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Sunday morning I took a risk.
I believe the Lord wanted me to.
I preached for 10 minutes and then I stopped.
I asked everyone to journal their thoughts for 5 minutes.
Then I asked them to do something bold.
To turn and get in groups of 4 and ask discuss 3 questions.
- Why are you here?
- Out of your deepest held beliefs which one has deeply changed?
- Are you on a plateau or are you letting Christ grow you?
The results?
You can find out a few different ways.
- Listen in on the service. Go to this link or the the Podcast page or iTunes. (Episode 46)
- Read one participant’s impressions. You’ll get a taste below and then you’ll need to go to his blog for the rest of the story.
Sometimes changing the rules is the best way to grow.
Today, at my bud Kary’s Church he played. Kary took a risk and introduced his congregation to the BTL process of speaking and listening. Instead of giving what they’ve come to expect from Sunday morning service, he gave them a jolt and asked them to play along.
They played.
I participated in the service by simply being in the pew and connecting to those that happened to choose the same pew as me.
Random.
I met a couple in both of the services. The first couple I already knew and I still learned a ton. We hadn’t connected in years and, actually, I had never really asked them about their kids. Today, we changed that. Very cool.
The second couple, in the second service, I had never met. Today, we changed that. We connected for about 16 minutes. I had never seen them before in my 50 years on this planet. They had never seen me. We had never spoken a word of English, our native tongue, in each others company. We were complete strangers.
Hey Kary,
Sounds fun. We’ve done similar things from time to time, but I wrestle a little with this kind of thing for just one reason.
Do you think we’re forcing a relational interaction into a sphere or relationships where it doesn’t belong?
(I’m assuming you are familiar with Joe Myers here)
I’m sometimes a little concerned that these kind of activities (depending on what you ask people to do) belong in the “personal” sphere of relationships. Unfortunately, most of the relationships in an auditorium on Sundays are “public” type relationships, and “social” at best.
While I like the idea of giving people a taste of the power of smaller relational interaction, I’m wonder if there is a way to modify this kind of activity in order to fit the relational space within which it occurs?
Any thoughts?
Tell me about Joe Myers
Joe’s book Search to Belong radically changed and significantly clarified my thoughts on “community” and developing relationships. (Charlie Dean recommended it about five years ago, don’t know if you know Charlie)
His next book Organic Community is not as good in my opinion, but still has some good thoughts.
I’d STRONGLY recommend Search to Belong. You won’t love it all, but who wants to read something which doesn’t produce some amount of tension!
a little more here…
http://davidswatersedge.blogspot.com/2009/11/joe-myers-search-to-belong-and-circles.html
Cool man. I will check it out. I don’t know if this relates but…our new people loved it. They didn’t belong yet….but as they share in the audio sermon clip…as first time guests….they loved it and it made them want to belong.
Email conversation is tough…feel free to respond…but maybe we can also extend the conversation in MI in the next couple weeks when I am up. I’d love to learn from you.
I never cease to be amazed by how the 10 minute conversations that I have with patients every day often delve deeper into relationship than the handshakes and unsure smiles that we often exchange Sunday morning at church. I feel like it has a lot to do with vulnerability.
That said, I absolutely love this idea. It is reminiscent of something that Kondo Abel did at a young adult retreat that I attended last year. It was specifically a conversation related to how we fill space in our lives.
While yes, it seems like it belongs in a more personal sphere, breaking the rules is what creates the beauty that you talk about here.
Beautiful insight.
So glad you make the most of your day.
Blessings Sarah.