend aspires to work in Tesco – he has applied several times, but they won’t have him! He is inarticulate; he has no qualifications, but… he understands the gospel, loves Jesus, and is one of the best evangelists I know. The world would never choose him – not in a month of Sunday’s, but God is glorified through him.

God uses the weak, lowly and despised to shame the proud and strong. Glory be to God!

James 2:5 ‘Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised to those who love him.’

Yes he has – because that way, no one will boast before him. And he will receive all the glory. God uses the lowly to shame the wise. That’s the way God operates… and so it should drive us to the places we have avoided, and cause us to sit a bit more loosely to the humanly ‘strategic’ places. The council estates of Britain are great places to be doing gospel ministry!!! Interestingly in James 1:18, James tells us that is through the word of truth that God chose to give us birth. God chooses and draws people to himself, as the word of the gospel goes out (it’s the gospel that brings people to new birth). So we must have confidence to preach God’s word in the so-called ‘hard to reach’ places.

So first, for his glory (and through the gospel), God chooses the places and people that we would never choose. Second…

I preached my first town centre open air sermon in Bridgend yesterday, and I felt like when I was dared to dive off the three metre board at the local swimming pool when I was 11: absolutely terrified! But there was a great crew of friends out too praying hard, and picking up conversations with those who looked interested.

Anyway, the main point is, most people didn’t stop to listen, but there was a steady flow of people passing nonetheless. I reckon there was a one-minute envelope from when these people came within ‘firing’ range, to when they were out of earshot.

So the challenge is this: how do you best communicate the good news of Jesus in one minute?

I think you need to be:

• Ear-catching. It has to grab people’s attention whether by being vivid, or controversial, or even a bit odd! Jesus’ ear-catching parables, as well as hardening some hearts, also had the effect of opening others. As Spurgeon put it, like first tickling an oyster, so that you can then slip in the knife – the killer punchline!
• Direct. This can be no simple presentation of facts. The gospel call is not a lecture, it’s a lifeline thrown to the drowning person with a direct instruction to grab hold!
• Uncompromising. Paul preached in different cultures, cities and contexts. And while the manner and style of the presentation varied, the message of ‘Christ crucified’ (1 Cor 1:23) stood rock solid.

To give you some ideas, here’s what I preached today:

Anybody interested in knowing this Saturday’s lottery numbers? Course you are! Everyone wants to be rich right? You can be rich right now. Not rich with money – rich with something better. Jesus Christ was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. Jesus was loaded in heaven. But he swapped it for a hard life here, and shameful execution on a cross. Why? So that he might give you his riches in place of your guilt. Trust Jesus with your life – he will give you the riches of knowing God personally.

Phew! It’s hard to be brief! A couple of cheeky uses of dashes, and there we go: 100 words!

But I want your ideas! Post a comment below with your one-minute gospel and I will shamelessly use the best ones on the street! Soli Deo Gloria.

Door to door visitation is a great way to build strong relationships between the local church and local people. The goal is for the same person to visit the same people to win them for Christ’s sake.  We try to visit them every three months.  Often, those conversations are about the common things of life but we are building trust with people and forming a long term relationship.  As a result, we have many conversations about the Lord, people are invited (and come) to our Church, we strengthen our relationship with local people and build a strong network with the community around us.

Today, I am attending the funeral of a man that I met through door to door visitation.  I have a very good relationship with his family, some of whom I have also met through visitation to a different address.  Several people I have met in this way are now coming to St. James – and they are very much a part of our church community. Some are reading the Bible with me regularly. Many of the people I know might never meet a Christian otherwise.  Meeting them this way means they have the opportunity to hear the Gospel, be invited and respond.

What do you think about door to door visitation?  And what can make it easier or more difficult?