As of July 21 our first term will officially come to an end. On that day we will have lived in Western Europe 3 years, 2 months, and 3 days. For the next 6 months we will live in America and return to Western Europe in January, 2010. So in this, our last newsletter before leaving, I thought I would give you a snapshot of our time here.

In our 3 years here no new churches have been started as a result of our work. In fact, no one that we know of has come to faith as a result of our work. Some, especially those from a western culture and mindset might view these results as a failure, or a poor investment of time and resources. We, those of us from the West, tend to be focused on numbers as an indicator of success. We gauge things like salary, number of kids, attendance numbers at church, and number of games won as things indicating success. It tends to be a very pragmatic way of looking at things. It makes sense to look at numbers. If you’re on a football team and you win 3 games and lose 13 you’re not very successful, or so it would seem.

Fortunately, God is not as pragmatic as we are. He sees things a little differently. And He’s given me the strength to look at our time here through a different set of lenses. While I’ve not planted a church, or directly led someone to Christ, I’m closer in my walk with my Savior than I ever have been before. My marriage is stronger than it ever has been before. And my children, understand God’s redemptive plan and life in a different culture. I’ve grown in patience, have developed an entrepreneurial spirit, and have gained a true understanding of what a missional-incarnational life looks like.

I don’t list these things as a way to boast. I boast in nothing but the cross of Christ and Him saving me. I list these things to simply point out that God has a way of getting us to a place in our life where He wants us. It may not “look” successful to others, but I don’t think God is terribly interested in “looking” successful. He is most interested in His glory and our joy. I can leave Western Europe on July 21 joyful, knowing that I have done everything I can, under God’s strength, to glorify Him.

The Christian subculture, which is now distinct from the prevailing culture of the West, is a hindrance to the rapid propagation of the gospel. In the United States, we have equated discipleship with teaching our families to read James Dobson in order to raise their kids, listen to Dave Ramsey in order to balance their checkbook, listen to Third Day for their musical enjoyment, and read Tim LaHaye for their literary enjoyment. None of these are necessarily bad things, but we have effectively created this “Christian bubble” that makes it impossible to engage in the rapid propagation of the gospel. Discipleship has been redefined by many Christians as acclimating converts to the Christian subculture. Moreover, one can be fully immersed in the American Christian subculture and have no connection to God whatsoever.

The Potential for Church Planting Movements in the Western World. By Ed Stetzer and David Garrison

My thinking has led me to want to write a couple of posts about the church, but I’ve held off for a couple of reasons. One, my friend Ernest Goodman has been writing a series of articles on the Counterintuitive Church and I wanted to make sure the direction I was going wasn’t going to duplicate or repeat things he had already written. By the way, if you haven’t taken the time to read Ernest’s series I would recommend you take the time to do it. And two, there were things I wanted to write about without being critical. I think there is a difference between offering a critique and being critical. I didn’t want to be the later. I just finished ReJesus, by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, and a quote in the last chapter prompted me to go ahead with my plan for a very short series of posts (2 or 3) on the church. Here’s the quote:

But the point is that somehow these people, most of them ministers, failed to recognize that Jesus was regularly and scathingly critical of the religious leaders of his faith community. Futhermore, Jesus’ seven messages to the seven churches in the book of Revelation (Rev 2:1-3:22) contain plenty of harshly critical comment directed at the church! To claim it is un-Christlike to criticize the church is to disregard the example of Jesus (185).

My first critique is that the church today is bi-polar. It doesn’t understand it’s purpose. It has no sense of direction. It doesn’t know who it’s intended for. One reason the church is bi-polar today is the overuse of the word missional. Church leaders use the word without understanding what it truly means. They use the word as though it’s another program, like the Men’s Ministry, Upwards sports, and the monthly ladies dinner. It boggles my mind that churches have gone to the point where missional is now listed on church websites as a quality. All the while the vast majority of these churches would never think it feasible to release their church members out into the community (on a Sunday) to impact the Kingdom. The same leadership that promotes their church as missional also begs that it’s members invite, invite, invite friends and family members to the next big series.

So which is it? Are you still blatantly attractional with your program driven church experience, pretending to be missional, or are you missional in your mindset but don’t know how to translate it to vision and action?

And maybe the bigger question should be: do church leaders today know who makes up the church and what it’s intended to be? And so that you don’t miss where I stand on the issue let me flesh it out. I firmly believe that the church is intended to be a collection of believers (both local and universal), and that the members of the church have been uniquely gifted for the encouragement, discipleship, and admonishment of it’s fellow members. I also believe that the church is the vehicle by which God will save his elect. The church is the body of Christ, his bride. This does not mean, however, that the Sunday church experience should not be welcoming to the not-yet-Christian.

In my second post I’ll explore more deeply the Sunday church experience and why many churches have gotten it wrong.

Communities of Grace

Here are his mini-movements:

• Neo-Anabaptists
• Neo-Calvinists
• Neo-Missiologists
• Neo-Clapham’s
• Digital Pentecostals
• Neo-Liberals
• Blenders

I find myself spread across the neo-calvinists, neo-missiologists, and blenders (to an extent). You can find his definitions and the entire article here.

Yesterday I was reading about how easy it has become, how innate it is, for us to co-opt God to our own egos and agendas (88). An example was given by Michael about a man he had several conversations with at a conference. This man was a believer. As part of the activities at the conference Michael had asked the participants to go through the process of re-Jesusing Jesus (yes I made that word up). This man that Michael was working with presented Jesus as this cuddly, fatherly type that is all-gentle, all-kind, and all-forgiving. After Michael talked with the man a little more he realized that because of the home this man grew up in (a cold, distant, unpleasable father) that he needed a Jesus like he described to deliver him from his past.

And while there is nothing wrong with this type of Jesus it doesn’t paint the whole picture. It’s not a complete portrait of the man we (I) follow. Hirsch and Frost then posed a question I can’t get out of my head:

Can you see how our understanding of Jesus can be so easily shaped by our own psychospiritual needs? Show me your Jesus, and I’ll tell you who you are.

One of the things that I’m seeking to find out this week is what portrait I’ve painted of Jesus. Who have I made him into, that while it may be partly accurate, isn’t the whole picture? It’s time I re-Jesus Jesus.

We need to remember that we will suffer sometimes not because of the consequence of sin, although that does happen, but because God is wanting to use our suffering as a way for his glory to be made known. I love that!

Then, immediately after that, Jesus tells his disciples the we must work the works of him (God) who sent him (Jesus), while it is still day. In other words, there are works that we are to work out in our life. Paul reminds us of this in Ephesians 2:10. There are things you are to do that will show and bring about the glory of God. And we’re reminded to do them while it is still day (light). Once it turns nightfall it will be too late.

Good stuff.

UPDATE: if you can read this update then the site is back up.

I’ve recently picked up Mark Driscoll’s new book, Vintage Church. Early on, page 19 to be precise, he talks about Jesus as missionary. Here’s what Mark has to say:

Jesus learned firsthand about a sinful culture. As the perfect missionary, Jesus did not learn about the sinful culture from a careful and safe distance. No, Jesus built friendships with sinners, Jesus learned the language of sinners, Jesus ate food with sinners, Jesus drank wine with sinners, and Jesus participated in the parties and holidays of sinners. The religious types in Jesus’ day were incensed by his participation in sinful culture with sinners, and Jesus himself reports that when they saw him they would rebuke and mock him, saying, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collector and sinners!’

So are you willing to:

• build friendships with sinners
• learn the language of sinners
• eat food with sinners
• drink wine with sinners
• participate in parties and holidays with sinners
• be accused and rebuked by the religious types of all these things, and more?

If you’re not willing to do these things, to get along side sinners, and be accused by the religious types of being a glutton, drunkard, and friend of sinners then please don’t call yourself missional. Please don’t say you’re living incarnationally. You’re not. If, in place of these things, you think you are living missionally by inviting someone to church it’s time for a reality check. That’s not missional.

It’s a simple question really, but one that has huge implications.

Long story short…the younger sister is responsible for pushing the older. She seems to be mentally unstable and in the end is taken away to the Psych Unit. The mom is left in the ER facing Dr. Banfield (Bassett). The mom asks if her family is going to be okay, is her girl going to become “normal” again.

Dr. Banfield responds by saying she doesn’t know. This answer is not good enough for the mom. The mom says, “but you’re the doctor. You’re supposed to know these things. We bring our sick to you and you’re supposed to know the answer. It’s not good enough for you to say you don’t know.” I paraphrased, but that’s the gist of it.

As I watched it struck me that reality is such that the overwhelming majority of people are looking for answers. Things like, is their marriage going to last, are they going to make it through the tough financial times, why are they here, what are they supposed to do with their life? But for most of us, we’re too afraid to ask, don’t know who to ask, or too afraid of what the answer might be. So, we sit in silence, carry on with our life, and pretend that things are okay.

People are seeking. The want to know answers. The over-used, seldom helpful answer that comes from evangelical Christianity is Jesus. Jesus is the answer to all these questions. I know that’s the answer, because there was a time I used that answer when these kinds of questions were asked of me. But I don’t know that that’s the best answer. Now don’t get me wrong, I fully believe that a personal relationship with Jesus provides help through much of what ills the individual. But to get a person to see the need for Jesus in their life you have to be willing to walk the journey with them. They need to see the bigger picture. They need to understand the purpose of creation, the separation that ensued, the need for a savior. Yes, Jesus brings hope, peace, stability, calmness, joy. But those things mean nothing unless Jesus has made himself real to the person that is seeking, and in return that person is seeking after Jesus.

So, you might wander what my point is. Very simply this…be willing to walk the journey with those in your life that are asking the questions and seeking the answers. Don’t be a know it all. Be a listener. Point them to the whole truth of the Bible. Don’t beat them over the head with Jesus.