Category Archives: church

Stop Being Weird and Start Being Different!

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It’s time Christians start making more intentional choices about how we’re going to be weird. If you’re going to be awkward, if you’re going to be different, if you’re going to stand out then do it for good things! For too long those who call themselves followers of Jesus have been defined by making really odd and straight up weird choices. It’s time we stop.

The two lists below are not exhaustive in any way (is any list?) but I’ve outlined some of the things that I think Christians should be “weird for” and I’ve also identified a few of the ways that someone just needs to slap our foreheads and say “Hey, seriously stop being weird!” I understand that for most of these, each point deserves a whole discussion all to itself, so try not to get too worked up about small things. Also know that in every single instance here I do not have a specific person or people group in mind (unless noted otherwise) rather I’m ranting, thinking out loud, and potentially overstating (or understating) things to make a point…that’s just how I roll.

Be Strange!

  1. Community—the way we live together, the way we invest in our neighborhoods, the way we live for others should be a defining and really different characteristic about those who call themselves followers of Christ. So if we’re going to be weird, let’s be radically awkward in our willingness to love each other, to be hospitable, to entertain others, and to throw good parties. Let’s have people think we’re weird because of our willingness eagerness to die to ourselves for others.
  2. Love—let’s be known as the odd people who love everyone regardless of race, belief, or background. We’ve got something to learn from the LGBT community because I think they do this pretty well. We don’t have to agree with a person’s beliefs, with their lifestyle choices, with their theology, or any of that to love and respect them as creatures deserving of dignity! While I understand that in many ways I am opening  Pandora’s box because of the varied ways that we could define what it means to love a person (some would argue that the best way to show love to someone is to “not let them live in sin”…I would disagree…but that’s just me)
  3. Compassion—who needs health insurance when you’re meeting each other’s medical needs? Who needs pantries and clothes closets and other similar social services when people are freely giving of what they have, creating opportunity for others to grow and buy what they need (at affordable prices) etc? If compassion was more primary to our identity many of the political arguments would not matter because needs would already be met within our communities! What if Christians were known as those weird people where poverty wasn’t much of a problem (either because many of them embraced being poor, or because there was so much sharing, or…)! What if Christians were looked on as oddballs because they had compassion for those that others might normally reject?
  4. Learning—if God is creator then we need not fear knowledge. We need not fear truth even if that truth is found in a not-very-truthy-feeling-place because Jesus has stated very clearly that he is Truth. So if you discover truth, and it’s really true, then you’ve discovered something originating in Jesus. You can own it because it belongs to the one that you follow. Science, history, alternative medicine, etc. are all areas where God can be found. Christians should be known as the odd people whose thirst for learning is never satisfied. We crave learning, we love learning, we see it as a way of life not as something you accomplish. And because it’s all about a lifestyle, all about a journey—it ceases to be about right and wrong. It’s not about figuring out the right and wrong way to see the world, it’s about the journey of growing closer and closer to our creator. That would be a weird set of people.
  5. Innovators—God is a creator, an artist. God created the naked mole rat, he created pinkies and balsa wood. Can we say that God is an innovator? Or must we say that God is THE innovator? Christians are notorious for being behind the times. Our music is traditionally a mirror of what was popular three years ago, our art is not usually cutting edge, the schools we open are not usually on the cutting edge of educational research, etc. Christians are not known for their innovation, they’re known for opposing innovation. I love tradition, I value tradition, but tradition is not the end—it’s a means. So let’s try to be identified as those odd balls who feel an amazing sense of freedom to experiment, to explore, and to innovate. How can we follow THE innovator without a sense of innovation?

Stop being so weird!

  1. It’s weird when your biggest mobilization movement in recent memory is to defend marriage as one man and one woman. I’m one man and I’m married to one woman. I think it’s a good idea. But if I were to choose an area that I could imagine (maybe the problem is with my own imagination?) Jesus standing up and rallying the troops to fight over, it doesn’t seem like it would be the definition of marriage! And it’s not like there haven’t been other fights to mobilize for in recent memory. AIDS, child abuse, adoption, divorce (seriously, maybe we should defend marriage by pursuing having healthier marriages first), extreme poverty, genocide, and the list could go on. Seriously, we should stop being weird.
  2. It’s weird when we have our own mini-culture. I might not be saying this clearly, but I’m referring to Testamints, to 89% of the things found in a Christian bookstore. Let’s be honest, most of the stuff in those stores are incredibly weird and if you walked in there with your neighbor who does not follow Jesus it would be very clear how weird it really is.
  3. It’s weird to imply that following Jesus is concerned with Sunday “church” attendance. If Jesus died so that we could go to church we’re all screwed. Seriously. It’s weird to look at the life of Jesus, a man who lived radically, died radically, and sent his radical Spirit to transform the world and think that somehow this could be captured, encapsulated, lived out, or practiced on Sundays! That’s weird, it doesn’t make any sense. Don’t get me wrong, I firmly believe that the communal gathering of Christ followers is crucial and hugely important. But it is a result of a life of following Jesus. It is not the beginning, it is not the bulk of our faith expression, it is the natural response to living your whole life for Jesus. Let’s stop being weird and not try to pretend that living for Jesus has anything to do with your Sunday attendance.
  4. It’s weird that some Christians won’t see doctors. Ok, I realize that there are lots of marginalized extreme Christians that we could spend all our time talking about. The only reason I bring this one up is because I just read a story in the newspaper about a family who let their infant almost go blind because they wouldn’t let her see a doctor. They anointed her with oil, they prayed, and they just had their child taken away by CPS. I won’t say much more here because I think a majority of my readership would agree…but I think it’s important that we not be weird and allow our children to die or suffer when God has given us great freedom to use what he has provided us in his creation.
  5. It’s weird that we’ve created such a static system of morality that is not consistent in Scripture or in Jesus’ life. Most Christians look down on someone who smokes a cigarette or drops the F-bomb often while turning a blind eye toward the more destructive and sinister sins of gossip, materialism, gluttony, laziness, and greed. It’s weird. Remember when previous generations said it was wrong to play cards (I understand that there’s some contextual stuff here)? Can we be less about our position of right and wrong and more about whether our direction is taking us toward or away from Jesus (love, goodness, peace, etc.)?
  6. It’s weird when politics and faith have become so incredibly enmeshed like they are. I think that my choices about politics are intimately tied to my choices in faith. The two are incredibly and undeniably connected. But when the Christian vote becomes a sought after chip in the high stakes game of political power, when Christianity has become associated with such political stances as: supporting war and opposing anything that will make the rich poorer, when our views on society are shaped more powerfully by a political agenda than by the kingdom message that Jesus proclaimed…that’s weird. It just is.

There is so much more that could be said. There are so many ways that we’ve become weird, so many ways we’ve become caricatures of  real people. It’s like when we put on our Christian hat we start acting all goofy! So why don’t we all make a concerted effort to be intentional about what kind of goofy we choose to embrace. Lets be goofy lovers, caretakers, servants, learners, and creators! That’s worth being weird for.

Spontaneity and Proximity

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I’ve thought about calling it “proxineity” but I think that might bring confusion. Spontaneity and proximity are two basic and core realities for people to do life together. They go hand in hand, one relies on the other. Proximity leads to spontaneity.

As we work toward planting Renovatus’ daughter church plant in downtown Vancouver, the more we talk about doing life together, about being a community, and about being the church the more we are finding spontaneity and proximity to be necessities. Doing life together in a way that both allows for the planned occasions and encourages the spontaneous gatherings cultivates a more authentic sense of community. Are we really doing life together when I always wash my face, get the lint of my sweaters, and vacuum my floors before we gather? Or is a new sense of authenticity developed when a fellow worshiper sees my home in its disheveled state, when a neighbor sleeps on my couch, or when a friend sees my wife and I argue. This reality of spontaneity and proximity allows community to enter

into a place of vulnerability and openness. It becomes messy and dangerous, it requires more of you, and causes you to ask yourself if you are willing to follow through with your commitment to follow Jesus down the path of dying to yourself. Dying to self is easy when I am able to get ready first. But dying to self on my neighbors timing—on God’s timing is much more difficult!

While creating and maintaining boundaries is an essential aspect of healthy community, these boundaries can only be created and enforced when a communal context allows sufficient space for boundary intrusion. There is no place for healthy boundaries if there is no proximity to others or if there is no spontaneity in your life because essentially your boundaries have already kept others away!

As we look for partners to work with us in downtown Vancouver one of the first questions we ask is whether or not you are willing to live downtown. This is because we believe that proximity leads to spontaneity, and spontaneity fosters a deeper experience of community that is harder, more transformational, and a more powerful testimony of gospel in our community—a testimony that is desperately needed.

* This article was originally written for my June 2010 newsletter. You can access my newsletters here.

The Death of the Cool Church

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If you’re going to start a church there are a lot of dumb things you can do. At Renovatus we’ve done many of them, and I think I’ve written that blog post before. But more and more I am becoming convinced that one of the worst things you can do is aim to be cool. Being a cool church is a terrible idea. It sounds fun, it is most definitely appealing, and it could possibly feel very successful. Local Christian college students will flock to your church if you’re cool enough. Depending on your definition of cool you’ll attract decent crowds from different demographics. We all want to be cool, so we are drawn to join and be a part of a cool church. It’s like being invited as an 8th grader to hang out with a senior. I’m pretty sure it’s a subplot to every episode of Glee. It’s a part of our broken nature, we want to find acceptance and dignity through those that live and act as if they own it. In other words, we want to hang out with the cool kids. So if you have the choice between two churches on your street, and one of them is filled with cool soul patches, cool artwork, and cool pastors that wear sunglasses inside the building like Bono part of us wants to be involved in that church…because if we’re a part of a cool church then we might be considered cool right? It’s Jr. High all over again.

I don’t claim to be able to identify which churches are trying to be cool churches. It’s not that easy. There are some really cool churches that actually have little vested interest in being cool, it is actually a byproduct of their commitment to mission and justice. (There’s always something appealing and kind of cool about a person or group who is confident and sure about who they are and what they’re about…even if it’s an “uncool” thing like loving poor people) As far as I am aware, there are only two definite ways of knowing if a church is seriously trying to be cool:

  1. You name yourself Cool Church
  2. You make your website www.coolchurch.com (Sorry Abundant Life Church but…well…you chose the url!)

Anyway, the reality is that following Jesus is not cool. Dying to yourself is not cool. Loving the unlovely is not cool. Caring for orphans and widows is not cool. Eating meals with those living on the streets is not cool. Following the child of a teenage mom who grew up as a peasant refuge and claimed to be a king only to be murdered as a criminal is not cool. It just isn’t.

When we try to make church cool, we water down what makes us unique, we begin to lose our voice. The Christ follower is invited to be different. And, no, we’re not different because we listen to Michael W. Smith music, we’re not different because we make T-shirts that play off already made products, we’re not different because we don’t sleep in on Sunday mornings, we’re not different because we don’t say cuss words, we’re not different because we don’t smoke cigarettes. I’m sorry, but I just don’t believe that Jesus died so that we could be free from smoking cigarettes. I’m sorry, I just don’t believe that Jesus died so that we could go to church on Sundays. I’m sorry, I don’t believe that Jesus died so that we could say “darn” instead of “damn”. I’m sorry, I don’t believe that Jesus died so that we could listen to poor quality and less innovative music (Oops, I’ve got an obvious bias here). Those are all fine and dandy things, but they have very little to do with following Jesus! (though I do believe that the Sunday gathering CAN and should break this mold). When we make our aim to be cool we shift our focus from trying to please God to trying to please people. There’s a difference between pleasing people and loving, accepting, and caring for people. God invites us to be radical. Cool invites us to be mainstream. Mustard seed is not cool, it’s noxious, it’s an annoying weed, its invasive, and it’s the metaphor Jesus uses for his kingdom. Nope, joining in Jesus’ kingdom movement means that you’re going to be an awkward and annoyingly passionate lover of people. It means that you’re going to choose the path of sacrifice and generosity over the path of power and prestige. It means you love the unlovely (including yourself) it means you love people regardless of whether they are considered cool or un-cool.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

Pursuit of cool and pursuit of crucifixion don’t really mesh. I wish they did because it’s always been my secret dream to be cool. I want it like the desert wants the rain. I grew up a poor black child …I mean, a preachers kid, a homeschooler, I married the only girl I ever kissed…while my experiences cause  me to have a different definition of cool than most, it has always been my dream to be cool. But the more I fall in love with Jesus, the more I get to know him, the more I find myself being freed from the oppression of cool.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Galatians 5:1

Why Mission Matters Article

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This is my first meager attempt at getting something published. I wrote this article for New Wineskins magazine and you can view it here: http://ow.ly/27oFL or read the complete text below.

by Ryan Woods
July – August, 2010

82 - What Really MattersI tried to be a missionary once. I failed. For two years I spent time in a ghetto suburb of Lisbon, Portugal trying to save the world. The world did not get saved. As a matter of fact I did not technically save anybody. I learned to love soccer, I spent time with teenagers and homeless men, and I grew my hair out. But missionaries are supposed to grow churches, see hordes of people come to Jesus, and perfect their altar calls.

I did none of those.

I helped my Angolan musician friend Rey Kuango write lyrics in English. I fed homeless folk and saw a community emerge at our church from their ranks. I provided a place to stay for my friend Nikko away from his cockroach-infested home, where his light fixture consisted of a light bulb and two wires that he shoved into the outlet. But I never performed an altar call. Being a missionary is nearly one of the hardest things I have ever done. But it was nothing compared to what it prepared me for later in my life of ministry.

Jesus’ Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 says “…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…” This scripture has been core to our identity in the Churches of Christ, developing in us a sending mentality, reminding us of the transformation that happens around baptism, and the absolute invitation into the work of evangelism.

This passage, however, does not simply send us to do mission. The “go” that Jesus speaks of is not one of destination. There is no arrival implied in Jesus’ sending words. Rather, in the original language, Jesus’ words tell us that “as we are going” we are to make disciples, invite people into baptism, and teach what obedience looks like.

You see, if we believe that mission work is something that does not simply happen when we step foot onto foreign soil or speak a foreign language – but rather happens in our homes, neighborhoods, work places, grocery stores, and cafés – then our level of commitment to discipleship and evangelism have immediately multiplied exponentially. When ministry is dependent on my going to a particular place or destination I preclude the as-you-go mentality and replace it with a once-I-get-there attitude. Once-I-get-there is controllable. I control when I leave, I control if I leave, I control where I go, I control. When evangelism is defined as something that happens as-I-go, then I had better be ready for life to be messy.

I had better be ready to miss a mission committee meeting when my neighbors water main breaks and he is in need of help.

I had better be willing to stay at work late when my coworker opens up to me about his struggling marriage. I had better learn to accept that people might stop by my messy home uninvited.

I had better take seriously Peter’s words to “always be prepared to give an answer…” because that moment could happen anytime or anywhere, and often it will happen through my actions long before it happens through my words!

Jesus’ invitation to an as-you-are-going life was marked by such words as death, carrying your cross, dying to yourself, and loving your enemy. It is impossible, then, to follow Jesus down this path of being available to the world as-we-go, all the time, at any moment, without following him down the path to death.

Death is a core tenet of the Christian faith. We are to die to ourselves daily to live for the world. We are to die to ourselves daily to allow the Spirit to bring new life in us. We are to die to ourselves daily because we are following a God who did nothing less.

Neither Objects nor Projects

Moments ago as I sat in a local downtown café sipping on the best locally-roasted coffee, my friend and I knocked our mugs together in mini-celebration over the awkward moment that had just passed. You see we were talking about the church that my wife and I are planting in downtown Vancouver and my friend – who is not a Christian – kept accidentally dreaming with me about what this church might look like. While she does not buy into Christianity, she nonetheless is beginning to take ownership of this fledgling church despite the fact that she does not believe. The clinking of glasses was done jokingly to celebrate her acceptance of the inevitability of using the word “we” when talking about this church. At that moment, she allowed my dreaming to be her dreaming, the potential church activities to be her activities, and the conversation immediately twisted to “we” instead of “you”. It was a valuable celebration.

In Jesus’ other commission in Luke 10, we hear him sending his seventy disciples out to the nearby towns to proclaim the kingdom. Surprisingly, however, he sends them out without the necessary provisions. They were sent without money, a bag, or even shoes. Instead they are told to be open to the generosity and hospitality of the people to which they have been sent. In other words, they have been sent in search of partners. Partnership is also important to Matthew’s Great Commission as Jesus states that while authority is his, he is sending us.

Us? He is the one who has the power, but he has commissioned us as his sent agents of hope in his world. Partnership. Jesus invites us to partner with him. The reason this is so key is that when we transition from an arrival mentality of mission to an as-you-are-going mentality, we are challenged to change our view of humanity around us. No longer are they objects of our mission; no longer is their salvation our goal. Our neighbors are those who surround us as-we-are-going and we are invited to see them as fellow journeyers, as partners in journeying through life. If we believe God’s Genesis 1:31 statement that what he has created is very good and if we believe that “For God so loved the world…” was referencing all of God’s created people, then we must believe in the inherent dignity of God’s loved people. Mission is how we live with these people; it is how we die for these people; and it is how we partner with these people as we traverse this life and pursue a new God-ordained future for us all.

My friend does is not a believer, but she is partnering with us in planting a church. What is more shockingly strange: that we are partnering with her or that God has chosen to partner with us?

Boxes not included

If we accept Jesus’ invitation to mission as-we-are-going about our life, we are accepting the inevitability that everything will change. We cannot die to self as-we-are-goingabout life without a change to the way we live. Mission requires intentionality.

My life, as it normally goes, is about me. I go to a church that fits my preferences and feels comfortable to me. I live in a neighborhood that feels safe for me and my family. I prepare food that I like. I eat at restaurants that I prefer. I avoid people who make me uncomfortable. I value my time, my stuff, my ministry, my thoughts, my opinions, myself. I am not terribly different from you; I am not terribly egocentric – I am just being honest about myself. When I look at a photo, guess who I look for first?

The manner in which I go about my life is not wholly transformational nor on mission for Jesus. Yes, I may have a church meeting or ministry that I am involved in, but those are duties that fit within a scheduling block on my full calendar. As-you-are-going does not necessitate more meetings, small groups, or duties. Quite the opposite: As-you-are-goingtranscends scheduling. As a matter of fact, it necessitates a scheduling transcendence because it necessitates availability and spontaneity. If we take a moment to study the life and ministry of Jesus, which we cannot do here, we will discover that much of his ministry happened as he was going. It happened because he was available, he was interrupt-able, he was willing to be spontaneous.

Strangers do not follow our schedules, life does not cater to our wants or preferences, and mission happens in the midst of the messiness of our lives. So to protect ourselves, we create boxes. We are attracted to boxes. Boxes allow me to sing This World is not my Home on Sunday and spend Monday through Saturday storing up treasures on earth. Boxes allow me to act one way with my Christian family and another way with my coworkers. Boxes give me a freedom from accountability to my neighbor. Boxes make me feel safe. Terrifyingly, dying-to-self requires that our boxes to die along with us. This means that we are on mission every moment of every day, available to the Holy Spirit regardless of time, function, or location. We must allow our boxes to be taken down so that a holy availability can then stand. And where there is a person indwelt by the Spirit, available to his neighbor, there is a missionary. Mission becomes our identity. We become missionaries.

Mission Matters

I may have failed at attracting hordes of people to my soapbox sermons in Lisbon and I may fail in planting a church in downtown Vancouver. Death is the paradox of the Christian faith, is it not? “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies…” Through Christ’s death, we find life. Through our death, our neighbors find life. And through their death (celebrated in baptism), they will inherit life.

Mission matters. Mission is to attach the phrase “for the sake of the world” to the end of any Christian statement, structure, schedule, or plan. Mission is the invitation to be salt and light in our neighborhoods, at the car wash, at the café, at work, in the car, and in our Sunday worship gatherings.

Mission is to die to my own preferences in order to love my neighbors preferences more fully.

Mission is to listen first and answer later.

Mission is to heal the sick, care for the needy, mourn with those who mourn, celebrate with those who celebrate, to seek people of peace, to receive as well as give, to worship with our hands, our feet, our bodies, and even with our mouths.

Mission is to wait tables for the sake of the world, to sell homes for the sake of the world, to eat meals for the sake of the world, to gather on Sundays for the sake of the world, to live for the sake of the world.

Mission matters because we have been commissioned by the creator of the universe to partner with him in the unfolding of his alternative reality in our broken world.

So the question must be asked: Will you go on mission? Will you be on mission as you go?

And will you die trying?New Wineskins

Ryan and Jessica WoodsRyan Woods lives in Vancouver, WA where he is an associate minister at the Renovatus Church of Christ, a church plant that he and his wife helped to start in 2005. In 2011 he and his wife will lead a daughter church plant in the downtown district of Vancouver. This church plant will be a grassroots, neighborhood driven church where a group of dedicated Christ followers will live and die for the neighborhood until a sustainable church emerges. Ryan enjoys reading, gardening, coffee, and human interaction. He and his wife Jessica just celebrated their seventh year of marriage and have two kids. For more information you can read at [www.downtown.renovatus.com]  or write him at [ryan@renovatus.com].

Surgery

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Will you all be praying today for my mother-in-law Pam as she goes in for a double mastectomy today at noon. We have only been aware of the cancer for one week now and are praying hard that it has not spread to her lymph nodes. It’s great to be a part of a faith community though! Her church is providing meals (among other things) for her and her husband. And even Jessica and I are being cared for and blessed by Renovatus. We may not be orphans or widows, but i’m pretty sure that James would be willing to define this as pure religion.

peace.