It’s Not My Idea
Good news is when someone knows and cares about our challenges. Great news is when that same person also has the power to make a difference.
So… I have some good news: Jesus knows and cares about the Donkey Elephant War that’s raging. And I have some great news: He has the power to make a difference.
Here’s a story of how the great news broke in to what otherwise would have been simply a mundane chore.
My favorite way of describing what I do is that my full-time job is to see Jesus’ John 17 prayer answered, starting in my hometown, and anywhere else God chooses to grant me influence. If you don’t already know what John 17 is, you likely won’t guess, even if I tell you that it’s what Jesus prayed right before he gave his life on the cross.
J17 Ministries, the name being a reference to Jesus’ prayer in John 17, started as a DBA (*1) of a local church in Tucson. We needed to hit the ground running, rather than waiting for our 501(c)(3) paperwork, bylaws, board of directors, and so forth to get finished before we could begin operating. When we went to open our checking account, the church had to start the process and had been to see the teller earlier in the day. She knew about a retreat we offer called a John 17 Weekend, and so the conversation started with her politely asking me to tell her more about these John 17 Weekends.
“Well,” I said, “We have people from over 60 different Christian congregations in Tucson all coming together for 72 hours to experience more of God’s endless love and learn better how to share that with others.”
“That sounds amazing,” she said, then continued, “I grew up Catholic – is that Christian?” I paused for a second before answering, balancing out the need for this to be a brief conversation with a bank teller, and the reality that the answer is somewhat complicated. “Yes,” I said. (*2)
“I’ve heard of Methodists, too. Are they Christian?” she asked. “Yes,” I said. “And I see on your application that it’s a Lutheran church that owns the account. I have no idea what a Lutheran is. Is that Christian too?” I answered yes once again. “I don’t understand” was her reply.
I told her that the Bible uses the analogy of a body, and that all of those groups are just different parts in the same body. Then I said, “We just have to get better at acting that way.”
“What a great idea!” she exclaimed exuberantly. “Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before?” I chuckled before quickly pointing out that I can’t take credit for the “idea.” Plagiarizing Jesus sounds like a patently bad idea. I asked her if she knew what John 17 was, and she didn’t. So I told her that it’s both a chapter in the Bible, and a prayer that Jesus prayed right before giving His life for us on the cross. “This is His idea, not mine.”
The conversation turned more personal, at her leading, as she shared about her family, spiritual questions her son was raising, and so forth. She then mentioned that her boyfriend and she had been talking about the need for a Bible study, and asked if I knew of any that she could join. I did. 45 minutes after we started the paperwork for the new account, I thanked her for her help and left, thanking God for the good news of Jesus. (No, there wasn’t anyone in line behind me this whole time, hearing the conversation and cursing religion.)
DBA is shorthand for Doing Business As. It’s a legal entity by which a corporation or non-profit can work in a related field under a different name.
Basic Catholic doctrine aligns with basic Protestant doctrine in its understanding of who Jesus is and how we’re saved. Some Catholic practice focuses on works, downplays a personal relationship with Jesus, and places more emphasis on Roman Catholic distinctives than on broader Christian commonalities. Latin American Catholicism, which is what many of the Hispanic pastors in my hometown grew up with, mixes in (the theological term is syncretism) a variety of religious practices that most Christians would find objectionable. When I shared this story in one of the congregations that had financially supported me in the past, debate broke out afterwards over my answer and whether or not they could continue to support my ministry. To date, they’ve decided not to… I have a friend, Gary Kinnaman, who regularly says, “Our unity is based on Jesus Christ plus nothing. Not Jesus Christ plus the pope, and not Jesus Christ plus not-the-pope (in other words, unity based on a dislike for the Catholic church).”