Andy and Nayeli Hackett  

We started The Movement here in Tepic with a fresh vision again. Josh and Stephanie made it back and we had our first meet up with other people Friday night. This was our chance to re-launch with our renewed focus. This summer we experimented with different ideas of ministry that we had. We feel like we have seen enough to go in a more focused and clear direction.

We really want to have intimacy and vulnerability in our ministry. One of the ways that we are going about doing that is by using a tool that AA groups use. It’s called “The Check-In”. “The Check In” is something that everyone in an AA group does when a meeting starts. The leader of the group starts by saying how he feels physically, emotionally and spiritually. Then everyone goes in a circle “checking in” the same way. It’s awesome how quickly this opens people to God and to others.

Through a bizarre series of events (I won’t explain the whole story…ask me about it sometime) I once ended up at an AA group that I thought was a regular men’s group. I felt a little awkward because I didn’t have the same struggles the other men had but it was truly a beautiful experience that I value. “The Check In” really struck me. I felt connected to about 20 men that I had never met before from the very beginning. There was an openness and an honesty that I never forgot.

We had a meeting this last Friday and where we employed “The Check In”. This was our first time doing this with other people (we started doing it as a staff once a week during the summer). It was beautiful to see the responses and the openness that we experienced together. I’m very excited to see how this will work as we expand and start more groups.

We are starting our ministry with mostly un-churched people. Many people are just not used to even thinking about their spiritual health. It’s an awesome thing to do the “check in” with people and see them begin to open themselves up. We had one guy who shared that he was spiritually “disorganized” and that it was time to get it together. We met him at the park and now he is beginning to know Christ. Another guy (who has been struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts) opened up to the whole group and we all prayed together with him. He’s a somewhat “macho” guy that normally wouldn’t open up so much.

This also tends to open people up more during Bible study when many people usually are shy about sharing their thoughts. The sense of connection that “checking in” can do helps people share their opinions, insights and experiences during the rest of the meeting. We went straight into reading The Beatitudes together afterwards and everyone was fully engaged. After the Bible study we prayed together. It was simple, sincere and effective.

We are going to continue “checking in”, doing simple Bible study/disccusion, doing social helps together and expressing our creativity in our city. This is what we are about. It’s an exciting time.

It’s amazing how the rebellious and radical message of Christ can be made to be so tame and weak in mainstream Christian culture. It always bothers me when Christ’s message is watered down and considered safe. Christ was counter-cultural when he spoke the words and he is counter-cultural now when we read his words. The Beatitudes are an example of his extreme message of love, courage and vulnerability.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3

The dictionary says “poverty denotes serious lack of the means for proper existence”. Other words for poverty are need and want. Being poor in spirit means recognizing that we have a “serious lack of the means for proper existence”. Those who recognize their need for spiritual life are blessed. Recognizing this want and this longing are the very keys to receiving life. The ones who will never experience the true life are those who don’t even recognize that they are in need. These are people in denial.

Reading the Beatitudes recently has confronted me with the idea that Jesus was talking about love, courage and vulnerability. He speaks of poverty, mourning, humility, hunger, mercy, purity, peacemaking and the persecuted. I realized that every one of these characteristics requires vulnerability. There is a danger in living this way.

Jesus knew this danger very well. He was living that way knowing that it would take him straight to the cross. He taught us to live in love and vulnerability so that we could experience life to the fullest. That road is still filled with heartache and suffering though. Do you want to know love? Then you must know suffering as well.

The reason Jesus’ message is so radical is because he teaches and then models what it means to love. His love cost him serious physical, emotional and spiritual pain. But in the end he changed the world forever with his love. He has called us to this same love. This love requires courage and vulnerability. There can be no closed heart on this road. There can be no coward when it comes to pain.

We don’t need to look for suffering or bring it upon ourself. There is already enough in this world! We need to love courageously and bring out this longing for God in others. This is worthwhile. Just don’t think that following Jesus is a way to avoid suffering and pain. Hurt will come but also remember that the Holy Spirit is our comforter in those times. Plus Jesus encourages us because he showed us how to endure suffering.

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Love with courage and vulnerability. This is what Jesus modeled for us. This is who God is.