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NCS in the World – A Faithful Presence
The Evolution of NCS
The backbone of NCS has always been “showing up.” Every leader in an NCS chapter knows that the core group of men sustain the NCS experience because they “show up” in each other’s lives and, as a team, in the lives of others. This commitment to each other is really the heart of the chapter. The goal of an NCS chapter is to encourage, foster and promote anything that allows men to experience the friendship that comes from living life together. Our model for this commitment is centered in Jesus and His life given up for those He loved. We strive to be like Him.
But there’s more to it than just being an active presence in the lives of the men of NCS. The apostle Paul says “conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ” (Philippians 1:27). This exhortation is not simply a plea to act morally. Paul uses a Greek word that places our conduct squarely in the public arena. In fact, it’s a word about politics – action within the community. In other words, Paul is admonishing believers to take an active stance as ambassadors of the Kingdom of God. Christians are not just another religion. Christians are a competing culture in this world – a culture that opposes all forms of idolatry including the idolatry of apathy, religion without Spirit and governance without God. In quiet ways, NCS combats the institutionalized worldliness that surrounds us by calling everyone back to the human ideals expressed in God’s creation of Man in His image. We are agents of cultural change because we follow the King.
When we show up in the lives of our friends, God is present and things change. In the last few years, we have observed that showing up has powerful consequences we did not anticipate. Now we realize that when we show up in the fabric of our communities, God can use us to change the community as well. The faithful presence of our network of men in the community can be a platform for God’s grace in cultural transformation.
It’s taken some time for us to realize that this transition is happening spontaneously. In other words, NCS never set goals or developed a strategy in order to affect our the communities. NCS is not a new social awareness organization. It’s not a religion or a crusade or a political action committee. NCS is men speaking truth, living authentically and seeking what’s right in the service of God. But once we get deeply involved with each other, the circle of our influence grows beyond us. When we show up in each other’s lives, when we show up together in our neighborhoods and marketplaces, we have an impact on things. We become part of the hand of God, invisibly replacing the world’s cultural assumptions with those of the King. The culture of the Kingdom, expressed in the lives of NCS believers, confronts the post-modern world with real relationship alternatives. God’s Kingdom brings action to a world overwhelmed with confusion and frustration. We honor the King by bringing His solutions to a lost and hurting world. We do it because it is the natural thing to do when we are living according to the Spirit. This energy is infectious. Hope is born just because we are there doing what matters.
Because NCS men know what it means to be committed to each other, they can have a healing effect on the whole community around them. They care. Because NCS men are from the marketplace, they know how to get things done. They follow through. They act differently in the world. That gets noticed. In a world where isolation and independence are touted but false values, living life together is a refreshing and compelling invitation to do things differently. That attracts others.
What we are experiencing is authentic community. It’s open-ended. That means we don’t know how all this will work out. It’s relationship-based. That means it only happens when we show up consistently in each other’s lives. It’s action-oriented. That means we discover this sense of community when we are committed to acting on behalf of others. And it’s God-centered. We know that His design for all human beings is based in deep and satisfying relationships – with Him and with each other. He is the King. It is His kingdom that prevails – and NCS is a part of this.
The NCS Platform
Men in the marketplace understand the importance of a platform. In business, the platform is the backbone of an organization. It’s the necessary infrastructure, the business name, the staff, the assistants and the colleagues who make it possible to do business. We still have to get out there and work hard, but this platform is the reason we have a place in the market. We come equipped!
What we have discovered is that NCS provides this kind of platform. At the chapter level, men begin taking an active part in living our motto: Live pure, speak the truth, right wrongs and worship the King. They get their lives in order. They get involved in local churches, in charities, in all kinds of organizations and projects in their communities – and they start making a difference outside of the NCS chapter. In other words, they use the NCS chapter as a platform that connects, equips and encourages them to do the right thing.
In many areas of the country, there are several NCS chapters within the same geographical region. This extended community allows the NCS platform to expand the network, talents and commitments of all these chapters. It’s the network of relationships that makes the big difference. All those connections open doorways for us to work together to bring change in the marketplace, at home and in the community.
Paradigm Shifts
We realize that NCS is a transformation agent in the culture, not merely a participant along with all the other altruistic organizations. In fact, we now see that NCS doesn’t really qualify as an organization at all. It is really a movement – an organically driven, locally based, Spirit motivated voluntary collection of men who have been called to this way of living. NCS challenges the old model of a man in his castle, safe from the world. NCS men connect, equip and encourage each other to move into the world in ways that bring real change, not just in results but in worldview.
Most men merely observe the process of bringing about the Kingdom. For them, real involvement isn’t comfortable. Not at NCS. We know the place of worship in a man’s life. Men feel at home in NCS. What we realized is that this “home” had to be the platform for our own version of Kingdom involvement. We don’t suppress the warrior in us. We embrace hard-hitting dialogue, a slap on the back and a good cigar. We are rediscovering the ancient Hebraic concept of community – a community that puts its emphasis on action in the name of God’s glory. NCS men do righteousness (Isaiah 56:1). And because NCS is a gathering of men in the marketplace, we encourage and equip each other to do righteousness without regard to any artificial division between sacred and secular. We know that we must be just as much about Kingdom business when we lead a business meeting, play golf, go fishing or get together at a game as we are when we prepare a Bible study, read a Psalm or sing in the choir. We have learned that work and worship are one and the same when our lives are fully involved in God’s purposes. In our community of men, we aren’t uncomfortable praising Him, sharing our testimonies or proclaiming His goodness. We encourage each other not to draw any lines between those activities and what we do every other hour of the day.
In a word, we just keep doing what we’ve always done: show up. When we do, things happen. We don’t live that old proxy life, delegating religion to our wives and the pastor. We stand on the platform that NCS has provided us and take involvement to the next level. We extend the NCS model into every aspect of our lives. This is what the ancient Hebrews meant by life lived together. They put three things at the top of the list: learning who God is, talking with Him and taking action in the community. They knew that life lived together in worship of the King always included being the King’s appointed agents. Paul called it being a “sent out one.” And that’s what we are. As John Belushi put it so well, “We are on a mission from God.” This is the divine "pay-it-forward" plan. Living according to God’s governing principle of grace, we look for every opportunity to make things right for someone else.
Where We Go From Here
When we show up in each other’s lives and intentionally develop the habit of being available to each other, we become a force for change in community. But it isn’t a force that easily lends itself to the usual planning table. In a mysterious way, God moves through us when we take steps according to His direction. Our lives move away from the helter-skelter segmentation that characterized the past toward a more integrated whole. We become who we were meant to be. Together. And that can make a difference to all those around us. How it makes a difference is not always apparent to us, but the evidence that it does is undeniable.
This is the next step in the NCS journey. NCS will never lose its focus on authentic friendships. That’s it’s backbone. But now the vision must reach across the NCS community and empower that community as a whole to make a difference. That means distributing talent and energy, bridging the gaps between chapters and taking on a global consciousness. NCS is a dense network of men who become a faithful presence of the culture of the Kingdom in the world. In the same way that we show up in the lives of our brothers, we are now showing up in the lives of those in our communities. And when we do, our very presence speaks on behalf of God. NCS men are the hands and feet of the new life found in Christ. We can’t sit still. It isn’t in the new blood that flows though us. Now we need to focus that energy so that we become what Jesus prayed for in the Garden – “That they may be one.”
We encourage chapters to get their Energy Groups goings. To communicate with other chapters. To hook up. To join forces. NCS will help. Leverage your resources and talents. Look for the bigger picture. When you find a fit, communicate with NCS and we will broadcast the news so others can join too. The NCS community is a powerful tool for real change. It’s time to put it to work.
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