Church: It's not supposed to be hard.

Otherlyness the spirituality of serving. Jesus gave himself away
to others by noticing them, blessing them and listening to them.

The following was taken from Off The Map, more than a website, it's a movement networked
in with other movements that seem to be maturing in their expression and practise.
May they authentically reflect the heart and community of Jesus.

Off The Map started in the garage of Jim Henderson’s brain in 2000. Dave Richards and a few other Jesus followers who were tired of ignoring evangelism soon joined him.

Together they designed an approach to evangelism that rescued it out of program prison, made it doable for ordinary Christians and restored it back to the spiritual practice Jesus modeled in his interactions with Outsiders. They called it Doable Evangelism. This led to a book called Evangelism Without Additives and an organization called Doable Evangelism led by Randy Siever.

Off The Map began producing large events where we exposed Christians to the views of Non Christian Outsiders. We called this An Interview with 3 Lost People. We worked closely with Christian thought leaders like Todd Hunter and Brian McLaren. Jim was confused by the fact that sinners seemed to like Jesus but didn’t like us and wanted to find out why. This led to him paying Outsiders to come to church to get their feedback.

A friend who was aware of Jims unusual habit noticed that an atheist named Hemant Mehta was “selling his soul on eBay” and told Jim he should get in on the bidding. Off The Map won that auction for $504 and sent Hemant to 10 churches in the Chicago area. The Wall Street Journal featured this story on their front page and that led to more media exposure and book deals for both Jim and Hemant. An online community formed around exploring dialog and spawned several blogs such as Conversation at the Edge, The EBay Atheist and Justice and Compassion.

George Barna asked Jim to find another atheist, take him to church and write reviews. Jim and Casper Go to Church was published in 2007 and Jim and Matt Casper began speaking and explaining their unusual project and friendship. Realizing that more people wanted to review churches Jim and Casper launched Church Rater in 2009. Today thousands of ordinary people are helping the church become more welcoming and more open by posting their reviews on Church Rater.

In 2008 Off The Map began shifting out of the mirror making business (critiquing the church) into the mapmaking business (energizing the church). Off The Map is a community of spiritual anthropologists and explorers but we discovered most people are neither. However if you give them a map they’re more open to traveling. Especially if you show them how to get back home alive.

Jeff Smith joined Off The Map in 2008 and leads the development of a new map for the church we call The Practicing Church.

Underlying all of this is a desire to emulate the central spiritual practice of Jesus which is Otherlyness the spirituality of serving. Jesus gave himself away to others by noticing them, blessing them and listening to them.

Comments

Rachael said…
"Other"? "Lost"? Interesting language!!!