TheBolgBlog

Revolution by George Barna

I know this book review is a little late out of the starting gate. Revolution is required reading for my students this quarter, and I thought, if they need to review it, then it is only fair that I review it too! So here goes. I begin with an overview of what I see Barna saying followed by some interaction with his thesis.

Overview of Revolution
George Barna, in Revolution, touts a new form of church that recently developed in the United States. Dissatisfied with local churches, twenty-million “revolutionaries” created forms of spirituality outside organized religion. This spiritual revolution came about because of seven trends in society: the increase of Busters and Mosaics, moral relativism, dismissal of the irrelevant, advent of technology, priority of relationship, participation, desire for meaning.

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Mission in the Twenty-First Century

I was interviewed yesterday for a possible documentary on Mission in the Twenty-First Century by a ministry in Asia. Here are their questions followed by my initial tries at an answer:

What is a major theme of what you see God doing in your particular area of the world?
We see the first efforts at intentional mission within Western Culture. When Lesslie Newbigin labeled the West a mission field after returning to a secularized England from a very spiritual India in the early 1980s, his words rang alarm bells in Christendom. Why would a 'Christian' nation need mission? It is still controversial, even today. For example, missional churches raise great concern in the US, the Gospel in our Culture Network and Emergent in the United States serving as prime examples.

How is "missions" changing?
Missions are becoming more urban, more spiritual, more holistic, and more understanding of culture (both inside and outside the church). Mission organizations are looking less like the large company and more like mobile monastic communities.

In your area of the world, what major trend characterized missions in the 20th century?
In my part of the world, mission did not exist until very, very late in the century. Mission in the sense of a church looking to embody all of its practices within the host culture is still quite the exception.

From your vantage point, what trend(s) do you see developing for the future of missions during this 21st century?
Just as some of the best missionaries served and facilitated the development of local theologies overseas, 21st century missionaries in the West need to facilitate self-theologizing communities rather than impose 16th century responses to current questions. I see less a focus on the church service and more on the mission. These will be 'activist' communities -- no spectators allowed. Churches will become more like highly committed monastic communities. The producer/consumer dualism of clergy/laity will become less obvious. Churches will not adhere to the sacred/secular split -- they will all areas of reality as spiritual -- even social justice work.

How do you feel about these changes/developments?
I'm excited. It represents a sea change for the western church. It is also a huge challenge, because many evangelicals are unaware of the deep cultural indebtedness of their particular traditions -- they see their particular cultural answers as absolutely and ahistorically true. Thus, their mission takes the form of converting outsiders to a particular historical interpretation of the faith rather than a dynamic, incarnational interchange. On the other hand, missionaries must hold their particular theologies lightly, knowing that their theological answers and questions might change in the interplay.

What do you see is the role of the Church in the West in missions? In your opinion, how can the Western Church most effectively contribute to the missions enterprise and make long-term impact? In what way(s), do you see "partnership in mission" as a developing trend?
The West must leave its Christendom assumptions of mission behind. The West must serve as advocates, as facilitators, as servants of other local expressions of Christ-following communities. They must be willing to let go of power. Partnership is the only way that the West can give voice to the other -- to give space to the less powerful at the table. But it will be a big challenge for Americans who are used to calling the shots.

How can the Western Church be impacted by the Church in other areas of the world? What lesson(s) does the Western Church need to learn?
Western churches need to learn how to be a faithful church without constant access to political power. How to live at the margins as salt and light. We need to stop fighting the culture wars and look to where God is at work within the culture. We need to become 24-7 spiritual/secular communities. We need to serve our neighbors in meaningful ways. We need to live the gospel and not simply adopt the metanarratives of our culture or our faith traditions.

Technorati Tags: mission, Western Culture

Keep the Conversation Going Between Young and Old

A friend of mine (and former student) asked me recently about conversing with older people in his church about emerging practices. He asked if I had any guidance. I think he already had his answer. Conversations. I believe that many emerging church practitioners leave their church because the conversation has stopped. And sometimes it needs to, if it is toxic and brings death. However, we have glimmers of what can happen when the conversation continues. At Tribal Generation/St. Tom's in Sheffield, UK, Eddie Gibbs and I saw "80-somethings" sitting around the dance floor supporting the club culture worship environment. How inspiring! Somehow, bridges were built and conversations continued in that community. These 'gray-hairs' (as they are called) understood that these younger people were faithful adherents to Christ within their culture. Someone translated these odd and peculiar practices to them, and the church conversed about the many ages in their midst. To the older people, what might have seemed like pagan idolatry in their understanding of world became faithful and contextual indigenous worship. Unfortunately, St. Tom's is currently an exception, but it is a community that gives Eddie Gibbs and I hope for a multi-generational community that engages the future.

Technorati Tags: denominations, Emerging_Church, Leadership, worship

Whither Strategy?

I'm teaching a 30 hour course on 'Mission Strategy' this summer. I did not name the course and the title raises all sorts of red flags for me. My interviews with emerging church leaders revealed that strategy has seen better days. These leaders are highly skeptical of strategy, and for good reason.

Strategy is a military term and the word has often been used within the church with strong military metaphors. Institutions, perhaps more neutrally, perform strategic planning in order to create possible scenarios so that action in the present may be taken with the future in mind.

One could argue that churches, as institutions, must do this same sort of planning. But what about mission movements? Emerging Churches often fall into this second category, as they are movements within postmodern culture rather than churches that maintain a 'come to us' Sunday meeting/building focus. Ought emerging churches to perform strategic planning?

Jason Evans started a new community in the San Diego area just this last year. When I asked his plans beforehand, Jason asked rhetorically, how much planning can I do if my focus is on embodying the kingdom rather than planting a church? What Jason understood is that the gospel is a response to a particular context and not a set of abstract 'truths'. In other words, if the gospel is always embodied and incarnational, thereby taking the context seriously, then how much planning can we do beforehand? Jason's understanding builds on the works of Dallas Willard and NT Wright who asserted that the gospel is that we get to participate with God in the redemption of the world and does not only refer to the work on the cross. Our gospel is one that welcomes others to share in the joy of this inbreaking movement of God rather than existing as simply a verbal message...

Emerging Churches plant themselves in the midst of culture and respond with practices of the kingdom such as hospitality, generosity, and humility. In contrast, modern strategic planning objectifies the other as a 'means to an end' (e.g. planting a growing church, penetrating an area, advancing the kingdom). Hospitality and other kingdom-like practices treat the stranger as a gift, to be welcomed, as the 'end' and not the 'means'. The very next step or direction for the community is likely to be discovered not by a preset plan but in the least likely of places through the most uncommon sorts of people. Strategic planning cannot foresee this.

Incarnation rather than strategy is scary, ad-hoc, and relies on the Holy Spirit.  As Chris Matthews, of Red Cafe, Swansea, Wales said, “Throw us into the midst of culture, and see what happens!”.

Abstract plans objectify ministry recipients and are inherently hostile to incarnation. Thus, they have no place in emerging churches. Incarnation - yes, strategic planning, no.

Technorati Tags: Emerging_Church, Jason_Evans, kingdom of God, Mission_Strategy

Existing Churches -- Let them die?

Alan of Vine and Branches commented here in the thread on "Emerging Churches and Denominations and I think his ideas warrant another conversation.

Alan responded to my comment that there are some hopeful signs of change within denominations in the US, but examples of emerging churches within existing churches are few. He asked why one would be hopeful if existing churches had signs of change? If a person has indeed had a new glimpse of an emerging kind of church, he/she would only stay within existing churches because of fear or money (Alan, hopefully I have characterized your thoughts accurately).

Technorati Tags: Emerging_Church, denominations