No one in our group had ever made a “disciplined” study of Scripture. Immediately, we were like a team: more or less equally committed, our disciplines included a united purpose, the same structured time each morning, clearly articulated goals, an agreed discipline for studying Scripture, and accountability. We soon discovered that we had a team mentality and camaraderie.

Like a football team practices together so they are prepared to get into the game—with the goal of winning—and helps each other to do their part to the best of their ability, our Tuesday night group meeting was our practice time! (In a month only two members of our team missed practice: one was in the hospital and the other (a salesman) drove furiously—perhaps recklessly—to get back for the meeting. He arrived just as the meeting was ending.)

“The game” would be played through our daily lives during the coming week.

Having played on football teams, I was impressed to feel the same “team spirit” in our group as we met each week for practice so we could enter the game again!

Usually, a “witness” is given spontaneously within the too-and-fro of daily interactions. Also, group members would often be led to share something they had written in their journal during our early morning devotional periods.

Nelda wrote this “witness” in an early-morning session.

As I thought of the word surrender it brought to my mind, of all things, a time of war between two countries. When one side loses, their first action is to surrender to their victor. This point of surrender has not been reached without a fight and it is not a happy time. But the surrender is complete—their men, their equipment, their land, and most of all, their pride and independence. I thought of the struggle I have been having in my own soul.

Suddenly, I realized that this is exactly what God expects me to do—surrender all that I am: my life, my service, my pride, and my independence. My surrender must be complete!

Again I thought of the two countries. On the side that surrenders there are good men, equipment, and land. There are poor and very poor men, land, and equipment.

The victor will accept all of these categories and work with each. The good will strengthen into best. Average will be motivated to better. Poor will be given an opportunity to respond. And even the very poor will be given the opportunity. But if that which is very poor makes no response, the victor will give attention to others.

At this point I thought, “I can ‘give up’ the poor and very poor habits in my life, but this takes me no further because when I ‘give up’ something, I give it to no one.”

On the other hand, when I surrender my life to God I surrender the good, the average, the poor, and the poorest. And God will work with each category. God can can decide—and help me to decide—what in my life needs to be cast off.

God is the Victor, so to speak, and will raise each category or cast aside those things which are unimportant and unworthy. This was a new thought for me and because of it I made a new commitment. I surrendered my life to God. God accepted me as I was—my good, my average, my poor, and my poorest. God will teach me through the Word, through prayer, and through my service to God and to others, what matters in my life and how to live in God’s will. This is what it means to me to surrender my life to God.

Sam told us about his visit in the airport.

As mayor of Tallahassee, Sam and other city officials had struggled  over a pesky problem that no one had solved: how to find a dependable night janitor for the new airport. Finally, the man who was currently employed had been doing a good job for several months.

Sam was taking a 6:15 flight to Atlanta and decided to go to the airport early enough to have a visit with this worker. Because of the relative smallness of the airport, he went walking about and found the man mopping the floor in one end of the terminal. He told him his name, shook hands with him, and said, “I am the mayor and I want to thank you for the good job you are doing. I thank you on behalf of all of our citizens.”

The janitor just stood there without saying a word.

Again Sam shook his hand and called him by name, saying “Thank you, Mr. _____.

Tears were welling up in the fellow’s eyes. He was finally able to get his words out: “Thank you. I can’t remember when anyone has told me I am doing a good job.”

That was a powerful and unforgettable moment for the janitor and for Sam. And it was the same for our group. We had just heard the story of a Christian witness which came right up out of Sam’s life- situation—out of who he was and what needed to be done.

R. L. Johnson of Albany, Georgia wrote his witness in the form of a challenge.

I will challenge any man or woman to sit quietly in prayer and meditation at 5:30 A. M. for thirty days and then tell me that he prays but his prayers have no meaning.

I will challenge any man or woman to plan a totally unexpected and unselfish deed daily for thirty days and then tell me she does not love her fellowman.

I will challenge any man or woman to set to writing bit by bit over a period of thirty days at 5:30 A. M. what he expects to make of his life and then tell me he has made no effort to conform to the written design.

I will challenge anyone to perform the three above functions and then tell me she/he does not enjoy sharing this experience with others.

“Wanted: Ten Brave Christians Who Will Witness For God Your Experiences To Others.”

Spiritual Discipline Five

“What is so wonderful about a Christian witness?” (And what is so frightening about doing it?)

There are many factors that make a Christian witness powerful and one of the most essential forms of communication the church has ever produced. Hallmarks are simplicity, authenticity, clarity, passion, the story it tells, the truth it reveals, mystery, surprise, necessity.

In short, there is nothing in the church that can take the place of a vital Christian witness. The church thrives on it and is strengthened by it. The church is hungry for it and wants to hear it, to foster it, and to insure that it continues. When someone gives her Christian witness, either in what she says or in what she does, it produces gladness, goodness, and hope to all who hear it or see it.

When we began to take personal witnessing seriously in our group, everyone was timid and cautious. We had seldom (or never) witnessed and we were unsure, or even fearful about trying it.

Of the five disciplines of the Great Experiment, witnessing was probably the most challenging. After the group started, some persons said they decided not to participate because of the call to witness. Previously, they had been turned off by stereotypes of people who had accosted them about religion.

That was not the kind of witnessing being advocated. In the group we talked a lot about how natural witnessing is and how simply it can be done. Through our willingness to experiment with witnessing, many good examples came forth from the group. Some of our efforts were successful and some were not. We practiced on each other and learned from each other. We would indicate when something that was being said—or reported—was negative or did not properly communicate.

“Wanted: Ten Brave Christians Who Will Spend From 5:30 to 6:00 Each Morning In Prayer and Meditation”

Spiritual Discipline Four

Because of the uniqueness of the three ten-minute segments of the half-hour devotional period from 5:30-6:00 each morning, they are powerful parts of this challenge.

In the first ten minutes read a different passage of Scripture each day, pray about its meaning, and write in less than fifty words, and in less than ten minutes, what the passage says to you. The early morning time of prayer and meditation quickly gave rise to this question: “Why did I neglect the Bible for so long?”

During the six-week period Sam and I were introducing this challenge to the church he surveyed three hundred passages with a concordance and selected thirty-one. He carefully arranged them in a wave-like pattern and they had a rhythmic impact. Because all of our participants wanted to continue the disciplines beyond the first month he later selected passages for months two, three, and four. Many of them mentioned that the passages for the three additional months were meaningful, but did not have the wave-like quality in comparison to the first month’s passages. Perhaps that was because he selected the first list under spiritual inspiration.

Scripture Readings for the First Month

The passages for the first month were carefully selected and arranged in a rhythmic pattern: one passage may challenge, the next may affirm, the next may comfort, and the next may arouse. Together, they provide a unique personal invitation to put God first.

Day 1:    2 Chron. 7:14
Day 2:    James 4:16
Day 3:    I John 1:9
Day 4:    John 15:6-7
Day 5:    Mark 11:24
Day 6:    Phil. 4:6
Day 7:    I John 5:14
Day 8:    Jer. 29:13
Day 9:    Matt. 6:7-13
Day 10:  Matt.18:19
Day 11:  Isa. 65:23-24
Day 12:  Matt. 6:6
Day 13:  Lk. 11:9-10
Day 14:  Isa. 58:9-11
Day 15:  Ps. 127:1
Day 16:  Ps. 66:18
Day 17:   Isa. 59:1-3
Day 18:   Prov 28
Day 19:   Matt.8:24-27
Day 20:   John 6:47
Day 21:   Eccles.8:1-8
Day 22:   Ps 55:22
Day 23:   John 14:27
Day 24:   Ps. 1:1-3
Day 25:   John 14:1
Day 26:   Matt 6:25-33
Day 27:   Ps. 23:1-6
Day 28:   Mark 12:30
Day 29:   Heb. 12:1
Day 30:   John 4:14
Day 31:   Matt. 5:13-16

There are also Scripture Readings for the Second, Third and Fourth Months

Second Month:  The passages for the second month are on mental and spiritual qualities for building a peaceful, powerful, and productive life.

Third Month:  Scripture selections for the third month are on two of the most basic tenets of the Christian life: love and prayer. Broadly speaking, we may say that love is the essence of who you are and prayer is the essence of what you do.

Fourth Month:  The Book of Acts tells of the beginning of the church of Jesus Christ: the people, the problems, the power, and the promise of the church!

The church will become first for the person who puts God first. As we consecutively and consistently read the story of the church’s beginning over thirty or thirty-one days, it is as if we are “reading it in one sitting.” The book of Acts is not only God’s story, and the church’s story—it is our story.

During the second ten minutes, pray about one good deed you will do for one person that day. Name the person, name the deed, and write these in your notebook. At first, I thought that was lots of book-keeping, and it is, but the bookkeeping is the easy part. The hard part is

selecting one good deed
for one person
that you are not obligated to do
for thirty consecutive days.

The doing—not the book-keeping is the hard part!

These first two ten-minute devotional exercises provided an interesting contrast. In the first ten minutes the focus is on “the ought-nesses of God.” “You are the salt of the earth.” “You are the light of the world.” At least, according to Scripture, that is the way you “ought to be!”

In the second ten minutes the focus is on the good deed—which reflects how it really is with you. The contrast was quite revealing, even on my first day. I did O.K. with the first ten minutes and was able to move right into the Scripture for that day. But every “good deed” I thought of would not hold up under the guidelines that had been suggested: “Select a good deed you will not get paid to do or you are not obligated to do.” Visiting someone in the hospital might qualify as a legitimate good deed for others but not for me. I was getting paid to visit people in the hospital.

On the previous day I would have honestly said that maybe 75 to 80 percent of my deeds for others were done unselfishly. But, why did it eventually take me more than an hour that day to think of one unselfish deed I could do for just one person in an entire day—that I was not obligated to do or I was paid to do? At first I was chagrined, and then devastated, by how self-centered and self-serving I was. Devastated!

In the third ten minutes pray about and write out how you want to build and develop your life. When you get to the end, how do you want to be remembered? (One thought per day will be excellent progress!)

This dynamic rhythm of God’s “ought-nesses,” my struggle with the good deed, and insight about building and developing my life combined to wallop me the very first day. I was not the only one who would experience the impact of that powerful rhythm.

In our third group meeting a man read what he had written in his journal about how he wanted to build and develop his life: “I want to be a millionaire!” He said he was already well on his way to attaining that goal. Later, he wrote in the margin of that page: “This is not a good enough goal for a child of God!”

Observations about these three ten-minute practices of meditation.

• This is a wonderfully simple structure for a devotional period.
• It is simple enough for the beginner and challenging enough to be beneficial for anyone.
• It serves as a “reality check” for everyone who will stand in the crosscurrents of these three movements for thirty (or thirty-one ) days.
• To top it off, the person meets weekly for discussion—for confirmation or confession—with others who are doing the same devotional discipline.
• This half-hour, early morning, daily devotional period is a remarkable experience.

The third thing Sam suggested was that we pray about how we spend the other 9/10s. Rosalie and I had never prayed about how we spent our money. (The closest we had come was praying because we needed more money!)

If taking the tithe out first sounded right, praying about how we spent the other 9/10′s sounded absolutely necessary. We were struggling to live off of 10/10′s (and sometimes 11 or 12/10′s). How could we manage on only 9/10′s? Prayer was  necessary because it would take God to help us pull it off!

Some of the things we regularly talked about at our weekly meetings were prayer, tithing, how it was going with us, etc. As we talked in our group, we discovered we were all “in the same boat.” Before we began tithing that month, none of us felt that 10/10′s was enough for our needs.

The stories began to accumulate. We heard over and over in the group that since beginning to tithe in these ways, money seemed to go further. Nine-tenths seemed to become more than 10/10′s had been. It was not that anyone had received a raise, nor because there was magic in prayer. Rather, we discovered that there was power in prayer. Money had suddenly taken on new meaning. Money had become a spiritual matter because we began to spend our money prayerfully. That helped us to spend it more wisely. The result was that we were actually spending less. That insight was startling for everyone in the group.

A “tithing story” was shared at our first meeting by Marilyn and Calvin, a young newly-wed couple struggling over whether to be in our first group. Sam and I had announced on Sunday that anyone would be in the group who signed up that Sunday or mailed in their commitment form post-marked by midnight on Monday. Thereafter, the group would be closed for the month. Calvin had gone home for lunch on Monday so he and Marilyn could have one final discussion over the last point of their struggle with the decision: Could they give a tenth of their income for the month? They figured the dollar amount and decided to take the step in faith. They signed the commitment form and sealed and stamped the envelope just as they heard the postman on the porch.

Marilyn quickly flipped through the mail before Calvin left for work and noticed an unusual envelop. She opened it and found a letter from a man who had owed them money for a couple of years. Long ago they had concluded he would never repay them. The man had written to apologize for the delay and had included a check. The check was for the exact amount of the monthly tithe they had just computed before signing their commitment form. At this point in their story they were both in tears of awe and joy, as were many in our group.

Calvin told us something we would all experience: “We may find it hard to out-give God!”

“Wanted: Ten Brave Christians Who Will Give God A Tenth of One’s Earnings For The Month.”

Spiritual Discipline Three: Tithing (Part one)

“Giving until it helps” became a goal of our church.

It was surprising to me to learn that the challenge of tithing for a month was one of the disciplines of the Great Experiment. I had not learned much from being a tither for more than a dozen years, so I wondered what could be learned about tithing in just a month.

The reason I had been tithing all of my adult life was that I knew that as a pastor I was supposed to promote tithing and, therefore, I needed to be tithing if I expected others to do it. I had tithed all that time and hated every minute of it. I had missed the significance of tithing in two ways: 1) I had a poor motivation for doing it; and 2) I had done it the wrong way. When Sam began advocating tithing in his class he suggested a different way of doing it.

First, he made it clear that the reason for tithing was to put God first. Rosalie and I had never understood that before. We (and I, especially) saw tithing as an official requirement of my job as a pastor. This made tithing feel like a legalism.

Second, he invited (taught) us to take the tithe out first. “Let your tithe be the first check you write when you get paid. Put God first in spending your money.” Third, he simplified the method of tithing by suggesting that we compute our monthly income and contribute 10% of that amount, either gross or net, and see what we learned.

What he said seemed so right to us. He didn’t get our attention because he was a banker—although that fact was refreshing—it sounded right from the point of view of our Christian Faith.

I (we) had been doing exactly the opposite of what he suggested. We had always given our tithe last, after everything else had been paid—and when we were about to, or had already, run out of money. We were tithing legalistically, so we put it off as long as possible, and ended up giving grudgingly much of the time. The result was that we were giving to God when we had the least to give. No wonder it was an unpleasant chore. We were giving out of our poverty.

But in the Great Experiment we were taught to give our tithe first, when we had the most to give. It was a joy to be giving out of our abundance.

What a difference even one month of tithing this way made for Rosalie and me. Tithing suddenly became a religious experience and a joy, but not just because we were tithing. It became that way because we were now putting God first in the  important matter of our money. But there was more to experience about tithing!

Our laity’s eagerness to respond was honored and carefully managed. At the first meetings in March and April we presented the following list of things that needed to be done in our church.

A Beginning List

Please read over this beginning list of opportunities for service and choose the items that will challenge you most.

1. Visit hospital patients, or shut-in.
2. Visit present members and tell them about your experience in the Great Experiment.
3. Visit families who have visited our church and invite them to join.
4. Be a teacher or helper in a Sunday school class for a month.
5. Sing in the choir for a month.
6. Visit in your neighborhood one or two hours to find “prospects” for church.
7. Spend an hour visiting two or three church members you do not know.
8. Visit with new members to get acquainted—talk about the church and its strengths and needs, spiritual and physical.
9. Provide improvements for Sunday school rooms.
10. Be a telephone person for the church once a week.
11. Work in the church office for one or two hours.
12. Work on the church grounds—a continuing need.
13. Contact visitors in their homes from the previous Sunday.
14. Use your imagination to discover other things the church need you to do.

We asked people to select an item and put his or her name by it so coordination could be done. These were not accountability sheets for reprimanding anyone but they underscored the urgency of the commitment, and they reflected the strength of our corporate efforts.

During the two months of March and April all of our prospects and shut-ins had been visited; for the first time, people in the hospital were being systematically visited by our laity; the flowerbeds had been put into great shape; the choir was full; we had one Sunday school teacher for every eight children; and all classrooms had been painted. Within eight minutes after the announcement was made we had all of the Vacation Church School teachers and helpers we needed for an expanded program, and on, and on, and on!

There is no way to overstate the spiritual and physical revolution within our church through this simple discipline of a few people working two hours in the church each week.

The revolution was not just in the work that was done, nor in the number of people involved, nor in the number of hours that were tallied up, nor in the enthusiasm that was evident. The revolution went far deeper.

Everything was being done in the spirit of love.

Love for God,

Love for the Church,

Love for each other as sisters and brothers in Christ.

LOVE WAS THE KEY!

The change that was evident even in the first month was hard for me to comprehend. During March this was the same church that was here in February. These were the same people. The same jobs. But everything was different! I no longer had reasons for negative feelings about the response of these persons. Nor did I have to prod them into action, or “clean up” after them. They became self-starters, initiators, innovators, and finishers. I was shocked at the change from one month to the next, and the next, and the next. . .

“Unless we can do it in the spirit of love . . .” The following tag-lines became some of our favorite ways to complete the sentence:

“Unless we can do it in the spirit of love . . . 

…we will not do it!
…it is not worth doing!
…count me out!
…forget it!
…it does not belong in the church!

As a congregation we had found two North Stars to guide us: 1) Everything that is done in the church must be done in the spirit of love! 2) The church needs nothing done that cannot be done in the spirit of love! Nothing!

“Wanted: Ten Brave Christians Who Will Give Two Hours Time Each Week To God.”

Spiritual Discipline Two: Service

“Unless we can do it in a spirit of love . . .” As pastor of the church I found that being a workaholic was not fulfilling, but I often found it easier to “do it myself” than to try to get others to take a job and follow through.

When the Great Experiment started, for the first time I discovered the power of a highly motivated and spiritually committed laity. In March we had twenty-two persons who were doing 2 hours of service in the church each week for a total of 44 hours a week, or 176 hours during the month. Previously, almost none of the participants had been active in service in the church. They continued serving 2 hours a week during the second month and were joined by sixteen more. By the end of April (you do the math) we had 480 hours of service in the church by both groups.

By the middle of that first month of the Experiment my attitude began to change. We had a new problem—we had run out of things for people to do. I learned something about  highly committed and spiritually energized laypersons: If I had asked someone to “hold up this wall” he or she would do it for awhile, but they are sharp! Before long they will figure out that the wall will stand by itself. I am saying, I couldn’t just give them “busy work” because they were serious about living out their faith with service that was meaningful.

Phase 2. The Second Half-hour

This segment is for talking about how the practices of the other Disciplines went during the past week.

1. How has the structure of the week gone for you? Establishing the early morning time and place; staying awake; the three ten minute segments; how your total day was impacted.
2. How have you done with your two-hours working in the church? (See Discipline 2 below.)  Ask members to be specific. “Is everyone caught up?” Encourage them to not get behind in their schedule for service in and through the church. Don’t put off doing the two hours of service intending to catch-up-with-God at the end of the month.(They will likely be eager to talk about how this part of the week went so be careful in the management of time.)
3. How have you done with the good deed? Call for stories about what happened. Expect reports of successes and failures.  This is often a rich time of realism, humor, honesty, confession, new resolves, etc. Devote at least a half-hour to this segment.
4. What have you learned about tithing?  How is it going?  How do you feel about “beginning to tithe?”  How does “tithing” make you feel?
5. How have you done with “witnessing?” Many people have confusion about witnessing. Help everyone to see that witnessing is freely telling someone about something that happened to you. How to do that with grace and in good taste is a discussion that can be helpful to a group of witnesses who are beginners.

Explain to the group that witnessing is the most natural and comfortable thing a person does when something good has happened—she/he is eager to tell someone about “a great play in the ball game” or a wonderful movie. The reason that some persons are negative about witnessing is that they have nothing especially good to talk about! Also, many of us have been negatively conditioned about witnessing by people who stand on the street corner passing out tracts, or preaching to people who are walking by. (Assure them that that is not what we are talking about!)

When one has a spiritual encounter to talk about, the telling and the hearing are exciting experiences.

WHO WILL MEET ONCE EACH WEEK TO PRAY TOGETHER.”

Spiritual Discipline One: Prayer

“Can I really learn how to pray?” This is a top-rated question for many persons. The question is not often asked in public, but it haunts lots of people. This first discipline in Great Experiment Groups offers an emphatic “Yes, you can learn how to pray!” Here is an index of three group practices that fashions that positive answer.

Three Phases of the Weekly Group Meeting:

Phase 1. The First Half-hour

The first thirty-minute segment of the group meeting is devoted to discussing prayer and actually praying. It is important to put the half-hour for prayer as the first component of the meeting instead of the last. This prevents enthusiasm in the meeting from shortening the time for prayer. Prayer is too important to let that happen.

1. Teaching and discussion about how to pray, and varieties of types of prayer are presented and discussed—Intercession, Petition, Silence, Soaking Prayer, Brooding Prayer, etc.
2. Requests for prayer are called for and answers to prayer are recorded.
3. Initially, persons are invited to pray silently. Later, the invitation will be extended to voluntarily pray a sentence-prayer.
4. Simple invitations and directions for prayer may be varied.

• Call for two minutes of silent prayer followed by the Lord’s Prayer.
• Invite anyone to say aloud a single word that expresses how one feels at the moment. (These two invitations are simple forms of prayer and are non-threatening for persons who are inexperienced in a prayer group.)
• Invite persons to talk about meaningful times of prayer in their past. . . during the week. . . today!
• Associate these half-hour “prayer-labs” as preparation and guidance for seeking  possibilities and situations for prayer in the coming week.
• Although only one-third of the meeting is about prayer, the entire hour-and-a-half has the quality of a prayer group experience.