revolution

Success and Fruitfulness

2010-03-01T21:40:00Z

I ran across the following quote of Henri Nouwen on Len Hjalmarson's NextReformation website.

" There is a great difference between successful and fruitfulness. Success comes from strength, control, and respectability. A successful person has the energy to create something, to keep control over its development, and to make it available in large quantities. Success brings many rewards and often fame. Fruits, however, come from weakness and vulnerability. And fruits are unique. A child is the fruit conceived in vulnerability, community is the fruit born through shared brokenness, and intimacy is the fruit that grows through touching one another's wounds. Let's remind one another that what brings us true joy is not successfulness but fruitfulness."

Nouwen exposes the sharp contrast between success and fruitfulness. The dichotomy of success and fruitfulness lies in the fact that they are from different realms: the world and the kingdom of God. And yet, far too many Christians are being duped by the self-help gurus to buy into the whole success syndrome. Not once is success mentioned in the New Testament, but hear the words of Jesus in John 15:8: "By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples."

Success is by far more attractive and glamorous, as are all of the world's enticements. But fruitfulness, as Nouwen so clearly illustrates, comes out of such undesirable traits as weakness and vulnerability. Yet these are the qualities of the good soil that yields fruit, some thirty, sixty, and a hundred fold.

Speaking Out

2010-02-23T19:14:00Z

The following verse grabbed my attention this morning as I was reading in the book of Acts.

"For we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard." - Acts 4:20

As I read that statement of Peter in response to the religious leaders' demand that he and John stop speaking and teaching in the name of Jesus, a question arose in my mind as to why most Christians can't make the same statement.

The obvious answer is that most Christians haven't seen or heard anything spiritually compelling enough to cause them to have to speak in the name of Jesus if ordered not to.

So this question then needs to be answered: Why haven't they seen or heard such compelling things that would cause them to speak out?

Though I don't have time or space to address the host of answers that can be offered, (I'll leave that up to anyone else that wants to contribute to the conversation) a couple reasons immediately come to mind.

First, I refer back to the most recent post on this blog, Seeking God. To see and hear what Jesus is doing, we must be walking with him to behold his words and deeds. It's easy to rationalize, saying that Peter and John had Jesus there in person as they walked with him during those years of his public ministry. Remember, though, that Jesus said it was to their advantage (and ours) that he would go away so that the Spirit would be sent. Now, the same Spirit that empowered Jesus dwells within us, empowering us to do the same works as Jesus did. And this is precisely what took place as Peter spoke to the lame man at the gate of the temple, telling him to walk. What Peter witnessed Jesus doing he was now doing by the power of the indwelling Spirit. No longer was he a spectator to what was happening, but an active participant in the works of God. No longer did he have to refer back to the years of Jesus' earthly ministry, but could now also speak of what Jesus was doing presently through him by the power of the Spirit. There was just too much that he was seeing and hearing Jesus do presently that he couldn't and wouldn't be quiet.

Secondly, we who live in western culture probably don't realize just how much of an influence the intellectual movement of the Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries has had on us. Reason was exalted as the supreme attribute in man's search for truth, rejecting faith in God as a source of truth. Therefore, Enlightenment thinking replaced faith in God with human reason. Western Christians are so steeped in the culture of reason that faith to see the compelling things God is doing has been crushed under the heavy boot of intellectual understanding. There is little, if any, expectation of seeing God's powerful works. Thus there is no faith for the works of God because faith is the substance of things hoped for (expected).

Seeking God

2010-02-11T19:36:00Z

I hear a lot about the need to seek God in these times, and this is good. It's obvious that we need to seek him at all times. What I question, however, is the means of seeking him. It appears that we have a very truncated version of seeking God. My experience has been that the primary, and I might say, the only way of seeking him by those urging us to do so is to seek him in prayer and fasting, in praise and worship. And that is usually the extent of it.

Isaiah 58 addresses this very pointedly. God declares that his people seek him day by day, delighting to know his ways, asking for just decisions and delighting in the nearness of God. Yet God is not noticing them. A very significant element is missing from their "seeking" equation - their service to others.

God has a heart for the downtrodden and the oppressed, as so vividly seen in Jesus' earthly ministry. As was true in the days of his flesh, so it is today. He is "out there" where people are hurting and in need of the good news of the kingdom, both in word and deed. Therefore, if we are truly seeking him, we'll have to go where he is to find him.

I wonder if many of our attempts to seek and find God are unfruitful simply because we don't seek him where he is, amongst the oppressed, the homeless, the hungry, the naked, and the afflicted. I wonder if we got involved with such people if we would find Jesus there.

Two Mentalities

2010-01-30T15:00:00Z

I stumbled across a statement that I have now been pondering for several days. It comes from Victor Choudhrie as he is describing God's change of venue from the man-made temple to the hearts and homes of his people. He says, "Now every place that we tread becomes the holy ground. He appointed elders in 'every city' to minister to the whole city."

"Elders ministering to the whole city" is not something that I remember having heard before. Usually we equate elders with the church, limiting their ministry as elder to the church. Choudhrie suggests that they not only minister to those within the fold but to those outside the fold as well.

As I considered this, it seemed to me that this reveals the difference between a church mentality and a kingdom mentality. Ministry and function is primarily church oriented, meaning that spiritual activity is almost always within the fellowship of believers. I have observed this church mentality as the modus operandi of the evangelical church here in the West.

However, the kingdom mentality is found in Psalm in 24:1: "The earth is the Lord's, and all it contains, the world and those who dwell in it." Instead of restricting ourselves to the Christian ghetto, we are called to the vast expanse of God's creation, to minister life to all people, not just those within the church. We are to be catalysts of the kingdom, leavening every segment of society and creation with its values. Yet we have fallen woefully short of being God's leaven in this world because we have functioned from an exclusive church mentality instead of the inclusive kingdom mentality of Psalm 24:1.

How might things be different if we would no longer function from the exclusive church mentality of "us" and "them" and begin to function from the inclusive kingdom mentality of "us". What if we were to see "them" as our brothers and sisters who are estranged from the Father? Isn't this why he has given us the ministry of reconciliation, to reconcile his children to him so they will not have to be separated from him not only in this life, but throughout eternity?

Our perspective will determine how we think, act and relate: in the all encompassing love of God for his defiled creation or in fearful isolation from that defiled creation.

A Challenge From the East

2010-01-27T22:22:00Z

I've been reading some of Victor Choudhrie's writings over the past several days, and I can tell you that you'll not see any major Christian publisher printing his writings anytime soon.

Choudhrie is a surgeon who gave up his medical practice to devote himself to advancing the kingdom in his native land of India by making disciples and establishing house churches. Just in one six-month period, they witnessed over 500,000 baptisms of new disciples. Thousands of house churches have been planted as a result, impacting the communities where they exist. And the movement continues to grow.

Following are some statements from his book, The Apostolic Gardens. This book isn't available in the U.S. After reading some of these statements, you'll know why. Though we may not agree with his confrontational manner, it just might be what we need to wake us up.

"Most of the 40,000 denominations are suffering from senility and out of date. Tens of thousands of their retail outlets (churches) have succeeded in keeping two billion Christians of the world unengaged and condemned to sit in the pews as cash cows until they are ready to shift six feet underground in the church cemetery."

"The ekklesia exists, not to protect man's traditions which are costly perversions, but to fulfill Yahweh's plan."

"Churching the unchurched is the bane of Christianity. Yeshua taught us to allow the yeast to leaven the whole community. We need millions of Crypto Christians who stay below the radar and quietly catalyze their communities. Churching them leaves the rest of the community not only unleavened but hostile."

"Yeshua never said, 'Go to church.' He said, 'Go and tell others what great things Yahweh has done for you.'"

"We are training the wrong people, with the wrong motives, in the wrong place, by the wrong teachers in the wrong traditions. Thousands of unemployed youngsters, driven by economics, are being trained in Bible schools to be cultural misfits... Millions are being spent to train and support them, but despite triumphalistic reports, the return on investment is just peanuts... They know the scriptures but not the mechanics of discipling or ekklesia planting. Entry points, bridges from other religions, spiritual warfare, mentoring multi-generational disciples and other relevant topics, which are powerful predictors of CPM, are not taught."

An Inconvenient Truth

2010-01-19T18:13:00Z

The Weary Pilgrim blog recently had a post that caught my attention: The gospel...an inconvenient truth. The author spent a year in which he read and meditated on the gospels only. He relates the following:

In the year I spent reading and reflecting on the Gospels only... I guess it ruined me. It was at that collision of heart, mind and life's events that my sense of belief in the gospels changed dramatically. They had to "be-lived." If I was to find the deepest truth of the gospels, the stuff between the lines, where the Spirit inspires life, I had to live the gospels. They had to become the fabric of my life... of what holds it together.

His conclusion is that the gospel of Jesus is an inconvenient truth. As I considered the implications of this, conventional Christianity as seen in our culture bears little or no resemblance to the gospel Jesus modeled and proclaimed. His is a gospel that invades our comfort and convenience with a way of life that is foreign to us. The Weary Pilgrim sums it up this way:

The inconvenient truth of the gospels are opting to be vulnerable; being taken advantage of; absorbing pain and suffering; realizing inconvenience is a gift; taking risks; being overwhelmed; learning to be content with questions more than a clever answer; building relationships, as the art of being a gardener, being patient to see something grow; the willingness to see forgiveness as a constant state of heart, mind and soul; that there really is no such thing as them, it is "us", we're all in this together; and Grace... more, and more, and more... it's endless.
The gospel... an inconvenient truth.

Image of God

2010-01-14T19:52:00Z

The catastrophe in Haiti has riveted the attention of the world on this poverty-stricken island nation. Political differences fade into the background as nations from around the world rally to come to the aid of the Haitians devastated by this earthquake.

The compassion pouring forth in behalf of the Haitian people is evidence of the image of God that is so deeply ingrained in humanity. Seldom is it seen however, due to the profusion of self-centered interests under which it is submerged. It's sad that it usually takes tragic circumstances to rip open the small world of self that encases us, thus releasing the image of God in behalf of others.

"Recent surveys in Britain have brought out the fact that great numbers of people have affirmed that the best years of their lives were those in which they shared the experience of the war. The bombing of cities, the destruction of homes, the absence of rest or holiday, the shortage of food and clothing, and the constant presence of death were all part of the picture; but what colors it all is the memory of shared commitment to a common purpose. That is what brings human beings to their very best, and most of us know it." - Lesslie Newbigin, Foolishness to the Greeks, p. 122.

That is the kind of relatedness we've been created to walk in. Being stripped of the many things with which we cover ourselves liberates us in our nakedness to freely relate in our need for each other. How contradictory it sounds for people to say the best years of their lives were experienced under extreme duress. But isn't that just like the kingdom of God?

"And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force." - Matthew 11:12.

God in the World

2010-01-11T18:38:00Z

In his little book, Trinitarian Doctrine for Today's Mission, Lesslie Newbigin states emphatically that:

"...this recovery of a practical faith in the power of the Holy Spirit will lead us astray if it is not held firmly with an equally practical Trinitarian faith, a faith which discerns God's fatherly rule in the events of secular history, and which leads into full commitment to the life of that fellowship which is the Body of Christ in the midst of the world.

"Similarly it is rightly urged that missions cannot deal with the realities of the life of men if they cannot help men to understand what God is doing in the revolutionary changes which are everywhere taking place in the life of the world."

Could this last statement hold a key to the ineffectiveness of the Church's missional activity? The inability of the Church to help people understand what God is doing in the revolutionary changes occurring in the life of the world makes it irrelevant in the mindset of the people.

If the Church is unable to help people understand what God is doing, I think it's because the Church doesn't understand what God is doing. We can't give something we don't have. So why don't we understand? There are a whole host of explanations, of which I will suggest one.

The overwhelming emphasis on the church has made it a world unto itself, creating the mistaken impression that the church is the unique place where God's activity happens. Thus, the world is the arena of the powers of darkness exercising dominion in the absence of God.

Newbigin questions this kind of erroneous thinking:

"It is common to hear theologians speak of the Gospel as God's 'intervention' in human history. But is God absent from human history apart from this intervention? Is the world outside the Church, 'an atheistical patch in the universe'? Is God not at work in the affairs of the world outside the bounds of the body that confesses Christ as Saviour? The Bible does not allow us to doubt that he is. But how? In what terms shall we affirm the uniqueness, sufficiency and finality of Christ without either denying the reality of his working in the world or blunting the sharpness of the challenge which he puts to every man to choose?"

After Evangelicalism

2010-01-08T21:58:00Z

The following is a quote of Dave Tomlinson in a study guide of chapter 1 of Chasing Francis (which I haven't read).

"a young woman told me, 'Evangelicalism helped me to begin with, but now I feel I've outgrown it.' Arrogant? Possibly, yet she was voicing something which cropped up continually in my conversations with people: the feeling that evangelicalism is extremely good at introducing people to faith in Christ, but distinctly unhelpful when it comes to ...progressing."

Reading this statement reminded me of an observation made by Gordon Cosby, founding pastor of the Church of the Savior in Washington D.C. It is his contention that the present church structure keeps people in perpetual infancy.

If these statements are true of evangelicalism, then what is the alternative? What are the corrective measures that need to be taken to help the young woman, and countless others like her, to progress in their faith in Christ?

Though we've gone round and round on the deficiency of the present system, the crux of the matter is what do we have to replace evangelicalism? If it is another "ism", we haven't solved the problem, but have only created a new problem.

To the evangelical community, speaking of a departure from evangelicalism is tantamount to heresy. Recognizing that it is extremely helpful in introducing people to Christ may help us realize that its purpose is just that - introducing people to Christ. But to try and make it accomplish something it was never intended for only leads to frustration and possibly rejection.

So where to after evangelicalism?

Scriptural Interpretation

2010-01-05T20:38:00Z

This post is the result of watching several interviews at www.allelon.org/

The subject matter dealt with the question: "What is missional church?" That isn't the subject of this post however. I found the comments of the theologians being interviewed far more substantive than a mere definition of missional church.

Two primary thoughts surfaced in the dialogue pertaining to the western Christian perspective of Scripture. This perspective has been around for centuries, so it isn't of recent vintage.

It was noted that westerners read and interpret the scriptures from a personal, individualistic perspective. Thus, the scriptures are understood to be a manual for personal salvation and self-improvement in walking out the Christian life. Therefore, the reader becomes the central focus of the scriptures.

However, it was pointed out that the scriptures are not focused on the individual, but on a people, the community of God. But this has been missed in western Christianity with its individualistic approach to Scripture, resulting in a warped view of what the scriptures are really all about.

Secondly, though not necessarily second in importance, the scriptures are about the mission of God. If we don't read and interpret the scriptures from a missional perspective, we miss God's intention in his written word. The devastating result is that we don't understand the purpose of God, therefore finding ourselves out of sync with him and what he is doing.

A radical course correction is required if we westerners are to get back on track with God. Thankfully, there are pockets where this is taking place, but we have a long way to go if the scriptures are to be understood and interpreted in the communal and missional context that is intended.

Faith to Begin Anew

2010-01-01T17:45:00Z

With this very first day of a brand new year, one cannot help but think of fresh starts and new beginnings. Dreaming of what can be and the exhilarating hope it elicits is foundational to the faith that transforms dreams into reality. As the writer of Hebrews so masterfully expresses, "faith is the substance of things hoped for."

The Greek word for "substance" is hupostasis, from hupo, under, and stasis, a standing. Vine defines it as "that which stands, or is set, under, a foundation, a beginning; hence, the quality of confidence which leads one to stand under, endure, or undertake anything."

This definition implies that the process we understand as faith is messy, down and dirty, digging deep into the soil of the physical and material to be a foundation of the hope that has captivated the imagination. Any dream that is worthwhile requires the faith of God to endure the resistance of a disintegrating creation to the launching of the new thing. And that which God initiates in the imaginations of men is so far beyond human capability that it's impossible without God's kind of faith. It's the kind of faith that liberates slaves from bondage to become the nation of Israel, that incarnates the omnipotent creator God into humanity, subjecting himself to that fallen humanity, overcoming its death with resurrection life. So with God, nothing is impossible!

So often, great expectations are ground into dust by the continual obstruction of the physical realm. But the people that know their God shall be strong and do exploits. It's a corporate thing where people are knit together as they engage in the mission of God to bring heaven to earth as Jesus incarnates himself and his kingdom through them.

Starting Over

2009-12-21T19:56:00Z

All of us are familiar with the conversation pertaining to the reformation, restructuring, transformation, or whatever other terminology has been used to describe the need to change the church so that it becomes the dynamic people of God that the scriptures purport it to be. It just seems we drone on and on, growing tired of all the rhetoric that seems to be repeated over and over with a new twist here and another tweak there, but basically seeing things continue in the same way for all practical purposes.

Having said that, what I'm about to suggest appears to add to the rhetoric, becoming part of the already voluminous writing and dialogue on this subject. So at the risk of being part of the problem mentioned in the first paragraph, I pose some questions that have occurred to me. Though they may seem highly implausible and questionable, bear with me on this. Maybe something constructive will come out of it.

What would happen if we would scrap everything, go back to the beginning and start over with nothing but Jesus and his teachings? Like Andrew and Philip, inviting some that we know to come and see what Jesus is like, discovering where he will take us. Forgetting all the trappings of organizations, leadership, activities and a plethora of other things that seem to complicate matters, we would, as much as possible, walk together with Jesus as those first disciples did, learning and discovering along the way as they encountered experiences that Jesus led them into. What would happen if we start from scratch just as his disciples did? Do you think Jesus might lead us into his way of what we have been struggling to understand and correct?

Obviously, there are differences. We are already born from above, having already received the Holy Spirit; but this should enable us to be far more perceptive than the twelve were in learning from Jesus the ways of the kingdom. Possibly the greatest hindrance we would encounter is all of the knowledge we've already accumulated about spiritual things. Though we should not despise what the Spirit has taught us, neither should we allow it to rob us of learning and discovering in childlike wonder further insights he has for us through walking together with Jesus. And Jesus is walking through our communities today just like he did in first century Palestine. I believe we can experience the same kind of things together with our little group of friends as we walk with Jesus just as the twelve did.

I know this seems simplistic. But it seems that all of our attempts to change the church, form community and engage in missional activity has so muddied the waters of simply walking with Jesus that we have difficulty hearing and seeing him.

While these thoughts are not in any way complete, probably raising more questions than answers and more problems than solutions, if it stirs our thought processes, maybe something constructive will come out of it. The first being, is this even possible?

Where Can They Go?

2009-12-17T19:14:00Z

I want to pick up where we left off with the last post. To a world in ever-deepening darkness, God speaks to his people saying, "...nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising." - Isaiah 60:3

My question is: "What do we have in place that our light shines through so brilliantly that people will come to the brightness?"

I ask this question in light of a comment that was made as several of us were sharing last week about the direction we are moving in the formation of a community. John, who works with those coming out of prison and rehab said that he is asked where they can get involved with a spiritual group. He said that he now refuses to recommend they become involved with a church after the negative experiences that were encountered by those who followed his church recommendations. Therefore, John finds himself at a loss to suggest a community where these spiritual babes can experience the kind of fellowship that will encourage and strengthen them in the maturing process.

Through John, we were confronted with the fact that we who have disengaged from regular involvement in the institutional church have nothing to offer those who are seeking to participate in a spiritual community. House churches that meet once a week aren't much different than the institutional church they left. Healthy relationships cannot develop through a once-a-week meeting with little or no contact apart from the meeting.

We're discovering just how counter-cultural genuine community is in an individualistic society. As messy and uncomfortable as it is, we really don't have a choice if we want to provide a viable alternative to institutionalized Christianity. It will entail becoming other-focused in a way we have never known before. But this is the very thing that will release the light of the Lord in us that will make Isaiah 60:3 a reality.

Preparation for the Storm

2009-12-14T21:37:00Z

The missional activity of God doesn't take place in a vacuum, but is intertwined with every aspect of life. Luke gives evidence of this in his gospel in recording the events of the advent and birth of Jesus. He links the nobodies of the world with the great and powerful as he weaves the story of the coming of Jesus. Included in this unfolding drama are such personages as Caesar Augustus and Herod, along with such unknowns as Elizabeth, Zacharias, Mary, Joseph, Simeon, and Anna.

Luke reveals the census decree of Caesar as being instrumental in the fulfillment of prophecy declaring Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah. The political aspect of the kingdom of God brings the mission of God into direct conflict with this world's kingdom as witnessed in Herod's slaughter of the male children two years old and under.

As we celebrate the advent of Jesus some 2000 years later, we find ourselves in increasing tension and conflict in this nation. Like our first century spiritual ancestors, we can't escape the fact that we live simultaneously in two opposing kingdoms. The one is crumbling while the other is increasing.

In the face of such dire predictions that are now coming forth from all quarters concerning the collapse of the economy, even to, according to some, the dissolution of the United States, what are we, the people of God to do? We know that God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in the time of trouble, but how do we work that out practically in times of cataclysmic upheaval? Do we have the necessary structures in place that will enable us to respond differently than the general populace? Or are we so much like the general populace that their experience will be ours as well? Do we have in our midst sons of Issachar who understand the times, knowing what spiritual Israel should do?

The time to prepare is now, not when the storm hits, for then it will be too late. Are we building in such a way that the structure will weather the storm? Will it be a haven from the destructive forces that are unleashed by the storm?

Psalm 46 gives a vivid portrayal of the people of God in the midst of calamity. It describes in detail what could be the setting of Isaiah 60:1-2: "Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord will rise upon you, and his glory will appear upon you."

This advent season, we celebrate that Light that has come into the world enveloped in ever-deepening darkness. That unrestricted Light in us will draw the peoples to us (Isaiah 60:3).

Learners and Learned

2009-12-07T22:51:00Z

"In times of profound change, the learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists." - Eric Hoffer

This statement really started the wheels turning. So I'm throwing out some thoughts, hoping to ignite some constructive conversation.

Hoffer makes a distinction between the learners and the learned in times of profound change. Using this as an overlay of the first century, we see the learned scribes and Pharisees on the one hand and the disciples of Jesus, the learners, on the other. There's no doubt as to which group had a future, considering the events leading up to and including the catastrophic year of 70 A.D. The world of the learned of Jerusalem and Israel came crashing down while the learners' influence continued to expand throughout the earth.

Fast-forwarding to the 21st century, we still have the learners and the learned. I find it intriguing that "learned" is a past tense word. This pretty much sums up the state of the learned. But the learners are in a continual state of discovery. The scriptures refer to those learners as disciples.

Within Christian circles, there are both the learned and the learners. Here's the question: Are the learned authentic disciples of Jesus? I ask that in the context of a disciple being one that walks closely with Jesus in his activity and mission. In these times of profound change, Jesus is not inactive, stolidly entrenched in what has been, but is the very one initiating the profound change that is occurring all around us. Thus the question, can we be disciples of Jesus when we hang on to that which we have known to the extent that we disqualify ourselves from experiencing the profound change that Jesus is bringing forth?

So what do you think?

From Whence Come the New Leaders?

2009-11-30T17:52:00Z

The following paragraph is from Len Hjalmarson on his blog at nextreformation.com/?p=2973#more-2973

"The young leaders growing up in the cloistered world of church walls that we defended are formed within it. As a result they do not understand or work within the new world any more than their mentors. Where will we find the young leaders we need: those who are "digital natives" and postmodern pilgrims to use Len Sweets terms? Some of the existing leaders will eventually make the transition. Many will not. [And in the time it takes them to discover the need and make the transition we will have lost more ground.] We will have to find them out there on the streets, because most of the young leaders raised in the Christian subculture are wearing the wrong clothes and humming the wrong tune.

In reading this, I thought of Jesus and where he got his leaders. He didn't get them from within the religious establishment. Just as Jesus needed those who were not ensconced in the thoughts and ways of the old system, the same holds true today. The Lord is introducing a new thing today just as he did in the first century, and those who have the old paradigm ingrained in them under which they were trained are not capable of leading in the new thing God is doing. There will have to be a radical transformation that will divest them of any vestige of the old system if they are to lead.

Paul is the prime example of one who Jesus chose out of the religious establishment. It took years in which supernatural revelation was used to transform Paul into a leader God could use in the new thing he was establishing. Granted, not every leader will have the huge responsibility given to Paul, but I believe it indicates the radical difference between what God is doing and the old system that is obsolete simply because God has moved on.

As Hjalmarson suggests, we lose even more ground by trying to make leaders who have been schooled in the religious system. This is a call to mission if there ever was one. The leaders will come from those whose thought patterns are not restricted by the traditions and nuances of the religious establishment. They will be unspoiled, free to embrace the wildness of the kingdom of God in its entire undomesticated, panoramic expanse.

I concur with Hjalmarson, believing that these who will lead will be those who become disciples out of the harvest, unfettered by the chains of a toxic religious system, far surpassing their detoxed mentors.

What' the Real Issue?

2009-11-22T16:40:00Z

This topic of relevance has stirred up some lively conversation. It has been a major theme of missiologists, academicians, and practiioners in the ongoing dialogue concerning the church's effectiveness in communicating the gospel to a postmodern culture. Theories abound, running the gamut from one end of the spectrum to the other with varying degrees of success. But for the most part, the church continues to be increasingly marginalized by society at large. All of the dialogue focused on relevance has not morphed the church into the desired change agent of this intensifying secular, pluralistic culture.

With that in mind, may I stir the pot even more? I'm proposing that the subject of relevance is a subtle, tactical diversion that obscures the real issue. Our feeble attempts to be relevant reveal just how far we have strayed from the thoughts and ways of God. We mistakenly believe that by changing to contemporary music, multimedia, and seeker-friendly worship services coupled with self-help programs, we will attract more people. Under the guise of relevance, we change our structures, both organizational and physical, deluding ourselves into believing that more people will now be drawn to Jesus without these barriers. And still there is no marked change in people coming to Christ.

So what is the real issue? The real issue, which is trumpeted loud and clear by Jesus and the writers of scripture, is love. If we would be practicing love as God intends, there would be no need to discuss relevance, because love is always relevant. Thus, there is a misplaced emphasis on relevance, the result of love, instead of love itself. Therefore, recognizing that we need to be more relevant exposes our ignorance of our lack of love. We have abdicated our responsibility by institutionalizing love, hiring professionals to feed the hungry, to provide hospitality, to clothe the naked, to visit the sick and imprisoned, and to basically care for people. There's just one problem with this: institutions can't love.

However, love is costly, requiring sacrifice. Could this be the crux of the matter? It's much easier to dialogue and debate the issue of relevance that may possibly result in superficial changes in the institution, but contributes nothing to a lifestyle of love that touches the heart, transforming both the loved and the lover.

Irrelevance

2009-11-19T15:06:00Z

Phil Wagler makes the following observation in his book Kingdom Culture.

" The marvelous myriad of people Jesus called into his inner circle entered a three-year program in postmodern deconstruction - they just didn't call it that. Everything they assumed to be current and relevant about life required careful deconstruction, followed by determined reconstruction on the person of Jesus, the simple carpenter from Nazareth."

This introduces a whole new paradigm into the conversation of the Church's relevance to this postmodern culture. It contradicts the conventional wisdom of the missional and emerging church gurus who stress the importance of relevance.

Jesus made it clear that his kingdom is not of this world. It is totally foreign to this world's culture; therefore it is not relevant since it cannot be applied to the values of this world. Thus Wagler postulates the deconstruction of the disciples' assumptions of life and the reconstruction of a kingdom culture grounded in Jesus. The teaching Jesus gives in Matthew 5-7 in "the sermon on the mount", the Magna Charta of the kingdom, is indicative of this deconstruction and reconstruction process. Wagler points out six times in this teaching where Jesus says, "You have heard that it was said," only to add, "But I say to you."

Wagler continues:

"With great force, Jesus redefines and reframes what life is like in his Kingdom: 'It shall not be so among you.' [Matthew 20:26] Jesus' Kingdom will not be like the kingdoms of this world, no matter how big or small. He has not come to create a parallel political regime nor the ideal theocracy. He has come to create a whole new world from the one we have assumed. ...The culture in Jesus' Kingdom is wildly different than anything we've ever seen."

We've been called to be a people that are wildly different, demonstrating the Kingdom culture that is untamed and unspoiled by sin, totally irrelevant to the corrupt culture of consumerism and selfish ambition of this world. Only in the context of such a "holy irrelevance" can we be a counter cultural people.

Disciples and Culture

2009-11-15T16:44:00Z

This conversation on discipleship has taken an interesting turn - to culture. That's fine, because these two are interrelated. We are called to be disciples of Jesus and his kingdom culture. The fact that his kingdom is not of this world, it becomes obvious that there will be confrontation between his kingdom and those of this world, being that they are based on conflicting value systems.

The Hebrew culture that Jesus was born into was based on the values of the kingdom. However, the institution of man's traditions corrupted those values, so that the Hebrew culture was an impure mixture of the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of men. The purity of kingdom values was polluted with the pride and selfish ambition of fallen humanity. Yet, the Hebrew culture, with all of its problems and shortcomings, was still the closest thing to a kingdom culture.

So what about the western "Christian" community of the 21st century? Does it model the culture of the kingdom of God? Like the Hebrew culture of the first century, it is an impure mixture, influenced more by the culture of this world than that of God's kingdom.

These two kingdoms are on a collision course. Therefore, a true disciple of Jesus and his kingdom will encounter messiness and nastiness on a continual basis. One only has to look at Jesus, Paul and the Scriptures to recognize this. Could it be that this was one of the reasons that fellowship and community were so precious to those first century saints? The joy and encouragement they received from gathering together was a welcome respite from the messy and nasty circumstances they encountered "out there" as disciples of Jesus. And let's face it, that messiness and nastiness was also experienced within the body of believers as they learned to walk as disciples of a different kingdom. Paul's epistles testify to this.

Have we compromised the culture of the kingdom of God because we have sought to avoid the messiness and nastiness that true disciples of Jesus encounter? Therefore, we hire professionals to deal with the messy and nasty circumstances, sparing us to live relatively free of such confrontations. But in retreating into our own safe little worlds, we disqualify ourselves from God's mission of advancing his kingdom culture in the world. To do so requires getting involved relationally with other people, and that gets messy and nasty. Lives that have been intoxicated with the deception of this world's culture are in desperate need of deliverance from the ruins that are accumulating.

"And those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will raise up the age-old foundations; and you will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets in which to dwell." - Isaiah 58:12.

Being a Disciple

2009-11-09T15:14:00Z

Terry's comment to "Discipleship - Community Style" confronts us with some uncomfortable words from Jesus: "In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple." Terry then quotes the same passage from The Message: "Simply put, if you're not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can't be my disciple."

Here, in a very succinct statement, which is so typical of Jesus, we are made to understand why he has so few disciples. Few of us are willing to give up everything to be his disciples. Too many "Christians" are like a lot of first century Gentiles, when confronted with accepting Jesus as God, were more than willing to include him with the other gods they were devoted to. But Jesus doesn't give us that prerogative. He will not share devotion with any other, making it plain that no man can serve two masters.

Terry asks, "Shouldn't we first be disciples before we try to export this process?" This is a great question. We can't export something that we do not have. Therefore, it's impossible to export the discipleship concept if we ourselves are not experiencing it. And since disciples are made in small relational communities such as Jesus and the twelve, one of the first things that will need to be given up is our individualism. To insist on maintaining an individualistic lifestyle is to eliminate one's self from the discipleship process that Jesus conducts through community.

We have so accommodated ourselves to a comfortable "Christian" lifestyle that we have refashioned Jesus into our own image. Therefore, he no longer is a threat to us because he is just like us. So we can live our lives free from his disturbing intrusions because we've made for ourselves a safe Jesus that wants us to be happy and blessed. There's only one thing wrong with this. It's idolatry! Being a disciple of Jesus in a legitimate community will expose this and put us in touch with the real Jesus of Scripture, the dynamic resurrected Lord, not the bland icon of our own pitiful creation.