tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83844390108127640202024-03-13T16:28:32.608-05:00A Missional ConversationSitting around a table with a cup of coffee or beer and losing track of time as we start to talk about the church and everything God is doing in the world...The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-9017892214535855332013-10-08T10:53:00.000-05:002013-10-08T10:53:29.618-05:00Fundraising $3,000 for a Seminary in the Dominican RepublicDear Friends,<br />
<b>I'd like to ask you to consider donating money to fund two courses at a new seminary in the Dominican Republic.</b> Before I do that, let me share some of the background story with you. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-52MUD7KSPNI/UlQfTR93fyI/AAAAAAAAAFA/jilQTtrJPlA/s1600/brian+johnson+dr+go.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-52MUD7KSPNI/UlQfTR93fyI/AAAAAAAAAFA/jilQTtrJPlA/s320/brian+johnson+dr+go.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brian Johnson teaching local pastors in the D.R.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Brian Johnson (pictured above), a good friend of mine and my
mentor while I was in college, has recently started a seminary in the
Dominican Repulic in partnership with G.O. Ministries (<a href="http://www.go-ministries.org/">http://www.go-ministries.org/</a>).
The school has already proven hugely transformational in the lives of a
significant number of local pastors (some of whom are pictured below).<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4EjuBXfBKS4/UlQdpgWJaGI/AAAAAAAAAE0/3Uhj7TftJpY/s1600/go+students.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4EjuBXfBKS4/UlQdpgWJaGI/AAAAAAAAAE0/3Uhj7TftJpY/s320/go+students.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the seminary's first students.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Brian has invited me to come down to the D.R. to teach a course titled <b>"The Missionary Nature of the Church"</b> at the seminary. The course will largely focus on studying the mission of God and his people in the Bible and will serve as part of G.O.'s effort to help local churches in the D.R. discover ways to announce and demonstrate the Good News of God's Kingdom to their neighborhoods and cities.<br />
<br />
I will travel to the D.R. on Thanksgiving Day of this year and will spend 10 days teaching the course to various groups of students and speaking in local churches. If the first course goes well, I will return to the D.R. in March to teach a follow up course on Christian leadership and how to apply the previous teachings to ministry in the local church.<br />
<br />
Brian has asked me to fund raise about $1,500 per trip. Roughly $500 will go toward covering the travel expenses related to getting me to Santiago. The other $1,000 will cover all the expenses of running the class and provide scholarships for the local pastors participating in the course. In total, I am seeking to raise $3,000 to run two courses at the seminary, one in November 2013 and one in March 2014.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Please consider funding these two courses through a generous donation. Instructions on how to make a tax-deductible donation through G.O. Ministries are listed below:</b><br />
<ol>
<li>Go to <a href="http://www.go-ministries.org/give/donate">http://www.go-ministries.org/give/donate</a>.</li>
<li>Click on the "Click Here to Give Online" button near the bottom of the page.</li>
<li>Check the box (top left) that says "One-Time Donation."</li>
<li>Type in the amount you would like to give in the appropriate text box.</li>
<li>Choose "Mission Trip Donation" as the Program type.</li>
<li>Enter my name "Scott R Nelson" as the Recipient. </li>
<li>Click the "Next" button at the bottom of the page.</li>
<li>Follow the prompts to enter and then verify your contact information.</li>
<li>Follow the prompts to process your donation with a major credit card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or Discover).</li>
</ol>
Thanks ahead of time for you generous support! I'm thrilled that God has provided me this opportunity to take what I have learned through my own personal experiences and through my Ph.D. studies to help my brothers and sisters in Christ in another part of the world discover how they can lead their churches to faithfully participate in God's mission of redeeming and reconciling our world.<br />
<br />
Please contact me if you have any questions - 440-527-3327; nelson5520@gmail.com.<br />
<br />
Peace to you,<br />
Scott Nelson <br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-52MUD7KSPNI/UlQfTR93fyI/AAAAAAAAAE8/eworrybQxcs/s1600/brian+johnson+dr+go.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a></div>
The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-71422433283534978992012-02-08T16:46:00.002-06:002012-02-08T16:46:17.056-06:00MIchael Welker on the Spirit of GodPowerful text about the power of the Holy Spirit from Welker's <i>God the Spirit</i> p. 3:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<span style="font-family: "Tw Cen MT"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">The Spirit of God makes God’s power knowable. The
Spirit reveals the power of God in an on human beings and in an on their fellow
creatures. The Spirit reveals this power through them and for them. The Spirit
makes it possible to know the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">creative
power of God</i>, which brings the diversity of all that is creaturely into
rich, fruitful, life-sustaining fortifying, and protective relations. The Spirit
of God reveals the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">power of God’s mercy</i>,
which God extends particularly to the weak, the neglected, the excluded, and
the infirm. The Spirit enables God’s glory to be known through creatures and
for creatures precisely inasmuch as what is weak becomes strengthened, what is
excluded is reintegrated, and what is infirm is enabled to stand erect and
healthy.</span>
</blockquote>The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-30685615785921783572012-01-06T10:36:00.002-06:002012-01-06T10:37:27.098-06:00A Divine Irony: The God of Peace and the War Against ViolenceMy wife and I worshiped with my sister-in-law and her church community while out in Seattle, WA on New Year's Day. As is their custom, the church did not follow their regular worship routine, but instead had an open mic time for people to share how God had been at work in their lives during the previous year. I did not have a chance to share that day, so I thought I would jot down what came to my mind on my blog instead.<br />
<br />
If I had had the chance to share that day, I would have told of the ways God has brought peace and reconciliation to my neighborhood. My neighborood--a 12-unit condominium complex--has been my mission field for five years now. Since I moved into my unit in May 2006, I have wanted to make a difference in the lives of all who live their by showing them the love of God, adding value to their lives, and by fostering community among our small association. The results of my efforts have been mixed to say the least, but 2009-2010 were particularly dismal as fights, conflicts, and association issues dominated my interaction with most of my neighbors.<br />
<br />
I found myself often playing the role of mediator and peace-maker as the fighting continued. Often I had friends on both sides of the fight and was stuck in the middle trying to preserve relationships while also needing to weigh in on what I thought was just and fair. It was a struggle for me and often drove me to desperate prayer. God acted on those prayers in a huge way in 2011. The details or specifics of the fights and how they were resolved are not really that important. Instead, I simply wish to convey that the fighting miraculously stopped. It is true that we all worked hard to try to come to agreements on different things, but no matter how close we got issues would just persist. God ended it all in 2011 though, bringing ending to conflict and new community among our neighbors.<br />
<br />
Conflict decreased and community increased in a couple of ways. First, the conflicts and issues simply took care of themselves by no effort of our own. One day we all of the sudden find out something had been fixed without our knowledge or something had changed that made a fight irrelevant. The second change came about through a yard sale. Andrea and I decided to collect a bunch of stuff from friends so that we could sell it all and donate the proceeds to charity. We were surprised to find that though we raised and donated $1,200, our biggest accomplishment was creating more community in our neighborhood by organizing a shared project for us to undertake together. A bunch of our neighbors chipped in to help and we were able to thank them by having them each over for dinner, finally giving us a chance to become a little more involved in their lives.<br />
<br />
This is the story I would have shared if I had been given the opportunity during that open mic time. I wouldn't have shared the details of the story, but the profound and ironic truth that struck me as I reflected upon what God has done. The truth is simply this: we worship a God of peace who is waging a war against violence. God loves peace and reconciliation and crushes all conflict and discord that stands in the way. I love the irony of Romans 16:20 - "The God of <b>peace</b> will soon <b>crush</b> Satan under your feet." I also love Psalm 18, where God is pictured as ripping apart the heavens and thundering through the skies to rescue his people from destruction and to bring peace amidst a world of violence.<br />
<br />
I guess my good news for 2012 (based upon what I saw God do in 2011) is this: <b>we worship a God of peace who is waging a devastating war against violence, death, and destruction. Through Jesus Christ God has already defeated the powers of death and destruction in an irreversible way. The Christian community is a sign and foretaste of this peace, both pointing the world to the coming peace of God and giving it a true taste of what that peace will look like.</b><br />
<b> </b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant
brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the
sheep, <sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-30263">21</sup> equip you with
everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is
pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and
ever. Amen. (Heb 13:20-21)<b> </b></blockquote>The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-73093749182150314032011-12-01T15:04:00.001-06:002011-12-01T15:36:58.269-06:00Living God's StoryTwo profound statements about God and story rocked me last week. One statement came from my 5 yr old nephew; the other from two accomplished theologians. Together they have been a potent reminder to me of the need for Christians to live out the story of God in western cultural contexts.<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><b>From Joshua David Plumley (5 yrs old)</b> - My nephew recently asked me to read to him from his children's Bible. I readily agreed and asked, "Which story would you like me to read?" He thought on this question a moment and said, "Um, Uncle Scott, I think there is only one." If you have seen the Charles Schwab commercials where two people are typing messages to one another until one says something profound, causing the other person to look off into the distance in pensive silence, then you can picture the scene from my story-time experience with Josh. His comment was a powerful reminder to me that the Bible is first and foremost a singular story, a story about a God who out of his love creates and redeems all things.</li>
<li><b>From Richard Bauckham and Trevor Hart (Hope Against Hope, 1999) </b>- Bauckham and Hart claim western cultural contexts have moved from the pre-modern (traditional) focus on the past and the modern (progressive) focus on the future to the postmodern (or late-modern) focus on the present. In light of the collapse of the secular myth of progress that began with Enlightenment focus upon human capacity to create and master nature and the future, Bauckham and Hart suggest that people have now largely turned away from hope-filled views of the future. Instead, people seem to be opting for a focus on the present time, trying to cram as much as possible into each present moment as an effort to extend the present and avoid any concerns of ultimate meaning in future or history. After making this diagnosis of western cultural contexts, the authors claim that Christians must tell a different story of hope. Not a story of hope that is based upon human capacity to master the future and create utopia, but hope in the promise of God to bring his kingdom in the new creation. Christians must tell a story of hope in God that is built upon a faith in God because of the things he has already done and a trust that God will complete what has already been started through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The authors concluded their work by calling Christians not just to tell a different story of hope, but to live the story by taking their identity in the story and by shaping all of their actions in anticipation of the end of the story.</li>
</ol>
From the mouth of a babe and from the pens of two theologians came this powerful reminder to me: I need to live out the hope of God in my actions, attitudes, and words every day. The most powerful witness in cultures that have witnessed the failure of hope and now live with skepticism to stories of ultimate meaning is to live a life based on the faithfulness of God to fulfill what he has promised: to make all things new as he brings them into his presence for all eternity. <br />
<br />
In a way, this is all just a more sophisticated way of saying the same message I learned through a poem my mother gave to me as a child:<br />
<i>You are writing the Gospel, a chapter a day</i><br />
<i>By the things that you do and the words that you say.</i><br />
<i>People read what you write, whether faithful or true.</i><br />
<i>Just what is the Gospel, according to you?</i><br />
<i> </i><br />
Now to figure out how to live a life of hope, a life based on God's story, in a cultural context often preoccupied with the pleasures of the present moment. A difficult, but necessary task: to live God's story faithfully in, for, with, and against my local context.<i></i><br />
<br />The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-83156689931584411522011-11-14T10:54:00.001-06:002011-11-15T13:37:24.783-06:00Is there room for Patriotism in the Mission of God?I turned on the tv late Saturday evening (11/12/11) to watch a bit of the Stanford vs. Oregon college football game. Before getting the channel on to ABC, I happened to notice the republican presidential debate on CBS and ended up spending the next 45minutes listening to the candidates spew their republican rhetoric (debates are maddening to me because they are all rhetoric, not real content. Questions are rarely answered with anything but token party lines. But I digress . . . ). The topic of the night seemed to be national security as the moderators were focusing their questions on Iran, Pakistan, foreign aid, China's cyber attacks on the USA, and the use of torture.<br />
<br />
As soon as the debate ended (it was cut short so CBS could air NCIS on time...sigh), two thoughts crossed my mind: (1) the only republican candidates for whom I would even consider voting are Jon Huntsman and Ron Paul and (2) for as much as Republicans try to appeal to Christians, most of what I heard touted during the debate was completely antithetical to the teachings I find in the Bible (or, more honestly, my understandings of those teachings).<br />
<br />
For example:<br />
<ul>
<li>many candidates bemoaned all Foreign Aid the united states offers because we need to solely be focused on our own interests.</li>
<li>Romney and Gingrich both supported Obama's executive order to have Anwar al-Awlaki (an american citizen) killed without trial or any other process of due dilligence. [At least Romney was booed for this, but probably because he was supporting Obama]</li>
<li>Rick Perry said we need to make the next century the American Century. He went on to say we need to ensure China ends up on the "ash heaps of history" just like Regan predicted Russia would end up on the ash heap of history. Apparently the sufferings of other countries are perfectly acceptable if it leads to the benefit of America.</li>
<li>Not a single candidate really talked about globalization, the need for cooperation, responsibility for fellow human beings, or care and concern for anyone outside of America.</li>
<li>Bachman complained that we don't have any jails overseas where we can hold and interogate terrorists without ever giving them a fair trial.</li>
<li>Only Hunstman and Paul spoke against waterboarding and truly opposed torturing human beings as a means of protecting the united states. All other candidates tried to denounce torture while not actually denouncing methods of torture.</li>
</ul>
<br />
Now, I know these are all complex issues and I am not trying to make light of them or to necessarily say I have thought them all thought-out and have clear-cut stances. But what came through loud and clear in the debates was this: <b>"We need to protect and promote American prosperity no matter what the cost is to the rest of the world."</b> If that doesn't cause some discomfort to the Christian, I suggest he or she might actually want to read the Gospels. <br />
<br />
So, in light of the rhetoric promoting America's greatness I thought I would simply remind us that Christians in America are not citizens of America who are to look after the needs of America at all costs. Rather, we are citizens of the kingdom of heaven, the realm where God rules and the realm where we work for his purposes at all costs. The following verses remind us of this:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Philippians 3:20 - 21: <sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-29442">20</sup> But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, <sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-29443">21</sup>
who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his
control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his
glorious body.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Hebrews 13:14: For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. </blockquote>
As we look forward to the kingdom of God, to the time when God's rule and his presence will completely recreate everything as we know it into full perfection, we shape our lives based on the ideals of that kingdom. So even though that kingdom is still out there in the future ahead of us, it is present in the way we live as the church of Jesus Christ. Our present lives are to be shaped by the kingdom. This means that we are more concerned with the rights of the poor, marginalized, and broken than those of the rich and powerful; more concerned with universal justice than the rights of one country; more concerned with human dignity, safety, and opportunity than personal or national security.<br />
<br />
The dramatic narrative of the Bible reveals to us a God who is on a mission to renew his creation so that peoples of every tongue and tribe can live eternally in his presence and under his glorious rule. If all peoples belong to the new creation and if the Christian is called to live in the present as a citizen of this new kingdom even though it remains to be fully realized in the future, I ask this simple question without offering a clear cut answer: Is there room for nationalistic patriotism in the mission of God?The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-62432102770678169412011-09-27T14:50:00.005-05:002011-09-27T14:56:57.592-05:00I Let Jesus Sleep in My Tent Last WeekA friend of mine called me a few weeks ago to ask if I could help him find a place to sleep for the night. He has not had a place to live for quite a while and is having a rather difficult time getting healthy, staying sober, and finding work. My wife and I have tried to do some small things to help meet some of his needs since I first met him and became his friend at a Caribou Coffee about a year ago now. He still goes on and on every time we see him about the time we let him take a shower at our place and the shoes we once bought for him. I've also visited him in the hospital, put him in a hotel for a night so he could get out of the cold, and even gave him one of my favorite travel mugs so he could save 50 cents on every cup of coffee he buys at Caribou.<br />
<br />
At times, it is easy to think that the things we have done for our friend place us into the ranks of the missional elite, those who are concerned with the poor, the broken, and the hurting who are all around them. It is tempting to believe that my wife and I have arrived at a full understanding of what it really means to take up our crosses and follow Christ by self-sacrificially serving the purposes of God as we serve others. The last few weeks have taught me that I have a lot to learn about following Jesus into a life of love.<br />
<br />
Back to the story . . . so my friend calls me a few weeks ago asking if I can help him find a place to stay for the evening because he was afraid he couldn't get into the homeless shelter and the weather was supposed to get cold. I was quite busy when he called as I was running a huge yard sale to raise money for a charity some friends of mine started and had a house literally filled with donations for the sale, so I told him the best I could do for him was to let him sleep in my tent out in our back yard. When he had called with the same kind of request in the past, we either raised some money to put him up in a hotel or tried to find someone to house him, but this week I just did not have the time to do either because my missional quota was being filled by the yard sale (which was great, by the way. We raised nearly $1,200, enough to put 12 students in Haiti through school for a year through my friends' charity).<br />
<br />
Fortunately, my friend was able to get into the shelter and did not have to sleep in my tent. He called again a week or two later, worried once more about not having a place to stay. He asked if he might be able to sleep in our tent, along with a woman-friend of his. I told him we would be more than happy to help him out in this way and made all the arrangements. We set up the tent, picked them both up at the train station, let them use our shower/bathroom, and provided the necessities for a good night's sleep (sleeping bags, blankets, pillows, flashlight, etc.)<br />
<br />
Then Andrea and I went to bed ourselves, enjoying our queen-sized bed w/ pillow topper and plush pillows (she uses two, I use three). My fans were gently circulating the air for maximum comfort and for white noise to block any disturbances that might be caused from the traffic outside. As comfortable as I was, (and trust me, we know how to do comfort!) I couldn't sleep. I was haunted by this simple thought: I am letting Jesus sleep in my tent while I am comfortable in my nice bed.<br />
<br />
Jesus taught his followers in Matthew 25 to consider all the things they did or did not do for the "least of these" as things they did or did not do for him. The message was clear: every time you serve and love the poor, the broken, the marginalized, the sick, the weary, the widow, the stranger, the orphan, etc., you serve and love Jesus. Every time you ignore their needs or fail to love them, you ignore and fail to love Jesus. Or perhaps, the message could be said like this: every time you stay in your own plush bed while making the needy sleep on the cold, hard ground in a small tent, you are really letting Jesus sleep in your tent instead of giving him the best of what you have.<br />
<br />
I guess I have made some progress from where I once was and I suppose I can be proud of the fact that I have been able to help my friend in the small ways that I have. After last week, though, I also know that I have a long way to go if I truly am to love the world in the way of Jesus.<br />
<br />
Here's the kicker: my friend planned on staying in the tent a couple of nights, until he knew for sure that he could get into the shelter. My wife and I planned on trying to find a way to get him and his woman-friend into our house so they wouldn't be so cold the next night, but I never heard from either of them. Finally, I gave him a call to see if he and his companion needed a place to stay. He said they were going to sleep in a local parking garage instead of our tent because his friend had been a bit uncomfortable with us and the arrangements we provided. I guess I didn't just let Jesus sleep in my tent. I also let him sleep in a parking garage. I hate to think what other things I have done to Jesus in my inability to give up my own needs, comforts, and desires.<br />
<br />
May God grants us all the power of his Holy Spirit so that we might truly provide for those in need, even if it costs us a good night's sleep.<br />
<br />
<br />The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-49993182964051934782011-09-26T10:47:00.000-05:002011-09-26T10:47:01.074-05:00Celebrating the Gospel over Eggs and BaconAndrea and I have been dreaming about hosting a worship gathering in our home for some time now. The gathering we envision is a bit different than we have experienced previously and may be different than what you are used to as well. Right now, we're planning on doing this once a month.<br />
<br />
We are hoping some friends will join us on Sunday at 10:30 for a potluck breakfast and a time of gathering together to celebrate who God is, wh<span class="text_exposed_show">at he has done, and what he has promised to be and do in the future. We will enjoy great food, experience community around the breakfast table, read from the Scriptures, share from our thoughts and experiences, discern the leading of the Holy Spirit and offer our praises to God as we celebrate the Gospel (Eucharist, Communion, whatever you want to call it!).</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show">I have a vision to see this gathering be a celebration much like the gatherings of families across the world for holidays. Andrea and I are going to try to cultivate a celebratory atmosphere that will encourage people to be excited about who God is and what he is doing. While I do have visions in my head for how this might look, I'm really trying to leave it open to what God wants to do with this and open to the uniqueness and creativity of those who choose to participate.<br />
</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show"></span><br />
<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show">[If you live in the area and want to come, please do so! Bring a bible, a breakfast dish to share, and a celebratory attitude as we party together because of the Good News of God through Jesus Christ!<br />
For those of you who are CCCHers, we selected 10:30 as the time so you could still go to the 9:00 a.m. worship service at CCCH if you want.]</span>The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-26739633381201267712011-08-30T10:19:00.000-05:002011-08-30T10:19:16.516-05:001 - sell your stuff. 2 - give to the poor.I've always found Luke 12 to be a challenging chapter of the gospel, particularly vs 27-34:<br />
<blockquote><blockquote><span class="woj">“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.</span> <span class="woj"><sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-25488">28</sup> If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!</span> <span class="woj"><sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-25489">29</sup> And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it.</span> <span class="woj"><sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-25490">30</sup> For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them.</span> <span class="woj"><sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-25491">31</sup> But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.</span> <br />
<span class="woj"><sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-25492">32</sup> “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.</span> <span class="woj"><sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-25493">33</sup> Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.</span> <span class="woj"><sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-25494">34</sup> For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.</span></blockquote></blockquote>Jesus was teaching his followers not to fear or worry about their sustenance, but to be radicals who sold their possessions for the benefit of the poor. The reason Jesus provided for this action was that his followers ought to be so concerned about the kingdom of God that their own livelihood paled in comparison; their possessions no longer were to be of great importance.<br />
<br />
Andrea and I have recently been promoting an upcoming benefit yard sale and bake sale we are organizing for <a href="http://www.renewhopehaiti.com/">Renew Hope: Haiti</a>, a non-profit organization friends of our started in order to help plant churches, launch schools, and develop communities in Haiti. We are not only promoting the event, but are trying to contribute a good amount of our stuff as possible. Part of the motivation to get rid of our stuff comes from the fact that our condo is less than 800 sq ft and feels cluttered if we amass to many possessions. The main motivations, however, are (or at least should be) to simplify our lives so that we can live unencumbered before God and to seek God's kingdom on this earth by generously fighting for the needs of the poor.<br />
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It's strange that despite the desire to have an uncluttered home/life and the desire to live under the reign of God on this earth, it is still difficult to part with stuff. Even silly stuff that I no longer use can be hard to toss into the give away pile. There was the pool cue I used as a kid in my parent's basement, the ping pong paddle that stayed with me during my college years, and the roller blades I got in order to enjoy the many nice bike paths around me. None of these things are a major part of my life and, except for the roller blades, I don't even really have any way to use them. Yet the memories and the potential for fun made we want to hold onto them.<br />
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We're not getting rid of everything we own, but we are trying to part with things we want to keep because we know that we have so many possessions compared to so much of the world. It's easy to just get rid of your junk when doing a yard-sale. Donating something that actually means something is much harder to do, but may perhaps be much more significant to living a simple life and being able to give generously to the poor.<br />
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Sell your stuff. Give to the poor. Simple on paper. Hard to do. Necessary for discipleship in our affluent, consumer-based, American-contexts.<br />
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A friend once told me that he tries to live by the motto, "If you can't pack up all your stuff and move in one hour, you have too much stuff." We're definitely note there, but hopefully we can get closer to that goal so that their can be a little more justice in the world and so that our lives can be simple, stress-free, and open to the mission and movements of God in the world around us.The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-4136601194363549302011-01-17T17:26:00.000-06:002011-01-17T17:26:21.081-06:00Martin Luther King Jr.s' LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAILMartin Luther King Jr. was arrested for the thirteenth time on April 12, 1963. The location of this thirteenth arrest was Birmingham, Alabama, where King and fifty others were arrested for defying an injunction upon protests issued by the city. King’s stay in the Birmingham jail was relatively short, but gave King time to write the new famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” as a response to eight white clergymen who had criticized King by saying he had acted too soon, had not allowed the new mayor enough time to make changes, and had unnecessarily broken the law.<br />
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The open letter that King wrote upon scraps of newspaper provided to him by a janitor and upon a small legal pad provided to him by his attorneys is a powerful piece of rhetoric condemning the eight clergy for being too slow to take action and for putting too much trust in the court system. King’s letter contains now famous statements such as "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," as well as the words attributed to William Ewart Gladstone quoted by King: "Justice too long delayed is justice denied." <br />
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In an effort to call the white clergy and their congregations out of their inaction and neglect, King wrote:<br />
<blockquote>There was a time when the church was very powerful--in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. <i>In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society</i> (emphasis added). </blockquote>King proceeded to paint a picture of the cultural transformation occurring under the influence of the early church: <br />
<blockquote>Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators."' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests. </blockquote>King’s letter is an important cultural and theological artifact. It is reprinted below as a historic example of theological action seeking to participate in cultural transformation. It is a bit long, but very powerful and definitely worth 10 minutes to read.<br />
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<b>16 April 1963</b><br />
My Dear Fellow Clergymen:<br />
While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.<br />
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I think I should indicate why I am here in Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the view which argues against "outsiders coming in." I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Frequently we share staff, educational and financial resources with our affiliates. Several months ago the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct action program if such were deemed necessary. We readily consented, and when the hour came we lived up to our promise. So I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here. I am here because I have organizational ties here.<br />
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But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.<br />
Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.<br />
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You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.<br />
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In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action. We have gone through all these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known. Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. On the basis of these conditions, Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good faith negotiation.<br />
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Then, last September, came the opportunity to talk with leaders of Birmingham's economic community. In the course of the negotiations, certain promises were made by the merchants--for example, to remove the stores' humiliating racial signs. On the basis of these promises, the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and the leaders of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights agreed to a moratorium on all demonstrations. As the weeks and months went by, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise. A few signs, briefly removed, returned; the others remained. As in so many past experiences, our hopes had been blasted, and the shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us. We had no alternative except to prepare for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and the national community. Mindful of the difficulties involved, we decided to undertake a process of self purification. We began a series of workshops on nonviolence, and we repeatedly asked ourselves: "Are you able to accept blows without retaliating?" "Are you able to endure the ordeal of jail?" We decided to schedule our direct action program for the Easter season, realizing that except for Christmas, this is the main shopping period of the year. Knowing that a strong economic-withdrawal program would be the by product of direct action, we felt that this would be the best time to bring pressure to bear on the merchants for the needed change.<br />
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Then it occurred to us that Birmingham's mayoral election was coming up in March, and we speedily decided to postpone action until after election day. When we discovered that the Commissioner of Public Safety, Eugene "Bull" Connor, had piled up enough votes to be in the run off, we decided again to postpone action until the day after the run off so that the demonstrations could not be used to cloud the issues. Like many others, we waited to see Mr. Connor defeated, and to this end we endured postponement after postponement. Having aided in this community need, we felt that our direct action program could be delayed no longer.<br />
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You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.<br />
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One of the basic points in your statement is that the action that I and my associates have taken in Birmingham is untimely. Some have asked: "Why didn't you give the new city administration time to act?" The only answer that I can give to this query is that the new Birmingham administration must be prodded about as much as the outgoing one, before it will act. We are sadly mistaken if we feel that the election of Albert Boutwell as mayor will bring the millennium to Birmingham. While Mr. Boutwell is a much more gentle person than Mr. Connor, they are both segregationists, dedicated to maintenance of the status quo. I have hope that Mr. Boutwell will be reasonable enough to see the futility of massive resistance to desegregation. But he will not see this without pressure from devotees of civil rights. My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals.<br />
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We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."<br />
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We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five year old son who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness"--then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience. You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may well ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all."<br />
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Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an "I it" relationship for an "I thou" relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful. Paul Tillich has said that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression of man's tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court, for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong.<br />
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Let us consider a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal. Let me give another explanation. A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up that state's segregation laws was democratically elected? Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute a majority of the population, not a single Negro is registered. Can any law enacted under such circumstances be considered democratically structured?<br />
Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First-Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest.<br />
I hope you are able to see the distinction I am trying to point out. In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.<br />
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Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience.<br />
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We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's antireligious laws.<br />
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I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.<br />
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I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.<br />
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In your statement you assert that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But is this a logical assertion? Isn't this like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery? Isn't this like condemning Socrates because his unswerving commitment to truth and his philosophical inquiries precipitated the act by the misguided populace in which they made him drink hemlock? Isn't this like condemning Jesus because his unique God consciousness and never ceasing devotion to God's will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion? We must come to see that, as the federal courts have consistently affirmed, it is wrong to urge an individual to cease his efforts to gain his basic constitutional rights because the quest may precipitate violence. Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber. I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relation to the struggle for freedom. I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He writes: "All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth." Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.<br />
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You speak of our activity in Birmingham as extreme. At first I was rather disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist. I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self respect and a sense of "somebodiness" that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle-class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best known being Elijah Muhammad's Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro's frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible "devil."<br />
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I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the "do nothingism" of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. For there is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. I am grateful to God that, through the influence of the Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle. If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am convinced, be flowing with blood. And I am further convinced that if our white brothers dismiss as "rabble rousers" and "outside agitators" those of us who employ nonviolent direct action, and if they refuse to support our nonviolent efforts, millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace and security in black nationalist ideologies--a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare.<br />
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Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained. Consciously or unconsciously, he has been caught up by the Zeitgeist, and with his black brothers of Africa and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America and the Caribbean, the United States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward the promised land of racial justice. If one recognizes this vital urge that has engulfed the Negro community, one should readily understand why public demonstrations are taking place. The Negro has many pent up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. So let him march; let him make prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; let him go on freedom rides -and try to understand why he must do so. If his repressed emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence; this is not a threat but a fact of history. So I have not said to my people: "Get rid of your discontent." Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. And now this approach is being termed extremist. But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal . . ." So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime--the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.<br />
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I had hoped that the white moderate would see this need. Perhaps I was too optimistic; perhaps I expected too much. I suppose I should have realized that few members of the oppressor race can understand the deep groans and passionate yearnings of the oppressed race, and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action. I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers in the South have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it. They are still all too few in quantity, but they are big in quality. Some -such as Ralph McGill, Lillian Smith, Harry Golden, James McBride Dabbs, Ann Braden and Sarah Patton Boyle--have written about our struggle in eloquent and prophetic terms. Others have marched with us down nameless streets of the South. They have languished in filthy, roach infested jails, suffering the abuse and brutality of policemen who view them as "dirty nigger-lovers." Unlike so many of their moderate brothers and sisters, they have recognized the urgency of the moment and sensed the need for powerful "action" antidotes to combat the disease of segregation. Let me take note of my other major disappointment. I have been so greatly disappointed with the white church and its leadership. Of course, there are some notable exceptions. I am not unmindful of the fact that each of you has taken some significant stands on this issue. I commend you, Reverend Stallings, for your Christian stand on this past Sunday, in welcoming Negroes to your worship service on a nonsegregated basis. I commend the Catholic leaders of this state for integrating Spring Hill College several years ago.<br />
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But despite these notable exceptions, I must honestly reiterate that I have been disappointed with the church. I do not say this as one of those negative critics who can always find something wrong with the church. I say this as a minister of the gospel, who loves the church; who was nurtured in its bosom; who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain true to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen.<br />
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When I was suddenly catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in Montgomery, Alabama, a few years ago, I felt we would be supported by the white church. I felt that the white ministers, priests and rabbis of the South would be among our strongest allies. Instead, some have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting its leaders; all too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained glass windows.<br />
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In spite of my shattered dreams, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause and, with deep moral concern, would serve as the channel through which our just grievances could reach the power structure. I had hoped that each of you would understand. But again I have been disappointed.<br />
<br />
I have heard numerous southern religious leaders admonish their worshipers to comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law, but I have longed to hear white ministers declare: "Follow this decree because integration is morally right and because the Negro is your brother." In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard many ministers say: "Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern." And I have watched many churches commit themselves to a completely other worldly religion which makes a strange, un-Biblical distinction between body and soul, between the sacred and the secular.<br />
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I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi and all the other southern states. On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings I have looked at the South's beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: "What kind of people worship here? Who is their God? Where were their voices when the lips of Governor Barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? Where were they when Governor Wallace gave a clarion call for defiance and hatred? Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?"<br />
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Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise? I am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great grandson of preachers. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.<br />
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There was a time when the church was very powerful--in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators."' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests. Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent--and often even vocal--sanction of things as they are.<br />
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But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.<br />
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Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic. Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ekklesia and the hope of the world. But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom. They have left their secure congregations and walked the streets of Albany, Georgia, with us. They have gone down the highways of the South on tortuous rides for freedom. Yes, they have gone to jail with us. Some have been dismissed from their churches, have lost the support of their bishops and fellow ministers. But they have acted in the faith that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. Their witness has been the spiritual salt that has preserved the true meaning of the gospel in these troubled times. They have carved a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment. I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. But even if the church does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about the future. I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are at present misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with America's destiny. Before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence across the pages of history, we were here. For more than two centuries our forebears labored in this country without wages; they made cotton king; they built the homes of their masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful humiliation -and yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands. Before closing I feel impelled to mention one other point in your statement that has troubled me profoundly. You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping "order" and "preventing violence." I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department.<br />
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It is true that the police have exercised a degree of discipline in handling the demonstrators. In this sense they have conducted themselves rather "nonviolently" in public. But for what purpose? To preserve the evil system of segregation. Over the past few years I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends. Perhaps Mr. Connor and his policemen have been rather nonviolent in public, as was Chief Pritchett in Albany, Georgia, but they have used the moral means of nonviolence to maintain the immoral end of racial injustice. As T. S. Eliot has said: "The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason."<br />
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I wish you had commended the Negro sit inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer and their amazing discipline in the midst of great provocation. One day the South will recognize its real heroes. They will be the James Merediths, with the noble sense of purpose that enables them to face jeering and hostile mobs, and with the agonizing loneliness that characterizes the life of the pioneer. They will be old, oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy two year old woman in Montgomery, Alabama, who rose up with a sense of dignity and with her people decided not to ride segregated buses, and who responded with ungrammatical profundity to one who inquired about her weariness: "My feets is tired, but my soul is at rest." They will be the young high school and college students, the young ministers of the gospel and a host of their elders, courageously and nonviolently sitting in at lunch counters and willingly going to jail for conscience' sake. One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.<br />
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Never before have I written so long a letter. I'm afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else can one do when he is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters, think long thoughts and pray long prayers?<br />
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If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.<br />
I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil-rights leader but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.<br />
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Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood, Martin Luther King, Jr.The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-87311209524796873052011-01-16T13:47:00.001-06:002011-01-16T13:49:48.220-06:00A Powerful Hymn in Honor of MLK Jr. SundayI worshiped this morning with a United Church of Christ congregation that is just around the corner from where I stay while in Minnesota. Portions of the service were in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr as the official holiday for MLK is tomorrow (Jan 17). One of the hymns we sang took up the theme of MLK's life (that was my take at least). The powerful hymn with very rich words about the mission of God, the mission of the church, and the future of creation was titled, <i>Come, Let us Dream</i>. I thought I would share the words with you. Enjoy!<br />
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<i><b>Come, Let Us Dream</b></i><br />
Come, let us dream God's dream again<br />
<i><b> </b></i>Come, one and all, let us ascend<br />
the mountain top where those of old<br />
saw God's new day on earth unfold.<br />
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The lame shall walk, the blind shall see,<br />
the doors swing wide, all prisoners free,<br />
the lowly raised, the proud brought low. <br />
This is God's dream: let justice flow.<br />
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When hatred ends and war shall cease,<br />
so all may dwell, in deepest peace,<br />
then be assured the time is near<br />
when perfect love casts out all fear.<br />
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But know the cost of claiming sight<br />
of God's new day, of wrongs made right,<br />
for some have paid the highest price,<br />
their lives for us, a sacrifice.<br />
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Prophets are scorned in their own lands<br />
and martyrs slain by righteous hands;<br />
<i>Though dreamers die, the dream will live,</i><br />
<i>for we have yet our lives to give. </i><br />
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(emphasis added)<br />
Words: John Middleton, 2004The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-52326870216854215652011-01-12T19:49:00.000-06:002011-01-12T19:49:15.104-06:00Generosity and the Simple ChurchI'm in the midst of J-Term at Luther Seminary in a class titled <i>Vocation of the Theologian</i>. The books we are reading so far have been incredibly thick and way beyond my intellectual capacity as it currently stands (We're reading Reinhold Niebuhr's <i>Nature and Destiny of Man: Vol 1</i> and Wolfhart Pannenberg's <i>Anthropology in Theological Perspective</i>.) While I have been listening to my classmates discuss these books I realize just how much smarter than me they are in these areas and how academic theology will never be my forte. My God-given ability is simply not to be able to recount hundreds of years of philosophy in 500 page books in order to propose an argument about the nature of Christian theology.<br />
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I may not be a superb academic theologian, but I am a dreamer. A fellow classmate met me for some coffee today and we spent a good hour and a half dreaming together about all the things a church could be. It was a great conversation which reignited in my dreams I have for the church. One such dream is to be a part of a generous, simple church.<br />
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I am using the term simple church to refer to a small house church (sometimes also referred to as cell churches) that would likely consist of somewhere between 15-30, maybe 40 people. Imagine this with me: 30 Americans gather together to be the church together via a simple, house church. For the sake of argument, we will assume they have no building costs and have chosen to operate without paid staff and therefore have no staffing costs. Also, we will assume that 60% percent of the 30 are employed and have an average income of $40,000 a year. If each of the 18 employed persons pledge to put just 10% of their earnings into a common generosity fund, the group would have $72,000 to use to spread the love of God.<br />
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Imagine what a group of 30 people could do with $72,000 when all 30 of them were constantly on the lookout for ways they could put the resources to use to glorify God. The group could decide to support a local family struggling with unemployment. If a widow has a car break down, the group could buy her a new one. The money could be used to fund adoptions within the group, to cover medical expenses, to build wells in Africa, make loans to Kiva, build a park in the local community, by Bibles to handout, etc etc etc.<br />
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I have a lot of dreams about doing church differently. One of the big ones I constantly come back to is this idea of generosity through the simple church. I dream of a church that does not teach that generosity is equal to placing a check in a bag/basket during Sunday services. This kind of generosity makes me a passive giver. My job becomes simply being faithful in writing the check. Others (often including church staff, elders, and mission teams) are tasked with finding ways to put my money to work for God's kingdom, What might it look like for a simple church to do generosity differently? What might it look like to use money not for programs, staff, and buildings (not that these are bad things) but for charity, justice, and mission? <br />
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I don't pretend to know what it would look like, but I would sure love to find out.The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-60419340513174777092010-08-19T10:02:00.000-05:002010-08-19T10:02:44.044-05:00Imagination in the Life of the Congregation (Part 2 of the conversation)<i>*Note: Please refer to my blog post from 8/18/10 titled "A Little Imagination, Please!" before reading this post.</i><br />
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Now, to extend the analogy from yesterday to the church...<br />
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<b>Imagination Robbers</b><br />
I had a soccer coach in high school that would often punish members of the team for being joy robbers. If someone didn't celebrate with a teammate, cheated to block his goal in practice, or committed some other minor infraction, a whistle would blow, joy robber would be shouted, and push ups would follow.<br />
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It is my belief that there are many imagination robbers in the Christianity of the west. Therefore, like my coach, I am blowing the whistle, calling out the fouls, and asking the church to do some hard work to correct the situation. If we are not careful about how we train leaders for and form communities of Christian faith, we will rob them of the life-giving imagination that can come through the Spirit of God. Just a few of the imagination robbers I have seen: <br />
<ul><li>Conferences - every successful church out there seems to have a conference that, though they deny it, really communicates at some point "Here is how you can be more like us." True, they seek to inspire imagination, but it is an imagination limited by the model/style of the church telling the stories.</li>
<li> Sermons - we've all heard sermons that take complex topics and boil them down into three easy answers, steps, or points. The heavy focus on application leaves little work for the listener to actually do. Simply listen, accept what you hear, and put it into practice.</li>
<li>Small Group - study guides are a huge money maker for Christian publishers, a big time saver for congregation leaders, and a crutch for small groups (leaders, hosts, and members alike). Study guides are often also a killer of imagination as they propose the right way to study the text is to ask and answer seven discussion questions in order and then to apply it to life.</li>
<li>Christian Literature - in much the same way successful churches run conferences, successful ministers write books about their ministry (i.e. Rick Warren, Joel Olsteen, Bob Russell, etc.) I have always hated reading these books because they always tell me how to do ministry just like the author and I have never wanted to be the author (not that they are bad people, ministers, or authors - their just not me and I am not them).</li>
<li>Church programs - maybe you have been in different scenarios, but the church programs I have been a part of throughout my life were often either copied from another church, created by a minister and then imposed upon the church, or simply done because they had always been done. Many a good Christian faithfully serve in these programs (and good for them!). These servants never or rarely are told they possess within them the imagination to make changes, create new ministries, or take part in completely new movements of God in this world.</li>
</ul><b>Returning Imagination to the Imaginative</b><br />
Imagination in our board games developed as the players learned together the rules of the game, put initial strategies into practice, reflected upon the experience, spent individual brain time thinking about how to play better, and played again, repeating the process of reflection, development, and innovation after each game. Might the same not be true in the church?<br />
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What would it look like to form a community of faith around the word of God as the book that describes the story of the world and allow that community to take first steps in living out their faith together? Then, what would it look like to encourage that community to reflect upon its initial attempts, discuss how it might be more faithful to the story of God in the Bible, and plan on making a second attempt? How can we foster ongoing conversations in the church that foster imagination about how to live as the faith community? What is the appropriate context for presenting ideas, reflecting upon what has worked and what has not, how the community is shaped and how it is not, and what victory/success might look like and what it might not? How do we give up control of the church enough to allow the common Christian to be filled with the imagination and innovations of the Spirit?<br />
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<b>For now, I leave you to imagine some possible answers to these questions and to comment with your thoughts about my ideas.</b><br />
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<b>Tomorrow, I'll discuss some implications from the following point made in a book I recently read - Jesus did not build a church (institutional organization), he built a community of disciples. </b> (Don't worry, it won't be anti-institutional babble that can be quite common and, sometimes, quite mindless).The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-73506117582643939512010-08-18T14:44:00.000-05:002010-08-18T14:44:05.051-05:00A Little Imagination, Please!So, the wife and I are big board game fans (some say nerds). Not only do we love to crush the opposition in a good nerd game (i.e. Dominion, Settlers of Catan, Puerto Rico, or Agricola) but we also really enjoy teaching our friends and family to play these games as well. I've noticed the way we teach games is drastically different based upon the number of times we ourselves have played the game. <br />
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<b>The First Time We Play/Teach a Game</b><br />
The very first time we play a game, we usually have to teach ourselves and our friends who are with us. This always take a long time, but leads to good interaction as questions are asked, preliminary strategies are developed, and rules are clarified. As the game progresses, we learn together what we are doing right/wrong and can all make adjustments accordingly. At the end of the game we will all usually debrief, talk about the winning strategy, and consider what me might do differently the next time. Even though it is a bit slow, this process of discovering, experimenting, and learning leads us all to play the game better in the future and to appreciate the shared experience of learning. It is a journey of discovery that develops our aptitudes and skills and strategic planning.<br />
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<b>Teaching The Game After We Have Already Played</b><br />
If we teach a game after we have played it (especially if we have played it a lot) we always tend to not only teach the rules, but to teach our understanding of the strategy involved in the game. At first, I thought we were being generous in sharing our insights, ideas, and learning. As I look back, though, I have to wonder if we haven't really been limiting the development of our friends' strategy, imagination, and creativity. Instead of letting them discover how they are best suited to play the game, we impose upon them our preferred patterns of thinking and playing. This basically creates mini-models of our strategy, preference, and creativity. <br />
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While creating replicas of ourselves in game playing is not bad in and of itself, I have been wondering lately if it is limiting. Didn't we enjoy the process of learning the game and building a strategy off our own understanding of the rules, belief about how to succeed, and observation of what seemed to work or not work in other's strategies? If we so much enjoyed the journey of discovery and if we were able to develop our strategic imagination solely by gathering around the rule book with the other players, would this not perhaps be a better way to inspire strategic imagination in those we teach how to play a given game?<br />
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<b>Our Recent Attempts to Teach</b><br />
Just in the last week, Andrea and I taught our good friends Rick and Melanie two games new to them, but not to us - Agricola and St. Petersburg (two of my favorites). We tried our hardest not to give any strategic advice. While I cannot say we were 100% effective in avoiding advice, we did pretty well. At the end of the game of Agricola, I won, Andrea came in 2nd by a few points, and Melanie and Rick were a distant 3rd and 4th respectively. The results were not surprising - we never expect newbies to win a game the first time out and are quite offended if they do!<br />
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The next Sunday at church I asked Melanie what she thought about the new game. Knowing she had been kind of frustrated during game play due to the inability to correct glaring strategic deficiencies she put into place early in the game, I was not at all surprised to hear she had thought about it all weekend - wondering what she could have done differently, how her next game might go, etc. Not only did she think about the game, she and Rick were eager to play again and were even considering adding it to upcoming gift lists.<br />
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Game two (on Sunday, just a few days after game one) ended with the mostly the same results. I won again, by a landslide actually, by benefiting from something Melanie missed. Her miss allowed me to get way ahead, never to be caught. Andrea and Melanie tied for 2nd, with Melanie scoring much better than the first time. Rick did miserably, scoring lower than the first time he played (which also happened to me in my first two games). Here are the respective moods of everyone after the game:<br />
*Scott* - excited because he did very well, glad Rick and Melanie picked up the game play, if not the strategy too.<br />
*Andrea* - mad as heck because I crushed her. I love my competitive wife.<br />
*Melanie* - proud of her new high score, somewhat determined never to again make the same mistake that allowed me to win by so much.<br />
*Rick* - ticked and in his words, "miserable." Beneath the sour feeling of playing so poorly, all at the table knew he would play again if it weren't to late in the evening. The failure just inspired more determination and new imagination at what might work.<br />
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<b>The Sameness of Shared Strategy</b><br />
A few remarks to close. If Andrea and I shared our strategies with Rick and Melanie and if they had followed them, we would have all ended up with similar results. In a game, this is simply unacceptable. You do not play a game for two hours to simply have a 4-way tie! Not only would our results have been the same, but our experiences would have been the same as well. Also, we would have frustrated each other to know end as we all tried to use limited resources in the same way, effectually blocking others from fully realizing their strategy. In the end, when we share our strategies in games, everything looks the same. Instead of being given the diverse experience of people from different levels of knowledge bringing themselves to the table to play, evaluate, and react, we get a bunch of robots all trying to do the same thing and only the person who is lucky enough to be in the right position wins - detracting from their joy of victory and frustrating the others to no end.<br />
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<b>From The Strategy of Games to Imagination in the Church</b><br />
In the interest of keeping blogs short, I'll end this post here. In the near future I will apply these reflections to how the church has bought into sharing strategies and the sameness that squeezes out God-given imagination. For now, I'll leave you to imagine how this might apply to living out the Christian life in a faith community.The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-3072868860099249632010-07-21T10:55:00.000-05:002010-07-21T10:55:46.147-05:00Shifting our view of Church From Place to a People - Part 2I would be remiss not to include the following from Warren as well (page 235):<blockquote>We do not need to choose between "go" and "come"; both are valid forms of evangelism. Some people will be reached by attraction, while others will be reached by confrontation. A balanced, healthy church should provide opportunities and programs for both. At Saddleback, we use both approaches. We say "Come and see!" to ou rcommunity, but to our core we say, "God and tell!"</blockquote><br />
Agreed.<br />
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But I believe good ecclesiology (study of the church) must lead us to conclude the church is God's people in God's places for God's purposes. God's places and purposes are not limited to our buildings.The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-7325111305304935002010-07-21T10:46:00.000-05:002010-07-21T10:46:26.844-05:00Shifting our view of Church From Place to a PeopleI've been reading Rick Warren's <i>The Purpose Driven Church</i> in preparation for exams at Luther Seminary. The assignments is to identify strengths and weakness of not only the book but Warren's views of church and models, etc.<br />
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Overall, I'm a pretty big fan of Warren. In my opinion, he offers the best of what the mega-church, attractional model of ministry and evangelism can be. Warren and Saddleback do lots of great stuff, but that isn't really the point of this blog.<br />
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On page 220 (of my version), Warren writes, <blockquote>The first line of Saddleback's vision statement says, 'It is the dream of a place where the hurting, the hopeless, the discouraged, the depressed, the frustrated, and the confused can find love, acceptance, guidance, and encouragement.'</blockquote><br />
This is a pretty good, evangelistic view of a church as a place where people can have the good news of Jesus Christ applied as a salve to their wounds from this world and, hopefully, place their faith in Christ. In my opinion, this view of the church is much more mature than many you will find in the USA these days, but I believe it is still limited in scope.<br />
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I want you to imagine for a second how we can make this statement of the church even more powerful and influential. Warren and Saddleback meet thousands of needs a year at their church campus, but this is a limited . How can we take this statement and make it hundreds of thousands, or even millions? It would be very difficult to have facilities for so many people and to attract so many people to one location (though if anyone could do it, Warren is probably your guy).<br />
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What if we changed a few words in their vision statement. Look at the old and new below:<br />
OLD - "It is the dream of a place where the hurting, the hopeless, the discouraged, the depressed, the frustrated, and the confused can find love, acceptance, guidance, and encouragement."<br />
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NEW - It is the dream of a <b>people who will seek out and go to</b> the hurting, the hopeless, the discouraged, the depressed, the frustrated, and the confused <b>in order to show them love, acceptance, guidance, and encouragement</b>.<br />
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Rick Warren has done a lot for Christianity in this country. Imagine what more could be done if we build on his good work and change our view of church as a place to a view of church as a people.The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-91793179297293620912010-06-14T10:08:00.000-05:002010-06-14T10:08:56.651-05:00Understanding Missional - Interview Results Part 3 of 4The interviews I conducted for a research project in early 2010 resulted in four key findings. In parts 1 and 2 of my blogs on these findings, I noted that missional practitioners seem to have a focus on or passion for renewed theology and reshaped leadership. Part 3 of the Interview Results reveals a new topic: re-prioritization of holistic discipleship.<br />
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<b>Reprioritization of Holistic Discipleship</b><br />
Another pragmatic approach revealed to be true in the missional communities led by the respondents is a reprioritization holistic discipleship in the church. Reacting to the programmatic and event-driven nature of the contemporary church, a majority of respondents stated that the church needs to again make reproducing disciples its primary focus. Respondents also claimed that the church needs not only to reprioritize discipleship, but also to abandon discipleship approaches based only on knowledge and add instead include approaches that include experience-based discipleship as well knowledge based discipleship. Though not every respondent used the terminology of experienced-based discipleship, six of the seven spoke about viewing discipleship as holistic, implying that discipleship pertains to every area of life. More specifically, missional discipleship means teaching people who to live on mission for God in every area of their life and in everything they do. One respondent said that in his old, contemporary church he would meet an actor and say, “I need to get this actor onto my drama team.” With a missional mindset, though, the same respondent would now say, “I need to help this actor be the best actor he can be so he can be a missionary to other actors.”<br />
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The strongest belief about discipleship that was revealed by the data collected from the interviews pertains to community. Every respondent remarked about the importance of community for the disciple and for the discipleship process. Community to the respondents is not found in small groups, church programs, once a week worship gatherings. Instead, community is about developing a rhythm of life together with others. This rhythm requires sacrifice of time and frequent proximity. The rhythm includes doing mission together on a regular basis as well as other common discipleship tools such as Bible study, prayer, and fellowship. A vast majority of contemporary churches also teach the importance of community, claiming that it is the place where discipleship happens best. Missional churches do not claim discipleship happens best in community. Instead, they teach that disciples live out the mission of God best in community.The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-72268768917155301342010-05-05T10:07:00.000-05:002010-05-05T10:07:35.531-05:00Understanding Missional - Interview Results Part 2 of 4<b>Review</b><br />
Yesterday I concluded that the 7 interviews done with missional practitioners from across the country revealed that the key belief driving the missional movement was "the belief that the Western Church has lost its true identity." The way these practitioners said the church could regain its true identities is "through the renewal of theology, the reshaping of leadership, and the reprioritization of holistic discipleship and entering the long-term transition process." Part 1 (posted on 5/4) detailed what a renewed theology might look like. Part 2, todays post, details a reshaped leadership.<br />
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<b>Reshaped Leadership</b><br />
Since each of the respondents interviewed was involved in a local missional movement at some level, it is not surprising that they offered practical steps the church can take to regain its true identity as well as theoretical frameworks for regaining the lost identity. Six of the seven respondents either alluded to or directly stated the belief that the church needs to reshape the way it does leadership. Respondents’ comments imply that a reshaped leadership begins with a shared or team-based approach. Speaking to this point, one respondent described the leadership team as his friends with whom he spends every Sunday afternoon relaxing, playing games, and sharing food. This family or friendly feeling seemed to permeate the majority of leadership teams described by the respondents. As friends and family, it was natural for leaders to share responsibility, make decisions together, and develop a more flattened hierarchy than is often seen in contemporary churches. The reason a flattened hierarchy metaphor frequently surfaced as made clear by one respondent who is leading a church planting church. He said, “If you want to build a big church, all you need are two to three superstar staff members, but if you want to develop a church planting movements, you need to be reproducing lots of leaders who share the vision, values, and direction of the team.” Building a team of this manner happens best for those in the missional movement when they are friends, peers, and family instead of bosses and employees.<br />
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Respondents also suggested a reshaped leadership focuses upon equipping people for ministry. While many contemporary churches would also say the same of leadership, those in the missional movement seem to take the belief one step further. In fact, one respondent admitted that he was actually out of a job because he had just equipped someone to take over his role in the congregation. In order to be true to his title as equipper, he stepped aside to let the new person fill the role, leaving himself without a source of income.<br />
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The radical stepping aside of the respondent aforementioned reveals one of the strongest beliefs about leadership in the missional movement: leaders cannot only teach their followers from the pulpit, in the classroom, or through curriculum and Bible studies. Instead, the respondents strongly claimed that missional leaders must model missional living for the members of the congregation. Six of the seven respondents made this point about leadership, each one of them telling stories about leaders who were able to do much more than anyone imagined simply because they modeled what missional living might look like for their followers. Though not as strongly stated, it was often suggested that leaders need not have everything about living missionally figured out, but that they must be willing to practice mission in community with others. Through the process of success, failure, and eventually, learning, both the leader and the community grow in their understanding of how to live on mission for God. This process may seem chaotic, but leadership, according to the respondents, is a messy process that involves asking questions instead of answering them, offering suggestions instead of giving orders, and pointing in a direction instead of drawing out the map.<br />
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Tomorrow, part 3 of 4 will detail the necessity for prioritizing holistic discipleship.The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-64760822016787600092010-05-04T09:30:00.000-05:002010-05-04T09:30:58.052-05:00Understanding Missional - Interview Results Part 1 of 4After interviewing 7 different respondents from across the country, here are the conclusions I reached about what is driving the missional movement. Enjoy!<br />
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<b>Results of Qualitative Research </b><br />
According to the data collected from every respondent interviewed, the primary belief driving the missional movement in the West seems to be the belief that the Western Church has lost its true identity. Whereas Scripture teaches that the church is the kingdom people of God called and sent to participate in God’s mission in the world, those in the missional movement believe that the church has instead become a place and a program focused on growth and success instead of mission. The missional movement is not simply another church growth tool or a new thing for Christians to do. Instead, the missional movement is all about the identity of the church. Most importantly, the missional movement is focused upon helping the church realize that the loss of its true identity is not a problem to be ignored. Rather, the missional church is teaching that the Western church must regain its true identity through the renewal of theology, the reshaping of leadership, the reprioritization of holistic discipleship, and entering the long-term transition process. <br />
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<b>Renewed Theology</b><br />
According to the respondents, the renewed theology driving the missional movement begins with the belief that God is a missionary God. The missionary nature of God is seen both in his huge mission of complete and total reconciliation and in his sending nature. Reconciliation, restoration and renewal seem to be the respondents’ favorite descriptors of God’s purpose for the world. When God is seen in this light, the Gospel becomes a narrative about the fulfillment of God’s mission or purposes. One respondent described the Gospel as more “robust,” “exciting,” and “alive” among missional churches. Instead of seeing the Gospel as a story about how God wants Christians to go to heaven, the same respondent said that it is a story about how God wants Christians to bring heaven to earth.<br />
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The final major theological category identified by respondents is ecclesiology. Four of the seven respondents claimed it is only in the identity of a missionary God and the story of God’s mission found in the Gospel that the church can fully understand its identity as the sign, foretaste, and instrument of God’s kingdom (also referred to as God’s reign, mission, and purpose). Perhaps more than in any other section of the interviews, respondents spoke most passionately and fluidly about the need for the church to seriously consider its current self-awareness and how this awareness would compare to the church seen in Scripture as the people of God sent to live under God’s rule for the blessing of the world and the glory of God.<br />
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Up next, reshaping leadership in the missional church.The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-23946652091882628882010-04-21T06:56:00.000-05:002010-04-21T06:56:59.124-05:00The Foundation of Any ChurchLouis Giglio reminded us of an important truth at the Exponential conference in Orlando, Florida yesterday. Before I go down to the hotel lobby to eat some breakfast, I thought I would share his points.<br />
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Bascially, Louis asked "Where does our power come from as church planters? What should we do as church planters?"<br />
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His answers were simple, but spelled out in profound ways. Our foundations, as church leaders, are these three simple things:<br />
1. The teachings of Jesus<br />
2. The resurrection of Jesus<br />
3. The power of the Holy Spirit.<br />
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Giglio went on to make a few interesting point son each topic.<br />
1. It is not about preaching well so that people compliment us. Preaching is simply about helping people to hear the word of God and doing that well.<br />
2. In evangelicalism, we need to talk more about the resurrection, because it is the hope of the world.<br />
3. We need to appreciate the power of the Holy Spirit. Think about it, have you ever called the Spirit an "it" instead of a "him." If we call the Spirit it, we lose the power of thinking about Him as the Spirit of the Living God.<br />
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Passionate preacher, good stuff. Makes me want to continue my journey to be a man of the Word with much more vigor!The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-85864755213946420952010-04-13T10:01:00.000-05:002010-04-13T10:01:21.363-05:00The Lifelong Task of Forming Self to God<b>Quote from Thomas Merton</b><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">The person "who attempts to act and think for others or for the world without deepening his own self-understanding, freedom, integrity and capacity to love, will not have anything to give others. He will communicate to them nothing but the contagion of his own obsessions, his aggressiveness, his ego-centered ambitions, his delusions about ends and means, his doctrinaire prejudices and ideas."</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>My Reaction</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">As I read this quote this morning over my 6 a.m. cup of coffee, it totally rocked my world. It is so easy for me to shout that the church needs to be different and needs to adopt missional theology, ecclesiology, and lifestyles. If I do not attend to God, all I will be doing is shouting my anger, my thoughts, and my pride. It would be better for me to attend to God and never to speak at all then to shout at the world through my own voice<b>.</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b> </b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>My Prayer</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Father, speak through me, be it a whisper or a shout or anything in between, the words you want your church to hear. Remind me to always attend to you first, so that my words are never my own. For all those who, like me, desire to prophetically call the church to change, draw them first to you and then send them out into the world. Amen.<b> </b></div>The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-33965030477188524462010-04-09T16:54:00.000-05:002010-04-09T16:54:34.068-05:00Great Lecture by Mike Frost - MissionIn a recent 1-hr session taught by Mike Frost, author of Exiles and co-author of The Shaping of Things to Come, Frost discussed his perspectives on mission.<br />
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Here is a brief summary of his points:<br />
1. The Source of Mission - the missio dei. God, in his nature, because of his love, is a sent and sending God. God is sent in the fact that his love compels him to extend out beyond himself for others. God is sending in that as Trinity, each person sends the other out of love into the world to bring about the purpose of salvation, reconciliation, and restoration. (I was a little fuzzy on the sent nature of God, but I am simply trying to record his points so I kept it in the post)<br />
2. The Goal of Mission - alert the world of the reign of God through Christ. Our goal in participating in God's mission is to make people aware of the simple fact that our God reigns. The goal is not church growth, ecological restoration, extending the kingdom of God or the mission statement of a particular church. Frost argues our goal is simply to alert others that this world is God's and he reigns completely, though we do not yet fully realize, understand, or live under his reign.<br />
3. The Method of Mission - Announcement and Demonstration. As the church, we announce God's reign and we demonstrate it. To announce the reign, we must ask "What does the reign of God look like in this context?" and communicate the answer to the context. To demonstrate God's reign, we must live under the reign in the context and work to bring others' lives under the reign of God as well.<br />
4. The Outcome of Mission - the church. The outcome of God's mission for the world is the church, local and universal. A particular church does not concoct its mission for God. The mission of God concocts the church.<br />
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Much more could be written on this, but for now, this will do. Mike Frost - read his stuff. Good guy, great thinker, a new friend.The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-68805788293992303362010-04-01T09:38:00.000-05:002010-04-01T09:38:24.002-05:00Missional Literature Review - Part 11 - The Key to Understanding Missional<b>The Key to Understanding Missional</b><br />
Seemingly every major scholarly presentation about missional living begins with a disclaimer, which notes how missional has become a buzz word used by churches, parachurch organizations, and Christians alike to refer to everything from world mission strategies to church growth. The disclaimer is then often followed by a few pages detailing the major world councils, the work of Leslie Newbingin, the efforts of the Gospel and Our Culture Network, and the seminal work edited by Darrell Guder, Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America, as the foundations of the true meaning of missional. Summing up these foundations, missional living is characterized by a covenanting community engaged in cultural analysis and theological reflection in order to live out God’s mission in the world.The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-73594293549376567252010-03-31T16:45:00.001-05:002010-04-01T09:36:00.353-05:00Missional Literature Review - Part 10 - Common Practices of Missional Living - Covenanting Community<b>Covenanting Community</b><br />
Though the GOCN uses the term “congregational mission” to capture the thoughts about missional living that will follow, the term was not used here to avoid defining missional living with the word mission. Instead, the broad themes of how the church lives out the missio dei were condensed into two words: covenanting community. Covenant community is the term used by Roxburgh (1998) to describe the commitment to the practices of the way of God in the Christian community. The suffix -ing has been added to covenant to reveal the ongoing process of commitment and reformation in which the community is continuously engaged. Within missional thinking, the covenant community is ascribed four characteristics. It is shaped by an alternative story, relates to the whole of life, adopts an incarnational, servant approach, and is structured for mission.<br />
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<b>Contrast Community – Shaped by an Alternative Story</b><br />
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If it is true that the loudest criticism levied against the church by missional voices is that the church has become shaped by cultural values and narratives, it is also true that the loudest plea for change in the church is for the church to be shaped by an alternative story (see Barrett, 1998; Edson, 2007; Roxburgh & Boren, 2009). Instead of being shaped by culture, the church of God is to be shaped by the biblical narrative. The biblical narrative begins to shape the covenanting community when the community “relives it as memory in ritual and repetition” (Roxburgh and Boren, 2009, p. 61). This shaping is defined as a “lifestyle of continual conversion as [the church] hears and responds to the gospel over and over again” (Hunsberger, 1998, p. 86).<br />
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As the worldview of the covenanting community is shaped by the gospel, it will be a “powerful witness” (Barrett, 1998, p. 127) as it lives with distinctly Christian practices in an increasingly secularly dominated society. Though the distinctiveness of each Christian community differs both according to the culture and the practices of the community, the point remains that the missional church is a contrast society pointing to a different and better, God-ordered way of living in this world. Each community must discern how God is asking them to live differently in context. Barrett, (1998) captures the theme of the literature, saying “to discern the points of dissent, is to be a missional church” (p. 127).<br />
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<b>Communitas – Relating to the Whole of Life</b><br />
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As the covenanting community continuously lives in and with but also against culture, it will find itself pushed to the margins of society, no longer fitting in with the dominant trends of secularism. The experiences of ambiguity, uncertainty, and discomfort of marginality are defined by missional writers as liminality (Frost, 2006; Hirsch, 2006; Roxburgh, 2006). As the community endures liminality together, it becomes more than community, taking on the nature of communitas, a Latin term of equality employed by anthropologist Victor Turner and defined by Hirsch (2006) as “a common experience of ordeal, humbling, transition, and marginalization” (p. 221). The covenanting community becomes communitas as it bound together in the struggle to remain shaped by the biblical narrative in a society that pulls toward a different lifestyle.<br />
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Irrevocably bound together by the common struggle, the communitas surpasses the fake and shallow communities commonly seen in the world and often in the culturally trapped church. Core characteristics of the covenanting community living as communitas include self-giving, inclusion, preparation of all people for a diversity of ministry, and being a “communion of equal individuals who submit together to the general authority of the ritual elders” (Edson, 2007, p. 30). The communitas will “cultivate space for people to unlearn old patterns and learn new ways of living” (Dietterich, 1998, p. 152). Therefore, communitas relates to the whole of life as it creates the space for and shapes the entire individual and the entire community for mission. Indeed, mission becomes the very “fabric of one’s life” (Hunsberger, 1998, p. 97).<br />
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<b>Contextual Ministry – Adopting the Incarnational, Servant Approach </b><br />
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Shaped by the biblical narrative in a secular world and living as communitas, the covenanting community takes a contextual approach to ministry by adopting an incarnational, servant perspective. To do contextual ministry, it is necessary to be in the context (incarnational) and to discern how to partner with God to redeem the context to his purposes (servant). When it truly understands its missional nature in the roots of Trinitarian theology, the covenanting community becomes a “contagious and overflowing” community of love (Dietterich, 1998, p. 149). As the community walks with and is led by the Spirit, it naturally produces the fruits of the Spirit, becoming a “new apologetic” in a suspicious culture (Dietterich, 1998; Edson, 2007). As a new apologetic, the community remains true to the biblical pattern of God forming a unique people whose existence clashed with and transformed the dominant institutions of their day (Roxburgh, 2006).<br />
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To be the new apologetic in the changing culture, covenanting communities “live out their identity as Christian community in close relationship to their contexts without succumbing to the context or . . . denying the context on the basis of their identity, history or tradition” (Fredrickson, 2007, p. 46). Walking the fine balance between living in and being shaped by culture requires great discernment from the covenanting community. Discernment as a necessary tool for missional living is an incredibly common theme in the literature. At its most basic, missional discernment simply asks three questions: What is God doing? What does God want to do? How can we cooperate? (Turnipseed, 1998; Van Gelder, 2007b). These three questions give the community a “missionary vision” (Mouw, 1999, p. 13), but force the church to be flexible, patient, and open to ambiguity as it puts in the effort to allow God to bring clarity to his work in and will for the culture (Turnipseed, 1998; Van Gelder, 2007b).<br />
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<b>Intentional Organization – Structure for Mission</b><br />
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The final step for the covenanting community is to intentionally organize itself to fulfill its mission, or to more accurately reflect the literature, to express its identity as a missional community. <br />
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Guder (1998) is one of the leading voices calling for missional structures. Citing the fact that form follows function, he states the structure of the church must incarnate the message and mission of God into society. Bullock (2008) picks up on this theme as well, claiming that the missio dei requires the church to take on structures and forms that engage the world. Further, Bullock writes, “How the church is organized is directly linked to its identity and purpose” (p. 105). Not wanting the reader to miss his point or fail to understand, Van Gelder (2007b) spells the form-follows-mission nature of the church with three propositions—“The church is. The church does what it is. The church organizes what it does” (p. 17).<br />
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Though the claim to structure for mission is prevalent in the literature, there is a lack of complete clarity as to what such a structure looks like or how a community is to move toward it. This lack of clarity is likely caused by the belief that structures will differ in among local contexts. Like reading a sign in the fog, the careful reader can find a two repeated characteristics that ought to define the covenanting community’s structure: catholicity, and exponential reproducibility. Catholicity, the more prevalent of the two characteristics, refers to the universal and united Church. However the church might choose to structure itself, the structure ought to be a part of and point toward the bigger whole of God’s church throughout the world (Guder, 1998; Turnipseed, 1998). <br />
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Exponential reproducibility is not a term common to the missional literature, though it is referenced by Cole (2005, 2008) as key to the structure of the church. Gibbs (2006) also uses the term, labeling missional and emerging churches as “reproducible on an exponential scale” (xiii). The covenanting community, though prepared to change and even cease to exist in a specific form if God so wills, relentlessly seeks to multiply the mission of God throughout the world. It is important to note the covenanting community focuses on expanding the mission of God, not a particular church form or structure.The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-68716619199677453992010-03-30T08:55:00.003-05:002010-03-30T08:58:47.875-05:00Missional Literature Review - Part 9 - Common Practices of Missional Living - Theological Reflection<b>Theological Reflection</b><br />
Missional living is rooted in a conviction that theology and missiology are inextricably tied together (Edson, 2006). A missiological approach or rethinking of theology appears to focus on three major components: God as Trinity, the Gospel as the good news of God’s reign, and the church as God’s missionary people. Van Gelder (2008) identifies all three components and succinctly defines the core of missional theological reflection:<br />
<blockquote>God is seeking to bring God’s kingdom, the very redemptive reign of God in Christ, to bear on every dimension of life within the entire world so that the larger creation purposes of God can be fulfilled. The church’s self-understanding of being missional is grounded in the work of the Spirit of God, who calls the church into existence as a gathered community, equips and prepares it, and sends it into the world to participate fully in God’s mission. (p. 44)</blockquote><br />
<b>God as Trinity</b><br />
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The Trinitarian foundation to missional theology is one of the most easily noted facts about missional living. Seemingly every missional writer begins with either one or two foundational principles about God stemming from his Trinitarian nature. The two principles are the economic trinity and the perichoretic trinity (Van Gelder, 2007a; Van Gelder, 2007b; Hall, 2009; Bosch, 1991; Fredrickson, 2007). As economic trinity, God sent the Son and the Spirit to be part of the creation of the world. After the fall of creation, the Father, sent the Son into the world to bring redemption and announce his reign. Both Father and Son sent the Spirit into the world to call, equip, and send the church into the world until the Son is again sent to bring the final culmination of the Kingdom. Thus, God is missionary by nature and is the foundation for the missionary nature of his people, the church. As perichoretic trinity, God is three yet one, a community of interrelation and mutuality. It is in this communal image that the church was created (Van Gelder, 2007) and in this image the church sees God’s will for the world (Padilla, 1998). Recapturing the Trinitarian image of God recaptures the image of the church.<br />
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<b>The Gospel as the Good News of God’s Reign</b><br />
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A missiological theology begins with God’s nature and quickly moves to God’s mission, the missio dei. Redemption is both the mission of God and the Gospel. Made available through Jesus Christ, redemption is for the whole world (Van Gelder, 2008) and entails both absolute restorations of earthly communities and total reconciliation of humans to God, culminating in a new heaven and a new earth (Ma, 2009; Padilla, 1998). In this goal, the hostile and alienated world is brought back into God’s natural order of love, justice, and peace – the shalom of God (Dietterich, 2002; Hunsberger 1998).<br />
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The gospel in missiological theology is the narrative of God’s mission. As the church reads and rereads, hears and rehears, visions and revisions the story of a God on mission to bring redemption, the church is shaped to be God’s unique missionary people. Roxburgh (1998) captures this common thought of missional writers well. He writes, “If the gospel of God’s unbreaking reign in Jesus Christ is to shape the missional church, then the gospel must be faithfully articulated, studied, explored, and heard over and over again” (p. 213). This statement points to the heart of missiological theology: the shape of the church as God’s missionary people.<br />
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<b>The Church as God’s Missionary People</b><br />
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The different ways of defining the missionary nature of God’s people and the nuances to be seen in the semantics of such definitions seem to be endless. Interestingly, most (if not all) either quote, build off of, or give credit to Guder’s (1998) seminal work in the field, Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America. This compilation of essays drives home the nature of the church as active and passive representative of God’s reign, sign and foretaste of the kingdom, and the community of, servant to, and messenger concerning the reign of God (Hunsberger, 1998). The biblical images of salt and light are offered to support the church’s identity as the “eschatological community of salvation” (Hunsberger, 1998, p.86; Barrett, 1998). Elsewhere, the church is named “God’s visionary people” (Roxburgh, 2006; xv), “God’s called out people” (Bullock, 2008, p. 105), the “primary manifestation of God’s kingdom” (Hibbert, 2009, p. 324), a “hermeneutic of the gospel” (Hibbert, 2009, p. 330) and the church of the missio dei (Hirsch, 2009).The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384439010812764020.post-11370384699591320982010-03-29T09:16:00.002-05:002010-03-29T09:16:51.181-05:00Missional Literature Review - Part 8 - Common Practices of Missional Living - Cultural Analysis<b>Cultural Analysis</b><br />
There is a belief in missional circles that God works within a culture to bring redemption, but does not destroy the culture (Fredrickson, 2007). The church, reflecting the mission of God, seeks to do the same by living in, with and against culture at the same time, seeking to bring it under the Lordship of Christ (Fredrickson, 2007; Hiebert, 1996). To bring culture under Christ, it is necessary for the church to develop “public theology” (Van Gelder, 1996, p. 43). Also called “local theology” (Edson, 2006, p. 27 ; Roxburgh and Boren, 2009, 100), or a “theological reading of sociology” (Van Gelder, 2007, p. 39), a public theology is a contextualized approach to understanding Scripture for and in a particular location. In order to develop a public theology, missional authors contend that the Christian community needs to live “between gospel and culture” (Hunsberger & Van Gelder, xvi) by knowing how it is shaped by culture and how the gospel will shape the culture.<br />
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There seem to be three components of public theology suggested in the literature: theology, cultural analysis, and mutual interpretation. As theology will be the topic of the next section, it is not included here. Though it is a major section of the GOCN effort to help congregations become missional, relatively little has been written about analyzing the culture apart from the broad pictures offered of the North American context. More research needs to be done to effectively help the church engage in specific, cultural analysis. Fredrickson (2006) offers some help, saying that the church should take note of demographic indicators and the ecclesial landscape of the context. Clearly, this is not near enough help, but the academic literature offers little more. Neither does the practitioner-oriented literature help much as it contains mainly anecdotes in different contexts. <br />
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Fortunately, the literature on mutual interpretation is not so sparse. Mutual interpretation “best explains the relationship between a missional congregation and the context as they coincide together in space and time” (Fredrickson, 2006, p. 49). Taken from the revised correlation theory of Tracy and Bronning, mutual interpretation envisions a complex dialogue between church and culture, with both sides asking questions and offering answers (Edson, 2006). The church dialogues with the Gospel in order to then represent the Gospel in dialogue with the culture. Hunsberger (1996) states the nature of the dialogue profoundly, saying, “The Gospel meets the culture first here in us. . . . Similarly, the culture meets the gospel first here in us who are the hermeneutical lens through which it may be perceived” (p. 297).<br />
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The missional literature reveals a growing, critical reflection about intentional engagement with culture. In fact, contextual interpretation, ministry, and theology appear to be three of the hallmarks of missional living. For missional living to remain grounded in God, though, it must be combined with thoroughly biblical theological reflection.The Missional Musehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13443849515270072293noreply@blogger.com0