JUNGLE BOOGIE

I had the chance yesterday to sit in with Bill Easum as he was here speaking to pastors at the Cokesbury Leadership Academy. Bill, is a church growth consultant and I guess you could say a student of culture. He Twitters (I don't) and is about twice my age, so that should say something. If you haven't noticed our world has changed. Metaphorically we are in the jungle, while most of our churches are still in the National Park. Throughout the day we discussed making disciples and several times it came back to our Wesleyan heritage. Wesley was about "behavior modification". He believed that when we come to Christ and are saved that our behavior should change. We should be in obedience to Christ and stop sinning. Yesterday we stopped short of the sin part. It wasn't really the place for it.

But what strikes me is that at the places we should be talking about sin we stop short too! If making disciples is about behavior modification then we should be pointing out sinful behavior. Here is a question: In our Bible-illiterate, truth-is-relative world, how else will people learn what sin is? The jungle is full of it. The answer lies in being a right handler of Truth (2 Tim. 2:15) Sermons should! Small groups should! Families should! It is every believer's job to go (into the jungle) and make disciples. A disciple is an intern or apprentice learning the trade. We are the ones to be modeling and teaching the trade of obedience to Christ. It must be done in the spirit of love, as Jesus did.

We need to drop our self righteousness and model obedience and just how tough it is. I believe jungle people smell pride. It is like a pheromone that drives them away. We are not the judges! We are the hands and feet of Christ going into the jungle to be salt and light, dealing with our junk and sharing the love and redemption we have found in Christ. Get your machete out.