timeless and timely

An interesting article from Al Hsu appeared in Christianity Today talking about the multifaceted nature of the Gospel. He looks at the history of the ways the Gospel has been conveyed to demonstrate how various people hear and respond to the One Call in different ways.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/april/17.66.html

Although I fear that his conclusions could cause some to say that any presentation of the gospel qualifies (there is still such a thing as a false gospel), I did appreciate some of his points. Namely how he points out that even Jesus used a variety of metaphors to convey THE good news, that in him the Kingdom of God has been made available to all mankind.

In that sense, the gospel is both timeless, in that it testifies about the God who never changes, and timely, in that it finds people in multiple ways (he juxtaposes the differences in Jesus' message to the woman at the well and the rich young ruler).

He does a better job explaining than I would, so I'll leave it at that.

Consumerism in Community - part 2

Well, I seem to have struck a nerve with my last post and it has caused me to reflect on and attempt to clarify some of the topics brought up in my previous post. The inherent danger in extracting a couple paragraphs from a 15 page paper is that it is very easy (as I've observed) to be misunderstood.

The purpose for the post needs further clarification.

1. It is part of a larger paper on how a missional perspective critiques, challenges, and in many ways encourages the Purpose-Driven church model of ministry (of which I am a part).

2. The section posted did NOT in any way deal with issues of salvation, sin, regeneration, sanctification, or the message of the cross, (Those themes are dealt with elsewhere in the paper) but to identify how a consumeristic nature has become part of church culture that in many ways resembles the American dream more than New Testament kingdom principles.

3. The section then seeks to identify how a postmodern culture (which is becoming more and more dominant in our society) is coming to the question of faith with vastly different questions, assumptions, and aspirations than previous generations. This is not to say that their views are any less corrupted by sinfulness and rebellion from God (for that permeates everything mankind is and does). What I was attempting to make a case for was that the church, as a people representing God's kingdom to mankind, must find themes that are important to the culture to which they have been sent, and to demonstrate God's ability to move through those themes.

This is exactly what Paul did on Mars Hill in Acts 17. Paul, arriving in a culture not his own, found common ground on which to speak about and introduce the true God revealed through Jesus Christ. He spoke in used language and symbols that the Athenians could understand and respond to (i.e. the Unknown god). For a postmodern culture, the unknown god to which they worship are causes (social, economic, or otherwise) that they can invest themselves in. I was in no way saying that these causes take precedence over the cause of Christ (i.e. God's mission), but that a church which seeks to speak the language of a postmodern culture must consider service a part of the language that God will use to redeem a postmodern society. Therefore a church which proclaims the gospel, but never has care to demonstrate the kind of love for one another taught in the Bible, will seem shallow and inauthentic to a people who want to know how what you believe impacts your life today.

This is not to say that "saving souls" is not important (it feels strange to even make that statement). In fact, I have spent my ministry career in that very endeavor. I believe that evangelism is both the responsibility and privilege of anyone who follows Christ. Part of the way we undertake evangelism however is by being a contrast community that demonstrates the kind of love and reconciliation that repentence and regeneration in Christ stimulates. Jesus prays for this very thing for his followers in John 17:21 "that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." Our oneness as a community of people called around the death and resurrection of our savior is what puts the world on notice that Jesus is the Son of God and that we belong to him. That is why community formation is so vital to our witness, especially to a culture desperate for genuine community. Community is not what saves people, even within the church it is broken and sinful. At the same time, God's people gathered in oneness around the cross is the incarnation of God's activity that shows people the way to that cross. This is the kind of contrast community that was the hallmark of the early church in Acts 2:42-47.

Thanks for your challenging comments. I hope to continue the dialogue with gentleness and respect.
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"Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men. At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another." Titus 3:1-3

Consumerism in community

Thought I would share an excerpt from a paper I recently wrote for class. This section deals with community formation within seeker-sensitive churches.

Does a missional perspective have anything to offer in terms of the way communities are formed?

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One of the key criticisms leveled against seeker-sensitive churches is that they foster an environment where consumerism takes precedence over community. Many of these churches are upfront about their goal of reaching a consumeristic society by marketing the church in ways that are attractive to a capitalistic impulse. The mentality is that because consumerism is the modus operand of American culture, the church needs to tailor its ministry towards that predisposition in order to be relevant to its needs. Consumerism, as the thinking goes, is a given within church life because either the church markets itself toward the believer or the unchurched. This approach ultimately leads the church towards being a dispenser of religious goods and the gospel as its commodity to be sold in the public forum. The problem with this line of thinking is that it fails to examine whether or not consumerism, by its very nature, is antithetical to the gospel. If it is, then the church, as part of its faithfulness to the gospel and witness to the world, should be seeking out ways to subvert consumerism as an intrinsic value of our culture, not reinforce it.

This may be the reason why many seeker churches find themselves in a situation where they see the very real need of the congregation to be in authentic, transformational relationships, yet have difficulty fostering such relationships. Sunday morning remains the focal point of congregational life, outreach, service, and energy whereby the service is designed to identify the needs of seekers and attempt to convince them that the gospel is the commodity to address those felt needs. Carlson, the pastor of a seeker-sensitive church, explains the irony this way: “Christian leaders have to admit this is the system we have put together. We can’t build churches that advertise ‘tons of ministries to meet your needs,’ then be surprised when people expect us to continually meet their needs.” The community of the church as seen in the New Testament is vastly distinct from the American propensity towards commoditization that is so prevalent in our culture.

In light of the postmodern shift and the permeation of technology into daily life, the need for genuine connection is greater than ever. In particular, people have become disillusioned with the distance Americans have placed between one another and are actively looking for expressions of community that not only meet their needs, but address greater problems in the world. This may be a significant factor in why so many are rushing to such causes as racial equality, environmental conservation, famine and AIDS relief. It is no longer an option for the church to remain inactive on such issues for the sake of winning souls. For in our changing context, it will be incredibly difficult to win souls without inviting people to take part in a cause larger than themselves. We may in fact find along the way that dealing with issues such as these is not a distraction from the gospel, but part of what it means to live as a community which bears witness to the coming kingdom of God.

Is our gospel too small?

I had planned to write about this topic at some point, but I just read an article by Tim Keel of Jacob's Well that frames this question much better than I ever could. I highly recommend it and hope that it will stir conversation about what how we may have unwittingly reduced the scope of the gospel.

The questions an article like this raises can be both provocative and challenging. My hope is that it will get us thinking about God, and God's mission, in much broader terms than we typically understand it.

Please feel free to post comments here regarding the article. I'd like to know what you think (either good or bad).

http://www.christianvisionproject.com/2008/02/an_efficient_gospel.html

Asking better questions

One area that a missional approach to ministry has made the greatest impact is in how I read and teach the Bible. My ministry tradition, both in church and on the college campus, encouraged diligent study of the Bible, something I am very grateful for. But the methods I learned for scripture study seem narrow to me now and in need of rethinking. I remember attending a breakout session during a conference for college students called “Deep Sea Fishing: How to Go Deeper in God’s Word.” The session concentrated on asking three questions of scripture in order to hear God better through his word. Those questions were: What does it say? What does it mean? How does it apply (to me)? I put the last part of the application question in parentheses because it wasn’t part of the actual question, but implicit in the entire method was the sole end being personal application: “what does it mean for me?” I’ve become convinced lately that coming to God’s word with myself as the primary focus encourages the mindset that life is about me and therefore that God’s design for the Bible is to act like an instruction manual to help me live better or be happier. Better questions can be asked of God’s word to focus his people upon Him and his activities in the world.

This is where a missional approach to scripture has revolutionized the way I interact with Living Word. As Darryl Guder points out, “Our engagement with the Bible is always defined by the questions we bring to it” (Treasure in Clay Jars, p. 69). Therefore if we ask better questions, (i.e. questions that get at the heart of God and his mission on earth) the answers we find should transform us into the kind of people, individually and communally, that are in tune with the Spirit’s working among us. My greatest critique of the “me-centered” Bible study model mentioned above is that it makes it possible to be a diligent student of scripture and yet miss entirely what God is up to throughout the canon. In that sense we are reading the Bible without ever allowing it to read us. The result is Christian who struggles to see God in her story, rather than seeing her life as an extension of God’s story to the world, a kingdom of which she is a participant and a benefactor. In such a time as this when so many feel disconnected and alienated, a missional approach to reading the Bible is an attractive one in deed.

So what are the better questions to ask in order to read the Bible Missionally? The Gospel and Our Culture Network has put together a helpful list of questions to be used in group study that I have been using lately to engage scripture. They are as follows:

How does this text read us and our world?
How does this text evangelize us with good news?
How does this text convert us in personal and corporate life?
How does this text send us and equip our witness?
How does this text orient us to the coming reign of God?

Identification Please

"We suprisingly get our identities more from our jobs than our life in a Christian community pursuing God's kingdom on earth." David Fitch The Great Giveaway, p.171

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This quote from Dave Fitch was shared during my class on missional church as an introduction to what a "missional" community looks like and acts like in the world. What Fitch is getting at in his book the Great Giveaway is that we as Christians in America in the 21st century have been shaped more by capitalism (i.e. our jobs) than by a deep connection to our identity as image-bearers of God who are called into a community that represents his Kingdom here on Earth.

Using this quote as a springboard, I want to reflect on:

1) What should our conscious identity as a community of Christians be?
2) In what ways does that rub against the grain of the culture we find ourselves in?
3) What difference does knowing our identity in Christ make for ourselves and the places where God has sent us?

I'll tackle the first now and the other two in later posts.

One of the callings of a Christian is to grow into becoming more like the Savior whom we serve. Its not enough just to pray a prayer and never have intentions for being transformed. The Christian faith is on that expects transformation, specifically transformation into Christ-likeness. The more we become like Jesus, the more we fulfill our first purpose on the Earth, which is to be image bearers of God (Gen. 1_27-28).

But the question that is being raised more and more is, "what does it mean to look like Jesus?" Over the past 200 years in this country, being like Jesus has been equated with trying not to sin, trying to live a holy life, and being as nice to everyone as you possibly can. But is this what Paul means when he says, "we are... being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory" (2 Cor. 3:18)?

Many leaders under the umbrella of "missional" are reimagining what it means to be in Christ's likeness by examining why Jesus was incarnated here on earth. As we behold Jesus from the perspective of his mission, we as his torch-bearers (so to speak) will be reformed.

The Jesus we see in the gospels saw himself primarily as a missionary ambassador. He considered himself sent by the Father to earth as a representative of the kingdom of heaven. He left his culture in heaven to become one of us: speaking our language, eating our food, wearing our clothes. His incarnation wasn't just of flesh, but of culture. As John Calvin puts it, he condescends himself the way a parent does in order to communicate with a child. He spoke "baby talk" so that we could understand.

But as much as he was relevant to the culture he was sent to, he also challenged that culture in big ways. He never forgot that the culture he was sent to wasn't his own. In the same way that the US ambassador in France doesn't forget that he is an American, so Jesus never forgot his "heavenness" and his mission.

Keeping those two aspects in mind, consider what Jesus tells his followers in John 20:21, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." This is the key indentifying marker of a follower of Christ. He or she one who is sent by Jesus into the cultures they find themselves. What this means for us is that we are not first and foremost Americans, we are missionaries sent from heaven to America.

My deeply convicting question for all of us (myself included) is, "do we see ourselves as a people sent by Jesus into the world for the purpose of representing him to the nations (US included)? Or do we tend to forget our true citizenship in heaven and allow ourselves to be defined more by our jobs, families, sports, bank accounts, denominations, good deeds, (fill in the blank)?

More to come...

Individual Trees or a Collected Vineyard?

Being that it's been about 5 months since my last blog, I figured that it's about time I give this thing another shot. I like the idea of blogging in general, but being consistent at it will be a challenge for me.

In high school I was a half-way decent sprinter, but a terrible long-distance runner. I could never pace myself over a longer period time, and so I would exhaust myself in the first half of the race and have nothing left in the tank at the end. Hopefully that won't be indicative of my blogging experience. The way I see it, the fear of inconsistency should never be reason enough not to experiment with something.

Anyway, the name of this blog comes from Jesus' teaching on the vine and the branches, specifically John 15:8 "This is to my father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."

The underlying question I hope to wrestle with in this blog (and all of life) is what does the fruit look like that Jesus expects of his disciples? In what way does it bring the Father glory? What does it mean to be a collection of people (the church) bearing fruit together such that the Father is pleased to dwell amongst our vineyard? OK, that was more than one question. But they all fall under the umbrella of wanting come to some understanding of what it means to be a part of God's mission in the world (more on "mission" later).

The only thing I'll mention here is that Jesus talks about fruit in the context of community. I'm convinced that we're so individualized in America that we can read "I" into just about anything. Part of what I'm coming to grips with is that God calls a people to reflect his presence to the world because an individual is incapable of that task alone. How could we expect to represent God to the world as individuals when God himself is a community of 3 in 1?

Whatever it is that he's calling us to (the kind of fruit), he's calling us to produce it together. The "you" in "you bear fruit" is plural in Greek, suggesting that the disciples identity as fruit-bearers of the kingdom was bound to each other as much as it was bound to Jesus. Their unity, together under Christ, is what was going to tell the world about the kind of God they served.