Showing posts with label Missional. Show all posts

To a new blogging home.

This blog is continuing over at WordPress.  You can find me now at www.epistleofjim.com.

Loved this video.  I think it illustrates quite well the paradigm shift many churches, denominations, and individuals are talking about.  It's looking at a more missional understanding of church. It's a little "American-centric" at the end...but if we overlook that I think it's helpful.

Enjoy.

Image by jakebouma via Flickr

“There is a growing phenomenon taking place concurrently within at least every sizeable region of the world today. People within numerous different tribal cultures and also people within the cultures of each of the major world religions are increasingly accepting Jesus without converting to Christianity and without joining churches. ” They are encountering Jesus in ways that change their lives forever, without them leaving one group for another.

“They are learning to discover for themselves what it means to be faithful to Jesus within their own cultures and within their own birth communities. Conversion for them is believed to be a matter of the heart and not one of joining a different, competing cultural community.

“It is usually the case that after a number of these individuals within the same community are following Jesus, they begin meeting regularly as a small group. Over time this expands into multiple small groups among the same people group or within the same country. Eventually, it becomes established as a full-fledged movement of believers in Jesus that is outside of Christendom. It becomes a Jesus movement within another tradition. Does this mean they are living their lives outside the boundaries of biblical faith? Or, are they merely living beyond the boundaries of Christendom as a competing community?

“How did Jesus live as a son of Israel? Did he create a separate and competing community from the one that was already there? Did he tell people to leave their synagogues? Did he start his own synagogues?”

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

I began to see that Jesus doesn’t call us to a life of ascent where we move further and further away from the things of this world. Rather, I believe he calls us to a life of descent, of downward mobility, where we move down into the trenches of real life, real pain, real hope in our own lives and in the lives of others.

This is in deep contrast to the life of upward mobility that the world — and sometimes the church — beckons us toward. A life of comfort, predictability, and self-protection was never the idea. Jesus embodied downward mobility and calls us to the same.

To me, downward mobility is a matter of the heart, not financial resources. It is losing our lives instead of protecting them. Giving away our hearts instead of insulating them. Intersecting with pain instead of numbing it out. Entering into relationship with people different from us instead of staying comfortably separated. Learning instead of teaching. Practicing instead of theorizing.

This is a cartoon from AsboJesus and I think it hits at an important part of the missional/attractional discussion.  For years, we've been telling the nonchurched folk in the world that they needed to be transformed into some "cookie cutter" Christian if they were to follow Jesus.  In Alaska, we told the native peoples they had to adopt our language and styles of dress.  In the US, becoming Christian is often seen as going hand in hand with becoming an upwardly mobile white American.  We've told people to not only become like us in faith, but become like us in culture, music tastes, politics, language, etc.  While I still want to say that following Christ involves a life-change (repentance and regeneration), it seems that we're not stressing the uniformity as much anymore.

Perhaps now we're getting around to understanding the variety of persons and personalities & cultures who love Jesus and can still manage to disagree on important issues.  It's the church that's adapting, with the realization that following Christ can be done in a myriad of ways.

Image by Paul C Reynolds via Flickr

Image via WikipediaGreat quote from missional leader, Alan Hirsch, when talking to Steve Manskar of the General Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church:

Image by marcopako  via FlickrI'm sort of an Apple fanboy.  I admit it.  I type this on my MacBook Pro.  I have my iPod in my pocket.  I'm a new user of an iPad.  We have a PC, too.  I'm comfortable on Microsoft products.  But, I really like the Mac stuff.  It just seems to make sense to me.  I know others have different experiences, but this is mine.  I switched to Mac about 8 years ago after a Dell laptop went dead with a motherboard problem and I was struggling with Windows ME -- which was a waste of an operating system.  I thought I'd give Apple "a fair shake" and haven't looked back.

One of the things I've bee interested in is the very different business model that Apple plays by.  I'm sure they've wanted a bigger piece of the PC pie.  But, even at 5-7% or whatever it is, they've made their money and they've made their fans.

But I've been amazed at how they've functioned.  In my PC days it was always a matter of getting faster, bigger, more powerful hardware.  And it was cool.  And, while it's still cool to get faster, bigger, more powerful hardware on the Mac, they've been much more holistic in their approach, looking at the total experience.  Perhaps it can be analogous to bigger, more powerful churches not necessarily providing the best experiences.

I read an article yesterday that furthered my thinking on this.  It's from Eric Jackson from Forbes Magazine.  It's called "Apple Doesn't Have an iPad Strategy, It Has A Post-PC Strategy."

Here are some select quotes:

We are looking at the forest instead of the trees when it comes to the current tablet wars between Apple, Google’s Android platforms like Motorola Xoom and Samsung’s Galaxy and Research in Motion’s soon-to-ship PlayBook.

Apple doesn’t look at their businesses through separate product groups.  They don’t have an iPhone strategy conceived of by people who never talk to the iPad corporate strategy people.  Take a step back and look at the forest: Apple is following a Post-PC Strategy.

Apple used the term “Post-PC” at least a dozen times in its most recent iPad keynote last month.  Apple doesn’t just slip words and phrases in its corporate messaging at random.  They are always deliberate.

So what is their Post-PC Strategy?  It is an iOS strategy.  They want to be the dominant operating system through your life – at home and on the move.  That sounds a little geeky but it means that they want you to be so delighted with your experience on the iPhone’s operating system that you want that same experience on your tablet.  After you are satisfied with that experience, you start to wonder why you are still using a PC versus a Mac or MacBook Air as your “desktop computer.”  And then that will extend to your television.

Image via WikipediaThis is from over at his blog, Reclaiming the Mission:

We need a different kind of leadership from you.

1.) We need a leader who puts forth ideas, vision by I saying “This is where/how I see God working. This is where I hear God calling us” and then ALWAYS submits that to the other person(s) asking – what are you seeing? Where are you going? Is this the way you are being called as well? NOT SOMEONE WHO SAYS “OK THIS IS THE VISION GOD HAS GIVEN ME FOR THIS CHURCH – CAN YOU FOLLOW ME? OR DO YOU NEED TO GO TO ANOTHER CHURCH?

2.) We need a leader who leads by listening and then knows when to ask (out of relationship) “can I speak truth into your life?” NOT SOMEONE WHO TELLS PEOPLE WHAT THEY NEED TO HEAR/DO BEFORE HE/SHE EVEN LISTENS

3.) We need a leader who never presumes authority but whose very presence and life makes people want to trust him/her and follow him/her. NOT SOMEONE WHO SEEMS TO ALWAYS BE ACTING OUT OF HIS/HER KNOWLEDGE, EXPERTISE OR PERCEIVED OFFICE.

4.) We need a leader who serves first by example, who embodies the disposition of being in everyday ministry/service to the hurting and then asks someone “can you join me on this?” NOT SOMEONE WHO RUNS THE CHURCH AS IF HE/SHE IS A CEO

5.) We need a leader who can unfurl the reality of the Lordship of Christ in the world and in each one’s life via Scripture, and then invite/challenge people to live there. NOT SOMEONE WHO USES SCRIPTURE TO PREACH A PRE-SCRIBED PRE-DETERMINED AGENDA FOR THE FUTURE ORGANIZATION OF THIS CHURCH.

6.) We need a leader who can cultivate the Kingdom in people, who can sit down with people over a cup of coffee, ask questions, and help each person see that God is “breaking in” through Jesus Christ working for the salvation of this person’s entire life and the people around him/her. And then ask, “how do you respond, how can you be faithful, how will you join in?” NOT SOMEONE WHO HAS A SET OF PRE DETERMINED PROGRAMS THAT HE/SHE WANTS EVERY PERSON TO VOLUNTEER FOR.

7.) We need a leader who can teach many more leaders how to be this kind of leader. NOT THE KIND OF LEADER THAT RECRUITS MORE LEADERS UNDER HIM/HER TO CARRY OUT HIS ORDERS.

Michael Frost speaks of Mission and Membership in the video below and gets at one of the main shortcomings of membership.  By focusing on membership, we focus too small.  We focus on the individual and their "personal" relationship with Jesus.  But, the mission of the church is much larger than this an involves participation in the unfolding of God's reign here on earth.  And, while we can talk about that in general terms, this really happens at a specific level.  It happens in specific places, gets recognized at a local level and gets celebrated there.  So, instead of trying to "fill the pews" we open people up to what the kingdom of God is already doing in our midst.


What does place have to say to the word "missional"? from Parish Collective on Vimeo.

(HT -- Brad Brisco)

Cover via Amazon“Allen’s charge against modern missions was that they had been tempted by their alliance with colonial powers to act as though the mission of the church could be pursued in the style of a cultural educational campaign, as though the object was to multiply replicas of the sending churches. In contrast Allen rightly saw that in the New Testament portrayal of mission the central reality is the active work of the living Holy Spirit himself. It is the Spirit who brings about conversion, the Spirit who equips those who are called with the gifts needed for all the varied forms of ministry, and the Spirit who guides the church into all the truth. The Spirit is not the property of the sending church or the missionary who is sent. It is not part of the missionary’s duty to mold the new church in to the style of the old. The Spirit is sovereign and free…”

Newbigin, The Open Secret, 130

(H/T -- The Next Reformation)

Image via WikipediaThis is from a beautiful reflection on a new type of church community in Edmonton, Canada.  It's a community called "We Care Marketplace."  While the bit about the community is beautiful...see a video of it below the quote...a love what Ron Cole says about the church over at The Weary Pilgrim.  It is a "missional" understanding.

Again, the question...what is church?

Jesus says in the gospel of John, " I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds."

In terms of my reflection, and musings on church, Jesus' words haunt me. No matter how I toss and turn, plug my ears, pull the sheets over my head...the confront me. For me, the church has to position itself in the brokenness of humanity, in the margins of our neighborhoods. To understand, to identify with...to be real neighbors...we have to be in relationship with " brokenness." We must allow them to teach us. We must be willing to learn, not just answer spiritual questions. For the church to move into this space, to occupy it and live in it...is real change.

Maybe, the church needs to die, and grasp it like the mustard seed...and have faith it can produce many seeds. I really believe in Jesus words there is radical scandalous redemptive imagination and power. We don't need " big " churches. Really, despite what the world tells us, " big is not always better." We need " lot " of small mustard seed communities, that are planted into the cracked and broken places of our neighborhoods. Change must be a reality in it's life. The reality of sustainability must be an ideal. Most of all, it must live as Jesus did. Also we should never fear death, we are resurrection people.

Image via WikipediaIn light of conversations over the last three days about Missional Church, I post this from NextReformation.  It was posted by len.

How 'bout you?

Image via WikipediaI saw a couple of blog posts last week from clergy type folk talking about what it is that they are learning about at this point in their ministry.  I thought I'd share some of the stuff I'm learning at this point.

1)  MISSIONAL THEOLOGY -- How the church participates in the MISSIO DEI -- The sending of God.  This is looking at the church as a place from which we are sent.  You have the church gathered (on Sunday AMs for instance) and the church sent (as we go from that place).  So primacy is placed on how people are the embodiment of Christ on the "other" days of the week.

2)  COMMUNITY BASED MINISTRY -- I think this comes before the missional theology.  For the last few years we've been working to turn Girdwood Chapel outward and be a place that is involved in ministry in the community.  Now that we have a new building, we're looking at how that space can be used to "be Christ" to the community and how we can love our neighbors through that space.

3)  MONEY --  We are in debt as a church.  I'm learning about the various ways we got to where we are and am part of conversation about how to get out, knowing that we need to continue to be involved in ministry as we do this.

4)  SMALL GROUPS -- Yeah, I've always known they are important for "disciple-making" and support, but it is taking on an urgency as I question how good a job we've been doing at making disciples.  And since I've been around over 10 years I can't say I haven't had time.

5)  ADMINISTRATION -- You don't go through a church-building process and not learn some of this.  There is a whole lot of coordination that has had to happen to get us where we are.

6)  RELYING ON THE POWER OF GOD -- The longer I've been in Girdwood, the less I've felt like I have the tools, the gifts to make stuff happen.  When I first came into ministry in 1994, I was pretty sure I could do this all myself.  I don't have that belief anymore.  I am dependent upon the power of God to do anything.

7)  TAKING CARE OF MYSELF -- I'm 41 years old, gettin' on 42 (where I think I'm supposed to learn the meaning of life, the universe, and everything).  I'm overweight.  I'm in a high stress job as I enter into people's pains and have administrative responsibility for a 1.5 million dollar facility and the care of the spiritual lives of about 75 persons, not counting community responsibilities for those who won't ever come to church.  Our family's been struggling with schedules with our 5 kids.  I haven't been real good at delegating.   I need to do better at taking care of myself. I'd like to be around for a while.

8)  JESUS -- Yeah, not a bad person to learn from.  But I'm finding the current sermon series on the person and work of Jesus to be refreshing.  Tough stuff.  Good stuff.  


I'm sure I could think of others if I took more time.  I'll probably do a little more reflection on this over the coming week and come back with some revisions. Now I need to go and get ready for worship.

God is good.  All the time.

And he ain't done with me yet.

photo © 2003 Dave Gilbert | more info (via: Wylio)
Ernest Goodman at Missions Misunderstood recently wrote:

There are too many ‘experts’ using the word ‘missional’ to refer to traditional missions or serving in the local elementary school. Without a radical shift in the basic understanding of what it means to be on mission, we’re just doing more of the same.

He’s right, but it is not just about orthopraxy. What is missed to often in the missional discussion is that it is not about what we do or how we do it, but about who we are. Missional is about a Jesus followers DNA. It is about a life where “the way of Jesus” informs and radically transforms our existence.

Image by kevincole via Flickr