And now for something completely different:

Do the Right Thing

Our lives are full of trouble.  A big part of a person’s true ‘success’ in life is how biblically they respond to difficulties that they experience and how much mercy they show to those in distress around them.  These high stress situations often leave us grasping for what to do, what to say.   Most of us struggle to take what we have learned in years of Church attendance and bible study and translate it into appropriate words of wisdom.  If we had time to think about it, to consult wise men, to read the self help book, we’d have the answer, but right then, right there on the firing line we often fall short.  Even worse, because we lack confidence in our knowledge of the right biblical answer to an issue, we remain silent when we should speak. 

The situation is worse for the unchurched:  at least Christians have witnessed the biblical way to deal with crises, have a Christian worldview (if only via osmosis) and have the help of the Holy Spirit.  Non-Christians have bupkis (technical consulting term for absolute nothing – similar to absolute zero).  All of us are looking for help at the hard moments, even if it is only to reinforce our own instincts and give us more confidence because we know that the answer we will give is God’s.  We want to do the right thing.

Billions of people regularly face these situations with little or no practical spiritual help (aside, of course, from prayer and the mediation of the Holy Spirit, which is significant) at the point of the event. Before the moment:  tons of wisdom if only we could remember and organize it, after:  lots of advice that will be spot on as soon we invent time travel. It has always been thus, so much so that we usually don’t think of it as a problem to be ‘solved’ – it’s a state of nature, a result of The Fall. 

But it hasn’t always just been ‘thus’.  Our post-modern world makes it even harder to act in faith because now the notion of truth or the right thing has been cast into doubt by the skeptics of knowing.   In the past, when there was a broad cultural consensus on the existence of God, people were much freer in giving and seeking moral and spiritual advice (anyone who has ever been embarrassed by their Grandmother’s conversations with perfect strangers knows this).  People, regardless of faith accepted this as normal because they accepted the notion of a fixed moral order.  Today the momentum lies with the skeptic and a Christian shares biblical truth about situations or issues with trepidation – “I know he’s dying but if I talk about the single path to God, his Bhuddist, Vegan, Anarcho-feminist sister will ‘how dare’ me to death”.  So the “Good News” is not always welcome and because we swim in a post modern world and most of us really aren’t paying enough attention, sometimes we get confused too:  “I think it was Jesus who said ‘From each according to his ability, to each according to his need’, wasn’t it?”  “Yeah, in the First Book of Engels, but I think it was St. Karl, one of the twelve Opossums that said it.”

So the task is overwhelming and the perceived emotional risks of connecting have soared.  Yet we are challenged by God to drink this bottomless ocean dry every day.  So to cope with the shift in the culture and get His message back out there, we talk about ‘Equipping’ our members for battle and run quite expensive (in teaching resource terms) high intensity Discipleship programs.  The goal is to make ‘better spiritual athletes’ who are prepared to speak the truth broadly (and kick Error’s bony little tail).  But this only applies to a modest subset at any church – the number of parishioners who can and will invest the time and training to become spiritual Triathletes is small.  What about all of the spiritual couch potatoes?  Spiritual weekend warriors?

Truth Midgets

Now, take a small detour with me to review one of my favorite and (to most others) silliest Church concepts: Process measurement embedded in Touches, Handshakes, Hugs.   For a moment assume that my conceit is right:  that measuring interactions and investing in programs that maximize them and move people from spiritually touching to handshaking to hugging is the right approach.  If that’s the case and if the most important time to communicate biblical messages to people is when they are facing issues and life stress then the Church is missing out on hundreds of millions of potential ‘handshakes’ that happen every day:  people are dying, marrying, losing their job, getting arrested – interactions where Gospel wisdom would be welcome, even sought out if only we could figure out how to identify the events and get it to them (that time travel thingy really would come in handy). 

So for purposes of argument let’s pretend that I’m Dr. Von Frankenmug and I’ve figured out how to clone billions of tiny versions of my Senior Pastor:  Dr. Doriani that I shall call “Mini-Ds”.  Mini-Ds sit on the left shoulder of every person, waiting for the chance to help their host deal with a life issue or event in a Biblical manner.  At this point the Theologian in Chief points out:  “Yes we know.  That is what we in the ‘business’ call the Holy Spirit.”.  To which I say:  you're right, they are helpers – just not The Big Helper.

So, what would this Mini-D need to be able to do? (He’s a rather limited chap, not much memory, tiny brain, unlike their Papa Clone, oddly enough all Mini-D’s have exactly one half of a mustache - side effect of the cloning process, I guess)

It seems to me that Mini-D would have a list of ‘life events’, say “someone arrested”, “divorce”, “unchurched parent dying”, “someone cheated me”.  And when a life event happens to a person, his Mini-D would be ready and waiting with a context relevant message of Biblical wisdom that would have the following components:

• A framework or way of thinking about the problem or circumstance that reflects God’s perspective.  For being cheated it might go something like this:

 “Remember that there is more than one side to a commercial dispute.  You may think that he cheated you, while he might simply have a different view as to what was agreed to or maybe doesn’t realize that he hasn’t fully performed or could just be going through a rough patch and is having a hard time delivering.  You don’t want to start a discussion with this person with an accusation because you may not have all the information and you don’t want to close off compromise with conflict.  Your goals in meeting should be 1:  to compare your understanding to his, and to 2. Give him the opportunity to resolve the issue up front without demands or hostility.  As a Christian you value his repentance and don’t want to humiliate him.”

• A Biblical reference in support thereof – “For Jesus says:  Motes, beams, logs, eyes, etc.”
•  A couple suggested tactics – ‘Go to him and say:  “Maybe there’s a misunderstanding” or “I think that we have some confusion about what was promised”.  If you’re concerned about the interaction or are uncertain about how strong your position is, go to a trusted counselor who will give you frank feedback and share the entire scenario with him (the good, bad and ugly).’
• A ‘lifeline’ button on the top of each Mini-D’s head that links to a live staff member at a local church that sponsored that Mini-D that can be invoked if the issue is too complex for the mini-D’s limited repertoire or the host just wants more moral support or advice.

Note that the Mini-D would not have “The Answer” – he’s not that bright and in a world of almost infinite complexity a definitive answer would be wrong.  What he communicates is framework, scripture, starting ideas and a lifeline so that the host has something to work with when he engages in a conversation or struggle with a critical event.

What would a world full of Mini-Ds look like?

• Christians, having real time support for issues that they confront ‘out there’ would be bolder in ministering and proclaiming the truth when they stumble on the opportunity (and in dealing with their own crises).  And with a fierce if odd looking truth midget on their shoulder they would have more confidence in engaging in a confrontation with that anarcho-vegan. 
•  What they say and what they do will be more biblically sound.  And in giving the message to others, the Christian will write it on his heart.
• Many situations where a person won’t seek help from a pastor due to embarrassment or time pressures will now get help. (Mini-Ds are required to sign tiny non disclosure agreements with tiny little pens before they get their shoulder to perch on).
• The pastoral lifeline will make it easier and therefore more likely for people in issues to escalate and connect with a home church for further help.
•   People outside of the Church who wouldn’t dream of seeking advice from a pastor will seek advice from their own special half mustached shoulder midget and might, just might push his little head top button to speak to someone back at the control center, aka: the ‘Secret Volcano Lair’.

So in my silly process measure terms:  the Mini-Ds could enable a significant expansion of the number of ‘handshakes’ or Gospel messages shared with both Christians and the unchurched. They could (modestly) change the dynamics of interactions between Christians and non-Christians in many high stress situations. They also provide an on-ramp for people to bring these issues back to the Church.  The costs?  Just the cloning process, special Mini-D food pellets and flea collars – because who would take advice from a midget who gave you fleas?

A confession:  I made the whole Mini-D thing up.  I have not achieved a sub-human cloning breakthrough and do not have warehouses full of tiny Dans with a poor shave.  (Although it would be cool to have your own tiny personal pal:  “Okay Mini-D, say ‘reformed supralapsarian mumbo jumbo’ while doing the ‘Twist’ – come on, enunciate.  And shake those hips!)

What I have not made up, however, is the capability to do everything described above utilizing existing PDA, Wireless and video technologies and the native desire of people to “do the right thing” if they can do so with some level of confidence. In fact we have developed a similar concept for the investment management industry called Comunicato but more about that later.

The Church as a Social Network

Now let’s talk a little bit about how Church works (or could work or should work) in a networked world.  I see Church as modestly sized analog social network composed of two components: a core enterprise consisting of a number of paid employees plus the core lay leaders (aka:  the ‘Good Ol’ Boys’) and then a whole bunch of members with a wide range of motivations for their association with the Church (faith, free stuff, community, service, Mom makes me go).  The goal of the Church is to encourage these ‘independent contractors’ to divert more of their time, energy and treasure to Church efforts and away from money, work and golf, in other words to do a little “Kingdom Larceny”.  If we were thinking clearly, we would say that the goal isn’t necessarily capturing a greater share of resources but getting more Kingdom outcomes from each member (more of people’s hearts, more demonstrated charity, mercy, peace, kindness and so forth).

So believe it or not, God wants to use us - this rabble - to “Transform the World”.  How? 

Well the first thing that a cynic would say is that while we want more commitment from members, we don’t necessarily want them lurking around HQ drinking even more of the company’s coffee (although it is quite good).  Nor do we want them milling about out there in the world in large mixed herds waiting for ministry ‘professionals’ carrying big white signs to lead them this way or that like some crazed Japanese tour group.  The ideal for Christians:  Saved by Grace, Transformed by the Holy Spirit, Equipped by the Church and Kicked Out of the House at Eighteen is to seek out opportunities to minister in the name of Jesus whenever the opportunity arises.   By themselves.  Without dragging a Pastor to every two bit meeting at 6 in the morning on a Saturday just to watch them do it for goodness sakes.  We need the ‘Independent Contractors’ to act independently and minister to a broken world:  supported, not led by the professional staff.         

     

The ‘church booster’ would respond un-cynically by pointing out that in many respects this is exactly what the church tries to do right now.  We seek to use the home base interactions on Sunday and Wednesday night to equip members to go out and minister to the world.  It’s just that it’s hard to teach independent contractors enough to prepare them for any possible eventuality.  Some members will get it and boldly go forth, mostly because they’re the type of people who enjoy telling other people what to do anyway.  But most members really do need the equivalent of their own personal shoulder midget to help them. 

“Ha!” The cynic would retort.  “Even if they had their own faith midget they would still blindly wander by perfectly good opportunities to minister to people every day.  Instead of using Mini-D to help those in need they would make him do stupid dances while saying silly phrases.  We just don’t pay enough attention.”

“Of course we don’t pay enough attention”, the pious booster would retort.  “We live in a broken world but the Church spends a lot of time raising people’s awareness of the needs around them, perhaps we could do a more systematic job as part of this program, but we’re not anywhere near bupkis on this (pious booster is a consultant).  As a matter of fact I understand there was a brilliant Sunday school seminar written that addressed this topic, I wonder whatever happened to it?.”

So with that enormous, meandering introduction, I would submit that in addition to all the good work that is done today, there are two specific ‘initiatives’ that churches could pursue that could significantly increase the effective spiritual impact of every member:

First, Increase their situational awareness.  Take members through a workshop that focuses on understanding what it means to be open to loving your neighbor.  Provide them with a “Field Guide to the Lost of North America” so to speak.  By increasing awareness, they will see more opportunities to minister.  (Yes Robbie, I’m still flogging this old chestnut – what DID you do with my Sunday school material?  Is it on the pile with the hundreds of Hollywood movie scripts you’ve rejected?)

Second, Provide a pervasive tool that is always on and always with them.  This can be provided via the smart phone (Iphone, Android, Symbian, Windows CE, Blackberry) that most of them already have – we’re really talking about the under 40 set (and a few older people who are particularly young thinking like thee and me).  There would be an app that can be loaded that would allow them to search and access a centrally hosted database of ‘Central Truths’ addressing a wide range of life issues.  The information would come in brief (~ 2 minutes) video form with a text summary for low bandwidth situations.  The lifeline would be a link to the on-call staff member via the church’s phone system. The messages would be flash based links ala Youtube and could be forwarded via email so that moms the world over could pester their kids with officially sanctioned church advice – “See, it’s not just me, even Dan Doriani thinks so.  And he’s a preacher!”

Comunicato for Communicants

Look at this:  www.informedworkplace.com  Informed workplace is an Openwater portfoliocompany providing legal/HR knowledge and advice to HR professionals via subscription.  You have a legal/HR issue:  this is the easiest, cheapest way to get first level guidance.  Pull it up on your PC or smart phone. As you can see, the notion of creating reusable content to address specific issues is pretty standard stuff out in the ether.  But as far as I can tell, there hasn’t been any systematic effort to embed scripture in very short topical teaching form that can be accessed at the specific point of need.

The church could establish a similar infrastructure quite inexpensively that we could call Central Truths (OK, branding was never my forte).  Except that it would be a frustrating waste of money to build a whole bunch of content for Central – other Churches wouldn’t want to use Central branded material and they certainly wouldn’t want their faith midgets to call Dan when their head buttons were pushed.  So it would go over like a Lead Zeppelin.

Unless…..what was created was explicitly designed to integrate with each local Church’s ministry.  Each message could be produced professionally and then have Church or ministry specific introductions or exits linking back to the relevant location.  A Church could also take pre-packaged scripting and production elements and record their own versions of some of the messages or supplement the messages with ones that they find particularly relevant.  The technical back office details of where it was hosted and managed could be handled centrally for a modest fee by someone who is in that business.  This way the evangelical community could create a tool that everyone could use but that could be branded and linked back to specific congregations – when a consumer loaded the app, he would simply identify his church or if unchurched, his zip code and that would give him the link back to his lifeline.

A system like this that was widely adopted would offer some interesting insights to Church leaders.  For example, it would tell us which life issues are the ones that people really seek help on the most.  How do we provide more guidance at church for those?  If the consumer affirms, it could contact the Church and notify us that one of our members has sought help for issue A – allowing more pastoral visibility into the congregation’s needs or ministry opportunities.  It could also be extended in all directions with thousands of churches contributing content to the common repository but each church ultimately having control over what is served to its community.  It would be a Godsend for smaller churches and remote communities, giving them a wealth of shorts, classes, sermons, and seminars that they could repurpose for their own needs.  The core idea:  create content once and then mass-customize its delivery so it can be reused over and over again. 

As a matter of fact that is what we have done with Comunicato.

Go to this link and try it out (actually the link doesn't work right now, wait until Sept 18).  The page is a “My Videos” page designed for investment managers (we haven’t dressed it up with shiny HTML yet so you’re seeing the PHP code base – software sitting around unshaven in its underwear). It allows a manger to take a professionally designed video such as “What do about your Roth IRA” and add a personal introduction and goodbye, to add logos and disclaimers.  The advisor can even take the video superstructure and script and re-record himself as the presenter.  The upshot of all this is that for very little money an investment advisor can have his own personalized online video channel to communicate his ideas (well not really his ideas – but industry ideas that we have repurposed via Comunicato) to his clients and prospects.  Try the site, see if you can put the demo bits together into a complete ‘campaign’ message.  Here’s an example of a completed piece.  Wise guy cracks shall be deleted.

“Central Truths” would operate in a similar way.  The key elements are;

•  Standard library of short ‘guidance’ messages
•  Church specific logoing and intro and exit content
•  Lifeline Link to the sponsoring church -  preferably automatically calling the ‘on call’ staff member (another company we're working with already has this process worked out using Skype)
•  Anyone can contribute content to the site, but the local sponsoring church gets to pick and choose what will be offered to their members.  That way a church can get that exciting Mormon “Canning Disaster Recovery” series without worrying about their “How to clean your ceremonial underwear” short weirding people out.
•  Hosted centrally by a professional hosting outfit for a modest fee.
• Structured so that other content categories (messages, classes, seminars, etc.) can be shared using the same infrastructure.

Costs?  To create a superb library of first rate “Central Truths” – assuming the Church wrote the copy and the actors were volunteers – would probably cost no more than $500,000 for the first 150.  And of course this content can be shared millions of times around the world.  And once it is, the power of crowd sourcing will kick in, people will offer tons of content in the hopes that Churches will pick it up and use it.  Risky you say?  Well if we do this and it has a modest 1000 hits a day worldwide, than it will be a far more efificient use of money than any building program.

Concludicato

The key to the survival, much less the advance of our civilization is the proclaiming of God’s truth in a multitude of situations and circumstances by as many who are able as often as they can.  We have stage fright because we don’t know ‘our lines’.  With an electronic faith midget in our hands we now have the opportunity to get our lines straight.  And who knows?  They might not be able to shut us up.

Finis (ob nunc)