JASON EVANS

Weekend Listening: Pharoah Sanders, et al - Movement 1

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 07:37:00 -0500

Composed by Sam Shepherd and backed by the London Symphony Orchestra, Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders have offered a meditative, soundscape of a jazz record that is unlike anything I've heard for a long time on Promises and I love it. This weekend will be full with loading boxes into shipping containers. Sanders will keep things chill. Take a listen:

Promises by Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra

So, now you know what I'll be listening to this weekend. What will you be listening to?

Support musicians! A great way to do this is on Bandcamp. Take a look at what I'm discovering there. You can find all my weekend listening tracks on the playlists I've created on Spotify and YouTube.

What Will I Miss?

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 08:16:00 -0500

As mentioned in last week's music post, I've been thinking about those people and places I will miss in Houston, TX. The residents of this state present a state pride that, in my experience, is unmatched across the country. And yet that pride is often fragile; I've never met people so easily wounded by detractors of their state pride. So, one has to respond carefully to the often asked question of those leaving the state, "What are you going to miss most?"

I tend to agree with chef David Chang's assertion of Houston from an episode of his show Ugly Delicious, "I hate the weather. I hate the way it looks but the city of Houston is sort of perfectly set for people to take a chance on the new.” I prefer Chang's frank summary of Houston over the effusive enthusiasm of sociologist Stephen Klineberg at Rice University who is fond of saying that as Houston goes, so goes the nation. In many respects, I hope Klineberg's wrong—although, I'd support political leadership like Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo all the way to the White House.

What I will miss are the chances taken on new and creative endeavors in niches across the city. Like many southwest American metropolitan cities, Houston is a sprawling network of neighborhoods and communities. Mega-cities akin to Houston are almost by accident, an afterthought (the infrastructure here is a dead giveaway of that). Highways string together developments that were intentionally far flung from each other as the region has always been composed of independent-minded residents who crave their own space. Slowly, year after year, decade after decade development has grown more dense until what you have is a patch work of communities that now bump up next to each other to create a massive city. The beauty of this it is difficult to see at first. You have to turn off the use of highways on your map app and use surface streets. As you walk, ride or drive through neighborhoods you would otherwise have no reason to be in you discover in Houston an exploration of the American, entrepreneurial spirit that is quirky. Unfettered by coastal American vanity and bolstered by Texan's "I-do-whatever-the-hell-I-want" mentality, Houstonians meld together the strangest of things and some times it works!

What will I miss? Lentil soup.

I know that a week after I leave, I will find myself craving the lentil soup made at the back of a liquor store in my Houston neighborhood and served in styrofoam cups. Down the block from a bar—which hosted some great punk shows before the pandemic—sits a liquor store with a crumbling parking lot that has melded together Mediterranean and Mexican food in a way that should not work and yet is magical. I will miss their lentil soup, their fajita fries (akin to the strange but delicious San Diego taco shop amalgamation, carne asada fries, but different), spicy potatoes and cauliflower.

I won't miss country music or brisket or Gov. Abbott. I know that Texas prides itself in the big and bombastic and it's "come-and-get-it-ness" but these have never impressed me. Rather, it has been the new and weird and small chances people take on doing something that is honest and representative of themselves, using whatever resources they have at hand, that won me over time and again.

That's what I'll miss most.

Austin went straight. Keep it weird, Houston.

Midweek Missional: The Spaces We Use

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Wed, 9 Jun 2021 12:08:00 -0500

Here's the latest in my Midweek Missional series and the last in "the cloffice."

Some links from this video:

Blog series on faith communities and the built environment.

Timothy Gorringe's book

The Way of Love (redux): Prayer + Worship

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Tue, 8 Jun 2021 07:14:00 -0500

Note: You might first want to read this and this.

This is the third in a series reflecting on Bishop Curry's Way of Love as a model for starting new faith communities. In my mind, there are 3 stages for making this useful: pre-engagement, engagement, gathering. The first stage, which I'm calling "pre-engagement" is designated as such because this applies 4 of Curry's practices before engaging the context in which a new community will be started. In this stage, a small group of people who will start a new faith community together begin gathering. Last time I talked about the practices "turn" and "learn." Here I'm writing about "pray" and "worship."

Pray - Dwell intentionally with God

Whenever I think of prayer, I think of the film Gravity and one of Sandra Bullock's lines, "Will you say a prayer for me? Or is it too late... ah, I mean I'd say one for myself but I've never prayed in my life. Nobody ever taught me how..." Teaching people to pray is one of our duties in a day and age when an increasing number of those around us share the sentiment of Bullock's character. This is one of the gifts of the Book of Common Prayer; it is a guide to prayer not the limits of prayer.

The work of prayer is the re-framing of how we engage the world; not being bound by how the state or marketplace marks time but instead marking time with periods of prayer. In my tradition—the Episcopal Church, prayer is not bound by my will or emotional state but by the shared commitment to prayer with countless Christians around the globe who at the same time stop and pray, often sharing the same words as mine. It has less to do with how we feel compelled to say but about signaling to God and others that time, along with all of creation is in the hands of the Creator. This is not to say that prayer should not incorporate our feelings and desires. It is just that, for those within the Anglican tradition, it is not driven by this.

Maybe the simplest way to explain prayer is as a conversation. A conversation requires as much listening as it does talking. I grew up in the evangelical environment where prayers were most often extemporaneous. Prayers were not read or prepared ahead of time. Rather, prayers were the thoughts and expressions of the person praying at that moment. I learned to talk to God by listening to others talk to God in prayer. Scripture establishes that we are each seen and known by God. The Christian faith is relational and in any relationship there are certain things that ought to be expressed time and again. Affection. Apology when required. Gratitude. Asking for help. The fact that I tell my wife every day, “I love you” the exact same way at the same time doesn’t make it any less meaningful. The ritual of this expression of my love for her is part of what sturdies our relationship–even when we fight. What I have found is that both types of prayer–the written and my own immediate expression–are equally as important. Either of these forms stops us in our tracks and acknowledges God's presence in the world.

Worship - Gather in community to thank, praise, and dwell with God

For Episcopalians, a conversation about "prayer" and "worship" may seem natural. This is not necessarily the case for Christians of other traditions. In the Episcopal Church the two terms are almost synonymous with each other. Similarly in evangelical traditions, terms such as “music” and “worship” become interchangeable. As my friend Mike Angell once responded when I posed this distinction to him, worship in our tradition is the "public dimension" of prayer. But what is happening in worship? I've found it helpful to think of worship as the act of people coming together to acknowledge God at work in the world together. We do so by setting aside time to do so. Yet, rather than separated from "normal time" this sacred moment tethers the events and occurrences of the week past to the one coming. I think of it in 3 phases:

Memory: remembering (being reminded of) why we do this
In the first phase, we read Scriptures that remind us who we are and why we are gathered together. We confess where we've messed up in the prior week and lift our concerns and celebrations to God collectively. We are reminded that God’s story is the story we are living out in the rest of our lives.

Community: reuniting (and reconciling) with God and each other
In the second we find the “peak” of our time together. In most Episcopal congregations on any Sunday morning you can be certain that the gravity of the service is around the Eucharist table, not the pulpit. This is significantly different than many reformed and evangelical traditions where the sermon is the central point of the service. I was drawn to this because it demonstrated a central value in what it means to be the church: it is not disparate people fixated on an individual, it is a community gathering around a common meal where each participates equally. We are reminded that we are not alone; that we go about life with each other and with God. During this time we offer reconciliation with God and each other, and celebrate the Lord’s Table–we feed on the Word through the bread and wine, through the reflection of Scripture... together.

Mission: re-engaging with our world
In the third, we begin to ease our way back out into the world. It’s when we remember that this “separate” activity is done publicly and for the purpose of our lives--that are lived “out loud”, or in public.

I offer these explanations rather than a step-by-step approach merely because I think we have enough of that in the Book of Common Prayer. It is more important that we recognize why these rhythms of prayer and worship exist; what they are for. When we understand the purpose of these forms then we can begin to riff on them, making them fit better for the context we intend to serve in. This is why I recommend that small group of those intending to start a new community begin to live into these routines before they gather those from the context they serve. Prayer and worship isn't performative. It's a practice, a routine and rhythm that will shape how we go about our work of reaching out to others.

More to come.

Wonder and Opportunity

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Mon, 7 Jun 2021 07:32:00 -0500

If you attend a church that follows the lectionary, you will know that one of the readings on Sunday was out of 2 Corinthians. The passage conveys to us that there are forces at work around us beyond the physical world. I doubt you needed a Bible verse to tell you this. One has only to look at the wonder in a child’s eyes, stand in awe of a beautiful landscape or experience the collective power of people coming together from across various backgrounds to know that there is something spiritual about our existence.

Jesus points to this in the Gospel reading from Sunday. When beckoned by his family and friends, Jesus turns to those listening to him speak of God’s dream for the world and says, “these are my people.” He does not do so to deny his love for his actual friends and family. Rather, he is expanding the circle. Jesus is expanding the idea of who we love, who we are connected to beyond blood and geography. He is saying that whoever participates in God’s dream for the world are our family—are our friends.

It is human nature to distinguish ourselves from others. We are inclined to associate with those that are like us, agree with us; to associate with those we feel safe with. It offers certainty, security. It is absent of wonder and curiosity. This kind of certainty is exactly what the people of Israel hoped for in asking for a king in second Samuel. They wanted a leader that would define them. And yet, the enmity for those different than us—our propensity to separate ourselves—does not come from a godly place. As Genesis 3 demonstrates, the human instinct to separate and create divisions by blood and geography are part of our broken nature, not God’s hope for us.

What Jesus calls us to risky. It is not safe. He calls us to love those that others would call us to fear. He calls us to hope for a different future, not matter what history may tell us about divisions. He asks us to continue expanding the circle, rather than excluding others. This is risky because it requires us to be brave and trust that God will meet us in the face of others. But that is why each of us who call ourselves Christian can do so; at some point in the past, someone invited in you or a family member—years ago, or generations ago. Someone was brave enough to welcome another into the circle.

Some will frame the gospel around who it excludes. This is misguided. Our inclination to divide by blood and geography, those we are to fear and despise is not the point of the gospel. The gospel taps into something deeper than blood, something spiritual. At its root it is a message of an ever-expanding invitation to work with God for the redemption of creation. We can remain divided by blood and geography or bound together by wonder and opportunity.

Weekend Listening: Liberty and Justice - Six Two (ft. Fat Tony)

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Fri, 4 Jun 2021 06:31:00 -0500

Now that we have shared we will be leaving Texas soon, I'm starting to think about all the things I will miss. At the top of that list is the northwest corner of Telephone Rd. and Fourcade St. It's hard to overstate my affection for all that rests on this corner of Houston's eastside. On this corner is a great café for gaming enthusiasts and others. Above, on the second floor is the studio where I met Steven, my Houstonian tattoo artist—who made mementos for meaningful moments of my time here; documenting the bad (injustice, hurricanes and pandemics) as well the good (my marriage and the Great Commission bell).

Also on this corner sits East End Barber where I got to know owner and creative Ryan Taylor. Ryan is a spiritual force to be reckoned with; creating businesses and music, building community through both. I met Ryan when one of his bands, Liberty and Justice played with The Adolescents here in Houston a few years ago. I've loved their stuff ever since and their latest, Pressure is a tour de force. Here's one of my favorite tracks off the album featuring local rap legend, Fat Tony:

So, now you know what I'll be listening to this weekend. What will you be listening to?

Support musicians! A great way to do this is on Bandcamp. Take a look at what I'm discovering there. You can find all my weekend listening tracks on the playlists I've created on Spotify and YouTube.

To confound, confuse or celebrate

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Thu, 3 Jun 2021 06:46:00 -0500

June is Pride Month and this brought to mind something that happened a while back.

A few years into my work in Texas, I was contacted by someone from a popular evangelical publication. Impressed by the numbers we were reporting, the journalist wanted to know how this had happened in a stuffy, mainline denomination. The number of missional communities started in the Diocese of Texas had more than quadrupled over the four years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. As I shared with the journalist, I attributed this to the Spirit of God doing something special in this place. I also said that part of the reason why this growth happened could be attributed to two things:

We were clear on who missional communities were for
We made training simple and accessible.

Missional communities are spiritual and relational outposts for those who cannot, or will not, participate in a traditional church expression. When we are clear on who it is that we are attempting to build Christian community with—and for—the logistics tend to be much easier to address. Around the state, we framed training around the 3 traits of these communities: missional, spiritual and relational. This definition and design made missional community start-up much more approachable. Before the pandemic, more than 60% of those starting new communities were not clergy or church staff.

The journalist asked for a specific example of a new community created for those that would not otherwise find their way to an established church. I shared the story of a new start within the LGBTQ community in a smaller northeast Texas city. The shaming or shunning of queer people in many congregations drove away, or kept away, many looking for spiritual solace. Once it was clear that this was a demographic that was not going to come towards the church in this context, local leaders began building trust and a safe space for folks to explore Christian spirituality together.

Enthusiasm dropped on the other end of the phone line.

When it came to publishing, my comments and story were left out.

I care very little that my name did not show up in the article but was certainly disappointed that the incredible work of Episcopalians starting new communities was excluded. Their story should have been shared. This says more about the publication that it does the missional community. The publication is rooted in a theology defined as much by who is excluded as who is included. This does not align with the trajectory of the Gospels. Throughout the New Testament we see the expansion of who is included in God's dream for the world. This confounds those that were certain they knew who was in and who was out. I imagine that this is what the journalist and their editor experienced. They were confounded by a story of what God was doing within a community they believed to be excluded.

A few years ago, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Michael Curry said this:

"Our commitment to be an inclusive church is not based on a social theory or capitulation to the ways of the culture, but on our belief that the outstretched arms of Jesus on the cross are a sign of the very love of God reaching out to us all. While I understand that many disagree with us, our decision regarding marriage is based on the belief that the words of the Apostle Paul to the Galatians are true for the church today: All who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, for all are one in Christ."

Bishop Curry does three things in this simple paragraph that are profound: he states what salvific work of Jesus Christ has done–this is in short what is often called "the gospel," what direction Jesus' work is headed and he roots it all in how he reads and understands the Bible. I come back to this summary statement often. It makes the support of LGBTQ persons clear in a way that is rooted in the Christian faith. It's a fantastic statement and it is what I believe.

To think we can read Scripture and practice our faith outside of our cultural constructs is misguided. The Church is always called to respond to culture in each time and place. I agree with Bp. Curry that the Episcopal Church has responded through our understanding of what Christ has done and is doing. Our decisions are based on how we read Scripture and where we believe it's narrative to be pointing towards. This is to say that ours is a response to culture that is rooted in our reading of the Bible and understanding of the gospel.

As we head into pride month, let's be clear: LGBTQ inclusion is a faithful response to what God has been and is doing in the world. This may confound and confuse others but it is to be celebrated nonetheless.

Midweek Missional: It's Time To Go Home

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Wed, 2 Jun 2021 12:15:00 -0500

I shared an important update in my newsletter yesterday and here it is for those that missed that:

We've done some great work over these last five years. We're not quite done yet. More to come.

Also, go read Andy's books.

An important newsletter just went out

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Tue, 1 Jun 2021 07:00:00 -0500

My latest newsletter just went out. I hope you received it. If not, you can subscribe here and get it next time. Whether you received it or not, tune in to my Midweek Missional update tomorrow for some news.

Is The Crowd Telling The Truth?

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Mon, 31 May 2021 07:14:00 -0500

As mentioned earlier this month, my newsletter goes out monthly and will be coming out again tomorrow—the first of June. Considering many things going on in our culture, it seemed appropriate to share the content from my May newsletter on the blog. If you have not yet, you can sign up here for my newsletter. Below is what I wrote earlier this month …

I'm thinking about Søren Kierkegaard. I am writing this on his birthday (May 5). Kierkegaard was a 19th century Danish philosopher. He wrote critically about Christian faith and the Church even as a devout Christian himself. He embodied the sentiment of one of his titles, The Crowd is Untruth. What I mean is that Kierkegaard had a healthy skepticism about what is popularly accepted. What this might look like today in dominant culture is that what is not normal becomes normalized. Consider how accustomed we have become to school shootings or undocumented children in cages. These atrocities are not normal. Developed societies should not tolerate this kind of treatment to children. And, yet, these have become commonplace in America. We are bothered but not enough to do anything. What is distinctly different in our time from Kierkegaard's is technology. You post something online to establish your position on an issue—which clears the conscience—and then your attention is swiftly redirected by the algorithms. We forget that to be human is to be connected to a time, a place and a people. Unlike the bots (automated software applications) who influence public opinion and live exclusively on the Internet, you and I are connected to the natural world. We know that "the crowd," as Kierkegaard put it, is often influenced heavily by what is spread online. In 2020, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for Informed Democracy and Social Cybersecurity found that "bots may account for between 45 and 60% of Twitter accounts discussing covid-19."

For me, punk rock encouraged me to question norms as a teenager. When I discovered the Christian hardcore punk band The Crucified I took to heart a line from one of their songs, "I worship a God who allows me to think!" You don't have to love loud music to appreciate that a healthy sense of skepticism inoculates us from creating false idols of popular personalities or ideas. The challenge for us now is that we all have the opportunity—and responsibility—of public influence at our finger tips. In the Episcopal Church, we have a prayer for those who influence public opinion,

"Almighty God, you proclaim your truth in every age by many voices: Direct, in our time, we pray, those who speak where many listen and write what many read; that they may do their part in making the heart of this people wise, its mind sound, and its will righteous; to the honor of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." (BCP, p. 209)

The reality is that in our day and age, each of us has the means to influence public opinion. We do not get to abdicate this responsibility to someone else. I confess that I have not always appreciated this development within our culture but I am trying to do better. What Kierkegaard would have to say about this is that each of us is responsible for shaping "the crowd" by recognizing our own voice and offering our own contribution. As Kierkegaard would say, the crowd only wins when it convinces you that you are "weak and powerless" as an individual.

So, what can we do about it? How can we practice a healthy skepticism of the crowd's capacity for untruth? How might we be more responsible with how we influence public thought? My thoughts here tend to align with historian and Yale professor Timothy Snyder:

1) Take a break. Get away from screens. Be in the natural world. Get accustom to seeing the world around you. Yes, we are still wrestling with a global pandemic so wear your mask and social distance when appropriate (and get vaccinated!) but nonetheless, get outside. Go on a walk without your earbuds. When we do go back to our information feeds, maybe then we will be more appropriately aware of what is not normal and requires our attention.

2) Be discerning. We've all shared something online that only later on we've come to realize was misinformed (wait, was that only me?!). Use sites like Snopes or Politifact. Follow the work of groups such as The Alliance for Securing Democracy or The Observatory on Social Media. If you don't have time for that, consider this simple rule: if it incites fear or hate of others, it's probably not worth your support.

3) Love your neighbor. Kierkegaard argued in The Crowd is Untruth that we work against popular untruth by demonstrating human equity by love of the other. The untruth has and always has been that enmity for the other is always appropriate. We work against this by loving our neighbors. The temptation was to list "find your voice" as the third and last thing we can do. You should find your voice but not for your own gratification but for the care and well being of the other. Contribute to the discourse in whatever way suits you. Write to and call your public representatives. Attend and speak up at school board meetings. Volunteer. Vote. Show up. But do it for the love of your neighbor.

Sign up for my newsletter here.

Weekend Listening: Sons of Kemet - Pick Up Your Burning Crosses

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Fri, 28 May 2021 07:57:00 -0500

Sons of Kemet are back with Black To The Future, an incredible follow up to 2018's Your Queen Is A Reptile—which was on my year-end favorites list for that year. Below you'll find the second track off of Black To The Future. It's also worth noting that Sons of Kemet drummer, Tim Skinner is collaborating with members of Radiohead on a new project called The Smile and the first stuff from them sounds amazing too!

So, now you know what I'll be listening to this weekend. What will you be listening to?

Support musicians! A great way to do this is on Bandcamp. Take a look at what I'm discovering there. You can find all my weekend listening tracks on the playlists I've created on Spotify and YouTube.

More Intensely, More Beautifully, More Devotedly

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Thu, 27 May 2021 10:31:00 -0500

News about the mass shooting in San Jose, CA yesterday brought to my mind the words of Leonard Bernstein after JFK's assassination:

" ... But this sorrow and rage will not inflame us to seek retribution; rather they will inflame our art. Our music will never again be quite the same. This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before. " (emphasis mine)

… anyone looking for a drummer?

Midweek Missional: Why Aren't They Coming Back?

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Wed, 26 May 2021 14:28:00 -0500

Another Midweek Missional! This time talking about why folks are showing back up at church. Read the original post here. Also, talking about how pivotal Bad Brains are to hardcore. Important stuff here, people! Check it out:

Check out other Midweek Missional videos too!

Until It Stops ...

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Tue, 25 May 2021 10:51:00 -0500

On the anniversary of George Floyd's murder, I am once again sharing something I wrote in 2014. How sad is it that this remains applicable to the treatment of Black Americans, such as George Floyd:

He was a young man.

He was not a part of the dominant, privileged culture.

He was presumed not to be innocent.

He was wrongly accused and killed.

He died with his hands bound.

He died unable to breathe.

If we fail to see the suffering of the marginalized in light of the suffering of our Savior, then we fail to fully appreciate the vastness of what Jesus did.

Listen well, share your story, make friends, resist violence and learn.

Where 2 or 3 Are Gathered

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Mon, 24 May 2021 07:34:00 -0500

Over the weekend, I spoke at two different worship services. They used the same liturgy but the attendance was significantly different. At one, the attendance was more than twice that of the other but it did not feel all that different. The reason why was because of how these communities go about their spiritual practice.

It required participation not performance.

It could be done whether 6 or 60 showed up.

To be clear, any kind of Christian liturgy can be made performative or participatory. The choice is up to those that are leading—and you are making this choice, dear leader, whether you do so consciously or unconsciously.

Jesus had this saying, "... where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them." Which might be a helpful reminder as communities continue to find ways to regather. If you need an audience, you're probably going to be waiting a while. If all you need is a small handful of people to participate, you have a lot more options available to you of where, how and when to gather. Plus, apparently, Jesus shows up too!

How few people can you make meaningful worship with? What's that number? … Aim for that.

Seriously.

Liturgy means "the work of the people." Make this "work" meaningful for the smallest possible number. If you do this well, chances are they'll tell their friends and as things change in our world they'll come along.

It might be helpful to take a look at the Minimum Viable Community template created by the good folks at Community Canvas. I also appreciate, and find several analogs, in Seth Godin's words here.

Weekend Listening: Thee Sacred Souls - Can I Call You Rose?

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Fri, 21 May 2021 07:31:00 -0500

Thee Sacred Souls first caught my attention through this music video. I was only partially paying attention until it dawned on me that these were scenes from San Diego. I knew these spots! There are so many reasons to love Thee Sacred Souls. For one, they are some seriously talented musicians that make some seriously smooth music. The band clearly draws on the Chicano soul sound from an earlier era in southern California that is so nostalgic for me as I recall watching low riders cruise down the street, low and slow with the Delfonics coming from their stereos. And, of course, they're from my hometown which draws out my affection even more. Check 'em out and buy their music.

So, now you know what I'll be listening to this weekend. What will you be listening to?

Support musicians! A great way to do this is on Bandcamp. Take a look at what I'm discovering there. You can find all my weekend listening tracks on the playlists I've created on Spotify and YouTube.

Why Aren't They Showing Up?

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Thu, 20 May 2021 07:29:00 -0500

Large and small, urban and rural congregations across the states have been surprised by how few people are coming back to church now that things are opening back up. Why are they shocked? Because the information they had led them to believe members were eager to return.

Due to the isolation we all experienced, the collective lament has been, "We miss each other!" Of course faith community leaders took this as an indication that it was time to set a date, make a plan and hold in-person worship services once again. To the chagrin of so many leaders, people are not showing up in person at the levels they had hoped. The number of people that said "We miss being together" did not equal those that came together for in-person worship. This has left many congregation leaders scratching their heads and frustrated.

Here's a critical piece of what has been missed in the concern expressed by members to their congregation leaders: they missed each other. What most have not said is, "I miss sitting in a room watching you at the front."

This does not mean they didn't miss you, dear leader, but it means that they missed the relationships over the ritual—no matter what your flavor of ritual might be. This is not a bad sign. It means that when a pandemic has washed away our pretenses, we're clear on the importance of meaningful relationships—which is what keeps people coming back to church. So, this is a good instinct. But this may mean that the picnics and cookouts are more critical than they were thought to be. Opportunities to sit in wide circles in lawn chairs and benches facing each other, seeing faces we've missed are likely more important in this moment than sitting in a room facing the backs of other peoples heads. Which is to say that building relational cohesion, space for people to talk, share their experiences and ongoing concerns may be more primary before scaling up in-person worship.

Of course, some only pressed you with, "When are we going to back to normal worship?" as a kind of political litmus test. Chances are they didn't show up either. Misinformation and disinformation are not going away and you need to be prepared for this. Spend your time being concerned with weaving together the relationships of those who are saying "yes" to what your congregation can offer rather than fretting over those that say "no."

Midweek Missional: Authority + Influence

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Wed, 19 May 2021 12:45:00 -0500

If you got my newsletter earlier this month, you know that I talked about influence. In this week's Midweek Missional I talk about this. Subscribe to my newsletter here. Also, go to Steadfast Records and get this hoodie and some great music. Also, also, read Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny.

The Way of Love (redux): Turn + Learn

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Tue, 18 May 2021 09:05:00 -0500

Note: This is the second in a short series of posts reflecting on Bishop Curry's Way of Love as a model for starting new faith communities. You might want to read this first.

The model begins with this practice:

Turn - Pause, listen and choose to follow Jesus.

How can this be used as a missional community practice?

Before I get to that, a few considerations before we get started …

Choosing to follow Jesus can begin by making a verbal commitment. It did for me. Yet, it doesn't have to happen this way. There is nothing magical about saying certain words. At the same time, there is nothing magical about being born into the Church. Neither birthright or pacts with God provide a comprehensive definition of what it means to "pause, listen and choose to follow Jesus." It is not a box that once done can be checked off. It is, rather, a discipline, a practice.

That said, God has chosen you. You do not have to choose to follow God in order to obtain God's affection and acceptance. Central to a Christian worldview is that God has first loved us even before you or I considered returning that devotion. Any discussion about Christian action is never intended to imply a transactional relationship. I'm going to assume we're on the same page about that.

Last consideration. It's important to remember that for those of us that are immersed in the Christian community, what we believe sounds outright ridiculous to those outside of our tradition. As I've said before, what we Christians believe about Jesus is bananas to the outsider! It is therefore important that we consider that following Jesus will not always begin, for some, with accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. For some, he will begin as no more than teacher. This, I believe, is quite alright. I trust the Holy Spirit to take care of the rest.

So, what does it look like to "pause, listen and choose to follow Jesus?"

Possibly the simplest way to practice this is through Scripture reflection, which implies applying the second practice that Curry offers:

Learn - Reflect on Scripture, especially on Jesus' life and teaching.

In the Episcopal tradition, we read lots of Scripture every week. We read from the Old Testament and New Testament. Prophets, Epistles, Psalms … you get the point. And we always read from the Gospels. While Scripture is compiled of writings from a variety of eras, locations and authors with various agendas–sometimes appearing to contradict each other–we believe they all point in one direction. You could say that while they may not all carry the same melody, they do harmonize with each other. That harmony is found in the Gospels. In other words, it is meditating on all of Scripture through the lens of Jesus' life, death, resurrection and ascension that we discover how we are called to live our lives.

In the application of starting a new community (again, you should really go read the first post), what if this simply begins with gathering with those you are going start a community with for regular Scripture reflection? I use "reflection" rather than "study" purposely. The point here is to allow Scripture, in light of Jesus, read you as much you read the text. There are a variety of basic tools for conducting reflection in this way. The Kaleidoscope Bible Study, Lectio Divina or African Bible Study are examples.

At various times I have used the model of reading a Gospel passage three times with a group. The first time is followed with the question, "What is Jesus saying to you?" The second time with the question, "What is Jesus saying to us?" The third time, "What is Jesus saying to us about our neighborhood?" Personal reflection, collective reflection, missional reflection. In any case, the challenge is to allow the way of Jesus to impact how we behave, outside of the gathering of Christians. Conversations could be book-ended by reflection on how a group is applying in everyday life what they are meditating on within meetings.

Next up: prayer and worship.

This post was adapted from a previous post.

Missional. Artful. Leadership.

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Mon, 17 May 2021 06:55:00 -0500

When I meet with those discerning whether they are called to plant a church I often invite them to imagine their work as an artist. What kind of artist are they? Are they the kind of artist that says, "Give me a canvas and I can paint something beautiful." Or are they the kind of artist that says, "Give me the raw materials and I can make something beautiful—I'll build a frame, stretch the canvas across that frame and attach it, and then I will make something beautiful." In either case, we are seeking to create something beautiful. In one case we need leaders that are capable of going into an existing environment and change culture. In another, we need leaders that are capable of creating culture.

These days, it's easy to look to tech entrepreneurs but I've often thought that artists provide church planters a better template for their work. Artists give us an imagination for something that did not yet exist before they offered us their work. Through their work the impossible becomes possible. Sci-fi novelists have offered readers an imagination that has inspired scientists to create new technologies. Artists and musicians have created art that has inspired protest and revolution. The difference between the artist and a church planter is that the artist works alone whereas the planter convinces others to create something together.

Church planting requires imagination. It requires the capacity to see that God is up to something in your particular context and help identify this for others. This is what "missional" leadership does.

How do we know God is up to something? Scripture. Personal Experience. Community Engagement.

Scripture is the story of God continually nudging and drawing God's people into God's dream. God is not static throughout the Bible. Rather, God is always urging those that are willing to hear it that there is another way to be human; that God has a dream for this world other than the nightmare it can be. We read Scripture with what you might call a "missional hermeneutic" in order to learn what it is like for God's good news to be announced and responded to.

But we cannot do this work of announcing the good news of what God is doing in our own context unless we first know what it is to experience this in our own lives. If you cannot articulate where you have seen God at work in your own life it will be difficult for you to discern God at work in the context you serve in. Regular spiritual practices that cultivate this awareness are critical.

And, yet, the church planter cannot merely cultivate inward looking spiritual practices. We need practices that are outward facing—practices that cultivate a holy curiosity regarding what God is doing in the world around us. Through these the planter begins to see God at work in the shadows declaring that this may be the way things are but should not. We also see God's work exposed in the gifts of neighbors and hopes of a community seeking the goodwill and thriving of a place just as God intends. When we see these things we lean in and organize our work around it.

We need missional, artful leaders.

Is that you?

Weekend Listening: World Smasher - Free

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Fri, 14 May 2021 06:50:00 -0500

What are you going to be listening to this weekend? I've been listening to the latest EP from World Smasher, Big Head on Forever Never Ends Records. Check out the track "Free" below:

Big Head by World Smasher

Midweek Missional: Scenario Thinking

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Wed, 12 May 2021 13:50:00 -0500

I guess this is becoming a regular thing …

You can find the posts I reference here and here.

The Way of Love (redux)

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Tue, 11 May 2021 06:15:00 -0500

This summer was to be the 80th General Convention of the Episcopal Church. This is a meeting every three years at which clergy and congregational representatives from across the tradition convene for 10 days. It's a family reunion of sorts. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the next convention has been postponed until next summer. The last convention was held in Austin, TX. During the convention Presiding Bishop Michael Curry announced a project called, "The Way of Love." It was presented as an invitation to simple practices that nurture a "Jesus-centered life."

There are 7 practices:

Turn: Pause, listen and choose to follow Jesus
Learn: Reflect on Scripture, especially on Jesus' life and teaching
Pray: Dwell intentionally with God
Worship: Gather in community to thank, praise, and dwell with God
Bless: Share faith, unselfishly give and serve
Go: Cross boundaries, listen deeply and live like Jesus
Rest: Receive the gift of God's grace, peace and restoration

I think this method has potential to be a tool for starting new communities. I mentioned this a few years ago, but never completed my thought on it. Here's a quick run down and I will expand on future posts.

One reason why I like this is its simplicity. It offers a basic, action-oriented pattern to follow. Anyone can do this. The second reason why I like this is related; it engenders discipleship. This approach does not require a semester long course on each discipline. In a video for "The Way of Love" Bishop Curry teaches how to practice each of these in just a few words. The discipleship through this will happen as these are practiced. The third reason why I like this is that they seem culturally appropriate for our current era. What I mean by this is that these practices exude a Christ-centered "contemplative action" approach. Considering the increasing popularity of practices such as meditation for health and performance, it seems appropriate to approach these as practices that can be taught to others that are spiritually hungry.

The most counter-cultural aspect of this model is its focus on Jesus. The image appears to begin with "Learn" which would make sense to Episcopalians since this tends to be an over-educated tribe. Yet, when Bishop Curry describes this model (see video linked to above), he starts with "Turn." The whole model hinges on a Christological center. Whether speaking of person-to-person discipleship or starting new faith communities, the Way of Christ, the life and teachings of Jesus are the critical component. I'm going to work on that being assumed. So, let's get more specific about how this is useful for starting a new community.

In my mind, there are three stages for making this useful for starting a new community that after cycling through and beginning a community, become the rhythms of that faith community: pre-engagement, engagement, gathering.

Stage 1: Pre-engagement
Before engaging the context a small group of people are going start a new faith community within, they begin gathering around 4 practices:

Turn, learn, pray and worship.

An assumption: there are no lone rangers. We should also go into mission together. There are so many reasons why. Jesus sent people out together. In some contexts, its for safety. And there's always accountability in numbers. Nevertheless, whether 2 or 12 or however many you start with, your small group of people planning to start a new faith community ought to gather around and regularly engage these 4 practices. They are critical components for getting your "launch team," "core group," or whatever this is called in your tradition to having the necessary center to what a faith community is. It's easy to get sucked into new ideas, tools, promotion, etc. These practices will appropriately anchor your conversation and planning.

Stage 2: Engagement
Rooted in the 4 initial practices will inform how you will go into a context and seek to bless it. They shape how engage others. This stage has two simple practices: Bless and Go. These are shaped by the previous stage. This ensures that you go into your ministry context as a community, rather than as individuals and with an imagination of what a new faith community will look and feel like (because you have already begun experiencing it in some fashion). Additionally, there is no bait and switch in starting a new community this way. It is about genuinely befriending and blessing neighbors. This engenders trust which is so critical in an era where there is increasing public examples why not to Christian communities.

Stage 3: Gathering
That's right, there's only one more practice in Bishop Curry's model. What if rest was your first invitation into Christian community? Second only to the Jesus-centeredness of this model, rest may be the most counter-cultural aspect of this model. We do not participate in a culture that believes in Scripture-rooted understanding of rest. Certainly leisure but not rest. What if your first manner of gathering people into new community was through an invitation into a Sabbath-informed way of collective rest and restoration? What would that look like in your context? Would it be respite for underpaid and overworked neighbors or single moms? Would it be a lavish Shabbat/family-styled meal where people are encouraged to linger? Would it be planting trees, nature walks ... the one thing I would say is that it should not be decided upon before the first two stages, which will plug you into whatever God is up to and what your neighbors long for.

4 ... 2 ... 1 ... Repeat.

What do you think about this? What would you change? Would you try this out?

As mentioned above, I'll write in more detail about each of the practices in further posts.

Michael Frost encourages 5 practices in his book Surprise the World with some similarity.

This post was adapted from a previous post.

Scenario Thinking pt. 2

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Mon, 10 May 2021 08:08:00 -0500

In a post last week, I wrote about "scenario thinking" referencing the work of Steven Weber and Arik Ben-Zvi. I would argue that for most faith communities, one of the best ways to start looking towards the future is to first look to the past.

Here's what I mean.

Throughout the pandemic, congregations of all shapes and sizes overcame challenges they would have imagined possible just months before. For example, the number of congregations that were able to transition their programming to a digital format—including worship, giving, formation, etc.—in a short amount of time is astounding when you consider that most congregations in the States were not using Internet tools to their full capacity prior to to the pandemic. In many cases, congregations made this adjustment within a few short weeks. If you had gone to the leaders of these congregations 18 months before the pandemic and asked them if they thought it possible for their faith community to move all programming online in 2 weeks most would have said it impossible. And, yet, most were able to do this.

What this tells me is that we are often more resilient, more capable of change than we give ourselves credit for. We don't recognize this because we don't take the time to reflect on the challenges we have overcome and how this might apply to future challenges. I would recommend that as congregations begin to go back to some semblance of normalcy that they take time to reflect on the challenges they have overcome with their leaders:

Whose participation did it require?
How long did it take?
What kind of resources did it require?
How were those resources obtained?

A simple analysis of past challenges overcome will give you a sense of what the next "impossible" challenge will require.

With these tools in hand, let's return to what Weber and Ben-Zvi discuss in "scenario thinking." In an example they offer, four scenarios are offered. They come to these by identifying two independent variable. These are, as they write:

a) Very important to defining what the future will look like; and

b) Very uncertain and thus difficult to predict

I don't know that Weber and Ben-Zvi would recommend using their concepts in this way, but I wonder if there are two important post-covid questions, for church plants in particular, to consider. The first is this:

Is this new faith community sustainable?

The answer to this is not merely a yes/no, pass/fail response. A response might be, "No, but we hope to be" or "Yes, but we're not sure it should be." In any case, another question that needs to be addressed as well:

Does this new faith community need to exist for a season?

Not all faith communities need to exist for an extended amount of time. One study found that only 68% of new churches still remained in their fourth year. It's important to recognize that a faith community existing for a short season does not need to be understood as failure. Considering how transient many populations are, it's completely logical that some communities would rise and fall with the changes of populations in certain areas. Coming to terms with this allows us to end well, to discern the lessons to be learned for others in the future, etc.

Whether a community is to be sustainable or seasonal, another question remains:

To what scale?

Faith communities come in all shapes and sizes. Some faith communities exist comfortably at—for example—6, 60 and 160 participants. The hard question is not the size so much as whether we're willing to live with what is possible at different sizes. Does a community of 6 need a full time person? No. Does 60? Maybe, maybe not. Does 160? Probably.

COVID-19 has had, and will have, a hard impact on our congregations. What's even more important is to recognize the deep impact it has had, and will have, on the communities surrounding each congregation. Addressing some of these questions might resolve some of our questions about our own survivability so that we might be prepared to meet our neighbors clear on what we have to offer to whatever lies ahead.

You can find the first post on "scenario thinking" here.

Weekend Listening: Marker - Identification of a Woman

mail@digitaljasonevans.com (Jason Evans) — Sat, 8 May 2021 08:09:00 -0500

I am a product of the 80's. I love the fact that so many current bands are drawing from that era of music. Marker is one of them. Their 2017 release Marker (MR-072) on Medical Records takes me back to those synth-layered new wave records I was discovering at a young age. It's perfect music for a cool, quiet and cloudy morning. Check it out:

Marker (MR-072) by Marker

You can find all my weekend listening tracks on the playlists I've created on Spotify and YouTube.

Support musicians! A great way to do this is on Bandcamp. Take a look at what I'm discovering their.