Dave Harder

Avoiding Persecution

Steve Murrell writes a great reminder to all of us who are trying to exegete culture and live incarnationally within our cities and neighbourhoods. It is easy to make lots of friends and never really announce the arrival of God's Kingdom through the gospel. Living in the tension of both is critical. I have on many occasions proclaimed the gospel too quickly not joining what the Holy Spirit was doing in their life but instead pushing my agenda. I have also made lots of friends but because of fear and/or insecurity never brought up the gospel. Here is part of Steve's post go here to read it in full.

I’m back in Manila after a week in the Middle East. I wish I could blog all the amazing stories I heard from our “underground church planters" but our security protocols forbid details. All I can say is that God continues to do miracles and the Gospel continues to transform lives even in "creative access" nations.

Some of our leaders in the region have suffered greatly for their Faith, fulfilling the promise (that no one “claims”) in 2 Timothy 3:12 that all who want to live godly lives “will be persecuted.”

In the Middle East stories of arrest, abuse, prison, death threats and rejection are told with a grace, peace and even a joy that only comes from God. While they may not have advanced theological degrees, these Middle Eastern leaders have a spiritual depth that goes way beyond Bible knowledge and correct pronunciation of ancient Greek words.  

Church leaders all over the world have much to learn from them, beginning with humility and spiritual hunger. While persecution is a normal part of the Christian life in the Middle East, there is a way to avoid it – DON’T PREACH THE GOSPEL.

That’s right, if we just live good lives, help the poor, serve our communities, but never mention the name of Jesus or what he did on the cross, we will not be persecuted.

One of our leaders in the region (in the Middle East) told us that he formerly used a strategy of constantly “engaging” his culture and community, but he never seemed to get around to actually preaching the Gospel. The result was a lot of friends but few disciples. His current strategy is to preach the Gospel to everyone he meets within the first two weeks. As he has preached Christ, an amazing thing has started to happen: people are getting saved! And in this region, persecution can’t be far behind.

Engaging culture and community is the starting point of making disciples, but if we don’t establish biblical foundations (the Gospel, grace, faith, repentance…), we are simply making friends not disciples.

What about you: Are you making acquaintances or disciples? Are you avoiding persecution by avoiding the Gospel?

My Faves of the Week

For you who need some good reading or an introduction to some great blogs here are my faves this week.

David Fitch writes a must read for all Missional Church Planters

If you have ever wondered what the point of worship here is a great worship statement 

Four Temptations Christian Leaders Face

For those wanting to start a missional community but have no clue where to start

And a book that I understand will be a tour de force for the missional conversation and a must order is Missional: Joining God in the Neighborhood by Alan Roxburgh. And what I am listening to these days is Brian Doerksen's new album – “Level Ground”... I am loving it.

Preaching In A Missional Church

We have been processing as a core community what Sundays should look like when a church is focused on mission. The tendency is to drift into what every other Sunday service across the city looks like. Intro - 4 songs - Offering/Announcements - Message - Closing Song. Ya you may see a little different flavour from church to church but you get my point. This last Sunday I saw what it can look like when everyone shares out of their gifting and current reality. God is doing something deep in peoples hearts and we need to give spaces to equip, train, and release them to "preach" wherever they find themselves. What was spoken on Sunday could also be spoken to work mates, friends, and discussed at the pub. Thats missional preaching.

Here is a brilliant paper, “Preaching in the Missional Church” by Ervin R. Stutzman, a professor of homiletics atEastern Mennonite Seminary.

Quick Aside: If you want to get a truly helpful understanding of what missional is all about, listen to Anabaptists! 

In the paper he unpacks a number of distinctives of a missionally-shaped (Post-Christendom) vision of preaching and also addresses the need for new methods of training these sorts of preachers which we are attempting in KLMS.

  

 

Review: Launching Missional Communities

I mentioned this resource in a previous post and then came across this great review by JR Rozko’s.  I would encourage everyone who is planting a church with a more missional model or transitioning a church to mission to take a look at this very practical field guide. Launching Missional Communities: A Field Guide . Also don't miss reading Mike's response to the only criticism JR addresses which is linked later in the post.

"I should probably say upfront that I have a ton of 3DM (the training network behind this book) friends.  I love them, their hearts, and their ministries, so as I come to this book, I’m already biased in favor of it.

The easiest thing to say about this book is that it’s practical.  While it’s easy, even fun, to read, it almost can be treated more like a resource manual than a book.  It doesn’t need to be read straight through and it’s easy to reference bits and pieces depending on your interests.

Before diving into all the good stuff I want to say, let me go ahead and get my one major criticism out of the way.  There is a small chapter entitled, “Attractional vs. Missional” in which the authors attempt to argue that we need both.  My opinion, however, is that the argument fails on both theological and analogical fronts.  They use the pre-Reformation phenomenon of Roman model churches (if you build it they will come) and Celtic model churches (more outward focused) to suggest that we need attractional and missional kinds of churches playing off of one another.  The analogical problem here is that what is generally meant today by attractional and missional does not at all correspond to the realities and circumstances in which these models of churches existed.  As for the theological problem, I can probably best articulate that by sharing the last sentences of the chapter and my notes in the margin.

The quote…

We just need to understand what Attractional does well and do it.

We need to understand what Missional does well and do it.

My notes…

Impossible – attractional and missional churches are such because they have divergent understandings of basic Christian doctrines.  What we need is a theologically robust understanding the relationship between the the Missio Dei, the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and the Church.  This will lead us not to the ‘best’ of these two models, but to a cohesive vision of a missional ecclesiology.  This is the great error of ‘AND’ thinking; you never get to core issues because you spend all your time trying to artificially hold incompatible things together.

The saddest part of this is that the underlying genius of the book actually does this work.  It undercuts the errant theology and philosophy driving attractional churches.  I just wish they had been more direct in stating it.

UPDATE: Be sure to check this post Mike Breen offered in response.

OK, on to the far more substantive praise.

The authors fully communicate their heart for the life and ministry of local churches in their various forms.  They offer not just a proposal, but a methodical plan for churches of any size (though it seems pretty obvious that they have in mind mainly new, smaller communities and then more established larger communities in mind) and kind to begin to incorporate missional communities into the life of their larger church community.

Discipleship, leadership and mission are the driving themes of both the book and the entire philosophy of missional communities.  To get the point of the book, you have to understand that from the author’s perspective, the task of the church is discipleship – period – the end.  And they are right.  You also have to embrace the idea that the replication of leaders is imperative to the larger task of discipleship.  If you don’t equip and empower leaders, you can kiss your changes of exponential discipleship bye-bye.  Again, I’m totally with them here.  Finally, mission is the context in which leaders are equipped and disciples are formed.  Amen!  If you can embrace and own these three things, then you’ll love this book and what it offers.

A few final things.  I deeply appreciate that they didn’t skip over the tough (practical) issues like kids, schedules, and finances.  they address these things as only those who’ve lived through the ins and outs of the details could.  They also interspersed quotes and stories from those who have gone through their 3DM training and others who have implemented missional communities (or some derivation thereof) into their larger church context.

The guys behind 3DM are doing a good work and the people who contributed stories to the book are the ultimate testimony of that.  I highly recommend you pick up a copy or two to read through with a group that’s interested in the whole idea of missional communities – you won’t find a better practical guide for sure."

 

All You Need to Know About Missional Community

You know that feeling when you find that resource that puts into words all the thoughts, ideas, strategies you had and you are so grateful someone else wrote it down. This is how I feel about Mike Breen's work Launching Missional Communities: A Field Guide. It is years of ministry and his apostolic genius distilled into one manual. The story of St. Thomas Crookes in Sheffield where Mike was the pastor for a number of years is mind blowing and his ministry 3DM will be a huge help to churches making the shift to becoming more missional or church plants that are desiring more of a missional model.

One of the things Mike talks about a lot in regards to Missional Communities is that they need to be balanced in the way that Jesus’ life was balanced. He had three definitive dimensions to his life, and so with MCs, we should have the same dimensions.

UP: time spent focusing on God

IN: time spent focusing on others in the body

OUT: time spent focusing on those who don’t know Jesus yet

If this is done well in the context of a spiritual extended family on mission together (groups of 20-40), the community, mission and discipleship that occurs through God’s Spirit is stunning.

 

Its All About Story

One of the outcomes of our leaders meeting was a focus more on stories and sharing the

stories of what God is doing in our lives and community. So here is a post from Jonathon Dodson that will hopefully help as we move towards being more story formed!

Good questions are an important way to get real conversation going, but alone, they are not sufficient for substantive community. Knowledge about a person’s life circumstances doesn’t produce community. It is important that we also learn how to sympathize with people when they share their heart. We can do this by striving to understand how they are responding to their circumstances. Are they in doubt, depressed, encouraged, or embittered? We can sympathize with their struggle, just as Jesus sympathizes with us: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15). Try asking these questions:

 "Are you discouraged? Where do you have doubt?"

 "That is so difficult. Ugh!"

 "Does anyone else struggle with that?"

 "Can we pray for you right now?"

 Bring up the issue in the next meeting.

Once you have tried to sympathize with someone’s story, you have embodied the gospel before speaking the gospel. It’s important that we follow Jesus’ example of gentle sympathy with others instead of trying to “fix” people. 

Discern the heart 

Sympathy alone does not offer hope. In order to lead people to hope in their situation, we need to be discerning and wise friends to help them look into their own hearts. The heart is the seat of our longings and decision-making (Proverbs 4:23; Luke 6:45). It governs our responses to our circumstances. What our heart believes, desires, and trusts will determine our response to a situation. 

To have good gospel conversations, we need to help people discern their heart in their life story.

We discern by relying on the Spirit and the Word to see our heart motivations.

Be sure to communicate your love and acceptance regardless of their struggle, and make sure they know you have heard their story. Here are some ways to do so:

"In that situation I would be tempted to blame my co-worker, what about you guys?" 

"Is there a subtle lie you might be believing here?" 

"What do you want most out of the situation? What are you longing for?" 

"Where do you feel like you were wronged?" 

"What is most important to you in that moment?" 

Here are some additional questions to discern idols of the heart (adapted from Counterfeit Gods)

"Where are you spending your money?"

"Where does your imagination take you? What do you daydream about?"

"Where are your emotions uncontrollable? What do you find yourself longing for, angry over, or fearful of? There is your idol."

"How do you respond to unanswered prayers or dashed hopes?"

The basic three part structure is adapted from David Powlison’s counseling mantra:

1) Listen to Their Story

2) Empathize with Their Story

3) Redemptively Retell Their Story.

Listening to others by asking good questions, empathizing with their struggle, and discerning their heart’s desires and beliefs only gets us half-way to good gospel conversation. To bless one another with true, Christ-shaped counsel, we need to reveal the gospel in each other's story. Here are a few ways to lovingly make the gospel-turn in conversation.

Apply the Gospel to your own story

It is important that the conversation-leader be a “lead repenter” when answering heart-penetrating questions. This does not mean you are the first to answer the question; however, you must come to the gathering prepared to share how the Spirit has led you to repentance in your own life. Lead-repenting begins at home in your heart and naturally carries over into how you lead during gatherings. Be bold with your brokenness and invite words of correction and encouragement. 

• Confess your own sin & idolatry. Ask for prayer, help, and encouragement in your own life.
• Apply the gospel to yourself. We often become focused on discerning the wounds and cracks in others' hearts and forget to apply the gospel to our own hearts first. Let your community see you applying the healing balm of the gospel to your own wounds. This will dissolve a self-righteous hierarchy, as well as show them how to apply the gospel to their own lives. 

• Lead with grace. When revealing the gospel in other people’s story, the goal is not to rebuke publicly, but rather to graciously point them through their circumstances to Christ who is present in their struggle.

Listen well

Listen to a person’s story and re-tell it back to them, but with the gospel of grace in the middle. Your goal is to show how Jesus is better than what their fear, desire, or feelings are about their circumstance. Do it in a way that reveals that Jesus is not a miracle drug, but a crucial and concrete component of their lives. Demonstrate that Jesus is the only key to fit the lock of their problems. 

• Say nothing. At times, no words are needed. While talking, a person will often verbally correct his wrong motives and actions. Affirm him in his conclusions and point him to Jesus, who is sufficient for his failures and strong for his successes. 

• Graciously expose lies. Ask if there is a lie they are tempted to believe. As sin surfaces, it is very tempting to either shift the blame or dismiss anger, despair, or lust because of difficult circumstances. It is loving to reveal blame-shifting and sin-skirting to guide one another into the joy of the Lord.

Let your community see you applying the healing balm of the gospel to your own wounds.

• Blame-shifting. We are often tempted to lay blame on our circumstances. For instance, we might blame our sexual sin or overeating on the absence of a girlfriend, boyfriend, or spouse. We might explain our anger by saying, “It’s the kids’ fault.” You may be angry or depressed because you aren’t married, so you say: “There are too many married people in this group or church.” 
• Sin-skirting. As a community that speaks the truth in love, we have an obligation to not allow one another to skirt sin with moralism or indifference. For example, “Yeah, I’d be angry too,” “It will get better,” or “Don’t be a doormat!”

 Delve deeper by asking good questions

Prompt a more meaningful conversation with questions that illicit thoughtful answers:

• How does our passage address your heart issues? 
• What alternative promise does Scripture offer us? 
• Can you think of any Bible stories, parables, promises, or truths that would help us here?
• How does the gospel address this?
• How does Jesus supplant and replace our idol of success? We know Jesus is better, but how?

Encouragement is key

It is important to acknowledge the work people do in sharing their insights. What grace can you affirm in their life? What victory can you celebrate? What progress have you seen in their faith? By following up with a few encouraging statements, a person is more likely to keep sharing, searching, and seeking God out.

 

What to do about Sundays?

We had an amazing discussion with our leaders on Thursday night and lots of processing has taken place since then. As a church that is committed to Gospel Communities it is challenging to figure out what Sundays are and what they should become. 

Gospel Communities n. and v. 1. Mid-sized groups of people that live out the mission of God together as a family, pursuing the redemption and renewal of a particular community or network of relationships by declaring and demonstrating the gospel in tangible forms.

The issue isn't whether you should have a Sunday Gathering or not the issue is where lies your 'centre of gravity'. The distinctive of  the 'GCM model' (for want of a better term) is that the leading edge has to be Gospel Communities on Mission, rather than a Sunday event with preaching. That event is important and is a great front door for many people, but unless a genuine devolution has taken place what you will get is going to be like any other church.

The problem is that our/MY default is to the Sunday event (because it's actually easier and flows better with our consumer lifestyle) so counter balances have to be in place to resist the drift. Thanks to the Journey for helping be my counterbalance.

What I did learn was it all begins with asking a Question. Don't worry if its the right one because the Holy Spirit will help with the navigation. Just ask the question...

 

Problems With Evangelism Driven Mission

I have been thinking lately about how churches will call themselves missional but their focus tends to be on something completely different. Here is one of the problems highlighted by Jonathon Dodson

Problems with Evangelism-Driven Mission

These churches focus almost exclusively on evangelism. Their view of the gospel leads them to see social action as optional. For them, mission is synonymous with evangelism, and evangelism is highly programmatic. They focus on training individuals through evangelism training programs, apologetics, and use of evangelistic tracts. What’s wrong with learning evangelistic presentations, memorizing apologetic defenses, and using tracts?

1. Evangelism-driven mission is often answer-based and heaven-centered.

These churches train individuals and teams “How to present the gospel” in a brief period of time. Typically, these programs look for the person being evangelized to offer a specific answer. For example, “If you died tonight and stood before God and he said: ‘Why should I let you into my heaven?’ What would you say?” Notice that the questions are answer-driven. The goal is to get someone to say the right answer and to believe the right facts, like “Jesus died for my sins.” What we need is less belief and more faith. In his new book, The Future of Faith, Harvey Cox makes a helpful distinction between belief and faith. He writes: “We can believe something to be true without it making much difference to us, but we place our faith only in something that is vital for the way we live.” We can believe without it making a difference. Many Americans believe that Jesus died on the cross for their sins, but it makes very little difference in their lives. They possess mere belief. This mere belief undermines the gospel. What we need is faith. Moreover, mere belief in the right answer baits people, not with Christ, but with heaven. It is heaven-centered, not Christ-centered. In evangelism-driven mission, Christ is subordinated to the treasure of heaven, instead of heaven being subordinated to the treasure of Christ. The goal is heaven, not Jesus. Answer-driven and heaven-centered evangelism leads to nominalism and distorts the gospel. Evangelism-driven mission can undermine, not advance the gospel.

2. Evangelism-driven mission can be defensive and fact-oriented.

Training in apologetics has its place; however, when our approach to non-Christians is driven by apologetics, we very often reduce people to projects. Apologetic mission can foster too much defense and too much offense because it aims at the head to the exclusion of the heart, to change someone’s mind, but not their lives. Just because someone agrees with our facts and embraces our logic doesn’t guarantee true conversion. We need to be prepared, not only to defend the faith, but to love people intelligently. Most objections to the gospel have existential and personal roots. If we can get beyond the arguments to the idols of the heart, we can show just how tremendously superior and satisfying Jesus is to whatever they love, desire, and pursue most!

3. Evangelism-driven mission is often outdated and fails to contextualize.

The methods used are often prepackaged and outdated. Evangelistic programs falsely assume that our listeners still understand the meanings of sin, Christ, and faith. But very often, they hear something very different, like legalism, moral teacher, and mere belief. When we fail to express the gospel in context and vocabulary that our listeners can understand, we fail to share the gospel. Christ dated and contextualized himself to all kinds of people so that his message would make sense and connect with their deep needs for redemption. Using packaged illustrations and methods assumes a one-size-fits-all, but the Incarnation reminds us that the gospel is much more personal and dynamic.

4. Evangelism-driven mission is individualistic.

This approach to mission trains individuals, not communities. It reduces the gospel to a conversation between two people, without focusing on embodying the gospel in communities. Statistics have shown that individuals are consistently converted to communities before they are converted to doctrines. Our methods are often doctrine-driven and individualistic. Jesus prescribed a kind of communal evangelism in John 17, where our community is so redemptive and rich that it points people to Jesus. Paul called for a distinctive discipleship in churches that set the community of faith forth as an example, as salt and light in their cities, attracting others to them. Individualistic evangelism doesn’t create community because it doesn’t convert people to the church. It aims at converting individuals to a set of answers and to heaven. 

This series is based on Jonathan Dodson’s talks at the LEAD ’09 conference.

 

Why Missional Church is not Just the Latest Fad

Such a great post by Jonathon Dodson on why missional church is not the latest fad in how to do church...

Missional Church has been quite the buzz in the evangelical church world. As with any buzz, it has a polarizing effect. People often adopt or reject the concept before they have properly understood it. This creates a bandwagon effect, uncritical early adopters who adopt an idea, jump on the bandwagon, without depth of understanding of what they have committed themselves to. Alternatively, there are the hypercritical naysayers, who naysay missional church as a fading fad. Ironically, the hypercritical naysayers commit the same error as the uncritical early adopters. Both responses fail to adequately investigate just what “missional church” is. This three part series will address the dangers in transitioning to missional church, either as a new church plant or an existing church.

Clarifying Missional Church

The missional church is not a church with a mission. All churches have a mission. Stated or unstated, all churches practice some kind of mission. It may be keep to the immoral out, to keep sound doctrine in, to pray for revival, or to send missionaries to the nations. Each of these churches is an example of church with a mission. The missional church, however is church as mission. In the words of Darrell Guder, the challenge “is to move from a church with mission to a missional church.”[1]
In light of this important distinction, it is critical that transitioning churches understand the difference between church with a mission versus church as mission. To clarify the difference, consider the following chart:

Church WITH a Mission                                                Church AS a Mission

What You Do         (Task)	Who You Are       (Identity)
Optional                  (Elective)	Essential               (Core)
Extraordinary       (Elitist)	Ordinary               (Everyone)
Project Focus        (Event)	People Focus       (Disciple)

Traditional churches view the church as a church with a mission, at best. This mission may be sending missionaries to the nations, transforming the church neighborhood, or guarding and promoting sound doctrine. While all worthy missions, these are all examples of church with a mission. They focus on a task to be performed not and identity of the church. As a result, the mission of the church becomes optional not essential, creating a first and second tier Christianity comprised of ordinary and extraordinary Christians who do mission. At best, this accomplishes some mission but often remains very project focused not disciple-making driven.

What then is a missional church? Guder writes: “With the term missional we emphasize the essential vocation and nature of the church as God’s called and sent people.”[2] Missional churches are missional in nature and vocation. Missional is who they are, and as a result, mission is what they do. It is not simply a both/and. If mission as nature does not precede mission as vocation, mission-as-identity before mission-as-task, then churches that attempt to become or transition into missional church will either fail or fall intosyncretistic missional ecclesiology. A depth of understanding that mission is what we are before it is what we do will be absolutely essential to planting or transitioning a missional church.

By Jonathon Dodson

 

[1] Darrell Guder ed., The Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America, 6. This was a landmark book for the missional church movement in North America. Many missional leaders and organizations can trace their roots to Guder’s seminal influence on American ecclesiology.

[2] Guder, The Missional Church, 11.

 

Tim Keller On God's Urban Mission

From Lausanne Cape Town 2010 Tim Keller's message "What is God's global urban mission?"

What is God’s Global Urban Mission? from Redeemer City to City on Vimeo.

Christ Dwells In Our Togetherness

I have to brag on our community! We had our Kingdom Life Ministry School yesterday. The topic for the day was Missional Living. It was so inspiring to hear the stories of transformation, to see the togetherness, to feel the love in the room, to laugh and cry together, sharing and listening. I can honestly say we were a family. And in being so close, so united, so together, I felt and saw Jesus. (1John 4:12) It amazing me that everyone is looking for God but they are searching for him an autonomous... individual reality. 

Nothing addresses the radical individualism we face in society more than this idea of the church being a family a community, a new temple. Ephesians 2:19-22 has to be some of the more radical words we see in scripture. The reality of Christ dwelling in our togetherness. The notion that our maturity with Jesus is reflected in our ability to connect with others as brothers and sisters.  The idea that the world sees God through our connection with one another. The greatest apologetic for Jesus being alive is community! One can't read 1 John and not be incredibly convicted... what has happened? Where have we gone wrong? Keep reading, hopefully some light will be shed on the subject of giving up "me" for "us"

Stop Going to Church

by Jonathan Dodson

For years I went to church. Religiously. I actually went to church for about 25 years. Then I stopped. I'm so glad I did. Instead of going to church, I startedbeing the church. It's radically changed me. They have changed me. My family has gotten bigger. Bono's Church The church is supposed to be a family. But there's a problem. The church is too often very un-church. As a result, a lot of people say that they like Jesus, but they just don't like the church ... and they're in pretty good company ... with Bono. In U2's song "Acrobat", from the album Achtung Baby, Bono articulates a fairly common perception of the church: No, nothing makes sense, nothing seems to fit. I know you'd hit out if you only knew who to hit. And I'd join the movement  If there was one I could believe in Yeah, I'd break bread and wine If there was a church I could receive in. This is a common view of the church. What's the view? Conflicted: "And I'd join the movement If there was one I could believe in. Yeah, I'd break bread and wine If there was a church I could receive in." Like many of us, Bono wants the church, but there are too many ifs. He wants to be part of the movement of the church. Unfortunately, many churches aren't concerned with movement. Too many of them are inwardly focused, not outwardly focused. They aren't the world-changing communities of the New Testament. They are static, inert and inward. Bono wants the communion of church, but says there's no church he can believe or receive in. I'm guessing that what Bono is referring to is not merely the eucharist, but the one-body community that is symbolized in the act of communion (1 Cor 10:16-17). Like Bono, many of us long for church as movement and communion, a church that is missional and communal. Unbelievable Churches Some churches are fortresses. Groups of combative soldiers that enforce their doctrine, hide behind their high and holy walls, and launch grenades of judgment into the culture. The mission is doctrinal conformity, not grace. The community is in-grown not inviting. Other churches have more in common with shopping malls. They are filled with salesmen and consumers. The salesman market the church to the world. They dress her up like the culture, dress down the message of Jesus, and sell the consumers short on the gospel, community and mission. Unlike fortress churches, the shopping mall mission is not to keep people out but to get people in. At quite a high cost, people pile into the building and out of the building wondering if this is all there is to church. Then there are the cemeteries — lifeless, irrelevant, stodgy churches. These churches are trapped in time, disconnected from contemporary issues. Somehow they've lost the joy of the Lord. Calcified by religion, they offer virtually no community or mission. When our churches have more in common with fortresses, shopping malls and cemeteries, who can blame America for not liking the church, for not receiving in her, for not joining the movement? Acrobats or Brothers? How should we respond? Opt for Jesus but opt out of the church? Believe inJesus, just not the church? It's easy to become cynical when we're confronted with fortresses, shopping malls and cemeteries. But deep down, if we are honest with ourselves, something is wrong with accepting Jesus and rejecting the church. After all, "the church" was Jesus' idea. Speaking to Peter, Jesus said: "Upon this rock I will build my church." "My church" — not Peter or Paul's church. The church belongs to Jesus. He created a new family. Pointing away from His blood family and to His disciples he said: "These are my mother and brothers" (Matt. 12:49). The church is supposed to be family, brothers and sisters, but we act more like acrobats. Bono sings: 'Cause I need it now. To take the cup To fill it up, to drink it slow. I can't let you go. And I must be an acrobat To talk like this and act like that. Confessing his need for church, but failing to act on it, Bono calls himself an acrobat. He can offer the critique but refuses to endure the sacrifice of being the church. Maybe we're the acrobats. Talking up the church but stripping it down into an event. Going to church instead of being the church. Keeping people at arms length, acquaintances, refusing to embrace them as brothers. We say we want community, but are unwilling to make the sacrifices for it to happen. It's too inconvenient and messy. We want the benefit of church without her demands. Something has to change. Why not start with you? What if you started having people join you for meals, Christians and non-Christians. What if you started having family meals together? What if you began to serve your neighborhood in some way and invited some church friends to join you? What if you began to put others needs before your own? I wonder what would happen. Fewer acrobats and more brothers? Church would slowly become more of a family than an event. Family Church Church is not an event, a place or a plant. It is a family of brothers and sisters united in the Spirit and the Son. The church is a community, people in relationships under grace. So the church is supposed to be a family, but we act more like acquaintances. Instead of sharing life and truth, joy and pain, meals and mission, we share one, maybe two events a week. Church has been reduced to a spiritual event that happens for an hour or two on weekends, and if you are spiritual, occurs another couple hours during the week in a small group meeting. We spend just enough time "at church" to be religious, but nowhere near enough time to be family. The dominant metaphor of the church in the New Testament is the metaphor of family. Every one of Paul's letters opens by addressing the church in familial terms — sisters, brothers, son, and our Father. The use of "brother" is, by far, the most frequent. This sibling emphasis reflects the familial nature of the church. What would happen if we started acting like family? Maybe we would see God... Maybe our city would see God in us.  If you are not in a Church or simply attending church how can you progress to being part of a family? To "The Journey" Thank you for being a family of God... pursuing togetherness and showing our city Jesus! I feel the love...

 

Discipleship! At What Cost?

Check out this great post on the FORGE website on Community Transformation. Here is a taste:

"To create an alternative future, we need to advance our understanding of the nature of communal or collective transformation. We know a good deal about individual transformation, but our understanding about the transformation of human systems, such as our workplaces, neighborhoods, and towns, is primitive at best, and too often naive in the belief that if enough individuals awaken, and become intentional and compassionate beings, the shift in community will follow. The core question, then, is this: What is the means through which those of us who care about the whole community can create a future for ourselves that is not just an improvement, but one of a different nature from what we now have?"

"But individual transformation has been precisely the focus of western churches. Our soteriology has been a gnostic one - too often, divorced from life in this world. We have commonly lapsed into privatism, worried about our own lives. Our churches, like we ourselves, have been overly concerned for our own well-being and survival. Where is the Spirit of the suffering servant, who gave his life for the broken world? What if, as John 3:16,17 advance, God really does love the world? What is the call of the Spirit on this generation? What will it take for us to learn again to really dwell in the places where we live?"

Contextualization Is Not What You Think It Is

I normally do not like posting long articles but this one is too important to pass on. I have been following the contextualization debate and I have to say this article by David Watson is the best on the subject I have read to date. Enjoy! 

"There is an ongoing debate around the world regarding contextualization.  This is an extremely complex debate in which many very smart and dedicated people on all sides of the issue have taken interest.  I have mostly stayed out of the debate because I love everyone involved and did not want to alienate myself from the people or the debate.  My concern is that there is a rising tendency to categorize organizations and people by where they stand on contextualization.  This is a very disturbing trend that will cripple our global mission processes.

We have spent hundreds of years doing missions in an environment that stresses denominational/doctrinal adherence and/or differences.  This has led to rivalries, partitioning of countries along denominational lines, confusion, syncretism, and constant sniping at one another.  It is no wonder that those who are not Christian cannot understand us, especially if they are in areas where multiple denominational/doctrinal stances are present.  Now we are adding contextualization into the mix, and this is even more confusing and more detrimental to our Great Commission.

Where did denominationalism come from?  It came from good men who wanted to deal with certain parts of the Bible in their context in a way that would lessen confusion for their leaders and members in that context.  These arose out of conscience and a desire that practices would be uniform in their context.  The problem with this is that as the denominationalism expanded to new contexts it forced the old context solutions on the new Believers in a different context, instead of allowing the new Believers to develop their understanding and practices with the Bible as their guide rather than a doctrinal statement that was developed to address a different context.

What would Christianity look like today if loving, knowledgeable, experienced mentors had focused on making Disciples for Jesus who would obey His teachings in their clearest and simplest forms regardless of personal or corporate consequences?  We are so tied up in what Christianity looks like we have forgotten that it is only real in a deep abiding relationship with our Creator, Jesus Christ our Lord.  This relationship is personal and it is corporate!  Individuals and groups are held accountable to the Lord Jesus for our individual and corporate beliefs and practices.  The prophets and Jesus were harsh with religious leaders whose beliefs and practices did not agree.

I believe that Scripture has within it all we need to be obedient and pleasing to God in thought and practice.  I believe that each leader and each group has a responsibility to practice their faith in a way that best communicates their love and devotion for God through Jesus the Messiah in their own context, without the need for outsiders to tell them how to practice.

The role of the outsider is to introduce the Creator Christ and to demonstrate that our love response to God’s mercy is our consistent obedience to His Word in public and private, in all situations and circumstances, regardless of the personal consequences resulting from being obedient.  God demonstrates His love for us through His mercy (love/mercy).  We demonstrate our love for God through our obedience (love/obedience).

We cannot earn God’s love through obedience.  God’s love is absolute and one cannot have more of it or less of it at any given moment based on any legalistic adherence to a doctrine or the Bible.  God demonstrates His love for us through his mercy (love/mercy).  Those who love God demonstrate their love for God through obedience to His Word and the Holy Spirit speaking into their lives (love/obedience).  What the Holy Spirit reveals in our personal lives will be consistent with the revelation of His Word, the Bible.  We have a group responsibility to scripturally test the personal revelation of any individual before it is adopted as a personal or local group practice.

I appreciate what George Barna and Frank Viola were attempting with their book Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices.  However, I disagree with their fundamental premise.  Returning to First Century practices will not cure the ails of the modern church.  Our context is so much more complicated that those of the First Century.  Practices should flow out of Obedience to God in our current context, not out of some context that could not possibly understand the needs of the modern world and formulate practices that would be adequate for all times and places, and all seasons.  The Pagan Practices identified by Barna and Viola were contextual attempts to redeem local culture in obedience to the Word.  The problem came when the results of the process were passed on from generation to generation and from place to place, instead of passing on the process of redeeming local culture in the light of God’s Word.  Redeeming local pagan practices is a good thing.  Making those redeemed local practices the norm for the church in all times and places is not a good thing.  Instead, we should be mentoring leadership to redeem their context, not adopt a foreign expression of a redeemed foreign context.  We should be teaching process from leader to leader and generation to generation, not blind adherence to limited doctrinal responses from Scripture to address local and temporal issues.

We must resist passing on our solutions to our contexts to others as if our solutions are normative for Christianity and will work in every time and context.  What we must pass on is Scripture and a mentoring relationship that will develop leaders who can find the expressions of obedience to the Word in their own contexts in their own season.  Learning from others is a sign of maturity.  Copying others without thinking is immaturity.  The first leads to growth.  The second leads to destruction.

Our current educational processes seem to promote copying practices from the ages instead of learning from the Word of God and applying the principles to each new problem in each new generation in every different place.  Form is not universal.  If you don’t believe this simply look at the different kinds of brooms all over the planet.  Many forms, one function – clean the mess.  A single kind of broom is not suitable to all situations, nor is it suitable to every way different cultures prefer to sweep.  None of us would dream of forcing every person to use one kind of broom for every cleaning environment and every cultural style of sweeping.

Yet, this is exactly what we do with church and missions.  We insist that one form will suffice for all time in every situation.  This is absurd.  This is absurd whether we approach it from a doctrinal position, historical position, or cultural position.  Different times and different places and different contexts require different expressions of obedience to the Word of God.  Notice!  Not a different Word of God, but different expressions of obedience to the infallible and unchanging Word.

It is as wrong for us to contextualize practices for another culture as it is for us to foist our personal practices on another culture.  Contextualization is a local obedience response to the Word of God.  It is a local expression of love/obedience for God in response to God’s love/mercy for them.

I can introduce someone outside my context to the Word of God, assist them in understanding the Word of God, and ask them how they will obey the Word of God in their context; but I must not tell them how to obey.  The moment I move to telling “how”, I am teaching them to sweep the floor my way with my broom instead of allowing them to build from Scripture to Principle to Practice in a way that is relevant to their context.

In my opinion, there is no greater expression of faith in God and His Holy Spirit than to allow new Believers to read the Word, apply the Word, and then build their principles and practices through love/obedience to the Word and the Holy Spirit.  We say we believe in the Holy Spirit, but we act as if He is incompetent to do His part in the lives of new Believers and new churches.  When we have done our part (Show our love for God by being obedient to His Word and teaching other to be obedient to His Word), God does His part in the presence of the Holy Spirit who counsels, inspires, directs, convicts, emboldens us to obedience in the face of opposition and persecution, and grows our faith.

Contextualization by outsiders is not the issue!  Obedience to the Word of God and His Holy Spirit within each context is the issue.  I cannot formulate this for another context or time or place.  I cannot contextualize the Gospel for another.  I can only love, train, and mentor them to formulate their love response to God for themselves and thereby see true contextualization of the Gospel and the development of relevant local practices that demonstrate to the community their love for God and their obedience response to God’s love/mercy.  If I give anything beyond process I endanger the contextualization of the Gospel to a given people, context and time; and I hinder the spread of the Gospel.

My job is to give the Gospel as simply and purely as possible.  Train people to read and learn the Word and apply it to their context in their own ways; to teach them to obey by being obedient and expecting obedience from them to the simple Word of God; and depend on the Holy Spirit to do in them what He is doing in me.  Their job is to receive the Word of God, listen and learn the Word, apply the Word to their own lives, and contextualize the practices that come from the principles revealed in the Word by the Holy Spirit so that others in the context can see and respond to their transformed lives and culture.

I must deculturalize my expressions of obedience to the Gospel so that foreign practices (my practices) will not make it harder for people to hear the Gospel.  Local believers must contextualize their obedience to the Gospel and formulate practices that communicate their love/obedience for God in response to His Word and His Spirit to their context.

The contextualization debate is the wrong debate.  We need to be discussing why we think our peculiar brand of Christianity that was formulated for a particular time and context is relevant to any other time or context.  It is not!  It has become the barrier that is the most difficult to overcome in sharing the Gospel and teaching obedience to the commands of Jesus to new generations in new times and in different contexts.  Our personal preferences for worship, prayer, outreach, governance, clothing, and etc. are meaningless to anyone else.   The only thing that transcends time, space, and context is the Gospel and our love/obedience responses to God’s love/mercy.  Give the Gospel, teach love/obedience, and allow every obedient people to develop their own practices, not adopt peculiar outsider practices that are more barrier than help to those who do not know God."

Other Related Articles:

• Opinion – Contextualization, Personal Evangelism and Disciple Making
• Church Planting Essentials – Exploring Contextualization and Deculturalization

 

A Great Answer To An Even Better Question

Joe Thorn interviewed Johnathon Dodson on the topic of discipleship. He gave a great answer to a question every pastor and leader should be asking.

I’ve included an excerpt from one of the questions below.

What is the biggest mistake the church is making when working to make disciples?

"I can’t answer that question definitively. However, the dearth of suffering, the absence of hope, the trivialization of the Spirit, and the lack of mission among disciples of Jesus is terribly concerning. We have tried to minimize suffering through convenience, eliminate hope through self-made retirement, reduce Jesus to redeemer of the past, and surrendered any sense of discipleship as a call to die to ourselves that others may live. Instead, discipleship has been reduced to having a good marriage, handling finances well, raising good children, securing a future, and knowing your Bible. Our mission is very different than Jesus’ mission, our lives very different than Jesus’ life. This should scare us."

Check out the rest of the Interview

Is It a Small Group?

When I am hanging by the pool with pastor friends, or catching up over a coffee the question I get asked the most is - What is a Gospel (missional) Community? I find the question exhilarating because I can't answer the question without unpacking what the gospel is and what it means to join Jesus in his redemptive plan for our city and how the church seems to constantly miss the mark in its attempts to be a Jesus community. It is difficult to be community when you miss the catalyzer which is mission. So here is what a GC/MC is not:

A Small Group

A Bible Study

A 12-Step Group

A Socially-Minded Small Group

A Weekly Meeting

A Cell Group

Most churches have not done a good job of integrating the "Go" and the "Make Disciples" of the great commission. We tend to view going as something we do at a specified outreach or its what we do when we invite someone to church. The making becomes a separate activity, usually reserved for a class called Christianity 101 that we do before church on a Sunday morning. Most small groups/cell groups I have been a part of focus on the need for community but miss the Go and make Disciples part that Jesus calls us to. 

Then what is a GC?

A Gospel Community is a local community that gathers and scatters throughout the week to share and show the gospel of Jesus Christ in their cities, communities, neighbourhoods.

Gospel Communities integrate our love for Christ - desire for Community - engagement on Mission. 

They tend to be Clusters(8-20) of friends throughout the city in which community, communion, and mission unfold as a way of life. We believe we will touch upon the needs of the city most when groups of Jesus followers seek to bless these specific neighbourhoods in which they live. 

GC’s are the ideal environment for building relationships while connecting to the heart and mission of the church. To join a Gospel Community is to enter into the journey of Christian discipleship - growing in 3 simultaneous relationships - God, one another, and the world. The Gospel Community is essential, as it keeps the church small enough for everyone to have a real identity and be involved in the work of ministry, each using her own gifts to build the church.

Gospel Communities provide an opportunity to cultivate vulnerability through committed relationships, servant hood, and love. GC is more than a regular meeting; it is about doing life together. It could be sharing a meal, painting someone’s house, or engaging in a Bible Study. The healthiest communities find a rhythm that incorporates the realities of our complicated lives with the commitment to being true followers of Jesus, together, in a neighbourhood where we do life. A GC is not utopia – in fact, they tend to be a bit messy. The beauty is that as individuals walk together, they find the community and life purpose that everyone longs for.

I hope this helps answer the question? 

For more clarity check out Hugh Halter and Matt Smays new book 

 

Quote of the Day

Love this quote from Tim Keller

"Jesus' teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of His day.

However, in the main, our churches today do nothave this effect.

The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted do not bother coming to our churches, even our most avant-garde ones.  We tend to draw buttoned-down, moralistic people.  The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church.

That can only mean one thing.

If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did."

- Dr. Tim Keller

Loss and Love

I have to say I absolutely love the way God calls us to live. He invites us to take His presence, His Kingdom wherever we go and when we are awakened to that reality things happen... God things happen. I don't know where you are at in your views of church and this Jesus life but God calls us into this way of living that is way more exciting than sitting in a church service listening to some dude talk... the church is real, active, alive, risky, present in every area of life. In Ephesians 1:15-23 Paul talks about this power available to those who believe - His Church - that has this task to "fill everything in every way."

I have this pastor friend Darren Milley and we both claim the local Starbucks as our office and when we are together pretty cool things tend to happen. Yesterday we were chatting about God, church and life and a beautifully spirited 20 year old said "I heard you are priests can I sit down and ask you a couple questions?" Sure grab a seat!

She then went on to explain how the teen that died in a car crash was her friend and she proceeded to ask "Where is God when it really hurts? I mean how could God let something like this happen to such a great person?" What do you say in those moments? Do you try to say the perfect thing or give the right answer? Talk talk talk talk to avoid the question, give a deep theological rant or say I don't know... WHAT?

I love that God does not ignore the cries of the broken and afflicted. He says "When you cry out to me I will listen." So we simply joined her in her loss and reaffirmed her pain and said God was present. Whatever you are feeling is OK and in that place tell God, be open to Him, share your feelings because He is sitting with you, fully present, grieving with you and in that place we can find hope.

Yes bad things happen all around us, pain and suffering are part of life. Since the fall in the garden things are not the way they are suppose to be... but in that place God cares and responds "I am so sorry for your loss". He cares so much about His creation that he makes this announcement that through Jesus I am going to make right ALL that sin made wrong. Side Note - SIn has been reduced to personal moral failure and its more than that, much more than that... Sin is everything not the way it is suppose to be. Sin is ALL that is broken. This includes relationships, abuse of money, power, the creation around us, you and me... Everything.

So we continued saying "in the midst of loss it is easy to focus on what you don't have, the loss can consume you and in that dark place we can miss what we do have, GOD." He is present with you... listening, being, embracing. In your pain go to HIM! And then I asked the question "in all the pain surrounding this loss, have you seen God?" She lit up and began to tell us where He was in all this. She talked about her sister, Dad and how she is finding Him present. Hope was restored!

I am reminded of two people in the Bible who had two different responses to loss. Naomi she losses her husband and two sons and she says "Call me Mara, because the almighty has made my life very bitter."(Ruth 1:20) Mara is the hebrew word for bitter which began to define her life. Job had a different response to pain and loss... He would not let bitterness in but chose to see that God is good in-spite of all the loss around him. Don't let bitterness come in, but like the Psalmist says, "you have allowed me to see many troubles but you will restore me again." In my place of brokenness God I turn to you to put everything, all the pieces back together. You are my Hope.

In the end she sympathized with the parents on that street with little children who were at risk, she hopes the message of don't street race sinks in, that the good in his life will continue to be remembered, and she prays his close friends find the hope she is beginning to find. 

I love these moments God brings our way where we get to join Him in putting the world back together. A small conversation allows me to walk out of Starbucks with this deep sense of purpose that I am with Jesus on His mission. May you leave the walls of church and begin to be his living hope in the world.

Churchless Christianity

The American landscape is dotted with churchless Christianity. Church has been reduced to a weekly event, even a religious institution. Instead of being the church, we have fallen into merely doing church, and far too often our doing is disconnected from being. Church has devolved from Gospel-centered community into man-centered institutions or events that look more like: shopping malls, fortresses, and cemeteries. These aberrations contribute to the confusion regarding “church” in America. In order to better understand Gospel community, it is important that we first understand its abberations.

Shopping Mall Churches

Shopping mall churches dress up the gospel in cultural clothing, dress down the message of Jesus, and try to lure consumers in with their spiritual package—a Sunday “experience.” Every time I drive to Dallas, Texas I pass a church that boldly advertises their Sunday package at the low price of thirty minutes. Their banner reads: “30 Minute Worship.  This innovative service is for anybody who is tired of the way traditional church has been done, has limited time, or has to work Sundays. The high energy, focused package will creatively engage you to personally connect with God.”

How creative and personally connected can you get to God in thirty minutes? We’ve all had a conversation with the person who watches the clock closely. They constantly check their phone during the conversation. Towards the end of the meeting they flinch, shake, or tap some part of their body repeatedly. You feel unwanted, not “personally connected.” Consumer church cuts the relationship with God and one another right out of Christianity replacing it with a spiritual product. It can’t even get its one-third of the gospel right, never mind the other two-thirds, which include community and mission!

Fortress Churches

Fortress churches also distort the gospel. They build their doctrinal towers nice and high, hide behind the walls that separate them from the city, and launch grenades of truth into “the culture”, hoping to scare a few pagans into the safety of their walls. Sometimes the walls these churches erect aren’t doctrinal but moral. They insist on certain level of perceptible morality before allowing the outsiders inside the church. One of my favorite examples of the fortress mentality comes from the church sign down the street from my house. Marking each season with a “gospel message”, they greet the city in the Spring by posting: “Spring is God’s greeting card.” Fine enough. But in Texas, Spring is quickly followed by a long, hot summer, to which they respond: “You think it’s hot out there?” Comforting. Fortress churches cut grace right out of the gospel by insisting we get our morality or doctrine straight before joining the church or we will end up in hell.

Cemetery Churches

Then there are the cemetery churches. The ones that have died. Well, they are alive but they aren’t. It’s difficult to find a pulse. A wandering soul walks into the Sunday service of cemetery church only to be confronted with lifeless, joyless Christianity, a kind of dried up religious community that simply goes through the motions. Church growth isn’t even on the radar. Mission has been reduced to church survival. It’s hard to believe in the Jesus who promised “life abundantly” when you encounter a church that has more in common with zombies than with disciples of Jesus. The fortress church cuts the heart right out of Christianity and replaces it with dead, lifeless religion.

Shopping mall, fortress, and cemetery churches are consumerist, doctrinaire, lifeless institutions that lack Jesus-centered missional community. Why this gross distortion of the church? There are far too many reasons to discuss here, but a fundamental reason is that a one-third Gospel characterizes Christianity in America. This one-third gospel is hardly the Gospel of Christ at all. It focuses on Jesus’ death and resurrection as a product to be sold, a doctrine to be believed, or a religion to be practiced. This one-third gospel is not only incomplete but also contaminated, polluted with the garbage of consumerism, individualism, and religion. Before we can press into the other “two-thirds” of the gospel, we need to get the “one-third” right.

*This is an excerpt from Jonathon Dodson forthcoming booklet: Gospel-centered Missional Community.

Everyone Gets to Play - On Creating Movement In a City

Change is difficult and shifts are slow but If we desire to create movement in the cities where God has placed us there must be a shift in how we view church and its role in our cities. Here are 3 things that will hopefully get you thinking different.

1. Every believer a church planter - Do we really believe, in our churches, that every believer is an agent of the King. This is a difficult statement for us to swallow because when we view the church in no way do we see that we are capable to plant a church. The endless programs, teaching, boards, budgets, counselling... NO WAY CAN I PLANT A CHURCH! Our current model of church does not reflect the theology of the priesthood of all believers. The beauty of the gospel is everyone gets to play... Women, Men, Slaves, uneducated, x-cons... Everyone! In the scripture conversion - Baptism is your commission. We need to move people to a Kingdom dream and then to action! I love the Reform church but the focus on Ecclesiology is not helpful. In our high church if you want to go into church planting it will take you 7 years. What? This problem began in the Constantinion era and will not create movement in our cities. What could it look like if you saw every person as a church planter. Everyone getting the chance to play the game!

I am reminded of a great story of a family in California that was fed up with New Years. Every year they wanted to do something fun/memorable and without fail it would end in disappointment. But one year everything changed. As they were sitting in the living room discussing what this New Years was going to look like they had a brilliant idea. Lets get everyone to dress up, decorate their bikes, whatever they want to do and lets have a parade. BUT the one rule in this parade is you have to be a participant. No one is allowed to watch. 

They were excited about the idea and went around to all the neighbours telling them about the parade... the result was amazing. Neighbours joined in and began going around the neighbourhood and if someone came out of the house to watch they were grabbed and brought into the parade. No one could watch, everyone had to participate. Every New Years since this neighbourhood does something unimaginable, something where everyone gets to participate. What if we applied this to the church? With Jesus everyone gets to play in his redemptive plan in the world... He wants everyone to join Him.

2. We Plant the Gospel and Make Disciples Not Plant Churches - The problem is we see church planting as the goal and in reality no where in scripture are we given the call to plant churches BUT we are given the mandate to make disciples. Making disciples is key and then churches/community is the result. If we live our lives with gospel intentionality we will see lives transformed and we don't stop there... we teach them to obey all that Jesus has commanded. And in teaching them to obey they go out and live with gospel intentionality and make disciples that obey Jesus and now you have a vibrant growing reproducing church. Simple isn't it!

3. An Us For Them Mentality - The insider outsider language that we use in the church will not help us create movement. Too much of what we do is focused on those "in" the church but Jesus has called us back out. Do we gather for ourselves or for others? We must get back to the sentness of God and that he sends us out on mission to the world to LOVE others. We must see the beauty in every person and show every human what the Love of Jesus looks like. If we act one way on Sunday but treat people poorly during the week we are missing Jesus. Jesus at the well, with Zacheus, hanging out with tax collectors at Matthews house... the list is endless. He was FOR people. It is my desire to see Jesus in every person, that they are created in God's image. Do you see beauty in people without God and treasure that. If we are objective, their are a lot of mean people who believe in Jesus. I am not trying to say I have arrived, far from it, but I get told me often I am attracted to Jesus in you but why are so many other christians so dogmatic, judgemental and mean?  Can we allow the love Jesus has for people to flow through us? 

For the sake of the gospel and movement in our cities lets embrace the necessary change required...

Book of Eli

 
Last night I watched Book of Eli for the second time and I have to say that it has raised the bar for faith based movies. Spiritually I have been in a bit of a funk all week and this movie spoke to my heart and rocked me out of my spiritual lull. I am inspired!

When the screen faded to black and the credits began to roll, I sat frozen in my seat. My mind was reeling from the one-two punch of the movie’s spiritual theme and a stunning plot twist delivered just before the finish... that makes sense of everything!

The story is set in the future against a bleak, monochromatic backdrop. Lawless bands of scavengers roam the land where justice is administered at the sharp edge of a machete.

Such a setting leads to some intensely violent showdowns between good-guy Eli (Washington) and the hordes of villains with tattered clothes and shredded morals.

It has been 30 years since the “flash,” and Eli has been walking westward the whole time carrying little more than a Bible, an iPod, a pair of battered sunglasses, a small arsenal — machete, sawed-off shotgun, automatic pistol, bow and arrows — and a peace that surpasses all understanding.

When we meet Eli, he is crossing the desolate landscape on a mission to deliver a Bible. He doesn’t know exactly where he’s taking it, but he’s certain he’ll know the place when he finds it. He is simply trusting the voice of God...

Meanwhile, he reads his precious Bible every day and is determined to keep it safe from marauders and thieves.

There is tremendous spiritual depth to The Book of Eli, with metaphors and allegories that allude to Saul’s conversion on the Road to Damascus, the power of the Holy Spirit, hearing God’s voice, the purpose of a prophet, and the nature of scripture.

BUT in-spite of all the spiritual metaphors the violence gives the movie a well-deserved R rating.

Washington is superb as the prophet on a mission, but The Book of Eli is not a one-dimensional movie hinging solely only his marquee name. For me, the movie was shockingly effective in how it delivered deep theological messages in such an unlikely way.

Here were some of the messages that impacted me:

1. We Walk  by Faith Not by Sight. Eli is not affected by the temptations presented to him and he does not flinch in the face of really bad situations. His faith in God's voice is what leads him to accomplish the mission, no matter what comes in his way. 

2. In our consumeristic society we need to fight for gratitude. Even though everything was lost Eli found a way to be grateful for the more important things in life. Companionship, prayer before a meal, water, food and the Bible. I need to be reminded to pause and be grateful for what I have instead of wanting more.

3. The Bible begins as a book you read but somewhere along the way gets in you and you become the Bible that those watching are reading. Eli was bruised and beat up but the word of God was In him, he was the living word!

4. Unswerving Devotion to the Mission. Eli new his calling and was determined God was helping him accomplish that which He called him to do. We spend so much time sitting and waiting but never actually joining God in His redemptive plan for the world. 

5. The Mission is Hard but God gives you the strength to accomplish everything he has called you to do if you trust Him.

I will leave you with this...Early in the movie he falls asleep to Al Green singing "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?" 

And how can you mend a broken heart?

How can you stop the rain from falling down?

How can you stop the sun from shining?

What makes the world go round?

How can you mend this broken man?

How can a loser ever win?

Please help me mend my broken heart

And let me live again