Carp Christianity

Steve Sjogren is the author of over a dozen books, about half of which have become best-sellers both in the US and internationally. His most recent book has just been released, Outflow... a simple guide for living the outward focused lifestyle - not a stop and start program. You can check out his numerous sites / blogs / consistent articles by putting his name into Google... The church he and his team are launching is CoastlandTampa(.com).

For the better part of the past decade I have spent most of my time traveling the Church of the US getting an education whose worth is beyond measure. I have seen, mostly, the way to not “do” Church. And in so observing, putting a reverse mirror upon all of those observations, it has become super apparent, the way Jesus has in mind to move from Point A to Point B and so on, or at least some aspects of what he has in mind for this time in history.

The good news is... the adjustments that Jesus is looking to make in the status quo aren’t beyond the reach of what people in the Church world have in their hearts to do and to be about. It pretty much boils down to this:

If we (the royal “we”) can get past our human fear of change and step out to embrace change with enthusiasm… we can jump on board with what God has in mind see billions of lives impacted for good.

(Not millions but billions… to quote Dr. Evil, my favorite bald headed villain … with my little finger stroking my lower teeth, billions of people on Planet Earth. God thinks both on a global and an individual scale! NOTE: If you are familiar with my writings, I have made the point for many years about the necessity of looking for the next single person God places in our path – that he usually does things in small ways through us, but it is imperative that we not lose track of the other side of the coin – that God is doing a larger thing at the same time – he is touching the world on a large scale basis and large is not our enemy!)

A few years ago I released my first book, entitled Conspiracy of Kindness, a great title or a horrible one depending on your perspective. I still get emails on a regular basis from covert militia groups who don’t bother to read the Amazon description of the book and assume I am giving instructions on how to build pipe bombs! In that book, like Uncle Bill Dahl, I too pick up on the metaphor of the porpoise and the shark, but I add an in between step - the carp. I make the statement, and still hold to that perspective, that most so-called “Christians” (to call oneself a “little Christ” is a pretty audacious claim) today are most accurately “Carp Christians.” That is, they are not activists – they are not stepping out to change life around them. Rather, like carp fish, they sit on the bottom of their dwelling (“bottom feeders” in fact) and watch the world go by. It’s really a horrible existence for a lot of reasons.

Carp know the truth about life, death and the scriptures - as the ditty goes, “Only one life, twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last...” yet they have no idea how to engage in making a difference. Carp are beings who are filled with information, but are bankrupt when it comes to the application of what they know to be true.

I have spoken on this many times since writing about it a while back. In the middle of many a weekend gathering laughing at the humorous picture of a carp sitting on the bottom of a pond or river eating moss - it is rather funny to think about... at that moment I usually drop the bomb: “You know, I wonder if this place could more accurately be renamed, ‘Carp Community Church.’ I don’t mean to be rude, but as Joan Rivers says, “Can we talk?” ALWAYS the place where I am speaking goes from yucking it up to dead silence. That is the sound of conviction.

Are you open to making remarkable, outward focused change?
Are you open to loving the city you are in - all of them - no matter what they look like, believer or who know what ...?

It all starts by each of us living out the super simple stuff that Jesus did each day. It really is not complicated in the least. It works like this: We do the things Jesus did and we fairly quickly see around us what happened around Jesus - for better and for the worse! (The fans and the critics…)

We love the next person God places across our path in a practical way.

We show respect to the person who is unlike us we run into in an hour.

We practice generosity in a huge way with those around us habitually…with zero worries about being taken advantage of. Jesus was taken advantage of every single day of his life – that is the entry price for getting into this Jesus-like life.

That includes the lady at the Taco Bell window you will run into in 15 minutes. Instead of driving through and not even looking up - ask her if she’s having a good day. Then completely blow her mind – tip her a buck or two. Watch her break out in tears. Maybe give her a card with a number she can call for to talk to someone for more of a connection.

Gracie Allen, wife of comedian George Burns was a profound, simple comedian. She was far funnier than him. She could not pronounce any “R” sounds. Her famous line bears repeating often: “It’s weary vewy simple...”

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