Owning It.

There are some recent buzz words, especially among Lutheran circles--"sharing your story," "telling your story," and the like.

I'm not a fan of buzz words or catch phrases that become their own insider lingo. But I do like the idea that these particular ones are trying to get across.

With "sharing your story," the idea seems to be that it is important for people to be able to tell about their lives, where God has shown up in their lives, how they see their lives connected to what Jesus is still doing in the world.

This is more than just "sharing" one's story, though. This is "owning it"--personally expressing how one's life has been drawn into the family of God, swept up by the Holy Spirit. Some evangelical circles used to (and still do) call it "giving your testimony." Lutheran and other circles for whom this is a new catchphrase are really just using different language to talk about the same thing that evangelicals have been doing for a long time.


When people are given the opportunity, and encouraged to communicate how they've experienced God and how they see their life as participating in the body of Christ in the world, they have to actually verbalize and think through how they are actually recipients of God's grace and how they are actually living as part of God's work in the world.

There is immense value in this. As we reflect on how we participate in the reality of God, in the life of following Jesus, and as we verbally communicate this to others and hear others, we take ownership of our faith in a more active way.

When more people in the church can have practice in doing this, well, I'm pretty sure great things will happen--not unlike the image above of the match lighting several others. Even if it just turns out to be an opportunity for people to think through and communicate how following Jesus matters, and do this with others, that alone is good enough.

Too many people in churches today don't have the chance to do this. It might happen in small groups. But when does it happen in the public gathering of the congregation?

How are we as leaders in ministry contexts giving people the opportunity, the encouragement, and direction to "own it"? Are we at all? Here are a couple ideas...

• Can you offer a short 5-10 minute block during worship? Try it once a month for a while.

First rebuttal I hear. This will cut into something else. Yes, yes it will. But maybe hearing from the faith lives of more people in the congregation should be bumped up on the priority list. What is the public gathering of worship all about anyway? The early church seemed to have a more fluid way of doing this that intentionally allowed for more people to "own" what God is doing and saying in their lives. 

Second rebuttal I hear. People will be afraid of getting up in front of others and talking about their personal faith. Two thoughts in response to this: 1) Maybe we need to change the culture a bit. Faith is meant to be shared and talked about, not kept private. And the more we do this, the less it will be feared and shied away from. Nevertheless, we have technology now that enables us to record someone talking about their faith experience and play it during public worship. 2) Once one person does this, others will come up requesting to be next. The problem of being shy to share faith will soon go away. Trust me.

• Can you encourage youth to do this during youth nights or other events? Encourage them to share about their lives and their faith--their take on things--to the entire group of peers and adults present. This would be a great way to encourage and teach youth to talk about how God is working in and through them, where they've seen God and where they've struggled. Too many youth leave youth group and go on to college with little more than writing a "faith statement" at the end of confirmation. Let's give them more than this so that they can confidently "own it" when it comes to talking about God in real life when they go to college.

Here are a few more thoughts about why this matters.

First, the church is meant to be a place--a gathering of believers--where we hear from more than the same two or three people week in and week out. Small groups might be where this can happen, but we're talking here about the gathering of the whole community, where hearing from others in the community is beneficial for the building up of the entire community. Doing this will likely translate into ongoing faith-talk in smaller settings: the home, small group, or even workplace or school hallway.

Second, when Christians hear from other Christians about where faith intersects with life--specifically with their personal life and circumstances--it creates something. It's why people are asking other friends about household products on Facebook. They want to hear from other "real" people who have used the product. They might ask the sales person at the company, but they will really put stock in what their everyday friends are saying. When people begin to open up about their everyday experiences in the life of faith, others will listen. Not that they don't listen to the pastor(s); there's just something about hearing from the non-professional. Whether or not you as leaders in ministry see yourselves as different matters little here. They do. I'm growing more sure that nothing will take the lid off church life more than enabling more people to publicly tell and proclaim how faith works in their lives.

Third, this whole endeavor will I think be occasion for more opportunity for people to grow and learn--from one another and from you, the local leaders in ministry. This is opportunity to coach people along as they try too understand and explain faith. This has the potential to beef up your relational ministry, and likely with people with whom you might not have had faith conversations otherwise. This could also potentially be a way to help create more leaders in your congregation.

This need not be that hard. Guide people to share by just giving them a simple question or statement to talk around:

• Where and when did you really begin to experience and understand that Jesus is present in your life? 
• What has been the greatest struggle in your life, and how did it affect your faith in God, or how did your faith affect the experience of struggle?
• Since I've been actively living a life of faith, my life has changed in the following ways...

Once people begin to reflect on things like this, it's usually not difficult for them to come up with something worth saying that many other people can benefit from. And I'm pretty sure that when this happens, a vibrant community of believers seeking to follow Jesus more closely will result.

What are you experiences with this? Is this happening in your congregation? Share. Own it.