Many involved in church social action projects grapple with the challenge of how their work connects overtly to the message of the gospel.
How does the grace of practical kindness connect to the truth about God? How do we move from purely an implicit form of faith to explicitly share Christian hope?
These are important questions because the secularisation of church-based community work is such a constant trend. I believe it is one of the ‘three sins of social action’ which has been tested and explored by the Crossroads research by Together for the Common Good.
Getting practical
I have written plenty about the theology and theory of this, but fundamentally I am first and foremost a practitioner, and so I wanted to share some practical ideas of how to integrate faith in ways that feel natural and not too clunky.
In a previous blog, I shared the liturgy that we use each week at The Vine, our church’s drop in community meal. I have been really encouraged to see other church meals and projects adopt a form of this liturgy and amend it for their purposes.
The power of a quiz
Another method I wanted to share is quizzes.
Over the years I have run hundreds of quizzes: at parties, youth clubs and in hostels and centres for people who are homeless.
And in the last two decades, quizzes in pubs and other venues have become increasingly popular. It’s worth reflecting on why.
I think its because they offer a structure of participation where people can socialise purposefully, enjoy teamwork and light-hearted competition. With varied rounds, a good quiz master can facilitate ‘organised fun’ for a very diverse range of people in a way a single-theme activity would struggle to.
Going deeper
As well as this, the relevance for faith is that the dynamic of a quiz offers opportunities for discussing deeper issues of life and faith.
The format avoids an unhelpful, didactic, one-way exchange and the choice of question, reactions, sharing of possible answers, all open up potential for meaningful discussion. They also provide a platform for fun, laughs and a good deal of banter (a word which needs some rehabilitation).
I find quizzes a good way to introduce spiritual topics in a way which is not overly stark or intrusive.
The community theologian, Ann Morisy, wrote about ‘the principle of obliquity’ where matters of faith are introduced sideways rather than head-on. In many social action environments, a ‘preaching mode’ is often inappropriate and ineffective. We need ways of bring faith onto the agenda that are “nether too hot nor too cold.”
Jesus, or Not Jesus?
At The Vine, a quiz has become a weekly staple of our evening before we eat.
Last Wednesday I ran a quiz with the title Jesus, Or Not Jesus? I put 12 famous quotes on PowerPoint: six said by Jesus and six said by someone else. All the contestants had to do was guess “Jesus” or “Not Jesus”, with a bonus point for naming who had actually said it. (If you want, at the bottom of this blog, you can download the slides.)
It was a good laugh but it also provoked some fascinating comments among the 25 people in the room. When I put up “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak,” one man near the front said, pointed at the screen and said:
“Right there…that sums up my problems.”
It was fun, but you could also sense these ancient words connect and mean something to the room.
Truths which liberate
We have a very mixed group of guests, and a volunteer team who are not all church-goers but everyone got stuck in. There was not a hint of concern that I had smuggled a Bible study into the quiz – in fact quite the opposite. Our guests expect that God will be on the agenda when they come into a church.
And we don’t have to get all grim-faced and religious about it, but do things with a light touch. Of course, we need to be careful, but our greater need is to be confident.
The final quote was “The truth will set you free.” which felt so relevant as so many of our guests are imprisoned by poverty, addiction, loneliness and other challenges. There was no lengthy sermon, but it was an opportunity to share a brief message about truths which liberate.
“There are no quizzes!”
After the quiz, one guest asked to talk to me privately. We went into the sanctuary while the others ate, and he shared some significant challenges he was facing and asked for prayer. In amongst everything, he told me he felt let down by a traditional church he used to attend:
“It’s just religious, but they never help people…there were no quizzes!”
He is someone who needs freedom from many difficulties, so I based my prayer on the final question in the quiz: that he would know the truth, and the truth would set him free.
Download the ‘Jesus or Not Jesus?’ quiz here as a PowerPoint file. Due to our demographic, we translate our quizzes into Polish too but please adapt as needed for your context.
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