miletwo::network

One of the primary goals of a missional outreach (church, mission, seminar, whatever) is reaching the culture around it.  The biggest flaw in most of these efforts is failing to contextualize the effort.  This doesn’t mean becoming a gnarly, beer-swilling, foul-mouthed, party animal… it means strategically modifying your language, media, and style to match the culture and context into which you are reaching.

Once in a while a completely “no-brainer” way to help those who need it will come along. When it does, it’s our job to give. Here’s the dealie-o… you give $5 and two people who don’t have shoes to talk to work, school, play, whatever… get some soles for their souls.

So, for those of you who don’t know, I’ve been involved in building a Christian thingamajig called The Gathering aimed at the unchurched, 20 something, postmodern, blah, blah, blah… well.. “them” if you will.  You know, that kid with the bone through his nose and leopard print tats serving your coffee?  Anyway, as the leaders grapple with the hows, whats, and why’s of all of this, I recently got some feedback from a friend suggesting that maybe there ought to be more “story” involved in our teaching.  At first I was like “well, duh!” and then gradually have come to realize that while, yes, I am in fact using elements of story in my teaching, but gee wizz… story REALLY is an effective tool to use when conveying a point.