Move Toward the Mess

Discussion Questions 1. What experience have you had with a neighborhood like Capitol View? 2. What do you think about the “hot dogs and prayers” idea? Have you heard of, or been involved in, similar outreaches? 3. What did you find particularly disturbing about Rita’s story? 4. How is Paris’s story different from Rita’s? How is it the same? 5. Wha

Discussion Questions 1. Have you ever thought about quitting your job and going into church or nonprofit work? What did you decide? Why did you make that decision? 2. Why do people often think full-time ministry is a more godly vocation than most other jobs? Are they right? Why or why not? 3. What sorts of messes exist where you work? Is it easy or

We don’t really have an equivalent category for Pharisees in twenty-first-century Western culture. The best way to think about them is as if they were half archbishop and half US senator. In other words, they were very powerful people in both the political and religious worlds.

I know what you might be thinking: What about that reference to the cross? How is that taking good care of myself? I don’t believe the point of the metaphor has to do with physical suffering; it has to do with the fact that consistently letting God be in control of our lives is hard and often painful. We will be religious. We will go to church. We

For years I was completely upside down about guilt. The crazy thing is that while this was going on I could give you a detailed, theologically accurate account of Christ’s atoning work on the cross. I sang songs about the love of God. I wrote songs about the love of God. I even went to seminary and wrote papers on salvation by grace. But when all w

Watch for these signs: Bad attitude. This is self-explanatory. Unfulfilled. Serving ceases to be satisfying. Reactionary rather than proactive. You sit around waiting to be told what to do. Noncommunicative. You stop returning people’s emails. Overly stressed. It’s the feeling that you’re carrying the world on your shoulders. Unmotivated. It’s not

Discussion Questions 1. When you think of Pakistan, what comes to mind? What kind of country do you envision? 2. Do you feel as if we Western Christians have a fair and balanced view of the Muslim world? Why or why not? 3. Do you know anyone who lives in a place where it’s dangerous to be a Christian? What’s his or her story? 4. Most Muslims consid

In fact, I’m starting to think that if our only motives for moving toward the mess are that we feel we should go or ought to go, maybe it would be better if we didn’t go at all. I believe Jesus alluded to this when he said it is better to be cold than lukewarm.

Discussion Questions 1. What do you think of the quote at the beginning of the chapter? Is it a new thought, a confirmation of what you believe, or something with which you disagree? 2. Referring to the diagram with the big red circle representing the mess, where do you think most church people would put their “You are here” sticker? What about mos