I Once was Lost is a brief book that investigates and proposes a threshold-oriented perspective of faith development among postmodern skeptics. The book is significant, because of the five thresholds it presents as the authors seek to reorient our viewpoints concerning the journey toward God for postmoderns. In this review, through the purviews of summary and critical questioning, I will overview the five thresholds covered in this book, and make connections with my North American church planting context.
I Once was Lost shares critical reflection concerning the postmodern journey into Christianity. Initially, the authors analyze their experiences in college campus ministries seeking to learn from their students and friends. As they consider what has happened and what is happening in regards to their ministry contexts, the authors arrive at two formative conclusions. Everts and Schaupp remark, “The first lesson [postmoderns] have taught us about the path to faith is that it is, in the end, mysterious. Again and again, we found ourselves marveling at transformations that we never would have anticipated and shaking our heads in frustration at those who seemed near to faith but never got there.” (18) The authors allow themselves to wrestle with the implications, excitements, and frustrations of the mysterious faith-building pathways traveled by postmoderns. In the end, they decide that mystery leads to liberty. Mystery, although unpredictable and undefinable, presents much needed relief for church planters. With firmness, Everett and Schaupp conclude, “We cannot create life. It is impossible for us to predict why some of our friends will choose Jesus and why others just won’t. We don’t know how to change hearts…The path to faith is mysterious. To admit that is liberation. The monkey is off our back, and onto God’s back, where it belongs.” (19) In I Once was Lost, the pathways of faith development among postmoderns are celebrated as mysterious.
Second, I Once was Lost, reveals the organic nature of postmodern faith pathways. The authors share, “The second lesson this group of new believers has shown us is that the postmodern path to faith is organic.” (20) By referring to Jesus’ parable in Mark 4:26-29, the authors focus intently on verses 28-29: “All by itself the soil produces grain–first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” According to Everett and Schaupp, “Heeding this lesson, we are able to recognize the different stages of growth and seek to love our non-Christian friends wisely and sensitively, adjusting to where they are in their growth.” (21) Instead of seeking an either/or pathway to faith, I Once was Lost advocates an organic, season-oriented approach.
After constructing the mystery and organic frameworks for postmodern faith development, the authors dive into their five thresholds proposal. The first threshold involves a movement from distrust to trust. Poignantly, the authors reveal the challenging context for today’s church, “In another day and age, God, religion, and church enjoyed the general respect of the culture. Not today. Religion is suspect, church is weird, and Christians are hypocrites. Distrust has become the norm. People are tired of the ‘sales tactics’ often employed by Christians and are offended by our bait-and-switch attempts at introducing them to Jesus. In the past, the occupation of evangelist was viewed as a respectable profession, even by secular society. Today, evangelist has fallen to the very bottom of the pit, among the most distrusted occupations.” (31) Furthermore, Everett and Schaupp share from their own experiences, “When people first find out we are Christians, we often literally see them shift from relaxed to rigid, from warm to suspicious.” (31) In an interesting twist to conventional evangelical thinking, the authors muse, “When trust has not yet been established, lostness feels like wise skepticism and right thinking. If Christians are fanatical and narrow-minded, keeping one’s distance seems like the smartest posture to take toward us…Until this framework of distrust is shifted, growth is nearly impossible.” (32) From there, the authors share “Five Knee-Jerk Reactions to Distrust”: Defend, Bruise, Avoid, Judge, and Argue; however, they also propose “Five Kingdom Habits to Build Trust”: Pray, Learn, Bond, Affirm, and Welcome. Perhaps, the opportunity to operate in a climate of distrust could have a positive impact on the church. With encouragement, Everett and Schaupp suggest, “We need to learn to be unfazed by distrust. We are in an age of distrust, so instead of being surprised and reactionary when our coworkers or neighbors don’t trust us, we need to learn how to respond kindly and quickly begin the normal, basic and foundational investment of trust-building.” (37) How are you seeing and experiencing the climate of distrust referred to in I Once was Lost? In what ways are you seeking to build trust with a non-Christian friend?
In I Once was Lost, the second threshold of postmodern faith development involves moving from complacency to curiosity. The authors describe such a shift in the following manner: “To go from being complacent about spiritual things to being intrigued is a natural process. Our souls and our minds are built by God to be curious, to ask questions until we have landed upon satisfying answers. So this move from complacent to curious isn’t easy, but it taps into a desire and need that is wired into all people.” (51-52) Everett and Schaupp summarize this movement in three distinct stages: 1) Awareness: “Awareness of more options, more paths in life, is often the first baby step out of complacency. As people hear about Jesus, their old answers and old pictures of God slowly become antiquated and inadequate,” 2) Engagement: “Engaging with a real Christian, becoming friends with a Christian and taking time to read through the life of Jesus were concrete actions that caused [the author’s friend’s] curiosity to grow stronger over time,” and 3) Exchange: “This is an intense form of curiosity that means being so curious that you want to exchange ideas, ask questions and offer your own opinions.” (52-53) After describing the movement from complacency to curiosity, the authors provide three ideas for provoking curiosity among non-Christian friends: 1) encourage questions, 2) use parables, and 3) live curiously. (54-58) What responses have you received from your non-Christian friends when you have encouraged questions, shared stories, or lived in curious ways? How are you living curiously? What additional suggestions for provoking curiosity would you make?
The third threshold presented in I Once was Lost involves an openness to change. At this point in their journey, the postmodern skeptic seriously considers the changes necessary to embrace life with Christ. As we all know and experience, this can be quite challenging. Everett and Schaupp state, “Out of all five thresholds, becoming genuinely open to change is often the most difficult to overcome. Change is beautiful and horrific, after all. (Even for postmodern folks who proudly wave a banner of ‘openness,’ being open to real change is a tough thing.)” (69) At this point, the call to followers of Jesus includes: patience, enduring prayer, and a reminder of the mysterious and organic frameworks of postmodern journeys toward faith. The authors reiterate, “In the end it is only God’s Spirit that is able to overcome the human hesitancy, fear of pain and spiritual enemies that are against someone at threshold three. But when God does this, when he uses our patience and our prayers and our faithfulness to bring someone to a place of being open to change, it is a wonder.” (82) Are you sharing a journey of faith development with someone who has recently crossed into this threshold? Describe your shared journey at this point.
After an openness to change takes shape, Everett and Schaupp propose that postmoderns truly become seekers. They describe the journey across this threshold in the following vignette: “Those who have recently traveled the path to faith tell us that after trusting a Christian, becoming curious about Jesus and finally being open to change in their life, they still weren’t necessarily wanting to come to conclusions. For each of them there was another shift, a fourth threshold, to come: they needed to lean into the journey they were on and decide to purposefully seek final answers, a resolution. They needed to become seekers.” (85-86) Furthermore, the authors highlight this threshold, “There’s a subtle but important difference between someone who is sort of meandering toward God and someone who is purposefully seeking out and exploring Jesus. When someone is truly seeking, there is an urgency and purpose to their searching.” (86) From there, the authors suggest three major trends among seekers: 1) Seekers seek Jesus, not just God, 2) Seekers count the costs, and 3) Seekers spend time with Christians. (87) However, once someone shifts from an openness to change to a full quest after Christ, how are we to help? Everett and Schaupp share “three tangible ways [we] could starting living the kingdom in front of a friend who may need help becoming a seeker rather than a meanderer: 1) Show them how to build their lives on Jesus’ words, 2) Open up your prayer life to them, and 3) Provide satisfying answers to their initial questions.” (89-90) The authors conclude their description of this threshold by saying, “If the Spirit of God works in the concrete circumstances of someone’s life and in the profound depths of their soul, they can cross threshold four: moving from meandering toward Jesus to seeking some final conclusions. And once someone is seeking, only God knows where it might lead.” (101) What would you challenge about this threshold? What “tangible ways [of] living the kingdom in front of a friend” would you add?
Finally, Everett and Schaupp share a strong call to their postmodern friends to enter the Kingdom of God, and this marks the final threshold in their proposal. Initially, the authors remark, “While a truly open-ended, pressure-free process is most needed around thresholds two and three, it isn’t as helpful here at threshold five. Letting people just slide casually and vaguely across the line sounds very postmodern-sensitive, but with such a laissez-faire approach we keep people from knowing there is even a line to cross. And we don’t help them move from being lost to being redeemed.” (107) Then, after building a case for such urgency in Luke 15, the authors challenge, “Our friends stuck at threshold five need a concise summary of what Jesus and his kingdom are all about. They deserve to know, in a nutshell, what Jesus calls people to and what it means to become one of his.” (111) How would you challenge this urgent approach? How are you calling people into the Kingdom of God?
I Once was Lost seems weak on involving not-yet and new followers of Jesus in mission, and promotes an event-driven, programmatic evangelistic methodology. For the sake of time and space, I have chosen to leave out in-depth critiques of these two characteristics of the book. However, as we continue prayerfully engaging and living life with non-Christians, Christ Journey participants have found the five threshold framework significant in helping start relationships, discern relationships, and invite friends into the Kingdom. Although the ideas in the book do not originate from missional contexts, the work can provide benefit to anyone seeking to rub shoulders with those who will one day proclaim: “I once was lost.”
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