A few months ago, I attended National Staff Conference with Intervarsity, in St. Louis, MO. We were talking through Romans, with the theme (Romans 1:16) of "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes." One of the speakers, Chris Nichols, regional director for New England, posed the question, "If we are not ashamed of the gospel, why aren't there more conversions in our chapters or on our campuses?"
He spoke about the New England region's vision, seeing a continuum of transformation, where cynics become seekers, seekers become believers, believers become followers of Jesus, followers become leaders, and leaders become world changers... This continuum really resonated with me, and made me excited; I would love to see this on our campuses! But, the question that stayed with me was, "OK, that's great! But how do we make it happen?"
As I was reading Acts 2, this morning, I couldn't help but notice, that the paradigm that Chris proposed is exactly what we see in chapter 2 of Acts. The apostles receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the beginning of chapter 2... and then they turn outwards to the crowd. As the apostles begin to speak, and members of the crowd from 15 different nations and languages hear the words in their own tongues, we see these stages of faith:
Action: The apostles begin to speak in tongues. This amazes the crowds-- it causes them to take notice. The crowds literally hear the apostles speaking "in their language."
Response: the cynics in the crowd respond to the apostles (2:13) making fun of them, saying "They have had too much wine." Yet at the same time, there is something about the apostles presentation that makes people stop and say "What does this mean?" (2:12) In other words, cynics become seekers when they are faced with a question, something that perplexes them, amazes them, that their preexisting paradigm does not allow them to explain away.
Action: Peter speaks directly to the concerns of the crowd, "These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning!" (2:15) and then proceeds to answer their questions with the first real presentation of the Gospel, spoken in a manner that they will understand (highly based on Old Testament prophecy), in their own languages.
Response: Acts 2:37 tells us that when the people heard this message they were "cut to the heart" and asked their own question in response "Brothers, what shall we do?" Seekers become believers when they hear and understand the Gospel in their own lives, contexts, and language. They become believers when the message of the Gospel hits their hearts, and they have to ask the question "What do I do with this?"
Action: When the people (all 3000 of them) hear and understand the Gospel, they respond by accepting the message and being baptized. They receive the Holy Spirit, they enter into community, and they pray (2:42).
Response: As the new believers take the first steps of faith, they remain in community with one another, they remain teachable (2:42), and they pray, they begin to grow as believers so that their lives reflect the change in belief. In other words, believers become followers of Jesus when the Holy Spirit comes, and they enter into Christian community as a lifestyle choice reflecting their belief. Without the Holy Spirit, without community, and without life-style choices, believers have a shallow faith which, when faced with adversity, all too often causes them to fall away.
Action: As the followers of Jesus fellowship together, they begin to act out of their abundance (2:45) "Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need."
Response: Followers of Jesus become leaders as they live in the Holy Spirit, in prayer, and in community. Pattern of lifestyle, continual awe, and community accountability lead the followers to act out of their belief, by turning outwards to bless the community around them.
Action: The people live out their faith, in the Holy Spirit, devoted to others and one another, praising God, and blessing the community (2:46)... they lead out of what they have been taught... they give freely of themselves... they enjoy the Lord and his abundance.
Response: "... praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." (2:47) As the people live in obedience and joy to the Lord, God blesses their work and their joy and transforms them from leaders to world changers. World changers are developed when believers fully live out their calling, whatever that might be, to the glory of God, and the blessing of the nations.
Cynics become seekers, seekers become believers, believers become followers, followers become leaders, leaders become world changers. Acts 2. Do we believe this is possible for our campuses?
- What does it look like to speak to the heart of the secular culture, in a way that people are forced to ask the question: "What does this mean?"
- How do we answer the questions of our culture? our campus? our friends?
- What does it look like to present the gospel in a language that our campus understands, and must respond: "What do we do with this?"
- What does it mean to actually follow Jesus with our lives?
- What does it mean to lead out of the gospel practiced in our lives?
- How do we "live out our calling to the glory of God and the blessing of the nations" in a way that transforms our campuses, even the world?
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