Discipling Tool: How to Start or ReStart the Christian Life
Use this in conversation with new believers or someone wanting to re-engage in their walk with Christ & of course, apply to your own life every day.
PDF Version – START – Discipling Tool
Louisiana’s Incarcerated #nola #prisonministry
The Times-Pic / Nola.com article series on Louisiana’s Prison system has been very interesting. The report says that we incarcerate more people per capita than any other place in the world. And often local economies are built around the local prison. Today’s article was about how few have access to re-entry classes and programs. It’s true in St. Tammany as well. Two big reasons: little space & few volunteers. Our church has made St. Tammany’s Jail a place of engagement since 2008. We’ve taught Celebrate Recovery, Fathering Classes, Relationship Skills, & helped inmates connect with their families on the outside. The problem is we are few in number & the work takes a big toll on volunteers over time. More volunteers are needed who are willing to spend weekly or monthly times teaching, encouraging, etc. A few reasons why I believe the church MUST take the lead:
- Jesus’ call on those who are part of his kingdom in Matthew 25:36 – “I was in prison and you visited me” (NLT).
- A majority of our local inmates will be neighbors again. We have an opportunity to give them some tools to help them be productive upon release. But also to restore their dignity & let them know someone cares. As a relative of an inmate told me after one of our Family events at the Jail, “Thank you for helping my brother feel like a person again.”
- Each inmate represents a network of relationships that are many times at risk & isolated. A mom that’s heart broken, kids that are ashamed & without role models, wives forced to care for a household without an income. And many of these struggling with addiction & bitterness & loneliness themselves. When I think of Christ’s words, “sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36), my mind turns pretty quickly to this population segment. And the numbers hit us hard in this area: 41% of current inmates had a relative in prison. 25% of current inmates had a dad in prison. Could we stop this cycle through kindness, concern, & intentional Christian love?
- The gospel is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). They need re-entry classes & life-skill training. They need to know people care & want them to succeed. But ultimately, they need to hear the Gospel & have the opportunity to be transformed by the power of God. We I saw the words in this morning’s paper – “few have access to the classes.” It hit me hard, b/c in my experience few have access to the Gospel as well.
“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Matthew 9:38 (ESV)
How can you help?
- Volunteer to teach a class. Some of the biggest needs are Bible Study, Celebrate Recovery, Financial Planning, Relationships Skills, GED Tutoring, Literacy.
- Attend one of our family day events at our local jail. Next ones will be June 17 & July 29.
- Serve as a sponsor or mentor for an inmate in recovery.
- Serve as a mentor for an inmates child in our area. Our church will be doing a Mentor training on June 2 at the Groves Apartment Complex in Covington.
Email me about these or other opportunities.
It’s easy to talk bad about “the system.” Harder to sacrifice yourself to do something about it.
It’s easy to talk bad about “the system.” Harder to teach a class at the jail, mentor a child, sponsor an addict in recovery.
Heaven’s Heroes
Got the chance to meet some amazing people recently that I just can’t get out of my mind. They spent 30+ years in a foreign country as missionaries. Then, moved home to pastor a church in a forgotten small town. Lost everything during Hurricane Katrina. Stayed. Have led the small church in the forgotten small town to rebuild & continue reaching out to a now broken population. As I talked with them, I notice how freely they laugh, I hear their heart for their community. She talks about the back yard Bible Clubs they have planned for EVERY Tuesday during the summer in an area housing development. He breaks away to talk with a young passerby about faith. I’m trying to listen as she’s telling me about Block Parties planned & the unwed mothers in town that need mentoring. They’re hungry for leaders to share the load with, BUT they’re not waiting. They’re missionaries.
I think these will be heaven’s heroes. We don’t know their names. They’re so common we wouldn’t remember them anyway. They’re in forgotten towns & villages that others deem as too hard or too small. They step out of a rice field to take the gospel to the next village. They walk 15 miles one way to teach a new congregation about life in Christ. They talk openly about faith in Christ & intentionally teach others to live for Him. They see all of life – home, work, play, even retirement – as an opportunity to glorify & witness for God. They see needs & they do all they can to meet them in the name of Christ. They would like to have more resources for the mission, BUT they’re not waiting or complaining. They’re missionaries. They’ll be heaven’s heroes.
In amazement at this couple that could say we’re too old, we’ve already served so much, we don’t have enough people, or a dozen other excuses, I say something to her like, “Thank you for the work y’all are doing. And for not just retiring.”
She says, “We can’t just sit here and do nothing!”
But many times I do. I make excuses. I wait for “the right time.” Or for “God’s call,” as if I haven’t heard it already. I complain about lack of resources. Or I put my time & energy & resources into personal pleasure more than in the mission of God.
O God, forgive me & give me the strength & passion of these Your heroes.
Happy Mother’s Day!
Three of our Favorite Mother’s Day Videos:
Jedi Mom
The Mother’s Day Rap
The Mom Song
The Back Stories
On Faith in Action Weekend our church makes an event out of serving our community by planning multiple projects, taking pictures, doing a music video, & celebrating what we can accomplish together when we make ourselves available. It makes for a good story, but I’m one that always digs for the back story. I never trust the opening line. Here’s a few back stories:
- Single moms & widows living in a local multi-housing complex struggling to make ends meet & overcome past pain. Serving them through keeping their grass cut & other household chores that are easy for us, difficult for them.
- A disabled single mom goes through a house fire. Through Faith in Action volunteers have put a new roof on her house, painted & made repairs on her house, and Sunday we prepped it for fresh paint. Hoping our next Faith in Action weekend at the end of the summer will include putting in new flooring in her totally renovated home.
- Every Nursing Home has residents that have no local family support. They seldom get visits. They go without many personal items that could make them more comfortable. Sunday volunteers took care boxes to them & let them know that they are not alone.
- The family of a Parkinson’s patient who can no longer walk had to call the local Fire Dept to lift him down the steps, to get him to doctors appointments, etc. Last Saturday volunteers installed a wheelchair ramp at the home easing the hardship on the family.
- 41% of current inmates had a relative in jail. 25% of current inmates had a dad in jail. Through our Family Day Block Parties on Faith in Action Weekend we provide a fun environment for dads to connect with their kids & we celebrate those who have completed our Recovery & Re-Entry Course or earned their GED. A favorite moment of mine from this past week was seeing a son asking his dad about the certificate he received.
- Sharing the Gospel at the jail always leads to conversations about new life in Christ. Sunday, a lady came up and said that three of her sons had died due to drugs & violence. She has one son left. He completed our course last week. She asked for prayer that she could get past her anger at God and trust Christ.
These are relationships that Bridge Church has developed because of intentionally looking for back stories of need in our community. One person said it like this, “The problem with the Church today is not that we don’t care about poor people. The problem is that we don’t know any of their names.” Are we looking for the back story? Are we developing relationships so that our Faith is more than an event, but relationships that will lead people FROM where they are, TO where God wants them to be?
Christianity started as a Back Story – peasant girl in a back ally of Bethlehem. Jesus lived his life as a Back Story – a carpenter turned Rabbi. After his death & resurrection the Gospel spread as a Back Story – ordinary people scattering, sharing, serving, & living like little Christ. Miracles happen in the Back Story.
Current Church Planting Bibliography
More than occasionally I’m asked by people interested in Church planting, “Hey, what should I be reading?” Here’s my current top ten list of favorites in no particular order. All of these are in the category of “I wish I’d read that before I planted a church.”
- Church Zero: Raising 1st Century Churches Out of the Ashes of the 21st Century Church by Peyton Jones. Great book about unleashing the forgotten serial church planter or little “a” apostle. Missing link in church multiplication strategy today.
- Church in the Making: What Makes or Breaks a New Church Before It Starts by Ben Arment. Honest book about the difficulty of planting a church. Discussion questions after each section would be great for Core Group Training.
- Deliberate Simplicity: How the Church Does More by Doing Less by Dave Browing. Great book to help with focus and vision. Here’s a brief review I wrote a few years back.
- Planting Missional Churches by Ed Stetzer. The textbook.
- Church Planter: The Man, The Message, The Mission by Darrin Patrick. Born out of experience as a planter, pastor, assessor, trainer. Great book for those who think they might want to be a church planter.
- Viral Churches: Helping Church Planters Become Movement Makers by Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird. Great book for churches wanting to sponsor churches or plant multiple churches and campuses. Research based. Great reference guide to what’s up out there in Church Planting.
- The Multiplying Church by Bob Roberts. From an experienced sender. The chapter on Starting a Church Planting Training Center at Your Church would be worth reading for every sponsor church pastor. My thoughts here.
- Church 3.0: Upgrades for the Future of the Church by Neil Cole. Challenging questions and answers for the church going forward into the future. Can’t get this book off my desk right now.
- Breaking the Missional Code: Your Church Can Become a Missionary in Your Community by Ed Stetzer and David Putman. “Don’t plant the church in your head. Plant it in the community.” One of my fav Ed Stetzer quotes. This book helps us do that.
- It’s Not Personal: Surviving and Thriving on the Journey of Church Planting by Brian & Amy Bloye. Reading right now. Incredibly honest look at the life of the church planter.
- Exponential: How You and Your Friends Can Start a Missional Movement by Dave & Jon Ferguson. Great text book for starting at every level. Includes great chapters on multisite and sending out church planters, which is a core competency of the Ferguson’s church.
- Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church by Reggie McNeal. Is it going to be about how many, how much, how often? I hope not. This book will help you get the right scorecard.
Other books that have been foundational for me personally: The Externally Focused Church by Eric Swanson and Rick Rusaw, The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, Total Church: A Radical Reshaping Around Gospel and Community by Steve Timmis.
What would be your recommendations?
“Gaze” – A Few Faces of Community Transformation
This weekend was our quarterly Faith in Action Weekend. Bridge Church takes one weekend each quarter to scatter and serve around our community. A verse that jumped out at me as I prepared for the weekend was Act 3:4, “And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John.” This was speaking of a crippled man along their path. Wasn’t an entertaining site, but needed the attention of some Spirit-filled Christ followers. Many faces around our communities need our gaze. Here’s a few faces that struck me from our FIA weekend.
Joy! Elderly man suffering from Parkinson's gets a wheelchair ramp on his home meaning he no longer has to call the Fire Dept when he has to get out of his house.
Pain. A local inmate in Celebrate Recovery attending a Family Day Event. He's ready for change.
Dust. A disabled single mom went through a house fire. Volunteers sanding & prepping the interior for new paint get dusty.
Who or what has your “gaze”, your attention right now?
“Hey Dad, when’s the next Faith in Action Sunday?”
Four times per year, our church scatters instead of just gathering for worship to do restoration projects across our community. It’s a weekend emphasis for what we want our daily lives to be as missionary servant living out life In Christ, On Mission, 4 Others. This weekend will be the 8th FIA Sunday. It’s an opportunity to add to the story of our lives intentionality, radical generosity, and faith in action.
My 9-year old Jack has been doing FIA Sunday’s & other community service projects for the last 3 years and it’s exciting to see 
how it’s shaping his heart and attitudes about life & church. The Sunday after our FIA weekends, he starts asking, “Hey Dad, when’s the next Faith in Action Sunday? And what’s the projects?”
Last year on FIA Sunday, we were working on the home of a disabled single mom who lives near a church that had just gone through a new building campaign. As we drove by he asked in the innocence of an 8-year old mind, “Dad, why is that church so nice and Ms. _____ doesn’t even have running water?” Now I know that particular church does great things in our community & that every church can’t do everything but we’re working together, but I was proud that my son had begun to note in his heart, “Isn’t it about the needs of the world instead of about me? And my church?” I’m glad that my conversations with Jack about church have delved a little deeper than, “Did you have fun today at church?” and even, “What did you learn in church today?” But we’re learning that with intentional efforts to get our children into “points of contact” with people in need, they can get it & be shaped & changed & even make a difference in the lives of others as we serve together.
Many Christian parents would probably say that they don’t want their kids to grow up as Christian consumers or as self-centered narcissists. But what are we doing intentionally to help them develop an others focus? Telling Bible stories & going to church IS a powerful thing. Do that! But are we living out those stories in our own way with our families? Are we teaching our kids to apply the stories they hear talked about?
Faith in Action weekend is an opportunity for our families to serve together, apply the Word of God, get our hands dirty, & teach our kids what the Christian life is all about with more than words, but actions. This weekend, I’ll have Jack with me as we build a porch and clean up the yard of an elderly widow and share the gospel with her neighborhood through a Block Party. He’ll also be beside me as we go to our local jail and throw a block party for inmate kids and share the gospel there. I’m looking forward to his next questions.
You can join us this weekend to put your Faith in Action. We’ll meet at 9am at the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum on Sunday for breakfast a time of devotion & prayer, then scatter to serve. Check out our projects at bridgenorthshore.com/faith-in-action. Everybody can serve!
Here are a few other ideas for families on mission together:
- Volunteer at local food banks.
- Find needs in your local neighborhood.
- Make bake goods or crafts for local nursing homes.
- Invite people into your home & talk about life & God.
- Take a Family Mission Trip & find a mission project to do one day wherever you go on vacation.
Lane Corley 