Something From Nothing
by Brogan Hume
How do you start something from nothing?
One of the many questions facing the church today is exactly that: how do we pioneer something new? Sometimes a new initiative is needed to update a previous project. Sometimes there is a need to pioneer something where there hasn't been any particular discipleship, mission or outreach before. As we look across our towns, cities, and villages we see a great need for the hope and good news of Jesus. So how do we humbly and prayerfully meet that need?
A few months ago we sat in the St Thomas' office pondering these questions as we prepared to launch a new ministry to university students. At that time we had no undergraduate students worshipping at St Thomas'. At the end of a term (12 weeks) of much trial and error, mistakes, discouraging moments, encouraging conversations, and prayer we now have 35 students committed to St Thomas’ (ie. ready to serve on a rota), with around 50-60 worshipping with us on a Sunday.
As I reflect on these last months and the questions that face all of us who seek to proclaim the wonderful news of Jesus, three aspects of ministry, partly informed by some of my experience in the last few months, come to light.
1. All gospel ministry flows from Jesus Christ & our relationship with Him
When you spend a significant proportion of your time working for a church there is inevitably a risk that the work we do becomes perfunctory and formulaic, sapped of devotion to and joy in Christ. But this isn't some sort of patronising 'go and read your Bible more' comment, nor do I mean we should try to conjure emotion within ourselves. It is merely an observation of the following: all of what we do to worship God, serve the church, and lead his people flows from our relationship with Jesus Christ. Without that relationship we have no reason nor right to worship, serve, or lead. What flows out from us is an expression of our relationship with God. Which is why I'd suggest that cultivating Christlike character is the only non-negotiable in pioneering leadership. Everything else is secondary or irrelevant.
Paul reminds Timothy that he is to watch both his 'life and his doctrine closely because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers'. From the overflow of our lives being devoted to Christ, we preach. 'From the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks' teaches Jesus, and from the overflow of our relationship with Christ, we minister.
2. Don’t dream big, dream often
'God hates visionary dreaming', wrote the great theologian, pioneer, and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 'it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious'. A hard message perhaps for us to hear in our current Christian culture of being a 'pioneer', 'leader', 'do great things for God'. (The first two of these terms I freely admit to have already perpetuated in this blog). Yet Bonhoeffer is both correct and wise.
The temptation of leadership is to try and chase down a big dream or see the perfect project come to pass which brilliantly ministers to the fullness of the problems we see. The truth is that this approach of tirelessly pursuing a big vision rarely works. Far better are modest projects which express our devotion - lots of small experiments performed freely & joyfully, and assessed critically. It is very hard to give up on a big project that we've sowed endless time, energy, and money into when it has failed. It is relatively easy to lay down a small project which doesn’t work, or change and adapt it. This done repeatedly with careful analysis and discernment of why it didn't work will provide an understanding of context, and ultimately help us find something that works very well.
3. If communication is easy, we're probably doing it wrong
If there's one thing that makes a significant difference to the success or failure of a project, it's communication. In truth, no project will work if people don’t know about it, and yet sticking a post on Instagram is so much easier than individually messaging people or putting invites through doors. I generally operate on the principle that the harder the communication method is, the more worthwhile it is.
Think about it: every single day you and I receive at least ten or more marketing or information emails that might be of interest to us. Most of them are either deleted or carefully mentally filed under 'read later', and then deleted later. The same goes for Instagram posts or sticking something on a notice board.
But how many times do you get a personal message on Facebook inviting you to something? How often do you get an invite personally addressed to you through your door? How often do you get given a slice of pizza and have a conversation with someone who studies at the same uni as you, with an invitation to church? How often does someone take the time to get to know you, add you to a WhatsApp broadcast list, and use it sensibly and respectfully of your time? When you were a student, how often did someone write you a Christmas card and send it to your parents' address, thanking you for being part of the community and praising an aspect of your character?
These are some of the ways we've communicated with students in the last three months.
When it comes to communication (especially with students - 'digital natives') the more effort and time it requires to do (generally) the greater the pay off. This should become second nature to us as the people of God, for when God chose to communicate the greatness of His love to us He embraced the most radical and costly approach: 'the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us'.
As we seek to proclaim the wonderful news of Jesus together I hope these three simple reflections spark ideas and provoke more fruitful gospel ministry in our lives.
