Launch Team Meeting 02 (Day 181; 165 Days till Launch)

On Sunday we went to Discovery Church. Mike Clear, one of the guys who is responsible for this crazy ride I am on, is the family pastor. I was really looking forward to visiting this Sunday because our ministry model is so similar. If you want to see what River Park CC is going to look like visit Discovery. Nice to visit Discoverykidz--standing room only.

At our launch team meetings we are taking our team through our core values. In a world that is information saturated we all have very thick filters. We don't believe what we get in the mail. We don't believe the ads in the local newspaper or on the billboards on the freeway. We don't believe what we see on TV. About the only thing we believe is our experience and the experience of our closest friends. So we realize that that has a profound effect upon how we market River Park Community Church. (It also has a profound effect upon evangelism, which we will talk about in a moment.) We realize that "getting the word out" about RPCC will not rest upon fancy fliers, postcards, signs or newspaper ads. Those are great secondary tools. (They confirm the testimony of a friend.) Our primary tool is the recommendation of a friend. So we figure, in the early stages of RPCC we need to paint a picture in the minds of our team: this is what RPCC is.--so that our launch team can easily share it with their friends. That is why we are spending the next few meetings on our core values. As our first preview on June 29th approaches we will be transitioning to more tactical issues. But for now: we are talking about relational evangelism.

I grew up in "church world." And in church world evangelism meant one thing. It meant 7 weeks training on Wednesday nights, ending in a trip to the mall or to the beach to talk with complete strangers about where they were going to go when they die. If evangelism meant anything, it meant one thing--fear. Growing up as I watched other people do evangelism, I thought . . . I will wait until I am more mature . . . a little more seasoned in the faith. Then, I will be able to have all of the answers. Then when I have all the answers I will have the courage to pass out those tracts and talk with complete strangers about Jesus Christ.

At River Park Community Church we believe that spiritual growth happens best in the context of close personal relationships. This is true for maturing believers and for people taking the first step in their relationship with Jesus Christ. The reason why this is true is because it is only within the context of close personal relationships that people have the sort of vulnerability-based trust needed to speak truth into a person's life and be heard. We have all heard the statement: rules without relationship equals rebellion. This is also true about accountability, care and belonging. Outside of relationship, accountability is resisted--"Why should I trust that you have my best interests at heart?" Care is mistrusted: "Do you really think the Kirby salesman cares about your carpet?" Belonging is too new to be more than superficial. Belonging takes time--it is affinity with a group that is developed over time. It is hard to develop these things with a complete stranger in a fifteen minute conversation on their doorstep or in the mall or at the beach. That is why the form of evangelism that starts with the question, "Do you know where you are going to go when you die?", is not the most effective.

We believe there is another way. What if we invested in the people we are already connected with? What if we built a relationship of trust with a person before we started to talk to them about one of the most important decisions a person can make? This is the way Philip did it in the New Testament.

In John 1:43-51. Jesus decides to go to Galilee. In Galilee he runs into Philip and says "Follow me." Philip does. As a side note we find out that Philip is from the same town as Andrew and Peter--two other disciples. Hmm. Maybe they knew eachother--you know those small Galillean towns? Doesn't everyone know everyone else's business? So Philip invites his friend, Nathanael, to follow Jesus. Like many of our own friends, Nathanael is skeptical. He says, "Can anything good come from the trailer-trash of Nazareth?" So Philip says, "Just come see for yourself." Nathanael does, probably because he trusts his friend enough to go see for himself. Nathanael ends up following Jesus.

I call this "come and see" evangelism. We might call it invest and invite. We simply build a relationship of trust with someone and then invite to "come and see."

I happen to believe that most people in our community think church is for church people not for them. They know church people. Church people don't swear, they don't drink, their kids dress up in matching clothes on Sunday, they don't go to raging parties, they pray in restaurants. They know they are not like that, they know church people are . . . they figure church must not be for them.

What if we were a church for that group of people? What if we could create environments for people who think church is for church people not for them? That is what relational evangelism is all about. It is about investing in people outside the church and inviting them to an environment designed for them. We are so committed to this idea that we are not creating periodic "one-off" special "invite" events. Instead, every Sunday is designed for insiders to invite outsiders. Every Sunday is designed for people who are saying to their friends, "come and see."

Relational Evangelism: We believe that spiritual growth happens best in the context of close personal relationships.