Church planting is hard, many pastors would say. But it’s where much of the church growth is happening in America at a time when most churches are dying.

Fri, Apr. 25, 2008 Posted: 13:30:24 PM EST

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Church planting is hard, many pastors would say. But it’s where much of the church growth is happening in America at a time when most churches are dying.

“Two-thirds of all churches in America are plateaued and declining,” said Pastor Rick Warren after speaking Thursday to thousands of church planters at the Exponential Conference in Orlando, “and if it weren’t for the growth that’s taking place in church plants and megachurches, Christianity would be declining.”

Warren, founding pastor of Saddleback Community Church in Lake Forest, Calif., says the growth in church plants and megachurches has helped keep the Christian population in the United States from dropping.

His comments come as the latest statistics from the Southern Baptist Convention, of which his church is a part of, show baptisms have dropped for the third straight year in 2007 and total membership dipped. Some say membership has plateaued and is on a trend toward decline unless change happens within the 16-million member denomination. Southern Baptists are now being seen as one among many major Protestant groups that are declining.

News of the denomination’s decline was released during the April 21-24 Exponential Conference where over 2,700 church planters and leaders attended to analyze the DNA of successful reproducing churches. The annual conference has been touted as the “mother of all church planting conferences”

Today, church planting has reached an all-time high with approximately 4,000 new churches planted every year in the United States, according to the “State of Church Planting USA” study. Church plants are also starting out with larger crowds with hundreds joining the first worship service, and the survival and success rate of church plants is at 68 percent.

One of the biggest trends in church planting today is the multiple venue church, or the multi-site church. The idea is that one church meets in multiple locations which are fed video satellite preaching from the main church campus.

Dave Ferguson, pastor of Community Christian Church, is expanding outreach and already transitioning from a multi-site church to a “poly-site” church – reproducing different kinds of campuses to reach different kinds of people – where the mission becomes the priority rather than just reproducing the same church, he said.

While some believe the large church trend will soon die out, Warren says the next generation of churches is going to be even bigger.

“They’re going to be far larger than the boomer generation of churches because they’re not limited to one campus anymore,” he said in an interview featured on the Exponential Conference Web site.

Warren’s Saddleback has planted over 40 independent “daughter churches” in Southern California and it recently launched a multi-site initiative with a goal of 10 campuses by the year 2010. According to Saddleback’s multi-site church blog, its new campuses in Corona and Irvine drew 490 and nearly 2,000 attendants, respectively, to the first service.

“Reproduction is the mark of health,” Warren commented.

Meanwhile, Alan Hirsch, co-founder of Shapevine and the founding director of Forge Mission Training Network which focuses on developing missional leaders in western contexts, believes church plants in America need to adopt a more missionary stance.

“I think here in America, I think church planting is still very bonded to church growth methodology and ideas,” Australian-born Hirsch said in an interview featured on MondayMorningInsight, a Web site for pastors and church leaders.

“It (America) hasn’t really thought through … the nature of the church as a mission agency. We simply have to adopt a missionary stance in relationship to our culture,” he continued. “We’ve got to break the monopoly that church growth thinking has over our mindset. Because unless we do that we’ll never become a truly missionary agency.”

The Exponential Conference featured other well-known speakers, including Tim Keller, founding and lead pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian; Ed Stetzer, former church planter and director of Lifeway Research; and Andy Stanley, senior pastor of North Point Community Church.

Audrey Barrick
Christian Post Reporter

The pastor of Europe’s largest evangelical church gave advice on how to revive Christianity and the Church in the United States Tuesday evening during a Q&A session based on questions submitted by American Christians.

Thu, Apr. 24, 2008 Posted: 09:57:29 AM EST

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The pastor of Europe’s largest evangelical church gave advice on how to revive Christianity and the Church in the United States Tuesday evening during a Q&A session based on questions submitted by American Christians.

Sunday Adelaja, founding pastor to the 30,000-member God’s Embassy Church in Kiev, Ukraine, was the featured guest of a teleconference hosted by Strang Communications, the publisher of Charisma and Ministry Today magazines.

God’s Embassy Church boasts more than two million converts and 600 church plants worldwide.

During the Q&A, Adelaja emphasized how the Church should not be pulpit-focused, but rather concentrate on how to reveal Jesus Christ to people if they want to experience growth.

The Nigerian-born Christian leader used his own church as example, saying that his church first experienced massive growth after four fruitless years when he started to go out and fed the poor and took care of the drug addicts and alcoholics in Ukraine.

He also encouraged every single church member to influence and impact the culture for God.

“Do not let your people get comfortable with sitting down in the pews,” Adelaja advised a pastor who submitted a question during the teleconference. “You have to literally push them out of the pews and strengthen them so they can go out there and invade the darkness of the world because they are the light of the world.

“You have to really keep on pushing them to believe in themselves that they can change the world for God.”

The influential European pastor said that the mayor of Kiev, the chief justice of Ukraine, and the prime minister of the country all come from his church.

Adelaja was also critical of U.S. churches, saying they were a “far cry” from real churches and that this generation of Americans have not seen the real church yet.

“The way things are now in America, the way we do church is kind of like a program,” Adelaja observed. “We are doing church as a club. We are trying to make people feel good, to entertain them, or try to keep them. So because of that concern – we don’t want them to go or to lose them – we kind of try to suit them.

“We are pleasing men instead of pleasing God,” the megachurch pastor continued. “I think we need to change our focus and our focus has to be ‘what is the heartbeat of God?’ ‘What does God desire?’ ‘Does He really want me to just make these people happy and keep them here forever until they die or I die? Or is it better for me to fire them up and encourage them to go and live their life truly for God and for kingdom?’”

Adelaja also diagnosed American Christians as egocentric and said that they need to be taught that the focus of their life is not themselves, but God. Adelaja said that as long as pastors teach that the purpose of believing in God is for them to be blessed then people will never influence their culture.

Earlier this year, Adelaja released his latest book, ChurchShift, which broke Amazon.com’s top 10 Bestsellers list. ChurchShift’s mission is to spark a revolution in American culture with the goal of reforming 10,000 U.S. churches so that they will in turn reform American society.

Adelaja grew up a poor orphan in Nigeria and was raised in a Christian home by his grandmother. He did not own a pair of shoes until he was 12 years old and had to earn a living from the age of six. Through the prayers of his Christian grandmother, Adelaja gave his life to Christ at 19 years of age. He traveled to the Soviet Union to study journalism on a scholarship and later founded Embassy of God Church after the Soviet Union was dismantled.

The Embassy of God Church is the largest church in all of Europe with some 100,000 total members, including those from all its satellite locations. Although Adelaja is African, white Europeans make up 99 percent of his church. The church has planted more than 600 churches in more than 45 countries, including 20 churches in the United States.

Michelle A. Vu
Christian Post Reporter

Was moved by this… Hope it will touch you, too. (Even the most cliche truths are still truths.) Blessings to you, Pam’la

Tue, Apr. 08, 2008 Posted: 15:19:18 PM EST

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Non-Christians are more receptive to the Gospel today than at any point in recent American history, according to one research team.

“We are seeing a new level of curiosity among those who are seeking out religion – and we rejoice that people are willing to hear about Jesus,” said Sam S. Rainer III, who heads Rainer Research.

While Rainer said he finds the increased receptivity among non-believers encouraging, the problem lies with churches not being able to connect with them and the culture.

“Christians and non-Christians intermingle socially every day, at work, the ballpark, and in the grocery store. But we’ve lost a sense of urgency in sharing the story of Jesus Christ,” he told The Christian Post. “We rush home from work in our cars, pull in the garage by the push of the button, and disappear in our homes to watch two hours of TV, only to get up and do it all over again. We’ll stand for hours in line to purchase a Nintendo Wii, but we cringe at crossing the street to get to know our neighbors.

“Believers, me included, need to do a better job at building a sense of community in our own neighborhoods,” he added.

But there are churches that have contextualized the timeless message of the Gospel to the culture and are connecting successfully with their communities, Rainer noted.

“Nothing excites me more as a pastor and researcher than hearing about churches that connect with their communities and unashamedly proclaim the name of Christ in a way people can understand,” he said.

Ryan Bolger, assistant professor of church in contemporary culture in Fuller Theological Seminary’s School of Intercultural Studies and co-author of Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Communities in Postmodern Cultures, has found many churches that are expressing their faith in ways that resonate with those in the 21st century. And they go beyond outreaches and trendy worship that only aim to draw people to church services.

“Donald McGavran … said a person shouldn’t have to change cultures to find God,” Bolger said, referring to a former Fuller professor. “A person’s difficulty with the Christian faith is often sociological, not theological.”

After five years of research on emerging churches, Bolger discovered places that were expressing the Christian faith in cultural forms that made sense to a population that has become more urban. Churches that have been able to connect with their communities were more relational, focused on practices and less institutional, he found.

Such churches incorporated aspects of people’s daily lives – whether it’s ipods, art or music – into their worship to “weave together the sacred and the secular,” he said in a recent interview featured on Fuller’s Web site. Along with creativity, these emerging churches have refocused on the life of Jesus as a model way to live. Thus, inviting the outsider in, hospitality, forgiving, peacemaking and praying together daily are central, Bolger pointed out.

“It’s not extra, it’s not an outreach. It’s actually the Gospel. So it’s something they have to get right,” he said, noting that the emerging churches look to express faith in the workplace, neighborhoods and in everyday activity and are not necessarily looking for ways to bring people to church services.

“The reason they do that is to ground their faith in the practices of everyday so it’s not a detached other worldly only faith, but it’s something that connects to their everyday,” said Bolger.

Lillian Kwon
Christian Post Reporter

What are your thoughts?

>>>

Unchurched Americans prefer churches that look more like a medieval cathedral over contemporary church buildings, a new study showed.

Mon, Apr. 07, 2008 Posted: 07:55:14 AM EST

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Unchurched Americans prefer churches that look more like a medieval cathedral over contemporary church buildings, a new study showed.

Although billions of dollars have been spent on church buildings and more contemporary designs, church attendance has declined, said Jim Couchenour, director of marketing and ministry services for Cogun Inc., a founding member of Cornerstone Knowledge Network. The network was thus prompted to ask, “As church builders what can we do to help church leaders be more intentional about reaching people who don’t go to church?”

In a study conducted by LifeWay Research for Cornerstone Knowledge Network, the unchurched preferred more traditional looking buildings by a nearly 2-to-1 ratio over any other option. Given 100 “preference points” to allocate among four photos of church exteriors, the unchurched used an average of 47.7 points on the most traditional and Gothic options.

The other three options were given only 18.5 to 15.9 points.

“Quite honestly, this research surprised us,” said Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research and LifeWay Christian Resource’s missiologist in residence. “We expected they’d choose the more contemporary options, but they were clearly more drawn to the aesthetics of the Gothic building than the run-of-the-mill, modern church building.”

Stetzer believes unchurched Americans may be drawn to the look of the Gothic cathedral because it speaks to a connectedness to the past.

Young unchurched people particularly preferred the traditional look. Those between the ages of 25 to 34 gave an average of 58.9 of their 100 preference points to the more Gothic church exterior while those over the age of 70 gave that option only an average of 32.9 points.

One survey respondent said modern churches “seem cold.”

“I like the smell of candles burning, stained-glass windows, [and] an intimacy that’s transcendent,” the respondent said.

“We may have been designing buildings based on what we think the unchurched would prefer,” Couchenour noted. “While multi-use space is the most efficient, we need to ask, ‘Are there ways to dress up that big rectangular box in ways that would be more appealing to the unchurched?’”

Most churches that look like a cathedral, however, are in decline, Stetzer pointed out.

“Buildings don’t reach people, people do,” Stetzer said. “But if churches are looking to build and are trying to reach the unchurched, they should take into consideration the kind of building. Costs and other considerations will play into the decision, but the preferences of the unchurched should be considered as well.”

Survey results showed that more than half of the unchurched said the design of a church building would impact their enjoyment of a visit to church. Twenty-two percent said the design of the church would strongly impact their enjoyment of the visit and 32 percent indicated it would have some impact. More than a third said it would have no impact whatsoever on their visit.

The survey was conducted on 1,684 unchurched adults on Feb. 4 and 5. Unchurched people are defined as those who had not attended a church, mosque or synagogue in the past six months except for religious holidays or special events.

Audrey Barrick
Christian Post Reporter

Last week after reading Pastor Christian’s note about Haiti, we invited him to help with Angel Food Ministries at the Shiloh Methodist church. We began helping with this ministry when it began a couple of years ago. When we started helping with it, we thought being involved was a “good thing to do to help others in need”. It is a win-win situation; we get food at a reduced cost, and we help others at the same time. When we order a box of food, it counts toward getting a “free” box of food to give away to someone in need. Any food we won’t use, we put in a box to be donated to the food pantry. We thought the kids would enjoy being involved in this ministry. We want them to learn that helping others is a privilege as well as a responsibility. These are all good reasons for helping with this ministry, right? When we get down to the nitty gritty facts, though, these good points are not the reason that we keep helping with this ministry. The truth of the matter is that we gain so much more by helping than we could ever give back.

I’m certain that each one of you already knows this truth: We can never out-give God. We keep helping with this ministry because of the relationships we’ve developed. People from many different denominations come together to help with this project. People from many different backgrounds purchase food from Angel Food Ministries. We’ve met people we probably wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet otherwise. A smile here and there prompts a smile back. People begin to feel comfortable talking. Talk about the weather turns to talk about lost jobs and sick family. You might even find yourself mentioning your own concerns. Wait a minute. . . Wasn’t this endeavor about helping others?

Teresa of Avila is quoted as saying, “Christ moves among the pots and pans.” Somehow, while doing the work, words come easier, and more naturally. With a sense of camaraderie established between workers and guests, we both see our common bond, and each of us sees a glimpse of Christ in the other. In my mind, mission work is all about relationships. If we desire to be like Jesus, shouldn’t we be where the people are? What are your thoughts? Do you have a mission you feel passionately about?

 Beth S

From the Presbyterian Outlook:

The chief cornerstone and the game plan
by Kenneth E. Bailey
03/10/2008

It is clear that Jesus carefully planned the first part of the Triumphal Entry. He chose a village where he had friends. One of those friends was alerted to ready a colt and tie it in front of the house at a specified time. Its owner was waiting and watching. The disciples were told where to find the colt and both parties memorized passwords.

It is also clear that Jesus engaged in similar planning for the Last Supper. A man who could recognize the disciples was waiting with a water pot to lead them to a house where the owner had already offered his large, furnished upper room to Jesus. Those involved used passwords again. Meticulous planning clearly surfaces in both of these occasions during holy week. I would suggest a third: the Triumphal Entry itself.

Psalms 118:19-28 is a carefully constructed rhetorical piece with seven inverted cameos and the parable of the “chief cornerstone” in the center. A number of striking features appear. These include:

1.         A pilgrim, and then a crowd of pilgrims enter the temple through the gate.

2.         Thanks for “my salvation” are expressed. As a single written Hebrew word, “my salvation” is ljshu‘a and the name Jesus is jshu‘a. The two words have the same root and resonate together powerfully.

3.         Salvation is not a set of ideas (the Greek mentality) or an act in history (the Old Testament worldview). It has become a person.

4.         A special stone that was rejected by builders becomes the “chief cornerstone.”

5.         The people cry out, “Hosanna” (save us now) to Yahweh. The root ysh‘, from which the name Jesus is formed, appears again.

6.         The pilgrims also affirm, “Blessed is he who enters in the name of the Lord!”

7.         The parade of worshipers carries branches.

 

Is all this accidental, or was some planning done by Jesus and his disciples before they started down the slope of the Mount of Olives, across the Kidron Valley and up into the Temple complex? Indeed, the followers of Jesus no doubt were caught up in the excitement (and danger) of what was happening, but the careful planning evidenced at the start of the parade strongly supports the idea that the rest of the occasion was also arranged.

The seven points of interest in Psalms 119:19-28, noted above, all reappear in the Triumphal Entry. This suggests strongly that Jesus planned a “re-enactment” of the parade set forth in the Psalm. The use of branches as part of a parade is not a traditional Middle Eastern custom and this only occurs here in the entire New Testament.

Of the seven overlapping features noted above, let me particularly note three:

First, the Mishnah affirms that when the second temple was built, the builders found an elevated stone on the old Holy of Holies that was three fingerbreadths higher than the rest of the floor. They assumed that the Ark of the Covenant originally rested on that stone. Probably remembering that in Isaiah 28:16 God promised that he would one day lay a precious cornerstone … a sure foundation in

Zion, they named that elevated stone “the foundation.” Jesus told a parable about a man who built a house and laid the foundation upon a rock (Luke 6:48). That rock was clearly the person and words of Jesus. That is, in the parable Jesus claimed to be “the foundation” promised by Isaiah and he rejected the ideas that the stone in the floor of the Holy of Holies completed Isaiah’s vision.

If this understanding of the earlier parable is in any way correct, then Jesus and his followers would have been intently focused on Jesus as “the foundation stone” of Isaiah as they entered the temple where the other “cornerstone” lay in silence at the center of the Holy of Holies. The approach of the “living stone” to the temple would, in itself, naturally invoke the parable of Psalm 118 with its focus on the stone that the builders rejected. On the following day, when Jesus was challenged for his actions, he told a parable and at its conclusion quoted the parable of the stone from Psalms 118:22. Jesus is the foundation stone of our new temple; he is our Kaaba.

Secondly, in Psalm 118, the pilgrims cry out, “Hosanna” to Yahweh. In the reenactment, this cry of hope is addressed to Jesus. This can be called “hermeneutical Christology.” Language and symbols that in the Hebrew Bible refer to God are reused and applied to Jesus. Rabbi Hillel, who lived one generation before Jesus, made similar claims. Thus, what David Flusser calls the reality of a “heightened self-awareness” was already a part of the Jewish world of the first century before Jesus was born. There is little wonder that, as recorded in Luke, some of the Pharisees were horrified and said to Jesus, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. Jesus replied, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out (Luke 19:29-40.) The stones of the temple immediately come to mind, and surely, the foundation stone in the Holy of Holies was also intended. The temple was still in process of being built. Therefore the temple authorities were indeed “the builders.” For the followers of Jesus, the ‘rejected stone” was already the “chief cornerstone.” The foundation of the new temple was replacing the old foundation and that reality was surely an important part of the so-called “cleansing of the temple.” Was Jesus cleansing it for purer use or replacing it with a new temple — his body?

Lastly, salvation in this reenactment appears as a person. In the first servant song in Isaiah, God addresses the Servant and says, “I have given you [singular] as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations.” The covenant is personified. In like manner, in the Psalm text before us, God does not bring salvation nor does he offer it. He becomes “my salvation.” And, as noted, the name of Jesus resonates with the word used.

There is still an irrepressible element of exuberance in the Triumphal Entry. I find it hard to imagine that Jesus specifically instructed his followers to cry, “Hosanna” to him, knowing that this is a petition addressed in the Psalms to God. Perhaps the disciples, understanding what they were doing, themselves chose to cry out to Jesus using that word. At the same time, the courage and boldness of Jesus is heightened when the overall pattern of a “reenactment” of Psalm 118:19-28 is seen in Jesus’ triumphal entry. This possibility opens wide avenues in the mind and spirit for reflection, adoration, and discipleship.

Kenneth E. Bailey is an author/lecturer in Middle Eastern New Testament studies living in New Wilmington, Pa.

On Sunday, the NCPC community gathered at Cafe Dulce and celebrated the impending nuptials of Jon and Angela. Below is the advice the couple was given.

Advice from the Ladies

• Be independent; form a bond-just the two of you

• Don’t stop talking; don’t stop listening; don’t stop praying

• There are times to compromise and times not to.  I can’t tell you when to do one or the other….trust your judgment

• Marriage is not 50/50-it’s 75/25 for both people

• You are a team-support each other lovingly, spiritually, physically, and financially

• Always keep a sense of humor

• Be willing to handle your end of the deal

• Make your husband think he’s in charge, but in your heart, know you are the strength in the household

• Communicate!

• If you have had a bad day together, always make up before you go to bed

• Always talk through your problems-don’t let them fester

• Don’t let your parent(s) tell you what to do

• When encountering a problem, don’t go to your parent(s).  Confide in those who can help most:  God, Yourself, a Friend

• Be good to your husband

• Make compliments personal; keep gripes non-personal

• Surprise each other at least once a week

• Always remember to respect each other

• A perfect wife is one who doesn’t expect a perfect husband

• A bride should make sacrifices for her husband, but not in the form of burnt offerings!

• Just smile and say “yes dear”, then do whatever you were going to do anyway

Advice from the Gentlemen

• Save every payday, even if it is $1.00.  Time will be your friend

• Have a hobby, preferably one you both can share.  If not, just go fishing!

• Savor every moment, and don’t let the strength of your love waiver

• Work hard together; DON’T become a statistic

• The single most important phrase to remember is “Yes Dear”.

• Even if she’s wrong, she’s right!

• Rule 1: The wife is always right; Rule 2: When the wife is wrong, refer to rule #1

• The best way for a husband to clinch an argument is to take her in his arms

• Always remember, in any discussion, she is always right

• A perfect husband is one who doesn’t expect a perfect wife

• K.I.S.S. (Keep it Simple Silly)

• If you don’t mind sharing what you order at a restaurant, order something different than your bride.  If you don’t want to share, order the same thing

• For both bride and groom:  Continue to seek God in your marriage.  Keep good communication going especially with your finances

Below is an except from Tony Jones’ new book. You can also read the whole first chapter on-line. What are your thoughts? Is he on to something? What does this mean for you? What does this mean for churches in the emerging 21st century?

From The New Christians - Chapter One, by Tony Jones.http://theoblogy.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/tnc-chapter-one.pdf 

Is there something in the air? Is there a spiritual itch that people are trying to scratch but it’s just in the middle of their back in that place that they can’t quite reach?

It seems incontrovertibly so. We are not becoming less religious, as some people argue.We are becoming differently religious. And the shift is significant. Some call it a tectonic shift, others seismic or tsunamic. Whatever your geological metaphor, the changes are shaking the earth beneath our feet… This was, of course, a natural consequence of God’s death, first declared by Friedrich Nietzsche in 1882 and touted again by Time magazine in 1966. Nietzsche himself wasn’t out to kill God per se, nor was he saying that no one believed in God anymore. He was announcing that that the modern mind could no longer tolerate an authoritarian figure who towers over the cosmos with a lightning bolt in his hand, ready to strike down evildoers. That deity, he said, had been murdered. With the death of that version of God, the Christian morals that upheld all of Western society had been undermined. We were, Nietzsche feared, on a fast track to nihilistic hell. So he went on a search for some sort of universal moral foundation that was not dependent on an unacceptable and medieval notion of God…  In the twenty-first century, it’s not God who’s dead. It’s the church. Or at least conventional forms of church. Dead? you say. Isn’t that overstating the case a bit? Indeed, churches still abound. So do pay phones. You can still find pay phones around, in airports and train stations and shopping malls—there are plenty of working pay phones. But look around your local airport and you’ll likely see the sad remnants where pay phones used to hang—the strange row of rectangles on the wall and the empty slot where a phone book usedto sit. There are under a million pay phones in the United States today. In 1997, there were over two million.2 

Of course, the death of the pay phone doesn’t mean that we don’t make phone calls anymore. In fact, we make far more calls than ever before, but we make them differently. Now we make phone calls from home or on the mobile device clasped to our belt or through our computers. Phone calls aren’t obsolete, but the pay phone is—or at least it’s quickly becoming so. 

Similarly, the modern church is changing and evolving and emerging. To extend the analogy a bit, no one is saying that the pay phone was a bad idea. Most people would agree that it was a good idea at the time—it was an excellent way to communicate. But communication was the goal, and pay phones were merely a means to an end. 

The modern church—at least as it is characterized by imposing physical buildings, professional clergy, denominational bureaucracies, residential seminary training, and other trappings—was an endeavor by faithful men and women in their time and place, attempting to live into the biblical gospel. But the church was never the end, only the means. The desire of the emergents is to live Christianly, to build something wonderful for the future on the legacy of the past.

[NOTE: Modern - As an adjective, modern can mean current or up-to-date. (For example, a highway rest area with ‘‘modern facilities’’ has indoor plumbing.) In our discussions, however, modern refers to an era in Western society following the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution and reflective of the values of those social upheavals.]

Reprinted from the Presbyterian Outlook:

 

Printer Friendly Version Surprises at the well by Kenneth E. Bailey 02/25/2008 Often the task of exegesis is to rescue truth from familiarity. The story of Jesus and the woman at the well is known, but its amazing surprises often are overlooked. A few of them are particularly noteworthy. 1. Dominical mission: Go in need of those you hope to serve. On arriving at the well, the disciples set off to the nearby town to buy food. The story assumes that they took with them the soft leather bucket that was necessary equipment for any traveling band in the first century. It appears that Jesus deliberately emptied himself to the point that he would sincerely need help from whoever came to the well with a bucket. He knew he was in Samaria and that women usually carried the domestic water supply from the well. It was noon and, thereby, hot. An outcast woman appeared and Jesus broke a taboo that a millennium later I observed throughout my decades in the Middle East. Strange men do not talk to local women in public in any conservative area of the Middle East even today. This stricture was reinforced by the coming of Islam, not created by it. The rabbis held to the same standard. Jesus initiates his contact with the woman by asking for help, not by offering it. The self-emptying required is sobering. In this story mission begins with “I need help,” not with “I am here to offer help.” 2. Christology: The gift of God — a person! As the story unfolds, “the gift of God” is clearly a person and not a book. This new reality also appears in the first of the Servant Songs in Isaiah where God speaks concerning the coming, mysterious suffering servant who will bring his Torah (Is. 42:4.) the reader, knowing the writing prophets, would have been familiar with such a divine gift. The text continues, however, as God tells the servant, I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations. A covenant is generally understood to be a carefully constructed verbiage that can be reduced to writing and agreed upon. The result is words on paper that finalize and record the covenant. In Isaiah, the covenant is a person. In like manner, Jesus tells the woman that the gift of God is a person talking and acting, not a verbal message recorded by a prophet. This distinction will continue to be critical in the Church’s continuing conversation with Islam in the 21st century. Jesus is our Quran. 3. The effect of the gift: Thirst permanently quenched. Jesus refuses to debate with the woman the question of who owns the well, the Samaritans or the Jews. He focuses instead on life-giving water that conquers time. His water will quench thirst too deep for words. Augustine understood. 4. The effect: A spring for others. Consumer religion is “all about me.” Yes, I will join a church if it lifts my depression, takes care of my children after school, lowers crime, and helps me make friends in the community. Jesus tells the woman of a gift of water that becomes a spring for others. No spring flows for its own benefit, but for the benefit of the thirsty who come to its waters. Lesslie Newbigin has reminded us repeatedly that the Church is an organization whose purpose is to serve those who are not its members. The woman is offered the privilege of becoming a spring for others. 5. The back door: Religion as escape from God. The woman is challenged to “tell her man.” Jesus has “quit preaching and gone to meddling.” The woman tries to escape his exposure of her self-destructive lifestyle by hiding in “religion.” She challenges Jesus to a theological debate she is confident he will not be able to refuse: Where is the site of true worship — Samaria or Jerusalem?  Jews and Samaritans had fought over this one for centuries. Religion can be fashioned into a thick blanket under which one can hide from God. Often the most strident voices in religious debate are people with deep unsolved personal problems. They plaster over their interior, life-crippling realities with “religion.” Their name is Legion. 6. Worship: No special real estate required. This is one of the greatest surprises of this story — the “de-Zionizing” of the tradition. Jesus answers the woman’s question about the right place for true worship with a denial of the Zionist equation. Jesus is not ready to affirm God’s unique presence in any particular building. God dwells everywhere and true worship is newly defined as worship “in spirit and in truth.” With such an equation the believer is obliged to struggle to find, to maintain, and to resolve the tension between two poles: Hold fast to what is good, and Do not quench the Spirit (I Thess.5:19.) 7. Revelation: I am identifies himself. In this dialogue, Jesus voices the awesome phrase, I am. What was not revealed to the learned Nicodemus in the previous chapter is openly affirmed to the simple Gentile woman of Samaria. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus reveals himself as I am to the disciples in the boat in the midst of a storm as he quiets the waves. He makes the same startling revelation to the outside world when he declares to the high priest at his trial, I am. He does not choose a moment of great power, when he is feeding the 5,000 or healing the sick before great crowds. This revelation comes when he is abandoned, chained, accused, and about to die. At that moment of greatest weakness he asks us to identify with him, as Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams has so ably pointed out in Christ on Trial. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German martyr, touches on the same theme when he talks of our “entering into the Messianic suffering of God in Christ.” In the story before us, a lone stranger invites this unnamed woman to accept that he is the presence of the great I am among the people. The I am is no longer present in a burning bush but in a person. The woman becomes the first female preacher of Christian history as she invites her village to make its own discovery by going to the stranger beside the well who is willing to break caste and drink from her “polluted” bucket. In the process, she becomes a spring for others. The one who empties self is able to empower us to become a source of life for others. May it be so this Easter.   Kenneth E. Bailey is an author and lecturer in Middle Eastern New Testament Studies living in New Wilmington, Pa.