The Importance of Retreats - Testimonies

Testimonies

This is key.  Do not forget this part.  Once back at your usual gathering, take the time for the students to share their testimonies with the tribe.  This time of sharing is scriptural (Revelation 12:11) and helpful.  Those who attended can share what they learned and what God is doing in them with everyone, including those who could not attend for one reason or another.  This can help solidify the experience as well.  As weeks go on, perhaps invite others to share again, now they have had time to implement what they have learned and committed to.


Continued...

Adopting a Spiritual Vocabulary - Series

Adam Posegate shared a four-part series on Adopting a Spiritual Vocabulary, and the importance of what it is we speak into the lives of those we shepherd.

Part 1: What is Normal?
Part 2: Does our "Normal" Honor God?
Part 3: A Different Type of Relationship
Part 4: Conclusion

Adopting a Spiritual Vocabulary - Part 4

Conclusion

This culture starts with our vocabulary. We must adopt a spiritual vocabulary. We must be in prayer and moving in the Spirit. When we tell someone of a challenge in our lives, we most not omit that we have prayed and what God is telling us and what we learned from scripture as we studied. We must not just give the summary of conclusion, but we must share what God has done in us and to us and for us, because that is our testimony (Acts 4:33, 2 Timothy 1:8).

For me, this started when I was outside of church gatherings. It was with family members. It was with people at work. It meant honoring God in how I talked about my life and the things in my life to others. And this was hard. Strangely, it was just as hard to begin that sort of conversation with those in the church. This is because up until that point, even though we had Christ in common, our conversation topics had focused on music or television or other things. God, as a topic of conversation, was relegated to leadership meetings and prayers, when we really "got down to business."

Adopting a Spiritual Vocabulary - Part 3

A different type of relationship

The relationship we develop with our students must be a spiritual relationship. We reap what we sow. If 100% of our conversations with a person are about sports, then that person will only feel comfortable discussing sports with us. If 100% of our conversations are about fashion, then our discussions will never go beyond the superficial.

The different kind of relationship I am talking about doesn't mean to omit sports, or politics, or news, or the world from conversations. It means that our vocabulary must reflect a new cultural mind set of the Kingdom of God.

It means praying for someone immediately, with your hand on their shoulder, instead of saying, "I'll pray for you," and walking away to remember or forget.

It means talking openly about the good things that Jesus has done in our lives (that's our testimony, friends), instead of commenting on how lucky we are.

It means going beyond saying, "I am blessed," to saying how good God really is.

It means cultivating a culture in your gatherings that is one of love; using the word "love."

It means seeing opportunities to speak truth into peoples' lives and making the most of those opportunities, no matter how small.

It means directing conversations back to things that are God-honoring, and explaining why we do that.

It means we stop talking about "going to church" and we start talking about "being the church."

It means continuing to discuss sin honestly, but also elevating the discussion of God's glory and salvation.

It means making the culture of our gatherings and our relationships founded on scripture and Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit so that we are creating a blatantly different "normal." And it means teaching those things to our leaders. And it means teaching those things to our students so that we have a new culture (which is really an old culture). This culture is spiritual and it is Kingdom-focused.

To be continued...

Adopting a Spiritual Vocabulary - Part 2

Is our culture E!, People, and gossip?

If a significant (read: great amount of) of our conversations revolve "entertainment news" or celebrities or even the personal and dating lives of those around us, there's a chance that our "normal" is gossip. Does our "normal" honor God? Are we praying for others as we consider them, or are we talking about everything they do wrong?

Is our culture political, CNN, and Fox News?

If most of our time is spent preaching and teaching moral theism and cultural values, instead of equipping students to be disciples and learn these things from scripture on their own, we may be missing the mark. Getting conservative Christians riled up about politically conservative values is lazy when only done for the sake of preaching to the choir. Rev. Tim Snell once said, "You shouldn't talk about those in elected office in ways that you wouldn't let your own children speak to you." He's right. We cannot make our gatherings a political safe haven for either the left or the right. Chances are, 90% of our students don't really care about politics anyway. We must create a spiritual safe haven and sanctuary-- sacred space that is set apart for worshiping God and learning how to be his disciples.

Is our culture ESPN and SportsCenter?

I once served with a small group leader who would almost exclusively talk sports with his group of guys. Sometimes, to seem relevant, he would also entertain conversation about video games. When I would fill in for him to cover the supporting spiritual materials for that evening's gathering, the kids would comment how they never go over "that stuff." This leader would say that he was doing this under the umbrella of "building relationships." Their normal was sports. In 10 years, sports won't give our students the tools for discipleship that they can only get from scripture. We must love our

students enough to build a different type of relationship.

To be continued...

Adopting a Spiritual Vocabulary - Part 1

Let's talk about talking. Let's talk about your vocabulary. What is "normal" and what is "weird"?

What is normal?

Normal, right now, is to avoid talking about the spiritual, the Holy, and the Godly. It is one that seeks to avoid offense. This "normal" is our culture, and it's missing the mark. We must not be offended on account of Jesus (Luke 7:23). We must boldly and in the power of the Holy Spirit (and not our own power) testify to God's greatness. Our testimony is our story. It is what we relate about who God is to us. If we are ashamed or afraid to tell what God has done, and we use whispers to relay this information, we are not living in God's fullness and freedom. Let me be clear that I am talking to Americans who have freedom of speech, but who fail to take advantage of that.

"Normal" is the language of our culture. So, we must ask ourselves, what is our culture?

To be continued...