6 posts tagged “mission”

This clip is about six minutes long. You'll have to wade through two minutes of theology before he starts talking directly about art, but that first two minutes really set up what he has to say.

The first churches were concerned with balancing equal commitments to fostering their relationships with God, one another, and the world.  Like an equilateral triangle, where all three sides must be the same size, the early church recognized the equal importance of all three broad commitments.  In this respect, the essence of church is relationship and these three types of relationships interact so much that it is impossible to differentiate one from another.  We show our love for God in our love for others.  And we cannot be in a right relationship with the world if we are not living in a healthy relationship with God and his people.  Some communities of Christians are chiefly concerned with commission (parachurch evangelistic organizations);  others, communion (praise and worship conferences);  and others still, with community (the house-church movement), but we believe the local gathering of believers must work hard to develop equal commitments to all three.  Any emphasis on one at the expense of the others is folly.  For a church to claim that it "specializes" in worship or teaching is to ignore the whole counsel of the New Testament.  Worship that is in some way divorced from mission is counterfeit worship.  And likewise, a missioning community that is not informed, inspired, and renewed through godly worship is a pale shadow of what church should be.

In fact, we have found that the separation between the missioning and the worshiping communities within the church has been one of the tragedies of Christianity.  It might make sense for a large corporation to create departments that specialize in particular areas of the overall business, but the church is not a corporation.  When the worshiping community of the church delegated the responsibility for mission to parachurch organizations and the missionary societies, it killed part of the church.  Worship and mission and the development of Christian community must inform each other closely and regularly.

-from "The Shaping of Things to Come" by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch

Two weeks ago I spoke at a conference for Christian artists (kind of ...).  I spoke about my journey in learning about what/who we are to be as the church and a few insights I've come to.  It's a little bit disjointed, but I thought I'd share it here anyway.  This is what I wrote down to go by, but I didn't present it word for word.  At the moment, I added some things and left other things out, but these are still the basic ideas I put forth.

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About seven or eight years ago, I got really frustrated with the church and stopped going for a while.  During this time a friend let me borrow a book called “The Post-Evangelical” which dealt with what it means to be a Christian in a postmodern world.  That led me to read other books, listen to lectures, and attend conferences that were thinking along the same lines.  At the time it was refreshing to hear some of the disconnect and dissatisfaction I had been feeling affirmed, but after a while I noticed that that was almost all of what it was doing.  There was a lot of talk about how the traditional church had failed, but relatively little talk about what to do moving forward.  Every book/lecture/conference seemed to have the same things to say, just in different ways.

I ended up coming across the writings of N.T. Wright, who is a first century historian and theologian.  He has given me a much better perspective on who Jesus was (and is), what he accomplished, and what we're here to accomplish.  Modernity had a metanarrative that assumed that modernity itself was the climax of humanity.  Science would eventually break everything down into objective facts, and there would be no use for religion.  The Christian establishment reacted to that by essentially taking the same approach to doctrine:  the assumption was that we could eventually break the bible down into concise doctrines and timeless truths.  Realizing that metanarrative to be false and seeing how it is used to gain (and abuse) power, postmodernity rejected it, and as a result became highly suspicious of all metanarratives.  One frustration I've heard from Christians who are solidly grounded in modernity is that when they are trying to bring someone to Christ they hear something along the lines of “That may be true for you, but it's not for me.”  The conclusion that Wright reaches is that our reaction should be to affirm the assertion of postmodernity that the metanarrative of modernity is, in fact, false.  But the challenge is to realize that instead of throwing out all metanarratives, we are to recognize the true metanarrative, which is the story of God pursuing and eventually redeeming humanity through Jesus.  In this metanarrative, the cross is the climax and the resurrection is the beginning of a new creation.  Jesus died on a Friday.  Was in the tomb on the Sabbath – the day God rested.  And was raised on the first day of the week, signifying the beginning of the new creation.  In one place N.T. Wright  uses the analogy of Jesus as a composer writing a score and the Church as the orchestra (or whatever) that is to take that score and play it.  In other words, we cannot accomplish what Jesus accomplished, but we are to implement the Kingdom of God that Jesus was announcing.  Jesus' reply to Pilate that is so often translated “My kingdom is not of this world” is actually translated, perhaps more clearly, in the NRSV as “My kingdom is not from this world.”

So, these lines of though have been leading me to think more about how we can live out the mission that Jesus has called us to.  

This approach to ministry calls for a radically different way of looking at things, let alone doing things.  We need to read the bible as the story of God searching out humanity.  In Jesus' parables of the lost sheep, lost coin, and eventually lost son (which most of us know as the parable of the prodigal son) is is always the God character who is doing the searching.  We all know we need to think about the Church differently.  The image that I keep coming across is the parable of the wheat and weeds.  In this parable, the farmer sows good seed in his field, but an enemy sneaks in and sows weeds.  The farmer's servant asks if he should pull up the weeds and the farmer says to let them grow up together and the harvesters will sort it out at the harvest.  Statistically, the church is no different than the world at large.  We have the same divorce rates, the same unwed pregnancy rates, the same rates of bankrupcy, etc..  So why do we try to pretend that we are, and separate ourselves from the rest of the world?  We also need to change the way we think about people who aren't christians.  Every human has the image of God within them.  It's been distorted and covered by our sin, but it's still there.  Our job is to find that image within others and help it to grow.

I'm still trying to figure out how these things work out in practice.  The one thing I do know is that it will look very different in different contexts.  Some may look like what we traditionally think of as church, others will look nothing like what we think of as church.  We have to be okay with that.

I named my son Josiah, after the Old Testament king credited with restoring the Law of God and clearing the temple of idols and false Gods.  Last night, I wrote down under “dreams” that I want to raise my children with these ideas.  If we don't start changing things right now our children will have it so much harder than we ever have.  That's a real motivating thing for me.  I want to sow the seeds that my children can grow into something amazing.

“Christian mission in the postmodern world must be the means of the church grasping the initiative and enabling our world to turn the corner in the right direction.”
“The Challenge of Jesus” by N.T. Wright pg. 168

"It is important ... to distinguish between centered sets and bounded sets ....  The attractional church is a bounded set.  That is, it is a set of people clearly marked off from those who do not belong to it.  Churches thus mark themselves in a variety of ways.  Having a church membership roll is an obvious one.  This mechanism determines who's in and who's out.  The missional-incarnational church, though, is a centered set.  This means that rather than drawing a border to determine who belongs and who doesn't, a centered set is defined by its core values, and people are not seen as in or out, but as closer or further away from the center.  In that sense, everyone is in and no one is out.  Though some people are close to the center and others far from it, everyone is potentially part of the community in its broadest sense.

"A useful illustration is to think of the difference between wells and fences.  In some farming communities, the farmer might build fences around their properties to keep their livestock in and the livestock of neighboring farms out.  This is a bounded set.  But in rural communities where farms or ranches cover an enormous geographic area, fencing the property is out of the question.  In our home of Australia, ranches (called stations) are so vast that fences are superfluous.  Under these conditions a farmer has to sink a bore and create a well, a precious water supply in the Outback.  It is assumed that livestock, though they will stray, will never roam too far from the well, lest they die.  This is a centered set.  As long as there is a supply of clean water, the livestock will remain close by.

"Churches that see themselves as a centered set recognize that the gospel is so precious, so refreshing that, like a well in the Australian Outback, lovers of Christ will not stray too far from it.  It is then a truly Christ-centered model.  Rather than seeing people as Christian or non-Christian, as in or out, we would see people by their degree of distance from the center, Christ.  In this way, the missional-incarnational church sees people as Christian and not-yet-Christian.  It acknowledges the contribution of all people."
-Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch in "The Shaping of Things to Come"

To understand the difference between Christendom-like thinking and tghe emerging missional model, the following examples might help.  Recently it was reported that a congregation in a small rural town in Australia had taken an innovative step toward reaching its community.  A Melbourne newspaper announced, "Patrons of the Hamilton Hotel will soon be offered spirit of a different kind.  In an unusual conversion, the town's Baptist congregation - who are teetotalers - have taken over one of the six pubs."  The Hamilton community watched in amazement as the pub, located on main street opposite the local post office, was bought by the Baptist church and renovated into a church and conference center.  Its front bar was turned into a recreation area for young people and its dance area was rebuilt into a chapel and meeting room.  The bar was transformed into a coffee bar, the old pub now becoming an alcohol-free building.

In the article, various church leaders from Melbourne and the pastor of the Hamilton Baptist Church spoke of the relocation as innovative, creative, and daring.  However, one sour note was sounded.  Midway through the newspaper article a local from Hamilton is quoted.  "One of the hotel's former regulars, farmer Bruce McKellar, 71, said he would miss his corner of the bar.  'I would walk in and straight to it;  we all had our own space,' he said."  The implied sadness of this comment wasn't lost on us.  Farmer McKellar had been displaced from his personal seat at the bar, and though he had probably moved on to one of the other pubs, he would never again be welcomed at his favorite watering hole.  In Australia, like England, the local pub is a place of acceptance and friendship.  Patrons develop allegiances to their pubs and though they might visit one another occasionally, they feel a deep connection to their local (as it's called).  Though American bars can be less friendly, more forboding places, the myth perpetuated in the successful television show Cheers, about a place "where everybody knows your name," is true of most English and Australian pubs.  In Hamilton, farmers, tradesmen, and business people had been shooed out of the Hamilton Hotel to make way for the Baptists.

This project, though appearing innovative, in fact reflects Christendom thinking.  It assumes that the church belongs prominently on the main street, and it claims that the church has the right to take over a public space and clean out the local people while creating a so-called sanctified religious zone.  Whether it's in a pub, a school auditorium, or a two-hunred-year-old cathedral, it represents the same thinking.  ... What is needed is the abandonment of the strict lines of demarcation between the sacred and profane spaces in our world and the recognition that people today are searching for relational communities that offer belonging, empowerment, and redemption.

On the other side of the planet, in the English town of Bradford, another pub has been transformed by Christians.  The Cock & Bottle is a yellow, two-story English pub at the bottom of the street on the corner of Bradford's inner ring road.  Two years ago it was rented by the Bradford Christian Pub Consortium.  Bradford is a hardscrabble, working-class town.  It has been noted in recent times for its racial conflict and street violence.  But the Cock & Bottle represents a place of sanctuary and solace.  Malcolm Willis has been employed by the consortium to manage the pub, and he and his wife live upstairs above the bar.  He proves himself to be a genuinely missional leader when he says, "Jesus said go into all the world.  And this includes pubs.  He didn't say sit in your church and wait for people to come to you."  The willises and their staff (all Christians) have set about creating a loving, welcoming environment, where locals are cared for, listened to, and ministered to.  Says Willis, "Initially, many won't accept you talking about Jesus.  Maybe after you've listened to them ten or twenty times - which can be exausting - they might say 'Can you pray for me?  And then you see things happen."  The missional church always thinks of the long haul rather than the quick fix.

Of course, the dilemma about whether Christians should be serving alcohol or not is bound to arise.  Willis is himself a teetotaler, but he has an earthy and realistic outlook on the issue of drinking, "Yes, we're selling booze to people who could do without it, but if we don't, they'll just go somewhere else - at least if they're here, we can get alongside them.  I knew that when I came here I personally had to be seen not to drink, but I'm not everybody.  Someone once showed me Proverbs 31, which says, 'Beer and wine are only for the dying or for those who have lost all hope.  Let them drink and forget how poor and miserable they feel.  But you must defend those who are helpless and have no hope.'  So I have to ask, What would Jesus have done?  I think the Lord would have been here in the pubs."

There is a world of difference (and not just geographically) between the Cock & Bottle and the Hamilton Hotel.  The former is missional, incarnational, and very risky.  The latter is safe.  It demonstrates sound financial management (it was cheaper for the Baptist Church to renovate the pub then to build a brand-new building).  But it is classic Christendom thinking.
-from The Shaping of Things to Come by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch

I have mentioned a group that Lindsey and I are a part of who are trying to figure out what it means to be the church in today's world.  I thought I'd post the "manifesto" for this group for the rest of you to look at.  Be forewarned, it's quite long. 

One note:  Lindsey and I don't actually attend this church (Tri-Lakes) anymore.  I attended Tri-Lakes from about eleven years old to about twenty-six (minus about a year when I was frustrated with the church in general and had to get away).  Lindsey's father was the associate pastor there when I started attending.  We have since moved on to another church, but still have many strong ties to Tri-Lakes.  I happen to be a strong believer in churches working together.

Yet another note:  I had absolutely nothing to do with the writing of this manifesto.  Just thought you should know.
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Building Momentum

A MISSIONAL MOVEMENT @ TRI LAKES

Preface

The world and culture are constantly changing. Right now there is unprecedented change within the global community as ideas and values are being exchanged and meshed at phenomenal rates. The United States (and Michiana) is not excluded from this change.

In their book Lost in America, Tom Clegg and Warren Bird claim that the unchurched population of the United States is now the largest mission field in the English-speaking world and fifth largest globally. Obviously, current church models are not connecting well with emerging generations and the increasingly postmodern culture. The paradigm shift required to reach postmodern culture is no small one. It necessitates significant repositioning and new approaches if we are going to effectively engage in God’s mission today.

We see the need to experiment and explore new forms of church, intentionally engaging this emerging culture and discovering more about Jesus in the process. (TLCC Value # 9)

The Vision

Momentum is an attempt to take a fresh look at Christ and culture, exploring new avenues of church and mission, and allowing Jesus to transform us for his mission.

“It is important to recover the idea that the church connects with Jesus through mission, not through getting church services right.” ~Frost & Hirsch in The Shaping of Things to Come

With that in mind, our purpose is not to create a hipper, more ‘postmodern’ style of service, but rather a whole new approach to ministry and Christian community. Being part of Tri Lakes, we recognize and share the same core values, yet we are envisioning what they might look like in the context of this changing world.

Our hope is to become an expression of missional community at Tri Lakes that helps to create, resource, and inspire new endeavors that engage culture with the good news of Jesus Christ.

Dan Kimball states that church should be about “passionately inviting others into a radically alternative community and way of life as disciples of Jesus and Kingdom living.” We wholeheartedly affirm this and recognize that this community (or emerging form of church) is a living organism, like the New Testament church. It necessitates being organic in that we seek to be less focused on size and structure and more focused on mission, health, diversity, and multiplication – much like cellular models found in nature. (TLCC Values # 1,6,10)

Goal

The goal of Momentum flows out of its values in that we believe it is impossible to separate the end result from the process. Our goal is to cultivate a movement within Tri Lakes that not only effectively reaches the increasingly postmodern culture, but also inspires, energizes, and mobilizes the church to fulfill its mission through various diverse, creative expressions of the Kingdom of God. We see ourselves becoming a stepping stone for people who catch the vision and take the message of Jesus into new subcultures and locations. (TLCC Value # 8)

Values & Practices

In the way that talking about riding a bike is very different from riding a bike; values have little significance unless they affect what we do with our lives. They must become more than ideals to which we merely mentally ascribe. To help instill values, we will establish practices to assist in practically applying principles. Just like it “clicks” when we are learning to ride a bike and we can suddenly keep our balance and pedal, we believe that values are best learned when practicing them in tangible ways. In addition to the ten guiding values of Tri Lakes, Momentum will give particular attention to:

• Holistic approach toward life, faith, and ministry. Understanding that Christ is in all things and above all things, we desire to see disciples who view the Kingdom of God as a revolutionary lifestyle. Thoughts, actions, assumptions – indeed the entire essence of our being – must be submitted to the lordship of Jesus. (TLCC Value #1)

• Incarnational ministry. Jesus demonstrated the model of putting ‘flesh’ to God. He modeled how the Kingdom of God intersects with our world and with culture. Therefore we will seek to push ourselves out into community and live out our relationship with God in the context of the community. The goal is not to bring people back into our ministry, but rather to advance God’s kingdom by starting new forms of church right where people are.

• Missional lifestyle. We must engage in God’s mission. Missio Dei, meaning God is mission, drives our understanding of God’s interaction with the world. God constantly seeks out people to share himself with. We must be agents of this apostolic (sent) ministry to reconcile the world to God. Each of us is called to be a minister, and as such we each have a role to play. (TLCC Value # 2)

• Multiplication mindset. Our efforts will be for naught if new ideas, new leaders, and new forms of church that engage with culture aren’t produced out of our ministry.

• Creative, innovative, experimental. God is a creator, and as such we believe that ministry in his image dictates creativity. We will continually strive to seek new methods, new strategies, and new mediums with which we can create avenues for discussion and expression within our communities. A primary goal is also to foster an environment where creativity and imagination are highly valued and released to inform and shape us as we explore new opportunities.

Practices will be determined by mission and context for each individual/accountability group that is formed. However, there are a handful of practices we think should be the standards for our community that will help instill our values and provide opportunities for spiritual growth and conversations.

• Eating together. Intentionally eating with believers and non-believers to build relationships.
• Playing together. Seeking ways to interact with each other and with the unchurched through activities common to them, like joining a softball team, water skiing, a book reading club, bowling, card games, etc.

• Prayer and practicing the presence of Jesus. Jesus said his church would be a house of prayer. Since we ourselves are the church, our bodies must be temples of prayer and connectedness to God. We would like for people to commit to at least one hour a week of focused listening to God, along with learning to pray without ceasing the rest of the week.(1 Thess. 5:17) (TLCC Value # 3)

• Learning about God. Setting aside time daily to read the Bible, books, devotionals and the like to cultivate our relationship with God. (TLCC Value # 4)

• Accountability. This accountability isn’t about control. It’s about assisting each individual to live out their commitments to God. It’s relational accountability. (TLCC Value # 6)

Strategies/Methods

The strategies and methods are determined by our understanding of how Jesus engaged his culture – using language they could understand. At the same time we want to recapture the mystery and wonder of God. Jesus often spoke in parables that didn’t make sense to the hearers. It was almost as if he often made statements or posed questions that would stir up the spirit inside of people to seek God, without giving them the answer. This goes a little against our Christian culture today of attempting to present everything we think we know in the slickest presentation possible. Some strategies and methods are:

• Creative and holistic approach to spiritual development. We advocate using every gift (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers), along with various expressions of art, music, and media to create holistic disciples who can integrate faith and life. (TLCC Value # 5)

• Community meeting approach. We will organize our meetings in such a way that they will not be one-or-two-gift-oriented, meaning that we desire each gift to have a place rather than just the teaching gift or just the musical giftings being put on display.

• Small groups (accountability) arranged around a specific mission. Relationships centered on mission are the backbone of our ministry. The mission creates the energy and cohesiveness of the community. (TLCC Values # 2,6)

• Outward focused. We can’t extend God’s kingdom if we’re not engaging culture. As a community, we will constantly look for ways to get outside of ourselves by actively pursuing opportunities for service and relationship within the community. (TLCC Value # 9)

Leadership

Leadership is crucial. In this movement, leaders are catalysts who model Christ-like, missional lifestyles as well as help foster relationships, discipleship, and creativity.

We value each gift of every believer, and believe that “to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.” (Eph. 4:7) In Ephesians 4, Paul gives a list of the giftings Christ has given the church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. This ministry mix is crucial for the ongoing growth and furthering of the Kingdom. To that end, we will strive to cultivate those giftings within each believer as Christ has apportioned it by training, discipleship,and practical application. (TLCC Value # 5)

While it may at times be necessary to have one leader who can make decisions, we much prefer to make team decisions. That way, people with different giftings would be able to step forward and speak to the process. In practicality this ministry will not be led by a single “pastor” figure, but rather by a leadership team whose aim is to help all the other ministers (every believer) find their parts in the whole and pursue them.

Implementation

A good question would be to ask how we intend to attain these goals and bring our ideas to fruition. Truthfully, we’re not entirely sure about how to make it all happen, but we’re excited about the adventure of discovering how as the Holy Spirit leads us. Some initial ways we will begin building Momentum are:

• Prayer.

• Work out direction and vision with church leadership.

• Connect with individuals and groups within the congregation that may have interest in Momentum.

• Meet monthly with interest group to begin discussing vision and begin developing community. These meetings will involve a meal and be largely informal. During the process, interested persons can invite others that may be interested.

• Building on the progress of the interest group, begin meeting on the first and third Saturday evening of the month.

• Gradually begin putting leadership into place, teaching (with various methods) on values and principles that will foster Christ-likeness, establishing accountability groups, seeking out mission opportunities, and constantly re-evaluating and tweaking our methods.

• Continually seek ways to share with, encourage and be encouraged, and work together with the rest of the body at Tri Lakes.

• Engaging groups in mission to various locations and subcultures within our community, and allowing for relational and organic growth.

Conclusion

We hope and believe that Momentum will add energy and vitality to Tri Lakes. In its very nature, it will constantly be changing and re-posturing itself to engage the ever-changing culture – while remaining grounded on Jesus and staying connected to, and honoring, the church in all its forms. We are excited to see what comes of this ministry in the hopes of a beautiful collision of the Divine and humanity.

TLCC VALUES

1. Worship of God is the expected lifestyle of all believers and is expressed in an integrated life of prayer, intimacy, obedience and service that brings honor and glory to God.

2. Reaching lost people demonstrates that everyone matters to God and happens best as we intentionally build relationships to share Jesus, both individually and in small groups.

3. Listening to God speak his will and rule through the Holy Scriptures and through Spirit-anointed communication reveals and confirms God’s purposes for transformed daily living.

4. Continuous growth in the pursuit of our God-given destiny is our life-long goal and is best nurtured in small groups.

5. Equipping believers for life and service in the kingdom of God is the work of the five-fold ministry, and results in building up the body of Christ in freedom and to maturity. (Eph. 4:11-16)

6. Biblical community expressing unity and love flows from the Holy Spirit as we serve one another in humility and authenticity in accountable relationships.

7. Faithful stewardship of our time, possessions, money, abilities, and spiritual gifts allows the body of Christ to fulfill our calling to meet the needs of those God brings into our circle of influence.

8. Creative excellence honors God and inspires people and is the standard for all ministry.

9. Cultural relevance expressing Biblical truth enables us to “serve God’s purpose in our own generation.” (Acts 13:6)

10. Being the Radical Church is expressed by faithfulness to our New Testament roots, connecting to the historical radical church, and embracing the present move of God.