imagining how the church can reorient around mission

“Do not have your
concert first, and then tune your instrument afterwards. Begin the day with the
Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him.” -Hudson Taylor

“But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” (Lk.
5:16) read more

‎"If your presence will not go with us, do not send us up from here." Ex 33:15

    “The coffee was bad, the chairs uncomfortable, and the music
wasn’t really my taste. Plus it didn’t really have a cool vibe. I don’t think
I’ll go back.” Initially, one would have thought that my friend was talking
about the new coffee shop that had just opened down the street. Unfortunately
she wasn’t though, this was her response to me when I asked if she liked the
new church she had attended the previous Sunday. “I mean the message was good,
it just wasn’t my thing.”

    I think few of us would like to actually admit it, but it often feels
that looking for a church frighteningly correlates with the way we would look
for a new favorite coffee shop. I think this is especially true for the arising
younger generation of today. The marks of a “true church” seem to resemble a coffee
bar, worship pastor in skinny jeans and toms shoes, abstract art on the wall,
cool typography in the bulletin, and a well-dressed congregation. Where is the
power of the gospel in that? The importance of doctrine, community, ministries,
and service can come second to that of the “vibe” of the church. This focus on
being relevant, cool, and hip is not inherently bad or evil, I think, but unfortunately
it can dangerously skew the priorities of a church, it’s members, and those
seeking to find a place in it. It can turn the church into a chill environment
where Christians go to hang out, meet cool people, and sit for a few hours.
This selfish, consumerist institution has little resemblance to the Church
Christ spoke of. The church he recounted was one of hope, kingdom priorities,
selfless love, power, and incarnational living. “Church is God’s people
intentionally committing to die together so that other’s can find the kingdom”
(Halter, Smay). The church is not a Coffee Shop. 

 
    I venture to say, based on observations as far as I am able
to see, more people are calling themselves Christians while more Christians are
denying the title for all its negative connotations. Have you heard anyone
claim their faith as “believer” or “follower of Christ” or “Jesus lover”?
That’s dandy, and true. But the term “Christian” has been taken away from us,
much as the symbol of the rainbow has. As a young person learning that I am in
the midst of much needed revelation and change for “the church,” I fear the
negativity toward the church. I fear for non-believers because it will keep
them away, and for believers because of unforgiveness and bitterness toward
those who have been getting it wrong. I fear the anger I’ve seen. I fear more
splitting, more division dangerously close at hand within the whole Christian
body. I pray it doesn’t happen that leaders who are making right changes due to
convictions about how the church has been failing begin to find new titles. I
don’t want to see a new movement rise up again only to lose itself in its
mission once more. I want to see the church be taken back; for the term
Christian to be taken back.  To bring
them back to mean the body of Christ and Christ-like. The only way to know
those meanings is through Christ himself and we find him in the Word, our
Bibles, and in prayer. I think this means we must look at the broken church
with a heart of forgiveness. Jesus saw the broken and flawed and he forgave
them, then said, “now sin no more.” Forgiveness and correction. Jesus was, is, for the church, his bride, so I want
to be, too. Jesus’ heart probably breaks for her, I want mine to, too. Let us
lift the church back up to what it should be, not break it down.

   “And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything
they had… they worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the
Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity- all while
praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord
added to their fellowship those who were being saved.” Acts 2.44, 46-47

    

“We need to kill
the Church.”  As a lingering skeleton of
good intentions, the Church has become ineffective at relaying the only
knowledge that truly matters in this world—telling all who Jesus truly is.  When I say, “We need to kill the church,” I
am speaking about the institutionalized Church of our current day which caters
to societal trends, fashions, and the myriad of other “things” that draw people
in to church each week.  However,
something is lost when we glitz and glam up our churches to fit the marketplace.  That same “something” is also lost when we stand,
stiffly and uncomfortably, waiting for praise and worship to end, so we can
finally sit down and mindlessly listen (or daydream) while the pastor, priest,
or whoever stands on stage for forty minutes talking about how Jesus died for
our sins.  The same “something” is even
lost in services where enthusiastic worshippers get that “tingly feeling”
during a “really good song” or those chills when the pastor brings a sermon
home.  These “somethings” are
self-edifying, but sadly, they stay within the walls of the church building
never to see the light of day.   What is
lost?  Jesus.  This man who was born as the lowest of low,
who knew ultimate joy, and suffered an unimaginably brutal death is lost.  There is no raw, real Jesus in our
institutionalized church today; we have fashioned Him to be either a condoning
sweetheart (so we can feel good about ourselves and our actions) or a
hardnosed, fire and brimstone bringer of wrath and judgment (so we can look
down our noses at homosexuals, druggies, and all the “true” sinners of the
world).  So, let us, as the Body and
Bride of Christ, choose to shut this “Church” down.  This “Church” that is more a business seeking
consumers than a delightful extension of our missional God. 

    This is not to
say there are no churches doing it right; that would be absurd!  Of course there are churches, many, who seek
after Jesus with everything in their being. 
Unfortunately, our society (even Christians) send these churches into exile
and deem them crazy radicals. Salvation and eternal life are radical concepts;
shouldn’t we believe so passionately to the point of fearlessly seeking God’s
holistic view, and not just pieces of it? 
We understand the world does not know us because our identity is in
Heaven, so let’s not become offended when people disagree with us for making
waves.  As long as our actions are
biblical and in accordance with God’s character and will, we are surely a force
to be reckoned with!  Through community, sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, and the ability to imagine
in radical ways, we can collectively step into our role as the true Body of
Christ, how the Church was intended to be. Arise, Church, as the hands and the feet
and the ears and the eyes of Christ to kill this institutional “Church” and
bring Jesus to the center where He belongs. 
In this way, we, as the body of Christ, and the whole world will be
forever changed.

    The Western
church is no longer center stage in modern culture, and as we are shunted aside
it seems reasonable to think that becoming more like the world will entice more
people into our buildings. Then I come upon Jesus’ words, “Blessed are those
who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Hold up, what?! Blessed are who? It might be a small stretch to equate
marginalization and persecution, but I am beginning to think that being pushed
out of mainstream culture could be the best thing that has happened to the body
of Christ today.

    In his book The
Forgotten Ways, Alan Hirsch points to the church in two different times and
geographic areas, the early Christian body and the underground church in China.
Both of these groups of believers became vibrant and large communities during harsh
and unrelenting periods of persecution. Hirsch sees that “Persecution drove
both the early Christian movement and the Chinese church to discover their
truest nature as an apostolic people” and it “acted as a means to keep these
movements true to their faith and reliant on God.” read more

I was in the great city of Chicago this last week. While I got the chance to see a large swath of the city, I spenta good share of my time in a region called Bronzeville (southside of the city). When the Great Migration brought African Americans from the South to jobs in the North early in the last century, many found their way to this area of Chicago. It was the greenhouse for greats like Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Nat King Cole, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Lou Rawls, Jesse Owens, Joe Louis and countless others.  It is crazy how many cultural greats have emerged from this area. Today, at least in part, Bronzeville can be described by terms like high unemployment and poverty, urban violence, and population density.

Into to this setting, my good friend Ronnie Harris has been called to  plant a church – a Kingdom outpost. Actually, it could really be said that he has been called back.  See, Ronnie is from Bronzeville and has returned from living away to re-embed himself into this community. read more

Last week I had the distinct honor of visiting Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The later I have been to many times and love, the former…never.  The reason was to pay a visit to Julio and Suzette
Volcy.  They are church planters with Christian Associates.  His intention is to start a church in Petionville, a part of the massive city of Port au Prince. I believe the official numbers for residents of the city are around the 5 million mark.  Most say it is about the size of Chicago – an immense city (some estimate many more).

I know Haiti has gained a substantial amount of international attention since the earthquake in 2010.  It was a gigantic quake with literally scores of aftershocks.  The Haitian government estimate at least 316,000 died in the catastrophe.  The multiplied tragedy is that Haiti was the poorest country in the western hemisphere before the mindboggling natural disaster occurred.  The city is enormous  without a central sewage system.  The road system is quite undeveloped and transportation is arduous, and that is an understatement. If you think the roads are bad in your city, quit complaining. For many of the roads in the city you need to think of driving through a wheat field, only about 10x worse. I needed a kidney belt just to drive around. The picture to the left is the highway just before the Haitian / Dominican border. Also, the poverty is pervasive (I just read over 50% unemployment, some say it is up to 60%). read more

Here is a great story about CA and New Community church planter, David Von.  A real time picture of how missional church planting can happen. Click the Header to see the article.

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Today's post is by Julie Jones.  Julie is a collegue of mine at Christian Associates. Her and her husband, Darrin have ministered in France and Morroco and are amazing people.  

Brennan Manning in his book, Lion and Lamb takes a look at two views of life and theology. As I read this chapter I was struck with the powerful reminder that the way we see life and interpret theology greatly influences how we plant churches, what kinds of churches we plant and ultimately what kinds of lives we lead. read more