A couple of days ago I started reading ReJesus by Mike Frost and Alan Hirsch. It is a great book, and I would recommend it to everyone. The foundation of the book is basic, but highly imperative. To illustrate I will utilise the scraps of artistry I have at my disposal;

What we see here are three different areas of study in the discipline of theology. Ecclesiology refers to study of the church; its expressions and forms. Missiology pertains to the study of the mission of God and his people; their purpose and function in the world. Christology refers to the study of the person and work of Christ.

In my experience when Christians talk about what they need to do in the world, or what they need to change to be more effective, the conversation most often turns to ecclesiology, that is to say, the conversation ends up being about Church. What should we change? Is it boring? How can we make it more exciting/relevant/effective/engaging/worshipful etc. etc. etc.

Some Christians go beyond ecclesiology, recognising that their doctrine and expression of the Church must flow out of their missiology. “When we know what our purpose and function is then we can talk about the Church,” might be the definitive phrase for this type of thinking. This is admirable, and certainly a step in the right direction, though I think this is not going far enough.

Frost and Hirsch make the point, and I totally agree with them, that our ecclesiology must flow from our missiology, yes, but both must flow from our Christology. The authors write this at one point in their book;

Putting aside the issue of how missiology must inform ecclesiology …, we believe that Christology is the singularly most important factor in shaping our mission in the world and the forms of ecclesia and ministry that result from that engagement. There must be a constant return to Jesus in order to ascertain that we are in the Way. It is no good just revamping our missiology or inventing new cultural forms of ecclesia unless we have first and foremost related them to Christology. (p.43)

Indeed, if the book of Hebrews is correct, Jesus is the clearest, most accurate picture of God there is. If we want to know what God’s mission is in the world, and thus what our mission is in the world, we must look at Christ. If we want to know what our churches should look like, we must understand our mission, and to understand our mission we must understand Christ. Hence my diagram – Christology is the foundation of missiology is the foundation of ecclesiology. Truly, there is no Church without a mission, and there is no mission without Christ.

I think the call to engage in a deep Christology is challenging. The real historical Jesus was a world away from the pictures I have too often seen of a highly feminine Aryan man with long flowing mouse-brown locks embracing a lamb while sitting under a tree looking seductively at the viewer with his strangely non-Middle Eastern blue eyes. The Gospels portray a wild man, entering into dangerous territory throughout Palestine to battle the demonic, taking on storms, escaping assassination, driving hypocrites from the Temple and dying the death of a political insurgent. This man proclaimed the kingdom of God, the reality of God’s sovereign will being done on the earth as in heaven, and he lived it out in his ministry (See Luke 4:18-19 for a self-proclaimed program of Jesus’ ministry) . I think if we actually understood Jesus for who he was our understanding of both our mission and our churches would be horrifically different.

So let’s stop going on about ‘church’ in the 21st century. If what I’m saying is even remotely correct ‘church’ will happen naturally as we follow the Way of Christ.

Let’s get back to Jesus - studying him, experiencing him, following him.

MCA

This is an article by Alan Hirsch: No Disciple, No Mission. No Mission, No Disciple

An article that I did for Catalyst’s e-zine http://tinyurl.com/ykzvjds ….

Having been believers and ministers for over 25 years now has given Debs and I an appreciation for just how hard it is to be an authentic follower of our Lord and Savior. To be an authentically radical disciple requires a relentless evaluation of life’s priorities and concerns—together with an ongoing, rigorous, critique of our culture—to ensure we are not adopting values that subvert the very life and message we are called to live out. For true followers of Jesus, discipleship is not simply the first step toward a promising career of being a Christian, rather it is itself the fulfillment of our destiny. So, Debs and I have decided to write a book on what we call “missional discipleship.” Appropriately called Untamed, it is meant to be a penetrating look into the things that keep us from becoming all we were made to be and has many practical suggestions about how to become wild followers of Jesus again.

The truth is that discipleship, at least the way the Bible understands it, cannot be limited to a personal exercise in personal spirituality. There are much greater, perhaps even global, consequences at stake in our becoming more like Jesus. So much so that we have actually come to believe that discipleship is a frontier issue for the people of God at this time in history. Why? Because most commentators would now agree that the Western Church, because of its deep embedding into the prevailing consumerist culture, has all but lost the art of discipleship. Reggie McNeal has concluded that “church culture in North America is now a vestige of the original [Christian] movement, an institutional expression of religion that is in part a civil religion and in part a club where religious people can hang out with other people whose politics, worldview, and lifestyle match theirs.”

If this is indeed the case, we should be clear that this is not what the church is called to be, and is, in fact, directly caused by a failure in discipleship and disciple-making. And it will have to be addressed if we are to give faithful witness to our century. Therefore, rediscovering what it means to radically follow Jesus is now an area of strategic—and definitely missional—concern. To recover mission we are going to have to take discipleship seriously again, but the reverse is also true; to rediscover discipleship we are also going to have to take mission seriously. We cannot be true disciples without also being missionaries (sent ones) to our worlds.

The gospel is the power of God for the salvation of the world (Rom. 1:16), and God wants to redeem the broken and lost world around us and through us. Our lives, individual and corporate, play a vital role in the unfolding of the grand purposes of God. The gospel cannot be limited to being about my personal healing and wholeness, but rather extends in and through my salvation to the salvation of the world. To fail in discipleship and disciple-making is therefore to fail in the primary mission (or “sentness”) of the church. And it does not take a genius to realize that we have all but lost the art of disciple-making in the contemporary Western church. No wonder Dallas Willard calls the systematic non-discipleship of the Western Church “the great omission” in his book by that name.

There is much talk about missional church in our time—and we completely agree. The church must become missional or fade into increasing irrelevance in the 21st Century. But we simply cannot get there from here without factoring discipleship into the equation. We can’t have one without the other: if there be no mission there can be no discipleship, and if there is no discipleship there will be no mission. And there can be no missional church if there is no disciple-making church—it’s as simple as that. If ever there was a time to recover the true meaning of the Great Commission to make disciples of the nations it is now. The future health and viability of Western Christianity is at stake. We must not waste time.

This article excerpted from Untamed: Reactivating a Missional Form of Discipleship, by Alan Hirsch, Feb 2010. Published by Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group. Used by permission

Alan Hirsch is widely regarded as a seminal thinker and writer on areas of missional church. He has written The Forgotten Ways, The Shaping of Things to Come, and ReJesus. Debra is a gifted speaker and teacher on issue of mission to the marginalized and on sexuality. Alan and Debra Hirsch’s new book Untamed: Reactivating a Missional Form of Discipleship will be released by Baker in Jan 2010.

Eine Geschichte, die mich sehr berührt hat wurde für mich in den letzten Monaten zu einem Sinnbild dafür wie Männer Gott anbeten können. Sie steht am Ende des Buchs “Der wilde Messias” von Michael Frost und Alan Hirsch (S. 239 – 242), die ich hier komplett wiedergeben möchte:

“Zwei Männer betreten gemeinsam eine Kneipe…

Zwei Männer in ihren mittleren Jahren treffen sich in einer Kneipe mitten in einem kleinen, unscheinbaren Dorf. Sie schließen sich herzlich in die Arme, ihre harten Hände umschlingen den breiten Rücken des anderen voller Zuneigung. Sie küssen sich zweimal, auf jede Wange. Dann setzen sie sich, um zu essen, zusammengekauert über dem gemeinsamen Tisch wie beim dem Treffen einer Verschwörung. Der Staub auf ihren Gesichtern unterstreicht die Linien um ihre Augen, ihre ergrauten Bärte verraten ihre Jahre. Zwei alte Löwen, Kämpfer, die so manche Schlacht geschlagen haben und immer noch auf ihren Beinen stehen.

Während er sich die Krümel aus dem Bart wischt, sagt der eine mit einem Grinsen: “Du bist aber alt geworden.” Der andere schaut auf und hebt eine Augenbraue. “Ich meine doch nur”, fährt der Erste fort, “ich habe dich schon lange nicht mehr gesehen und du scheinst älter geworden zu sein in dieser Zeit.” Erneutes Grinsen. Beide lachen und der erstse Sprecher legt seine Hand auf den Arm seines Freundes. Sein Tonfall wird ernster. “Es sind die vielen Reisen – sie sind so kräftezehrend”, gibt er zu.

“Bei mir ebenso. Und die Enttäuschungen. Ich könnte das Reisen, die schlechten Unterkünfte, die Rückschläge und all das aushalten. Aber diese lähmende Enttäuschung, Kameraden, die sich auf und davon machen, ihre Gruppen verlassen oder unsere Lehren verdrehen – ehrlich – das ist es, was mich fertig macht. Du bist nicht der Erste, der bemerkt, dass mich all das älter macht.” Er schaut seinen Freund durchdringend an.

“Ja, du siehst sogar sehr alt aus.” Beide lachen. Stille. Nach einer Weile beginnt der Erste wieder: “Sag mal, Paulus, machen dir die Korinther immer noch Kopfschmerzen? Sind sie der Grund für die grauen Strähnen in deinem Bart?” “Das ist doch noch gar nichts – Kopfschmerzen und graue Strähnen, Petrus! Hast du nicht gehört? Du willst es gar nicht wissen! Eifersucht, Streit und Spaltungen! Einige haben meine Stellung als Apostel schlichtweg abgelehnt. Sie wollen Leiter, die mehr Gaben vorweisen können als ich sie habe! Ist das zu fassen? Sie verstehen nicht, dass all Weisheit vom Heiligen Geist herkommt. Nach so langer Zeit habe ich es nur mit Babys in Christus zu tun. Und ich will gar nicht anfangen, all ihre Verbrechen aufzuzählen: sexuelle Ausschweifung, sie verklagen sich gegenseitig vor den Richtern, missbrauchen ihre Freiheit und tolerieren, Geschwister, die in Unmoral leben – einfach so. Sie sind stolz auf ihre Geistesgaben, die Gottesdienste sind das reine Chaos – du solltest sie über die Auferstehung reden hören – furchtbar. Und was soll ich dir sagen – sie haben einfach keine Liebe füreinander! Vier! Vier Briefe habe ich ihnen dazu geschrieben und es hat den Anschein, dass alles nur noch schlimmer wird. Ich habe schon darüber nachgedacht, ihnen einfach nicht mehr zu schreiben, um die Diskussion zu beenden. Vielleicht können ja meine Fäuste ihnen das einbläuen, was meine Worte scheinbar nicht vermögen. Hm – du bist bestimmt ein besserer Fautkämpfer, als ich es bin – Lust auf eine Fahrt nach Korinth?” “Ich bin mir nicht sicher, ob eine Keilerei den Korinthern helfen wird, Kamerad. Obwohl ich mir vorstellen könnte, dich zu begleiten.” Petrus lächelt aufmunternd.

“Wie geht es der Zellgruppe in Galatien? Hast du was von ihnen gehört?”, fragt Paulus nach einem tiefen Schluck aus seinem Becher. Petrus schüttelt langsam den Kopf. Paulus spricht weiter: “Ihr Glaube war nicht fest genug, um all der Verwirrung standzuhalten, die diese Judenchristen über die Notwendigkeit der Beschneidung verursacht haben. Sie haben dem Evangelium, das ich ihnen gebracht habe, nicht vertraut! Überdies zweifeln sie genau wie die Korinther meine Autorität als Apostel an.”

Und so geht es weiter. Zwei Männer, müde von ihren Reisen, erzählen sich ihre Geschichten, von den neuen Zellgruppen in Kleinasien, Bekehrungen in Europa, Enwicklungen in Griechenland. Am Ende des Abends sagt Paulus: “Petrus, ich bin mir nicht sicher, ob ich dich noch einmal sehen werde…” “Das sagst du jedes Mal, wenn wir uns treffen.” “Ich weiß, und darum ist es nicht weniger wahr. Aber nur für den Fall, dass unsere Wege sich nicht mehr kreuzen, kannst du mir noch einmal von ihm erzählen?” Petrus lächelt traurig: “Oh Paulus – ich habe dir die Geschichten schon hunderttausend Mal erzählt. Du kennst sie inzwischen besser als ich selbst.”

Paulus rutscht auf seinem Stuhl nach vorne und schaut seinen Freund an: “Kamerad, ich wurde geschlagen, verlassen, verraten, bin schiffbrüchig gewesen und für tot gehalten worden. Ich weiß, von keiner Gemeinschaft, die ich gegründet habe, die nicht durch irgendeine Krise geht, egal ob persönlich oder in der Lehre. Ich bin ein alter Mann geworden. Die Revolution ist in vollem Gange, langsam aber sicher kommt sie. Was haben wir nicht schon alles gesehen? Aber es ist manchmal so anstrengend. Ich warte auf den Herrn, wie der Wächter auf das Ende der Nacht wartet. Und weißt du, manchmal frage ich mich, ob aus diesen kleinen Zellgruppen, die wir angefangen haben, jemals die Bewegung werden wird, von der wir träumen. Ja, ich frage mich das. Auch nach allem, was ich gesehen und erlebt habe. Nach allem, was wir gesehen und erlebt haben..”

Er schaut Petrus mit seinen klaren Augen an und sagt nochmals, fast schon flehend: “Erzähle es mir noch einmal.”"

Diese Geschichte spiegelt so viel Tiefe des Lebens wider. Egal in welchen geistlichen, beruflichen, persönlichen Herausforderungen wir stecken. Wir brauchen Gefährten mit denen wir uns in einer Tiefe begegnen können und gegenseitig dabei helfen können, uns auf die Person Jesus ausrichten zu können – um immer sagen zu können: Ja, es hat alles einen Sinn!

I am currently reading Eugene H Peterson’s book, Christ Plays In Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology.

I have read Peterson for years. I want to be like him in many ways. Long tenured pastorate. Steady ministry. Clear and Biblical thinking. Pastorally rooted.

But I must be myself… yet it does not keep me from learning anew from him and others, such as Gordon MacDonald, John Ortberg, AW Tozer, (and now Joan Chittister via her The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life).

As a pastor, I am very concerned about depth of faith these days and  it has a bearing on the total condition of our nation and our individual lives these days.

I am hearing it more and more these days in the blogs I read.

Notably Alan Hirsch in a post over a catalyst.com entitled “No Disciples, No Mission” when he writes very pointedly, “if there be no mission there can be no discipleship, and if there is no discipleship there will be no mission. And there can be no missional church if there is no disciple-making church—it’s as simple as that.”

Hirsch also makes this point, “And it does not take a genius to realize that we have all but lost the art of disciple-making in the contemporary Western church. No wonder Dallas Willard calls the systematic non-discipleship of the Western Church “the great omission” in his book by that name.”

Then Pastor Tom Steagald, at The Christian Century’s blog, theology.org writes in a post titled “Salvation by Pastor Alone.” “I should disclose that I recently received a nice “promotion.” In my new pastorate—where I’m thankful to be and thrilled to pitch my tent—I’ve been trying to locate and avoid the traps set for all ministers. Here’s one: even well-meaning congregations often believe they will be saved not just by work, but by the work of the pastor: her preaching and personality, his pastoral care and visitation, the winsomeness and marketing and programming that will change the old First Church from “inglory” into glory.

Which makes Peterson’s point very poignant… and disconcerting…

“Out of the grab bag of celebrity anecdotes, media gurus, fragments of ecstasy, and personal fantasies, far too many of us, with the best intentions in the world, because we have been left to do it “on our own,” assemble spiritual identities and ways of life that are conspicuously prone to addictions, broken relationships, isolation, and violence.”

God help us.

(All italics in direct quotes are mine)

Last year I had the opportunity to lead sessions at the Exponential Conference. I am so honored that I have been invited to help out again in 2010.

This amazing conference is the most attended church planting conference in the world.

Check out the information below then… JOIN US THERE!

• The Exponential Conference speakers are some of the finest communicators in the country! Exponential has assembled a lineup for 2010 that is as good as any conference has ever had. Opening with Louie Giglio, closing with Francis Chan, including well-known and proven motivators like Ken Blanchard, Mark Batterson, Darrin Patrick, Matt Chandler, Dave Gibbons, Brenda Salter-McNeil, Ed Stetzer, Efrem Smith, Dino Rizzo, Shane Claiborne, Dave Ferguson, Scott Thomas, Billy Hornsby, Greg Surratt, Alan Hirsch, Neil Cole, Bob Roberts, Larry Osborne, Chris Hodge and MANY MORE! Hello….
• There’s something about church planters gathering. The energy that comes from thousands of leaders who eat, sleep, and breath sharing the Gospel with people and creating new communities of faith, new ministries, new outreach strategies, movements, campuses, networks, on and on. This group of people are the most influential agents of change in our country. To be part of this crowd is to be part of the Kingdom of God in a powerful way.
• The best ideas, the strongest practices, and the most forward-thinking dreams are shared at Exponential. This is not a “our way is the only way” conference. Quite often the diverse ideas and varied cultures that make up Exponential might seem to be even contradictory! But the open handed approach that has made Exponential the strong voice for church multiplication it is make it a “must attend” event.

Back in February of this year, I had the privilege of speaking at George Fox Seminary with Alan Hirsch, Dan Kimball, Len Sweet, and MaryKate Morse.

During the panel discussion, Alan Hirsch slipped into “instigator mode” (I think he was bored that day or was thirsty for a good ole’ fashioned brawl). Alan asked, “Frank, what do you think of the clergy and do you see a place for it?”

Having read and endorsed my book Pagan Christianity, Alan knew full well where I stood on the subject. My answer was simple: “Some of my best friends are clergymen … I shall put a period at the end of that sentence.” To which the audience laughed. We then went on to other matters.

The irony in Alan’s question was that we were all sitting in a seminary named after a man who was vehemently opposed to the clergy system and was sorely persecuted for it.

The full answer to Alan’s question is that my views on the clergy are identical to that of George Fox himself.

I felt that answering the question in this way could have created a potential riot (there were a good number of clergy in the room), so I chose to give the response I did, which brought some needed comic relief to the anticipated tension that Alan’s question brought to the audience.

That said, there are two things I want to share on the subject today:

First, I’ve become quite amazed at the number of pop “church” books that have come out since the release of Pagan Christianity which are trying quite desperately to defend the clergy/laity divide. A number of these books present themselves to be new, radical, and offering a different perspective on church. But if I may be candid, they merely rearrange the liturgical furniture and tweak the ecclesiastical vocabulary while leaving untouched the root issues of the church’s problems. None of them deal with the sacred cow of the clergy system—the pink elephant in the room that many Christians dare not touch. Most of these books are merely a rehash of most church renewal books that have come out over the last 50 years. Band-Aids and patchwork operations applied to a defective ecclesiology. And (to quote Led Zeppelin), “the song remains the same.” That always happens when one deals with the symptoms and not the root/systemic causes.

Point: You can rearrange the chairs on the Titanic all day long, but the ship is still going down.

Second, in this regard, I wish to point my readers to the work of Jon Zens. Zens is one of the few scholars outside the institutional church who is writing 100 years ahead of his time. A former clergy-man himself, Zens effectively shreds all the typical justifications for the clergy caste system and turns them into confetti. About a year ago he went nose-to-nose with another scholar and turned the shredder on high. You can read Jon’s incredible exchange here.

Check out Jon’s many articles on the subject at http://www.searchingtogether.org/articles.htm

But be forewarned: They are not for the faint in heart.

“The New Testament doctrine of ministry rests therefore not on the clergy-laity distinction but on the twin and complementary pillars of the priesthood of all believers and the gifts of the Spirit. Today, four centuries after the Reformation, the full implications of this Protestant affirmation have yet to be worked out. The clergy-laity dichotomy is a direct carry-over from pre-Reformation Roman Catholicism and a throwback to the Old Testament priesthood. It is one of the principal obstacles to the church effectively being God’s agent of the Kingdom today because it creates a false idea that only “holy men,” namely, ordained ministers, are really qualified and responsible for leadership and significant ministry. In the New Testament there are functional distinctions between various kinds of ministries but no hierarchical division between clergy and laity.”

~Dr. Howard Snyder

“Increasing institutionalism is the clearest mark of early Catholicism—when church becomes increasingly identified with institution, when authority becomes increasingly coterminous with office, when a basic distinction between clergy and laity becomes increasingly self-evident, when grace becomes increasingly narrowed to well-defined ritual acts … such features were absent from first generation Christianity, though in the second generation the picture was beginning to change.”

~James D. G. Dunn

One of the things that I’ve noticed with all successful leaders, regardless of the kind of leader they are – whether business, non-profit or Church leader – is that the one trait all successful leaders share is incredible passion for, and commitment to, personal growth.  And somehow that core trait is the reason for their incredible success (results) as leaders. They have a passion for growth in every area of their lives -intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, and even in their relationships- and especially in the leadership ability.  If you ever want to be a better or more successful leader there is no way you can ever get there without developing a passion and commitment to growth in your life, especially your leadership ability.  Now sure there are many things in our lives that God can use in our lives to grow us, including painful experiences.  However, there is another component to growth that is entirely in your hands.  And there are two core truths about growth that you must accept and embrace if you’re ever to see tremendous growth in your own success as a leader.

1. Growth Is Always Intentional – it is never accidental.  You are not going to grow automatically or even by accident. You will always plateau.  But real measurable growth will always be preceded by an intention and commitment to grow on your part.  I use the word commitment specifically because it conveys a core truth about intentional growth: that it takes commitment.  Meaning, growth in your life both as an intellectual, spiritual and emotional being, and especially your growth as a leader won’t always be inherently fun or even convenient, and many times you just won’t feel like it, and that’s where the commitment part comes in.

2. Growth Is Entirely In Your Hands – it is never someone else’s responsibility.  It is easy for us to read a sentence like that and roll our eyes and think “yeah, I know that, I’ve heard it a thousand times” yet our own lives bear testimony that our true view of growth is largely a passive one.  That we in fact view growth as something that happens to us, and not something we happen to.  That even though we may say we understand and believe that our growth is entirely in our own hands, it is clear from our lives that we think of growth as being a by-product of going to a conference, or the preaching ability of our pastor and how “good of a teacher” they are. Or we think of growth as something that is responsibility of the leaders of our organizations, “if they want us to grow, they better send us to seminars or give us training.” Or worst of all we only go in search of answers when we run into problems that we cannot seem to explain or fix. Either way, a passive grower is someone who expects external forces to be the cause of their growth.  But the difference between a passive grower and an active grower is that as a leader you will switch from being at the mercy of the wind (passive) to engine-power where you are in complete control of the pace, quality and schedule of your growth.

So the question becomes am I intentional about my growth? And secondly, am I an active grower or a passive one ? The sad truth for many leaders who are at the top of their organizations, is that there is not going to be anyone looking over your shoulder to see if you are indeed being intentional and active in your personal growth – but the one area of your life that will let everyone know whether you are an accidental and passive learner are your results as a leader.  Results don’t lie, just a like the report card of a student is an unambiguous and unmistakable reflection of how much time that student spent learning outside of school, whether doing their homework, reading and studying for tests -so in the same way the results of your leadership will tell you what kind of grower you are.  In fact, I would even go so far as to say that the areas in your life or your leadership where you’ve enjoyed or seen the most success (results) recently, are the areas that you have grown the most in over the last few years or months, whether that is in your marriage, in your spiritual walk, or in one area of your business or organization or department.

But best all . . .  you can change all that today.  And your results will be there to tell the world of your personal growth transformation.

//

It’s been a wild 24 hours.  Rich and I flew in to Atlanta late last night, and finally arrived at our hotel about 12:45 am, only to find that all the rooms had been given away.  We were sent to the Marriott down the road, and unfortunately, they were out of rooms as well.  The kind folks at the Marriott directed us further down the road to the Courtyard Marriott, where they had rooms available, but none with two beds.

We finally arrived at the Holiday Inn at around 2:00 am after the entire ordeal, and besides being a good character-growing exercise, it was a series episodes I’d prefer not to repeat in my life.

With that, we went into day one of Catalyst, known as a prominent conference of “pure leadership adrenaline”.  I wanted rest more than adrenaline after the hotel hopping, but hey, the more unpredictable, the more exciting. 

Anyhow, here are my thoughts about the conference thus far.  Keep in mind I’ve only attended labs, which are kind of like seminars.  The main bulk of the conference is Thursday and Friday.

1.  This is a really well run event – From volunteers, to materials, to venue, to speakers, etc – this really is a massive production, and I’m impressed with the kind of detail work that goes into the packets, room set-ups, speaker lineups, and other fun stuff that makes catalyst catalyst (including live music, peanut vendors, African coffee, etc.).  I appreciate the care that goes into this event.  I certainly feel cared for as a result.

2.  I wish we had more time for silent reflection planned into the schedule - There’s such thought-provoking content being presented, and it’s hard to process all the information so quickly.  I’d recommend an hour of intentional silent reflection as part of the schedule.  I’ll share a bit more about this later, particularly why this is hard for me as a personal discipline at a conference like this.

3.  For me, large conferences tend to breed a celebrity culture – I don’t think is unique to Catalyst, I think this is what invariably happens when I go to conferences with a bazillion speakers – and high quality ones at that.  I found myself asking the following questions – “Is this person good? Who’s worth listening to?  Who’s someone I shouldn’t miss or someone who has something extraordinary to say?”

I caught myself for a moment, and realized we all have stories of God’s faithfulness, and yet an invitation to be a speaker at a large conference comes with a certain cache that gives weight to one’s particular story.  And when the conference rolls around, “competition” (because there are other speakers on stage) inevitably brings a comparing and contrasting, liking and disliking.

I’m not quite sure how to get over this, but I think there’s a level of contemplation and prayerfulness that I need to have to remain centered, listening, open, and non-judgmental.

With all that said, here are the following sessions I went to and my brief reflections on all of them.

Session 1 – Andy Crouch – Incredible.  I was flabbergasted by the end of it.  Crouch wrote a book called Culture Making which is one of the best books on creativity and work that I’ve ever read.  If you don’t believe me, Keller recommends it too!  We used parts of it to inform our Your Life is Your Calling series.

Anyhow, his seminar was on creative power vs coercive power, and he introduced several new perspectives on power.  I can’t do justice with a recap now, but I found his take on redefining power to be so compelling (even the use of the word!), along with the end discussion on power and privilege.  Basically, he spoke of the beauty of creative power when it’s given away, and the reflection it takes to know that I’m giving it away, and not holding it as privilege.

There’s A LOT more to this, but yes, brilliant.

To be honest, the rest of the labs were meaningful and insightful too, but having heard this first, it stuck so clearly in my mind that it was difficult to engage heartily in what others were saying.  Hence, the need for silent reflection.

However, I was stuck at a crossroads – do I go reflect and journal for a couple of hours, or do I potentially miss something as stirring as Crouch’s talk?  I was torn.

So what did I do?  I plowed through three more sessions.  First, because I tend to think of these conferences as a “waste” unless I go to everything, and second, because I tend toward dutiful action.

Ah, the conflict.

Because of this first session in which my mind was piqued, I don’t think I fully engaged as much as I could have.  Yes, Andy’s session was that good.

Session 2 – Alan Hirsch – He spoke about communitas and liminal space, something very congruent with one of my favorite authors and theologians, Richard Rohr.  Hirsch is a great communicator who’s very thoughtful and engaging.  He was encouraging us that journeying in community by taking risks (particularly entering liminal, unsafe places of crisis and challenge) inevitably builds up a deeper community (communitas).

Great stuff, and wholly relevant to the Western mindset.

However, this topic begged the question for me – what’s the balance between leaping into liminality and resting?  After listening to the talk, I found myself getting really motivated and… tired?  Yes, tired.  There’s such an edge on mission and risk-taking, that it’s hard not to feel like I’m missing out unless life is constantly a dangerous adventure.

Many of the speakers here are advocating that we take risks constantly – very few are encouraging contemplation.

3.  Session 3 – Scott Belsky – Time’s almost up, but a stimulating talk on making ideas happen.  Scott is based in NYC at Behance, and I’d love for him to come to New Life to share some of the principles he’s seen in successful organizations.  This is a weakness of mine, so I was mesmerized by his talk, although I didn’t get to reflect on it much.  Why?  I was writing the entire time.  And thinking about Crouch’s talk.

But seriously, there was so much insightful content in Scott’s talk, and I was challenged in areas of prioritization, execution, and team building.

We’ll see if it makes a difference when I’m back at church!

The good thing is, it seems like we’ll be able to hear more from Scott since he’s a local guy.

4.  Session 4 – Ian Cron – Contemplative spirituality through the lens of St. Francis.  His influences seem very similar to ours, including Rohr, Desert Fathers, and other contemplatives throughout church history.

He’s another person that would seem great to connect with, especially since he’s in nearby CT.

I believe most of the leaders at Catalyst are stirred by Contemplative Spirituality – I’m curious about the masses that attend.

It seemed like Ian was interesting a wholly different perspective, and it was refreshing, but I could also feel resistance.

That was my first day.

We went to meet up with Chris Kim later at Richard Blais’ Flip.  Great times, great food.  Chris is on staff at Northpoint, in many respects the host of this enormous conference.

I loved hanging out with Chris and Rich.  They keep it real.

We missed some evening labs, but I think it’s just what I needed that night.

Will write more later but gotta bounce!

I’m attending my first Catalyst conference this week.  

Mikey posts up some recent activity and info on the Geneva Push front.

Geneva Church Planting Summit – an overview of Tuesday

Geneva Summit – some controversies

Some very interesting quotes;

“Steve Addison gave us all promo copies of his new book Movements (it has a cool chapter ‘Why Sydney Anglicans are Unpopular’)”

‘The parish system is the condom of the Anglican Church: it prevents all natural growth.’

“Love Al Hirsch, but I haven’t seen any conversion/multiplication from the emerging church in Australia. What they have done, however, is shake us all up in how we think about church”.

Acts 29 Aust is also mentioned. The guys by their own admission aren’t sure what’s going on with A29A.

What I’m sure of is that there will end up being a bit of a battle for the hearts and minds of the young (and not so young)blokes when it comes to the competing (yes they will compete) networks.

To read the original article, visit Neil Cole’s website, CMAResources.org.

Think about what questions you’ve been asked about your church. Questions come up like “What church do you go to? How big is your church? Where is your church? What kind of music do you have at your church? What denomination is your church? Who is the pastor at your church?” I find that we often ask about things that may seem important, but we usually aren’t getting at what matters most. These are things about churches. But what is a church?

I came to a point, after trying to plant churches for some time, where I asked the Lord one of the most dangerous questions I have ever asked: “Okay, Lord, so what is a church anyway?” I say it was a dangerous question because asking it forced me to admit that I had been trying to grow something without knowing what it was.

Our Vision of Church: Limited by Our Experience
To help find the best answer, I went to my peers and leaders, asking them in all sincerity, “What is church?” When I asked the question, however, it caused others to reflect and realize that they might not really know what church is either. Oh sure, we all know what our experience is. We all know what our traditions are. We speak as though we obviously know the answer to this question. But in reality, we found that many of us hadn’t taken a moment to ask the question. Rather than starting with the question of what church is, we had been asking how we can make churches get bigger or better, or how we can start more of them.

The temptation is to define “church” according to our own experience. We think we know something because of familiarity. By defining “church” this way, we are assured that we are always right, but this is a cheap solution that perpetuates all our current problems. It is much more vital to look at the Scripture with honesty and courage as we try to define “church.” Once we ask the question, however, we must be ready to expect the unexpected.

While as seminary student, I was given a definition of church that was really more of a description. Church was explained as embodying these five characteristics:

1. A group of believers gathered together regularly…

2. That considers itself a church…

3. That has qualified elders present…

4. That regularly practices the ordinances of baptism and communion as well as church discipline…

5. And that has an agreed-on set of doctrinal beliefs and evangelistic purpose.

These are all good qualities for any church to have. Most of our churches, in fact, would meet these standards. But my question was still with me, so I turned the question inside out by asking what is missing from this list of five things. Since that time I’ve put the same list and question before a lot of groups. “What is missing?” After a few minutes of responses, I generally tell them what I think is missing if they haven’t already found it.

Jesus is missing!

One of my respected mentors, a theologian and career missionary, told me that Jesus is assumed to be in the definition because it is believers who are gathered. My response was, “Why would you verify that qualified elders are present but assume that Jesus is present?”

This assumption betrays a problem in our churches, a serious one. The church is often more about the people and the institutions that gather in the name of Jesus than it is about the reality of the risen Jesus, alive and active with His people.

Seeing Jesus
As the world looks at our churches, particularly in the West, it sees only what people have done or what programs they are doing. The world is not impressed. In response, we scheme and plot and plan, “What can we do to make our church more appealing to the people in our community?” This is, once again, the wrong question. It’s as if we we’re trying to boost God’s approval ratings. It is God’s name that is at risk, not ours, and we are not responsible for protecting His reputation. He can handle that, by Himself, just fine.

A better question is, “Where is Jesus seen at work in our midst?” Where do we see lives changing, and communities transforming simply by the power of the Gospel? Where do we see fathers restored to a life of holiness and responsibility? Where do we see daughters reconciling with fathers? Where do we see addicts who no longer live under the bondage of chemical dependency? Where are wealthy businessmen making restitution for past crimes that went unnoticed? These are the questions that lead people to recognize the living presence of Jesus, loving and governing people’s lives as their King. When people encounter Jesus, alive and present as King, they get a taste of God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

If Jesus is missing in our understanding of church, He will likely be missing in our expression of church as well.

What a Church is: Jesus Followed
I have come to understand church as this: the presence of Jesus among His people called out as a spiritual family to pursue His mission on this planet.

Granted, this is quite broad, but I like a broad definition of church. The Scriptures don’t give a precise definition, so I’m not going to do what God has not done. I want something that captures what the Scriptures say about the Kingdom of God. In one of only two places where Jesus mentions church in the Gospels, He says, “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst” (Matt 18.20). His presence must be an important element of church.

To a church that has lost sight of its true love, Jesus says these harsh words: “The One who walks among the lampstands, says this…remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place–unless you repent” (Rev 2.1,5). To a disobedient and unhealthy church, Jesus threatens to remove the lampstand (representing the church) from the presence of Jesus. The presence of Jesus is crucial to what church is. His presence is life; His absence is death. He is the most essential portion of who and what we are. He should be the most important thing about us and the most recognizable aspect that the world sees.

In many of the churches in the West, ministry is done for Jesus, but not by Jesus–and therein lies a big difference. If we evaluated our churches not by attendance or buildings but by how recognizable Jesus is in our midst, our influence would be more far-reaching and our strategies would be far more dynamic. Unfortunately, it’s possible to do all of the things that make up the five qualities of traditional churches but fail to demonstrate anything of the person or work of Christ in a neighborhood. But if we start our entire understanding of church with Christ’s presence among and working with us, then we will expect to see much more.

Organic Church
We’ve come to refer to some of the ideals of church planting movements as an “organic church.” By organic, I don’t mean that it is pesticide free. It’s a matter of churches being alive and vibrant as living organisms.

The core reality is not how the followers are organized, discipled or helped. The core reality is Jesus Christ being followed, loved and obeyed. Christ alive, forming spiritual families and working with them to fulfill His mission, is the living reality of the organic church. The church really is an embodiment of the risen Jesus. No wonder the Bible refers to the church as the body of Christ.

Christ First
Mike Frost and Alan Hirsch have challenged the way we order our thinking about Jesus and the church. Typically, we think of church as something to mobilize so that people will come to Jesus. Instead, Jesus leads people in mission, who in turn bring forth fruitful churches. Frost and Hirsch show the right sequence for our thinking by beginning with Christ. They say that clear Christology will inform our best missiology, which in turn leads to the most fruitful ecclesiology.[i]

Christ comes first. He then commands us into His mission. The byproduct of our mission is His kingdom spread on earth via the building of His church.

I have come to realize that we should focus on planting Jesus, and let Jesus build His church and work through His church. Our command is to connect people to Jesus as their King. We are to extend the reign of Christ on earth. The byproduct of this work is church. Organic Churches Reproduce I think we are confusing the fruit with the seed. We must plant the seed of the gospel of the Kingdom and the fruit that will grow will be changed lives living out their faith together, and that’s exactly what we mean by “church.” The true fruit of an apple tree is not an apple, but more apple trees.Within the fruit is found the seed of the next generation. Christ in us is the seed of the next generation. The difference this seed can leave in the soil of a people group is significant. We all carry within us the seed of future generations of the church. We are to take that seed and plant it in the soil of every people group under the authority of our King. The difference this seed can leave in the soil of a people group is significant. If we put Christ and His kingdom first, we leave behind agents under submission to the reign of their King.

Cultivating Fruit in its own Culture
Our mission is to find and develop Christ followers rather than church members. There is a big difference in these two outcomes. The difference is seen in transformed lives that bring change to neighborhoods and nations. Simply gathering a group of people who subscribe to a common set of beliefs is not worthy of Jesus and the sacrifice He made for us.

We have planted religious organizations rather than planting the powerful presence of Christ. Often, that organization has very Western structure, with values not found in the indigenous soil. If we would simply plant Jesus in these cultures and help His church emerge indigenously from the soil, then a self-sustaining and reproducing church movement would emerge, not dependent upon the West and not removed from the culture in which it grows. Churches don’t always bear the fruit that they should without being challenged, so it’s important to “cultivate” them by equipping them to see Christ’s life flourish in their society. Instead of ending up with groups that strive to be separate and removed from their culture, organic churches can be engaged and transformative of their culture.

…jag skrev min senaste bloggpost. Sommarpausen blev visst längre än planerat och det finns flera olika anledningar till detta. Dels har jag inte haft tid – eller kanske är det så att jag valt att inte prioritera bloggandet helt enkelt, vilket nog stämmer bättre än det förstnämnda. Det har skett några förändringar när det gäller mina anställningar och mycket tid har gått åt till att fundera kring detta och möjliga vägar framåt. Jag har även varit tvungen att ta en rejäl funderare kring åt vilken riktning min avhandling går, har till och med övervägt att överge studierna för att i stället ta mitt material och publicera en bok. Har dock inte tagit något steg i den riktningen ännu, fortsätter att arbeta på avhandlingen som vanligt för tillfället även om bokidén finns där i bakhuvudet någonstans.

En lite tristare anledning till min förlängda bloggpaus är en del av de diskussioner som har skett i den kristna bloggvärlden under sommaren. För den som råkar ha missat det har det varit rejält stormigt runt till exempel Stefan Swärds blogg, kommer inte ihåg exakt när debatten verkligen tog fart, men bland annat totalsågade Swärd McLarens bok Kristen på ett nytt sätt. Sen har det varit en hel debatt kring McLarens beslut att fasta med sina muslimska vänner under Ramadan. Jag kommer inte att tråka ut eventuella läsare med en genomgång om allt detta (det är ju gammal skåpmat i bloggvärlden då det gått minst en månad sen dessa diskussioner ägde rum!), men vad jag reagerade på under sommaren var den mycket låga ton som fanns i vissa bloggar och följande kommentarer (lägg märke till att jag inte alls menar att Swärd har haft en låg ton, däremot reagerar jag på den ton som finns bland en del av kommentarerna).
Det verkar som att alltför många kristna inte har förmågan att hålla en hövlig debatt kring andliga och teologiska ting på internet – det uttalas domsord, bannor och det beslutas om vem som är kristen eller ej på mycket lösa grunder (Kolportören sammanfattar detta väldigt bra). Man har en ton och en attityd som jag tvivlar på att man skulle ha ifall man mötte personen irl. Jag blir rejält trött på detta och viljan att vara med i spännande och förhoppningsvis konstruktiva samtal på nätet försvinner. Men trots detta väljer jag nu att fortsätta bloggandet och vi får se hur det går under hösten.

Innehållet på denna blogg kommer att hålla en liknande riktning sen tidigare. Jag kommer att ta upp saker som inspirerar mig i min forskning och i mitt arbete med mission och församlingsplantering i Stockholm. Det kommer även möjligtvis att bli en del bloggande om Naturlig Församlingsutveckling, men mer om detta senare.

Som avslutning vill jag dela med mig av ett kort videoklipp med Alan Hirsch från The Nines (ett online event som inträffade den 9 sep i år). Han lyfter fram några av de viktigaste sakerna som han anser att kyrkan i väst står inför… Enjoy!

Today is The NINES Conference, a free online conference that is taking place all day today!

Just go here to watch over 70 presenters speaking sharing for 9 minutes each (sorry, didn’t have enough room for all 70 below).

Here’s the approximate schedule for the day. All times are Central. (Don’t worry, all of the talks will be available for free download after the conference, so you don’t have to miss any!)

9AM   — Troy Gramling, Mark Beeson, Anne Jackson, Dave Ferguson, Scott Hodge

10AM — Perry Noble, Stacy Spencer

11AM — Dino Rizzo, Nancy Beach, Steven Furtick, Reggie McNeal

12PM — Craig Groeschel, Leonard Sweet, Greg Surratt, Jon Tyson

1PM   — Margaret Feinberg, Larry Osborne, Matt Carter, Pete Wilson

2PM   — Neil Cole, Reggie Joiner, JD Greear

3PM   — Mark Batterson, Dan Kimball, Mark DeYmaz

4PM   — Jud Wilhite, Brian McLaren, Bob Roberts, Rick McKinley, John Ortberg

5PM   — Alan Hirsch, John Bishop, Toby Slough, Ed Stetzer

6PM   — Mark Driscoll, Darrin Patrick, Brad Powell

7PM   — Darrin Whitehead, Brian Bloye

8PM   — Eric Bryant, Nancy Ortberg, Rick Warren

-jordan

Just registered for a cool, free, online conference called “The Nines.” Its a pretty cool concept. Tons of pastors, church leaders, and people who love Jesus are given 9 minutes to tell church leaders around the world what they would tell you if they were only given 9 minutes.

It starts at 9am on September 9th. Speakers include: Ed Stetzer, Reggie McNeal, John Ortberg, Mark Driscoll, Brian McLaren, Alan Hirsch, JD Greear, Dan Kimball, Neil Cole, and lots more.

If you’re around on the 9th and have a bunch of 9 minute blocks available, I would HIGHLY encourage you to sign up and listen in. Can’t beat free.

I’ve just brought over some very old blogs from a previous blog I used to maintain (salvokat.lifewithchrist.org), and I thought I’d draw your attention to them. There’s some gems in there – very surprising as I read over them!

Muscles
”Practicing Grace is like working your spiritual muscle. If you dont use it, then it’ll seize up and die. Ouch.”

…The Church will be found.
Alan Hirsch in The Forgotten Ways

New Words & Insights
…e tour d’horizon, antecedent, civilisatrice, deplorable, tautological, nascent…

In Other Words
“Through being a "peculiar people," the people of God can bear witness to the will of God, as well as bring about transformative change for the cities in which they dwell.”

Transparency
"It was like I was transparent, It was like you could see through me to something bigger."

Proleptic
“…that which represents or characterises something in the future as having already occurred, or already having been accomplished in the present.”

Enjoy!

As I mentioned in the last post I’m on a most intimate and incredible journey.  In the past two years God has been cleaning my canvas.  What He has begun to paint is an incredible portrait of His Bride.  There is great beauty and freedom to be found in the church Christ builds.  This blog  has reflected many of my thoughts along the way as the fellowship I pastor has changed and continues to.  In reading this morning on Shapevine, which I recently joined to share my thoughts and hear from others on this journey, I came across this post from David Mills  I would encourage you to read it - it’s real short and thought provoking.

What would happen if we relinquished the need to control the church and actually let Jesus build it?  Are we willing to risk years, decades and centuries of man’s tradition to find what Jesus desires?  As I have been finding, we as leaders will need to be willing to lose everything to gain everything God desires.  Our history bears witness to the power of free forms.  God has worked in mighty ways where the focus and pursuit is Jesus (Christology) and the form of Church (Ecclesiology) flows out of Jesus’ mission (missiology).  This requires us to be willing to adjust our forms as needed for our mission.  The problem comes when the form  needs to change and we find we are in bondage to it or worse worship the form rather than the creator.

If you have any thought or comments along these lines, I would appreciate you leaving them.

• Awesome night
• Great way to end our series in the book of Hebrews
• The band killed the song “Human”
• Loved the missional vs. missional video, really funny
• Love preaching on the topic of being missional
• As a follower of Jesus, being missional is not optional, it is something we are
• If you missed tonight, you can listen to the message here
• Two great books to check out that go along with tonight’s topic are Breaking the Missional Code: Your Church can Become a Missionary in Your Community and The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church
• Really excited about our next series
• We are going to be doing some of the really creative stuff and making some in-house videos
• First time we’re doing a game show in church and we’re going to try to pull off “Rock Band”
• Along with a video parody of TV evangelists, Rev. Benjamin Formee
• “When benjamins are for you, who can be against you”
• Love the moment between series
• When I put the last series commentaries back on the shelf and take off the new ones
• For me, it’s exciting
• Beginning of something new
• You do not want to miss our BBQ/Baptism next Saturday, we are doing that in place of church so don’t go to our church, come to the baptism
• Love seeing people take that next step and the stories that go with it
• You want to get dunked, let me know
• I keep getting asked, so here is my weight loss “secret”
• Check out what God is doing at Revolution, love being a part of the adventure
• If you missed the links of the week this week, check them out, there are some good ones
• Katie’s dad and stepmom are coming out this week, they’re in the country from Kuwait so it will be good to see them
• Katie’s dad hasn’t met Gavin or Ashton yet, so that will be exciting
• We have our small group tomorrow, we’re discussing whether or not marriage is a contract or a covenant
• We had a great discussion on roles and submission last week, always fun topics with a group of people
• Brings out a lot of passion (and misunderstanding)
• Really excited about watching the US/Brazil soccer game tomorrow
• My prediction? Brazil 2 – 0
• Finally got my new phone to sync up with my computer and e-mail system
• I basically had the perfect storm of phone/computer/email problems this past week
• First time in a long time that I longed to not have technology in my life
• Love this tweet from Katie (she meant to say lust)
• Went to get my wedding ring resized this week, it’s gone down 2 ring sizes, crazy
• Loved Paul’s reflections of being at Revolution for 6 months
• It has been amazing what he and Jennifer have brought to our team
• It’s been an unbelievable night
• God was moving and working tonight
• I’m beat, so off to relax and watch a movie
• Then bed
• Peace out!

Len Sweet has been a prophet to the Church for some time. His voice has been out there in the “wilderness” like John the Baptist. And he’s affirmed other voices too, like Frank Viola and Alan Hirsch.

The word that comes to mind as I read this Jesus Manifesto is the eternal truth that Jesus spoke:

“So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God.” Mt 15:6

It’s a warning to the emerging church, and all new movements of the church. How did the bronze serpent, originally set up to bring healing, turn into an idol? How have we turned our best practices in religion, even house church, into traditions that make the word of God void?

My wife pointed out to me from a book she finished last night that the root meaning of the word religion is to “bind”.

I looked it up and found it has various roots. In addition to ceremony, it is connected with mystery, or superstition, or fear of demons, or to be troubled, clamoring in fear.

Jesus is not religious. As Sweet and Viola have described, it’s not what Jesus “would” do, it’s what he “is” doing in and through us.