Author Archives: rob.haynes

When Summer Camp Becomes Pilgrimage by Rob Haynes

It is summer camp season. For thousands of children and youth that means night hikes and camp fires, arts and crafts and lake fronts.

It is commonplace for churches in the United States to offer a trip to summer camp for their children or youth. It is often a highlight of the year for these ministries. Years after their experiences, many former summer camp participants describe it as a particularly important time: when they accepted Jesus as Savior, made a deep commitment to Christian discipleship, or heard a call to ministry. What makes summer camp such a significant experience?

Perhaps it is because, in some ways, summer camp is a bit like a Christian pilgrimage. Historically, Christian pilgrims journeyed to a place where they understood God to have worked in the past, expected that he would work again, and expected that he could work in them while they were in that place. When setting out, the pilgrims do not expect to stay at the pilgrimage site, but to be there for a fixed period of time and to return to their homes different than when they left. So it is with many Christian summer camp experiences.

In a classical understanding of pilgrimage three things are necessary: 1) a strong sense of community among those on the pilgrimage, 2) an escape from the routines of home, and 3) a return to that home after witnessing God do something amazing, perhaps even miraculous. Let’s take a look at each of these.

Community. My teenage children talk throughout the year about the friends they made and the counselors they got to know at camp. Though they were only together for a few days, they speak of these friendships as though they have lasted for years. What makes this bond so strong? In part, the strength of this bond comes from the common experience they share. For example, while together, the kids in the cabin are much the same: in a room full of bunk beds and sleeping bags. No one has a “cooler” bedroom than another here. They are all the same at camp.

Escape. Many camps do not allow the students to have mobile phones or other devices. Even if they did, students are often so far out in the woods, no one would get phone service! Such devices may be a part of everyday life at home, but not at camp. Similarly, the pressures of school and home life are left behind at camp.

There are a few keys to make the community strong and the escape profound. The pilgrimage to camp must be voluntary, to a place considered extraordinary, where special goals are pursued. These goals can be physical, like passing the swim test or going on the zip line. Or they can be spiritual, like those pursued through Bible study and prayer that are integrated into daily Christian summer camp schedules. These first two, community and escape, create a space for the profound to happen. By leaving the mundane the pilgrim seeks the sacred. It is here that the pilgrim discovers what was otherwise hidden at home. 

Return. But the pilgrims do not remain away from home forever. After leaving to search for the holy, they will return to the place they call home—in an elliptical motion. Often when the camper (pilgrim) returns, she will be a bit different than when she left. She has been on a sacred quest and learned more about God and herself while she was away. Sometimes the lessons become obvious immediately upon return. Sometimes the lessons reveal themselves years later.

If your church is sending youth to summer camp this year, how can you continue foster the lessons of their pilgrimage? What can you do to help them process what they experienced in their sacred time away? When they get back to the routine, how can you rekindle that spark they felt while they were away at that extraordinary place?

Pentecost: What Does This Mean? by Rob Haynes

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.  And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.  Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.  Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?  And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?  Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”  All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”  But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

“In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
    and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
    and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
    in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
        and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
    and signs on the earth below,
        blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood,
        before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Acts 2:1-21)

In verse 12, the people who witnessed the events of that Pentecost Day had one important question: “What does this mean?” They knew that something significant had occurred in their midst. However, they did not yet understand the fuller implications of the Spirit’s movement among them.

Just as they asked themselves, “What does this mean?” we too should reflect on the account in Acts for contemporary witness.

What does this mean? It means that the Spirit will meet the needs of the people. Many times in our churches, we work so very hard to meet the needs of people: those in our doors already and those yet outside of them. Yet, Acts tells us that God is even more interested in meeting the needs of people. He will do the miraculous to meet those needs. People heard the story of “God’s deeds of power” in their own language. That means that the Spirit met people in their own setting to meet their needs. In our contemporary contexts, we are often tempted to meet the needs of the people with some new out-of-the-box program or the next big idea. The lesson of Acts 2 is to instead be channels of the Spirit’s work and let him do the work that he wants to do.

What does this mean? It means that the ministry of the church does not rise and fall on one person alone. Peter, nor any single apostle, is the center of ministry. Rather, all the people are empowered to serve in the Kingdom of God. In the local church, it is tempting to pin the hopes of effective growth on one or two people. The hope of the church does not lie solely with the pastor, the longest standing member or the hip new staff member. All believers are called, and empowered, to serve.

By reading further in the account in Acts 2, we see what those new believers did: They were baptized, they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, they were discipled, and they shared meals and fellowship. They thought of others first. They put the mission of God before their own agendas. They spent time in the “breaking of bread,” taking care of each other and enjoying each other’s company. They did so in small groups and in large assemblies. They didn’t wait for Peter (the senior pastor, if you will) to do it.

And they prayed. When you pray, be careful. Things will change. If you start praying, really praying, things are going to change. Watch out! Are you ready for God to bring about the change you are praying for? Are you truly ready? In the Pentecost story the people embraced the change that God brought. And thank God that they did.

Can you imagine what would have happened if they refused to accept the changes God was doing? Imagine if the disciples had said, “Well, that’s all well and good, but I do not want to do anything different. Jesus is gone now and I just want to go back to my fishing boat, my tax collection booth. Don’t bother me.” What if they had stood up and said, “That is not the way we’ve done it before, and I sure don’t want to do it that way now.” Can you imagine the travesty? Christian believers today celebrate a spiritual heritage because those at the Pentecost movement of the Spirit said “YES” to the new thing that God was doing.

What does this mean? It means that churches were planted. They grew into vibrant communities of faith. By the power of the Spirit, they brought the Good News to the world. The Spirit met the needs of the people. The Spirit empowered the people to serve in the Kingdom of God. Those first believers responded by sharing with others the amazing things that they had seen. And they prayed in that same Spirit. They prayed and things changed.

What does this mean? Because the Spirit is still at work in the world, it means that the contemporary church can do just the same. This means that the church must prioritize the work of the Spirit over any ideas of people. As twentieth-century evangelist E. Stanley Jones said, “Unless the Holy Spirit fills, the human spirit fails.”

Interview with Rob Haynes

Wesleyan Accent is pleased to share an introductory interview with Rev. Dr. Rob Haynes, World Methodist Evangelism’s new Associate Director of Education and Leadership Development.

Recently earning a PhD in Theology and specializing in Missiology and Wesleyan Theology from Durham University, his thesis is a dive into “Consuming Mission: Towards a Theology of Short-Term Mission and Pilgrimage.” He is a Senior John Wesley Fellow and a Senior Harry Denman Fellow. His publications and presentations include “The Overlooked Globalizers: Wesleyan Short-Term Missioners, The Missio Dei, and World Christianity.”

Wesleyan Accent: In your experience, what’s the biggest misconception about “evangelism” or mission?

Rob Haynes: I don’t know if it is a misconception, necessarily, but it is important to consider the source of the missionary enterprise.

A few years ago, some people knocked on my door with some literature in hand. They initiated their discussion with, “Do you know why Jesus came to earth?” I quickly replied that I did, in fact, know why Jesus came.

Jesus explicitly tells his hearers why he came. In Luke 4 he is teaching in the synagogue in Nazareth when he reads from the scroll: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

This is the inauguration of Jesus’ ministry and he demonstrated it with his life, work, teaching, death, and resurrection. But the work did not stop there. Jesus inaugurated the Church, his followers, to carry on the work he began.  This initiation is recorded in John 20:21, one of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances. “Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit….’”

The work of mission and evangelism hinges on four little letters: two in “as” and two in “so.” As the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus sent his followers, by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is done in both words and deeds. Evangelism is mission, but mission is not merely evangelism.

God invites, even commands, his followers to be involved in the work he is doing still: that which he announced in Luke 4. As his followers, we have the amazing privilege, and responsibility, of participating in his ongoing work of redemption.

WA: While globalization brings specific challenges, it also brings new opportunities. How do you think the realities of globalization will shape Christian faith around the world and in North America over the next 20 years?

RH: In 1792 William Carey proclaimed that the mariner’s compass was a gift of God to the work of the missionaries of his. We may be experiencing a similar opportunity in our day.

Travel is becoming easier and cheaper all the time. Communication is instantaneous. Social media platforms play a significant role in the revolutions (like the Arab Spring) and relief work (like follow-up to natural disasters). Mass movements of people, that are both voluntary and involuntary, are impacting communities and national governments alike. Issues of globalization will only accelerate.

Many of these can be used in the work of developing mission leaders. As of 2010, there were 43 million people living in the United States who were born overseas. Three quarters of whom identified themselves as Christians. (I recommend “Diaspora Missions: East Meets West (and North meets South): Reflections on Polycentric Missions.”) While many see the church in decline in the United States, it is worth examining the new things that globalization is bringing to the American Church. Old forms may need to be re-evaluated to faithfully make disciples and evangelize those yet outside the church.

Trans-cultural mission is available to many in their own back yards. This does not replace the need for foreign missionaries, but opens the doors to new possibilities. Similarly, globalization provides significant opportunities to form faith, deepen discipleship, and cultivate leadership across borders and cultures alike.

WA: What are some of the benefits of theological education, sometimes seen as superfluous in an era of religious and doctrinal pluralism?

RH: Mission and evangelism are scrutinized by people inside and outside the church. Often the discussions about these address the how, but they sometimes fail to address the why. Our theologies shape the why, which will make a more lasting impact on the how.

It is important to point out that everyone does theology, at some level. It may not always be good theology, but we all do theology:

“God helps those who help themselves.” This is not scriptural, but it is a theological statement.

“I am spiritual, but not religious.” Usually I hear this when someone doesn’t want to go to church but wants to talk about God.

“All roads lead to the same place.” This is a theological rejection of Christ’s exclusivity.

Theologies shape motivations and motivations shape actions. Teaching sound missional theology is the essential to any renewal of missionary efforts.

By teaching a sound and robust biblical theology of mission we can impact the how and the why of missional service. Wesleyan theology is a missional theology. We embrace God’s invitation to participate in his redeeming work as he invites all to be saved. That work is a part of the effort towards the full restoration of God’s Creation, and everything and everyone in it. No one is excluded in the invitation, though not all may accept it.

By emulating the self-sacrificing love that Jesus demonstrated (see the discussion of Luke 4 and John 20 above) we can reshape the why that will naturally reshape the how.