What I'm Reading: Reaching the Unreached - Becoming Raiders of the Lost Art

Recently, I've been reading Reaching the Unreached - Becoming Raiders of the Lost Art by Peyton Jones.  It's a very practical book.

... and it also has a long title that I'm going to shorten for this blog to "Raiders of the Lost Art"!

The slogan on Jones' website, https://peytonjones.ninja/, pretty much says it all:  

Reaching the Unreached by Training 1st Century Style Church Planters

But isn't that elementary, Dear Watson?   Aren't we all about reaching the unreached by training 1st century church planters?  Apparently not.  Look around you.   Where do you see church plants?  If you are fortunate enough to live in a church planting community, are you faithful to 1st century principles, or are your church plants simply a replication of the mother church 10 am Sunday worship service?

Peyton Jones addresses this and other contemporary problems in Raiders of the Lost Art.  He says,

You'd think ministers planting a church would be able to strip it back to the essentials, but it's at this level that I often see how we're tempted to reproduce newer versions of what's not working.

If our goal was to become a giant, then we may have reached our goal, at the cost of being a sleeping one.  So the sleeping giant slumbers on ... and dreams about how awesome it is.

Our lack of action within the walls of the church is due to how we've set church up to run like a spectator sport instead of a contact sport.

Many churches are still prepping themselves for the future that isn't coming.  Our strategies rely upon utilizing tomorrow the buildings we've built today. 

Jones has a unique and relaxed writing style, using contemporary words, phrases and concepts to explain and reinforce timeless biblical principles (as demonstrated in the title and cover of this book!)

He reminds us of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous words,

If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century.

Well, we are now in the 21st century, and are things improving?  Is your local church just an irrelevant social club?  Or does it have contemporary cultural relevance in light of timeless biblical truths?

I like the way that, like Jesus, Jones pulls no punches.  In his section titled, "The Art of Moving Christians Around", He says,

Marketing and attracting crowds of Christians from other churches is what leaders fall back on when they don't have the nerve to hit the front lines and actually reach lost people.

Jones points out that those on the fringe (my words) can discern that a Sunday morning show is not sincere and they ("the seekers and visitors")...

quickly deduced that our services didn't care for them.

What a sad reality.  But true.

Using the Nike slogan, Just Do It for one section of his book, Jones says,

Remember it was (sic) called the book of Acts, not the book of Thoughts.

Jones' book is hard-hitting and theologically sound.   He reminds us of the most-important concept:

As a jealous Monarchist, the Holy Spirit is consumed with the single aim of bringing worship and glory to Jesus, rather than calling attention to the individual being used.

It is not about me.  It is not about us.   It is all about Jesus.

I don't want to give away all of Jones' brilliant one-liners in the book, but speaking about obstacles to ministry, he pulls this one out of his hat:

If you spend the majority of your time in a theological cloister oyster, somebody has sold you bad clams.

I love it!

Jones speaks from the heart, with a heart for reaching people potentially lost for eternity.  He is a career minister/pastor, yet he sees the reality of vocational ministry,

The recurring pattern in my life is that I've never really been effective in ministry until I've left full-time vocational ministry.  What if our ideas of "ministry" are keeping us from reaching the people right outside our doors?

Now if you are a full-time vocational pastor reading this book-review blog, please don't switch off after reading that.  It's a deep from-the-heart statement from a peer fellow minister who wants to help you and your church to reach the lost.   Read the book.  Don't stop at this blog!

There are so many profound truths expressed by Jones in one-liners in this book that I can't do a spoiler here. 

Jones moves in a logical sequence from outlining timeless biblical truths to pointing out church history and contemporary western church issues, through to biblical solutions to move forward, redeem churches and reach the lost. 

Jones draws on a childhood of cartoons, comic books, superheroes and classics to illustrate (in words, not pictures!) his chapters.   Although his words form pretty good pictures as you read them!   It's serious but entertaining in a serious way.   He uses Tolkein's Bilbo Baggins to illustrate the journey from passive to hero-burglar, not because the courage was in Bilbo when he left the Shire, but because he was willing to go.  It was his experiences on the journey that changed him, just as we must let God change and grow us to do His mission.

As something that seems an interesting side-journey, Jones talks about short-term mission and the impact it can have.  Some people are critical of short-term cross-cultural mission trips, and Jones gives a very measured perspective of these experiences, but you'll have to read the book to find out his views!

Jones speaks a lot about the power of the Holy Spirit in ministry, often using military terms that we can understand, like:

As soon as your foot hits enemy occupied soil, the Holy Spirit answers the call with an airstrike.  

This is not a warm and fuzzy book; it is seriously biblical.   The book is built on Acts 1:8, and Jones cleverly uses the components of this verse for his structure, finishing with "to the ends of the earth."   It's a longish book (248 pages) but you can skim it.  As you skim it, I suspect you'll be tempted to go back and read it cover to cover.  Worth reading for the sake of Jesus' universal and eternal church.

Peyton Jones has also written Church Zero and Church Planting Ninja, has a website and blogspot at https://peytonjones.ninja/.   Jones is still building his website and resource library.


Reference:

Jones, P., Reaching the Unreached - Becoming Raiders of the Lost Art, ePub edition 2017, Harper Collins, Grand Rapids

I have the e-book version, purchased in December 2018 for $13.99 AUD
 

How Does the World Get it So Right?

The early disciples were adventurers.   They were tough men.  Real men. 

Paul was not content to pastor other people's church plants - he wanted to do the hard work himself:

"...I desire to preach where Christ has not been named, so as not to build on another person’s foundation"  Rom. 15:20 (NET)

That meant he had to go, search, find, travel, research and provide for himself.

Stephen was stoned because he didn't compromise.

John the Baptist ate locusts and wild honey, lived in the desert and wore garments made of camel hair.  He was beheaded because he took a Godly moral stand.

The man born blind whose sight was restored by Jesus was thrown out of the temple community because he witnessed strongly that Jesus was from God.  John 9:33

I can't say it better than Paul said it himself:

"Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with a rod. Once I received a stoning. Three times I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I spent adrift in the open sea. I have been on journeys many times, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers, in dangers from my own countrymen, in dangers from Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers at sea, in dangers from false brothers, in hard work and toil, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, many times without food, in cold and without enough clothing."  2 Cor. 11:24-27

Josheb-Basshebeth was a mighty warrior who killed eight hundred men with his spear in one battle.   Shammah single-handedly defended a field against the Philistine Army.  Benaiah killed a lion.  See Samuel chapter 23 for more warrior biographies.

Men want to be men.   Men of God need to be Men of God!

In his book, "Why Men Hate Going to Church", David Morrow says, 

"... the church is no longer fishing for men.   Instead, it's creating a comfortable aquarium for the saints."

Jones says it this way in "Reaching the Unreached - Becoming Raiders of the Lost Art",

"We replace the power of an unpredictable God, wild to the core, with what is secure, manageable and predictable."

Morrow again,

"You might say that the church is full of passivity activists whose greatest energies are devoted to fighting change."

Sure, Jesus is a lamb.  But he is also a lion.

He was the perfect, unblemished Lamb of God

"who takes away the sin of the world." John 1:29

But Jesus is also the Lion of Judah, fearful and awesome who will destroy His enemies.

Just like the famous Old Testament warriors but invincible, Jesus is the Commander of the Lord's Army.  He appeared to Joshua armed with a sword.  Josh. 5:13-15

Morrow says,

"Adventures with Christ change men in a way simple church attendance never could."

Contrast mens spiritual health in the western church with Sufferfest, a secular athlete's coaching program.   Take an abridged tour of Sufferlandria (remember this is a serious commercial product marketing to athletes):

On the shores of the great inland Lactic Acid Sea lies the proud, tortured nation of Sufferlandria. We are a country that knows no borders, only lactate thresholds. Most of our citizens have only recently discovered their Sufferlandrian lineage, and were washed onto our shores by waves of sweat and the tears of their vanquished competitors. Forget those other countries. No one does Suffering like we do. We live it. We breathe it. We chop it into sharp, bite-sized pieces and eat it for breakfast. 

Make your next vacation a paincation.  We warmly welcome tourists. Our landscape, like our populace, is rugged and varied. From the fiery caldera and lava snows of Mount Sufferlandria to the vast, rolling expanses of the Amber Waves of Pain; from the sparsely-populated Whine Country to the brutal beauty of the Valley of Nine Hammers.

Sufferlandria: Like fun, without the fun parts.

So why does this appeal to men?   I think it's simply because men need to be challenged, pushed to their limits, and they want to experience their adventurous DNA.

Yet there is none who has suffered like Jesus.   He suffered so much anguish before making His once-for-all perfect sacrifice for all of humanity that his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

Jesus died on the cross so that our relationship with God could be restored.  And on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead and, right now, He is alive at the right hand of God.   Following His resurrection, Jesus appeared to many, including His disciples, and gave them direction:

In Matthew 28:18, Jesus stated His level of authority.  ALL.   All authority.
In Matthew 28:19, Jesus gave a command.  GO.  MAKE DISCIPLES.
In Matthew 28:20, Jesus reminded His disciples:  I AM WITH YOU.
In Acts 1:8, Jesus promised the Holy Spirit, and in Acts 2:4, the Holy Spirit filled believers.

If Jesus made us and equipped us to get out of our comfort zones to do a job, if Jesus is with us, and if Jesus has all authority, why do we avoid it?

The world knows what appeals to men:  suffering, adventure, challenges, results.   These are exactly the things that matter to Jesus, and (should matter) to men in the church, but we avoid it.   But here's the difference:

The world is striving to achieve in its own strength.  Each individual bloke is relying on himself to achieve his personal objectives.   We worship a spiritual God.   Our life is a spiritual one.  Christians have the power of the Holy Spirit and Jesus' personal presence - the very same Jesus who has all authority in heaven and on earth.

Step out in the power of the Holy Spirit, trusting Jesus who is with you.  Be a man.

Be the man God called you to be.


Credits:

Jones, Peyton, Reaching the Unreached - Becoming Raiders of the Lost Art (e-book), 2017, Harper Collins, Grand Rapids

Morrow, David, Why Men Hate Going to Church (e-book), 2011, Thomas Nelson, Tennessee

Sufferfest:  https://thesufferfest.com/pages/visit-sufferlandria (05/01/2019)

Image 1:https://me.me/i/when-the-church-becamea-night-club-and-the-pulpit-became-297b6beeb8134c2a9fe3c93b1774be95

Image 2: https://thesufferfest.com/pages/visit-sufferlandria (05/01/2019)