A Parable of Unintended Consequences (With apologies to Trina Paulus, Hope for the Flowers, 1972, Paulist Press)
Once upon a time, there was a small group of butterflies that discovered a common concern. They loved to fly and explore and discover. They loved to flit and dance from one beautiful flower to another, and float from tree to tree, helping them to grow and thrive, and multiply.
But a concern grew among some of them. They had discovered along the way, there were butterflies that didn’t enjoy this life as they did. Too many butterflies were being trapped for too long in their chrysalides. They saw that some never escaped, while others, exhausted from the effort, dropped to the ground, never to rise up and fly. And they desperately wanted all butterflies to fly just like they did.
This group decided to embark on a research and discovery process, in order to empower the solution to this problem. They discovered that there were more than 17,000 species of butterflies around the world, each with their own characteristics, history, and environment. But they also discovered that all species shared the common experience of too many not flying, soaring, and enjoying the flowers and trees in their own little corner of the world. In addition, they discovered that there were 66 tree varieties where most caterpillars spun their chrysalides, each with its own history, environmental issues, and structure that played a part in the caterpillar-to-butterfly process.
These butterflies decided as a best course of action, to try to educate caterpillars before they entered their chrysalis. They tried to tell as many as they could but found that they were limited by time and distance for such a daunting task. So, they created little caterpillar “How to Become a Butterfly” pamphlets and “parachute dropped” (See Parachutes and Landing Strips) them as they flew along where they knew caterpillars could find and use them.
As time went on, these little pamphlets became commonplace, and they discovered that caterpillars had stopped reading them. So, they created new pamphlets. They created specialized pamphlets. They created series of pamphlets. They created pamphlets about each of the 66 trees, and about the best way to spin a chrysalis in each one. They also began to market these pamphlets very effectively. At first, roosts, and then armies of caterpillars began to use, and then become accustomed to, and then dependent on, the pamphlets. They became so trusted and used, that most caterpillars believed that they had to study these pamphlets before entering their transition phase.
They also felt increasing gratitude for the pamphlets. Due to their growing use, they became convinced of the importance of the information contained in the pamphlets while at the same time becoming convinced that they could not possibly know or learn, on their own, all they needed to learn to understand the Butterfly life. Caterpillars the world over began to believe they could not even spin the correct chrysalis, much less emerge correctly without having studied the right pamphlets, regardless of the facts that God had made them with the innate ability, and thousands of generations before them had demonstrated the ability, to spin and emerge on their own, to discover and experience on their own, the joy of flight, exploration, discovery, and most importantly, the nurture of the flowers.
With this new generation of “educated” butterflies, there were those that began to believe that if they could just make it easier for butterflies to escape their chrysalides, they would have more butterflies learning more about flying sooner, and learning how to avoid falling to the ground, and hopefully more butterflies joining them in their efforts to educate future butterflies about the practice of the butterfly life.
They began to imagine and experiment with ways to make it easier. They created kits for caterpillars to spin in their chrysalides with tiny little blades and an instructional guide on how to use them. And sure enough, butterflies began to emerge more quickly and more easily than ever before. They had all heard the war stories from older butterflies of how hard it was, the hours of struggle, just to get free and fly. And while they were glad they didn’t have that struggle, they found that their flying was not what they had hoped it would be. So, these educated butterflies began looking for pamphlets that could explain flying and how they could practice that activity until it got better.
And at some unidentified point in the process, what was supposed to be “Hope for the Flowers” became “Hope for the butterfly”.
A recent report out of one of the largest Christian publishing houses reports that “Effective Evangelism Requires Ongoing Discipleship”1. This headline is the result of statistics that state, to no one’s surprise, that attendance and baptisms are on the decline in churches across the country.
The report poses the questions:
What can we do to equip the church to be more effective evangelists?
How can we get our people committed to sending and going on mission?
The author of the report rightly calls out that this will take a change of heart, and that a change of heart in this area will take more than a seminar on evangelism.
He then goes on to identify, in his opinion, what it does take to change a heart: “a steady dose of Bible teaching and apologetic help.”
I imagine that he assumes that pastors are providing that steady dose of teaching. I would also imagine, that since his organization produces a wide variety of Bible Study resources that are used by a significant number of congregations, that he also assumes that there is a steady dose of teaching taking place in these declining congregations.
We have stopped sharing the gospel in the wild, because we are comfortable hearing someone else share the gospel the tame way, in the tame place, at the tame time every week.
What we can’t assume from the article is where the apologetic helps might come from. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess where he would look for such resources. Butterflies and pamphlets. The educated looking for more education seems to be the message of maturity for “ongoing discipleship”.
This is the unintended consequence of well-meaning people working to provide well-meaning resources so that butterflies can be educated on what it means to fly.
But Jesus changed hearts; He did not just distribute knowledge. He showed us how to fly; he doesn’t just inform us about flying. Heartfelt behavior follows the change of heart. And Jesus changed hearts by a very simple, easy to explain method.
I’ll do it and you watch.
I’ll do it and you help.
You do it and I’ll help.
You do it and I’ll watch.
You do it while the next disciple watches…
Repeat
There is no curriculum here. Jesus didn’t teach a philosophy of religion course in the temple. He took the disciples through three years of shop class in the wild. Show them, let them do it, dialogue with them, shape them in the doing. This is the Jesus method.
The change of heart begins with disciple-shapers who are also making disciples (evangelizing) in the view and presence of those that are considered disciples. And this, not in the church service. The idea of discipling someone with any maturing lifestyle, including evangelism, is that those who watch will learn what to do by watching, helping, and doing. If the only place members of your church see the gospel shared is from the platform in a worship service or teaching event, there is
nothing for them to help with
no opportunity to do it while you help, and
no opportunity to do it and pass it on to future disciples.
Change of heart comes from active, hands-on, immersive learning experiences. This more appropriately explains why there is such a decline in salvations (which precedes the decline in baptisms). We have stopped sharing the gospel in the wild, because we are comfortable hearing someone else share the gospel the tame way, in the tame place, at the tame time every week. And no volume of educational resources will change that. Only by going out and doing it will heart change occur.
Jesus didn’t teach a philosophy of religion course in the temple. He took the disciples through three years of shop class in the wild.
I have been in more than one church where the stated practice of evangelism is for members to share the gospel with their next-door neighbors, and to ask the staff for advice if needed.
Yet:
Rarely have members seen their pastor or other staff member share the gospel with anyone, neighbor or stranger, in the wild
Rarely, do members hear stories from pastor, staff, disciple makers, or disciple shapers on an experience sharing the Gospel in the wild.
And therefore, rarely do members ask staff for advice
Rarely is the gospel shared
Heart change comes from engagement and involvement, not compulsion. Heart change comes from a mature disciple showing maturing disciples how to take a step, and a next step with a visionary purpose to produce believers that can fly, change the world around them, and become disciple-makers and disciple-shapers in their own right.
The struggle is the beginning of maturity. Using someone else’s material because it is easier has the unintended consequence of being better educated with less flying, not more; less conviction, not more. Less synthesis, not more.
It may be that you just don’t know where to start. You may have already realized that an academic approach to discipleship is not producing your desired results.
Solomon’s Quest can help. Please connect with us so we can talk about a “show and tell” weekend with your leaders: showing and telling your bible study and ministry leaders about discovery based learning and discovery based evangelism. And while what we’ll show you is easy, it is a different kind of “easy” than studying and delivering someone else’s material. It is learning how to hear and see God’s truth in such a way that you can help other people see and hear – for themselves – what God has shown you. It will be your material; your lesson; you and the Father creating experiences that help other people soar, fly, and multiply.
Reach out to us today at solomonsquest.org. We can help you setup your own Gospel shop class.
Solomon's Quest 
Leave a comment