Review - Share the Well

Share the Well is a gem of a book - a wonderful collection of stories, inspiration of a movement of God's people, and some stunning and unique photos that speak as richly as the words in the book. It has the look of a coffee table book (and a good one at that), but it's much more. The story of Share the Well is not one story, but many intertwined. It is the story of a passionate and loving family who, simply put, want to change the world. It's the story of a people who are receiving and sharing the Living Water of Jesus with a people who need to know God loves them. It's the story of pastors and missionaries who are laying it all out there. Most of all it's the story of a movement, not just of churches planted, but a growing network of people committed to living out the Great Commission - in the great country of India and around the globe.

Share the Well is a new book, written by Rob and Michelle Wegner of Granger Community Church. The Wegner's story sprang out of reading the Gospels and the book of Acts and yearning deeply, "I want to give my life to a movement like that." In Share the Well, we see that they have :) The approach in this movement is not simply to plant churches, but to train leaders, to instill purpose, to develop pastors and leaders to be capable trainers themselves, and to go beyond all this and train people about community development. 'All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants.' This quote (by John Gardner) sheds some light on their approach both on meeting physical needs and on seeing exponential church growth occur through leadership development. All those involved are in for the long haul, and they're making a difference. 

As one who spent a year in India myself, I can echo the comments of other reviewers that this book will stir your emotions and bring back memories of a wonderful people. Whether your interest in the book is out of a love for India, and appreciation for stunning photography, or a love of simple yet rich stories that bring honor to God, you're going to love Share the Well.

(While I've not met Rob and Michelle personally, I feel like friends as I've prayed for their family and ministry for a while now, and we share a love of India and sharing the good news there. Rob is the Pastor of Life Mission at GCC and blogs at Entermission; his wife Michelle has a great blog Living on Purpose - check 'em out.)

Share the Well (Promo) from maustcreative.films on Vimeo.

Review - Radical

"Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream" by David Platt is a powerful and exceedingly challenging book that provokes Christians to examine what it really means to abandon all for the sake of the Gospel, and invites us to choose radical obedience to Christ and His mission. The book is not aimed (just) at pastors, but at all Christians. Platt himself is the Pastor of The Church at Brook Hills, a thriving church of 4000 whose members are making an impact on their community and across the globe.

The book is not easy to read. While the style is clear and the message not hard to understand, throughout the book Platt goes over the top slamming his perception of those in American churches today: "I am convinced that we as Christ followers in American churches have embraced values and ideas that are not only unbiblical but that actually contradict the gospel we claim to believe." From the very start he examines the type of radical commitment and obedience Christ expected from His disciples. The lifestyle of American Christians and the vitality and depth of obedience of Christians in other countries are put in stark contrast. The next two chapters talk more about the gospel, and the need to rely on God's power.

In Chapter Four Platt presses strongly that every single Christian needs to be involved in overseas missions, and that almost all of us use the excuse that we 'are not called' to turn our backs on this need. The style here is typical of the rest of the book. He makes some very strong points, shares some appropriate biblical principles, but then makes the case so aggressively and unbalanced, it's hard to stomach and usually more guilt inducing than inspiring. I don't think he intends this - Platt is genuinely passionate about the Gospel and those in need. So much so that Chapter Seven again hammers away at the idea that 'going is urgent, not optional.' I find it amazing that yet another author makes a huge deal of the word 'Go' in the Great Commission: 'Go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey...' when in fact the verb and command is to 'make disciples', with the other phrases as helpers. "Go" is not the command, it's literally "While going" or "As you go".

Chapter Five, 'The Multiplying Community', is a powerful discussion highlighting the tremendous need for making disciples and how all of us join together to fulfill God's purpose. "Jesus reminds me that disciples are not mass-produced. Disciples of Jesus - genuine, committed, self-sacrificing followers of Christ - are not made overnight." In too many churches there is no intentional process for developing disciples. People are effectively trained to be receivers of knowledge and blessing, instead of being reproducers. The goal is too often to disinfect the people in the congregation rather than truly disciple them.

Chapter Six addresses an extremely important and practical question, especially for American Christians who live in great wealth compared to the rest of the world. "How much is enough?" Just how do we reconcile the commands of Christ with the lifestyle choices we face in such a country? He challenges the readers to consider what it might look like to abandon all for the sake of Christ, and to better meet the needs of those who have far less. A key idea here is to consider a lifestyle 'cap' - to decide how much is enough, and to give away any income beyond this amount.

Chapter Eight was another tough chapter. The author continually stresses to go to the need, to seek out the dangerous and dive in. He praises a faithful follower of Christ for taking their family overseas to Bangladesh "where they could better glorify God". Excuse me?? Our ability to glorify God depends on where we choose to go? That's unbiblical and unfounded. Stephen would not have glorified God more had he left for more exotic lands. Faithful Sunday School teachers who invest their lives in children and share and model Christ's love in such a way that they bring many to Christ and make disciples who make disciples are in no way bringing less glory to God than if they moved overseas. Another story shared in this chapter was even more disturbing. He talked about the travesty and tremendous waste of the SS United States, which he said was designed to be the best troop carrier the world had ever seen, yet sadly was never used for its purpose. It instead ended up being used somehow as a luxury liner to ferry around rich VIP's. He then made an analogy to the church and losing its purpose. Amazing story - until I looked up the ship. From what I read, it was initially designed to be just that - a luxury liner! In order to subsidize the cost and as a backup plan, the navy paid a fair bit for it to be possible that the ship be able to be converted into a troop carrier in times of war, should the need arise. (Thankfully it did not.) That's quite a different story, and demonstrates the lack of balance that is possible when one strives too hard to make a point. (Which is awkward, because the author's key points are so true, that God is sovereign and that following Jesus Christ is worth far more than whatever we risk.)

Chapter Nine, "The Radical Experiment," was completely unexpected. At this point in the book I was ready for the big challenge to sell all that I had and catch the next plane to the most dangerous country imaginable. Instead what Platt recommended was equal part radical and rationale, including some seemingly easy steps that could profoundly impact our lives. Rather than recommend spiritual bungee jumping, the author dares us to undertake a one year experiment with five components: i) pray for the entire world; ii) read through the entire Word, iii) sacrifice your money for a specific purpose; iv) spend your time in another context, v) commit your life to a multiplying community. Rather than a call to abandon organized religion and institutions that contributed to the problem, Platt makes a passionate case for the importance of being committed and actively involved in a local church. That was quite welcome news. In hindsight, this chapter makes perfect sense. The typical reader is probably someone who is disillusioned with the church, may not be involved in community, doesn't read the Bible as much as they think they should, nor have any involvement in global missions. Several of the things we are challenged to do here have the potential for radical life change. My wife and I spent a year abroad which was completely life-changing. Reading through the entire Bible was the most powerful growth experience in my faith, and praying for the nations does much to keep your eyes and mind Kingdom focused. I will definitely be taking up this challenge in several areas, and prayerfully considering the others.

So... is Radical worth reading? The book reminded me of "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan in many ways. Both hammer home a message of radical obedience to Christ and are challenging in the extreme. If you've read Crazy Love, chances are good you will have a similar reaction to Radical. As you can tell above I had extremely mixed reactions to Radical. It will take much longer to process than to read this book, as I'll need to reconsider the message prayerfully. One beef I have is that God gives all of us different gifts, different passions, and has placed us strategically in a unique setting - there is no "one true pathway" that all must follow to be a 'real' disciple. There really is much of value in the book - my hope is that those who choose to read it will not feel bombarded or guilted out by the author's style, and that they will persevere to the end and accept the challenge of the radical experiment. I especially hope that readers will strive to become reproducing disciple-makers who model obedience to the Gospel in community within their local church. I would caution those who are newer to the faith, or those prone to guilt, to pass on Radical.The best way to read Radical is probably to discuss it within a small group.

Radical was actually a New York Times bestseller, and is available at Amazon and many other retailers. (It's actually quite inexpensive, currently just over $5. A shorter 50-pg companion book, The Radical Question, is also available.) You can also read the first chapter online or check out a few videos on the book. A great resource for praying for the world is Operation World with daily featured countries and prayer requests. See also the book's companion websites - http://www.radicalthebook.com and http://www.radicalexperiment.org.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review as part of their Blogging For Books Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising".

Review - AND blog tour

Today kicks off a blog tour for a new book by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay - "AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church." I was pleased to get a free review copy, as this book discusses an issue that is important to us at Calvary Baptist Church - what are the benefits of an attractional approach (draw people into the church to hear the gospel, find fellowship and build them up as disciples) versus a missional/incarnational approach (sending our people out into the lives of others directly to witness and grow as disciples). Pastor Chuck has maintained that it's Both-And; they're both useful. Yet if you listen to sermons or read 90-99% of books and blogs, they're diametrically opposed and you can't possibly do both well. Finally, a book that tries to bridge the gap and speak from a Both-And perspective??!

The introduction and first chapter talk about what the world needs from a church, and what God is doing through His church, how He and the church are 'beautifully sent' on mission. Chapter Two was for me the most powerful chapter in the book "Starting the AND... wherever you are". They jumped right in with discussion that target readers would need to know - how can you take a church that is strongly attractional, perhaps even inward focused, and help its people better understand what it means to live missionally and to see new avenues for ministry outside the walls of the church. It had some great discussion about how you can reach the same essential core of incarnational communities coming either from a gathered perspective or from a scattered perspective. Those coming from a gathered church might well consider a pilot group of about 10% of the church (a tithe of members) to receive training and support on developing incarnational communities.

One of the tough challenges in the book is really understanding what Halter means by the term 'Incarnational Community'. Is it a small group living missionally, a community ministry team, a home cell group, or something else? Is it something we've seen in a larger church, or something altogether different? I was somewhat disappointed to see this was not covered well in the book - rather the authors referenced their previous book, Tangible Kingdom, and a resource called the TK Primer for those who want to develop such communities. It makes sense from their perspective to do this and not waste time repeating material already available. Yet it is so central to their AND thesis that skimping here didn't help their cause. (It didn't help either that the Amazon reviews on Tangible Kingdom were downright scary, almost to the point of calling it heretical?!) After reading the book I saw an online article by Halter entitled What is incarnational community? which helps answer this key question.

Chapters 3 and 4 talk about something working against the church (consumerism) and something that done well is essential for the church (spiritual formation, but something broader than traditional spiritual disciplines).

Chapter 5 is where things started to go downhill fast for me, and I never saw a hoped-for recovery. Its goal was to discuss the tremendous harmony of gathered and scattered, but the authors get caught up in two scholarly terms coined by Ralph Winter - sodalic and modalic, how there is a need both for outreaching missionary activities and groups, and nurturing and support for those on the inside. Before this the books' style had been easy to read, stressing story and clarity. It's not that material was too hard to understand, but the stark contrast in style and approach were jarring.

Chapter 6 was one I looked forward to since getting excited in chapter two. It was called "Morph: Transitioning from Gathered to Gathered AND Scattered." It implicitly spoke as if you were the senior pastor of the church, and described the need to assess your gifting, calling, along with the capacity of your congregation. This was followed by a caution to be careful about the rate of change. And then... the chapter was over. Maybe this was a bad expectation on my part, I was sorely hoping this chapter was the one referenced on page 86: "In a later chapter we will unpack a process that every church can use that will move people from consumers to contributors, from fans to faithful followers, and from adherents to apprentices." I had been so pumped when I read that quote, yet after finishing chapter six it felt like they didn't come close to delivering on that promise.

Chapter 7 found me scratching my head completely. Had I misunderstood the whole aim of the book?? It was a discussion aimed at house churches and other missional communities committed to being scattered and incarnational, and discussed the question of if it was in any way useful to even gather at all in some kind of larger church service (!?) I started to reread the back cover and press info to find out if they were truly trying to propose a harmonious blend of mega-church style incarnational approaches and house-church style incarnational approaches, or were they trying to address the latter community and persuade them that it's ok to actually meet as a larger body without becoming a dead institution. The positive quotes on the back cover are from pioneers in the area of house churches and organic community; nothing said by mega-church pastors?

Chapter 8 tried to pull things together and encourage the reader to think about leaving a legacy, living as if you're really dying. It was inspirational but did not address the concerns developed in reading the previous three chapters.

I would have love to have seen more about the practical issues surrounding the tension between gathered and scattered - where does doctrinal instruction occur? is it really best for younger children and adults struggling with life issues and sin to sit together in the same group discussing the Bible? are teens hanging out with their folks at that time too? how are overseas missions to be supported? why wouldn't it be best to have a large audience being taught by a superbly gifted teacher? how does one learn how to face life-stage issues?

My conclusion after reading the book? No pun intended, but I can truly say that BOTH: I was highly disappointed with the book AND you should definitely read it if you have any kind of interest whatsoever in bridging the gap or resolving the tension between attractional/gathering and incarnational/scattering approaches to ministry, discipleship and evangelism. How can I say that? (Besides the fact that I may not be the target reader for the book?) Because I'm completely convinced, like I think Halter and Smay are, that both gathering as a large community and loving one another inside the family of God (modality), and living out our faith missionally in the lives of those around us far outside the walls of the church (sodality), are extremely important - and these together reflect the Great Commandment and the Great Commission - we cannot neglect either. The other reason it's important to read this book is because there isn't much out there that tries to bridge the gap. In addition, there is some really excellent material despite the flaws in the book. The book would still be worth getting if you only read the first two chapters. Finally, my disappointment may well be due to wrong expectations or high hopes going in to the book.

AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church is available at Amazon and other retailers.

Calvary Youth Justice Run/Walk 5K for the International Justice Mission

The wonderful students in our Calvary XL Youth program are sponsoring (and participating in) a Justice Run/Walk 5K. All proceeds will go directly to the International Justice Mission (IJM). The IJM does some great things to rescue people across the world trapped in slavery. They're a faith-based (Christian) human-rights organization that helps people regardless of belief, ethnicity or gender. They were founded on the call to justice articulated in the Isaiah 1:17. Calvary's Youth... are sponsoring a 5K-run to raise funds to support IJM and promote freedom for the oppressed.

The International Justice Mission was founded in 1997 by Gary Haugen (currently CEO). His background is in law and civil rights, and he has served on the board of directors of the National Association of Evangelicals. The organization grew out of a group of Christian lawyers and was described by Haugen as existing within the Christian community and attempting to rekindle the social engagement of evangelical Christians. IJM’s work is founded on the Christian call to justice articulated in the Bible (Isaiah 1:17): Seek justice, protect the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. IJM’s staff members are Christians from a variety of traditions who are motivated by this call to seek justice for the oppressed.

The run will be at the Celery Bog Park on Lindberg Road in West Lafayette. Registration 8:00am, 5K Run: 9:00 am, or Walk starting at 9:15 a.m.  Interested folks in the area of West Lafayette, Indiana can register for the race via our online form.

Looking Back, Looking Forward at Calvary

Last Sunday we had a Leader Lunch where we celebrated what's been going on at Calvary and talked about our vision of the future. Pastor Chuck led this but it was encouraging to see the level of energy and sharing among our small group and ministry leaders. There's been a lot of great stuff going on - here's what people shared:

Our Community BBQ and Trunk or Treat were huge, and let us just have a fun time together with our neighbors and friends. Our Summer Camp also went very well, with a record number of kids participating. If you look out back you'll see grass flourishes where once weeds reigned, preparing for a number of soccer fields that will be used by the community. The modular building is also getting a huge facelift so we'll have more space, and the Connection Center is seeing constant use. We saw one of our own head for the mission field to care for the medical needs of hurting people who need to know God loves them; nationally, more people were involved in missions trips (e.g. New Orleans' Katrina victims); locally we've launched a new Servanthood Saturday ministry which has got people joining hands with others here in town who are giving food to those in need. This year the Hunt family joined us and have been a great blessing in worship. About ten new small groups have formed, and existing ones have been helping people connect and grow. Most recently we finished a series on Life's Healing Choices which has helped many people, and we've just launched a powerful "Celebrate Recovery" ministry that has huge potential to transform lives!

Do you see a common theme that shows up over and over in this list? More of what we're doing and celebrating is externally focused, as we seek more and more to share God's love in both word and deed by caring about our friends, family, and neighbors who haven't experienced the blessing of being a part of the Calvary family. What's great is that this external focus is increasing -- here are some of the ideas tossed around in thinking about our vision for what could be in the next 1-5 years:

Hundreds (thousands?) of people making use of soccer fields, a gymnasium/community life center, food pantry; new ministries that are a safe and helpful place for people (like us) facing issues in their marriage, with addiction or hurts, finances, or counseling needs; greater involvement in missions foreign and domestic, and community service; partnering with schools to fill the gaps caused by ongoing cutbacks; identifying and supporting members who are already sharing love and serving those in the community.

Remember, these are dreams, not promises, but they're good dreams! :)  If you're part of the Calvary family, rejoice with us and consider how you can help these things come to be. (Got other dreams, speak up!) If you're a community member, let us know how the church can be a positive influence and meet needs here. Far-away friends and ministry leaders, please pray for us as we seek to be more relational, transformational, and missional.

The Show on Leadnet - Church Bull Session

Today Leadnet had a brief show and call-in program "Church Bull Session". This is a weekly show (Tues at 4pm) where Leadership Network's Dave Travis, Reggie McNeal, and Chris Willard will be shooting from the hip on a number of ministry topics and current events. I was able to ask a question by twitter as well as follow-up with a call-in question. I got to tell Reggie that I loved his book "The Present Future" and only had to throw it across the room once :)

I asked "What does missional leadership development look like in a church trying to be more externally focused". (Answers below are from memory, I don't have a transcript)

"It's about Deploy-and-Debrief, not Train-then-Deploy, and it's a very different mindset." In other words, you create opportunities for people to serve (especially outside the walls of the church), then intentionally talk about what happened afterwards. The traditional approach would be that you announce training, give people the skills to do something, then send them off to do it. 

Be intentional about what you recognize and celebrate. Be sure to put high emphasis on what is going on outside of the church. For example, when you recognize children's ministry, add "Not just you involved in ministry here, I mean everyone who in ministry to children. Teachers, stand up. Volunteer tutors at the high school, Foster parents, grandmothers who are caregivers, stand up and be recognized. You guys are doing wonderful work in children's ministry!"

I then asked about how to encourage a shift from ministry inside the church to outside...

Every member a minister was an important biblical teaching that came out of the reformation, but there's an important aspect that it misses. Every member of the church is a also a missionary, called not only to serve but to share the gospel to those lives they touch. Rather than a replacement of every member a minister, it's more of a change in focus in where they are deployed, and a greater sense of mission in what they do. It's not about finding a church ministry for everyone, it's about releasing people for service to other people where they are already deployed - serving in their community, among their family and friends. It's about encouraging the use of their time and spiritual gifts to touch the lives of those outside the church walls.

My next question: "How do you make the shift from equipping for internal ministry to releasing for external ministry and for developing the mindset of every member a missionary?"

Churches need to adopt the Home Depot approach - You can do it. We can help!  Too long we've had the attitude (implicit or explicit)  "We can do it. You can help."

Another idea is to bring in several community leaders over time - fire commissioner, police chief, high school principal, gang leader, and have them share what's going on the in the community and how they can help make a difference.

One other great comment made on the show, when another caller asked "How do you motivate people to get involved in the community?"

You don't! Give it up, stop trying! Instead... create a venue for service where they can actually do something. When they see that what they're doing is actually impacting lives, it will motivate them in a way you never could by talking about it. Change the behavior, leading by example, and the motivation will come powerfully and naturally.

For more on these ideas, you may want to check out Reggie McNeal's new book "Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church." (I'm falling behind on reading, I really need to get this one myself!)

Follow Me

Tony Morgan had an excellent post today on 'Unlearning Discipleship ' in which he took a closer look at Jesus' call to "Follow Me."

'When Jesus began calling the first disciples into ministry, he used this phrase:
“Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!”

For whatever reason, I started thinking about what Jesus didn’t say to those first disciples.

He didn’t say: “Come, follow me, and I will teach you spiritual insights!”
He didn’t say: “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to worship together!”
He didn’t say: “Come, follow me, and I will gather you together in a home group!”
He didn’t say: “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to pray!”
He didn’t say: “Come, follow me, and I will make you members of the church!”

I think we can all agree that Jesus was a fairly insightful guy, so I think it’s interesting of all the things he could have said, he chose to put the focus on ministry to reach other people."

Very interesting and helpful point. A commenter noted Francis Chan said at West Coast Catalyst, “If people just read the Bible would they get the same conclusions we hold to now?” And so... I thought I would take a closer look at this phrase "Follow Me" used by Jesus. (Not only is this a good thing to do in general, but I'm currently trying to practice spiritual disciplines more faithfully, and both word studies and reading with the Bible in your other hand is another one I'm exploring!)

• "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." - Mt 4:19, Mk 1:17
• Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead." - Mt 8:22
• As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. - Mt 9:9, Mk 2:14
  
• He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." - Lk 9:59
  
• Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family." - Lk 9:61
  
• "Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." - Mt 10:38
  
• Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." - Mt 16:24, Mk 8:34
  
• Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." - Mt 19:21, Mk 10:21
  
• The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me." - Jn 1:43
  
• When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." - Jn 8:12
• "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." - Jn 10:27
  
• "Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me." - Jn 12:26
  
• Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me." - Jn 21:22
  

What do we see here about when Jesus says "Follow Me"?

- To those whose life mission was fishing, he said they would fish for men

- To Matthew and Philip He said nothing else, and yet they followed.

- To the person with excuses, he added a comment about the excuse (burying dead)
   saying if something else was more important, they could not follow Him

- To the one not willing to deny himself and take up his cross is also not worthy

- To the one with a hidden top priority in life, he asked him to reject

   that top priority, then come and follow Him (rich young ruler)

- To those who do follow, He gives them the light of life

- To the person asking what about him (following in a different direction)

   Jesus says that your path in following Him will be different than others

- Those who are His sheep listen to His voice and follow

- You can't serve Him without actually following Him

My conclusion from this...

Jesus' call to "Come, Follow Me" is a call for us to put aside our own agenda, to lay down whatever may be taking up the position of first place in our lives, and put Christ in first place. When we do, we hear His voice, we walk in new light, and are called to do the things He did, pursuing the same mission He did but with a specific path unique for each of us. To be like Christ is our top priority, to be a disciple - not service (ministry), not evangelism, not fellowship - but to be a true disciple/follower we cannot ignore any of those. It's not discipleship vs. evangelism, etc., but proper discipleship includes evangelism, and ministry, and fellowship, and worship.

Review (and free Audiobook) - So Beautiful by Len Sweet

Just released is a new book by Leonard Sweet called "So Beautiful: Divine Design for Life and the Church", which looks at the DNA of the church as three essential complementary strands of Christian life - missional, relational, and incarnational. I was delighted to see that Christian Audio is making this available as their free download of the month, an audiobook in MP3 format. Here's my review of this book/audiobook...

Len Sweet, author of The Gospel According to Starbucks, paints a vivid picture of the essence of God's church and our role and lifeblood therein. He weaves together views from the bible, the life of John Newton, the biological wonder of life, along with an engaging writing style that helps us better understand the nature of the church and how we may live more like Christ. The key contrast in the book is between a modern style of church that is becoming an increasingly poor fit with culture, and one he believes is closer to the intent of God. The style he cautions against is APC - Attractional, Propositional, and Colonial, while the one he proposes is MRI - Missional, Relational, and Incarnational, which better reflects God's interaction with the world and His hope to reconcile man back to Himself. He addresses in a considerate way some significant challenges facing the local church today but without calling us to abandon it - he pulls together the needs to serve both within and beyond the church. (An approach I appreciate very much, there's no shortage of books focused on bashing down the church itself.) For example, Sweet notes that in the Gutenberg era the watch phrase was: everyone is called to be a minister, your baptism is your ordination into ministry. In today's Google world, "everyone is dispatched to be a missionary. Your baptism is your commissioning as a missionary. We are both ministers and missionaries. Every disciple has a ministry to the body and a mission in the world. Your baptism is both an ordination certificate and a passport to a missional life, spent in being sent to live and dwell in diaspora, in Babylon not Zion."

The five chapters unpack the missional life (God's going, and calling us to go, or be present as we go), the relational life (and goes beyond typical discussions of the need for community), the incarnational life, and an epilogue that calls us, and calls our church to be MRI - and gives us some ways to know if we are. Another way he pulls these together: "Missional is the mind of God. Mission is where God’s head’s at. Relational is the heart of God. Relationship is where God’s heart is. Incarnational is the hands of God. Incarnation is what God’s hands are up to."

The writing style is unique, quite deep and not avoiding large words, and yet remarkably clear and witty. To say it's thought-provoking is an understatement. Yet this is no dry academic treatise... at the risk of offending, Sweet asserts that "The church needs to rediscover the missionary position, a posture that forces us to look at the world eye to eye and face to face without turning our backs. The missionary position tries to get together with the world in a healing and so beautiful way. It doesn't view the world as a market but a mission." If that makes you upset or angry, this book probably isn't for you. But if you like reading about a fresh perspective on missiology for today's culture (as with books by Reggie McNeal), this is one not to miss. Check out an excerpt by the publisher David Cook, the audiobook (free through April 2009), or buy the book. Or check out the Vimeo preview video below:

Celtic Christianity

The Celtics had a little bit of a different approach than the Romans with respect to Christianity and sharing our faith, as I learned in my current course at Rockbridge Seminary Online. For St. Patrick's day I thought I would share a bit from an interesting article we read this week about the Celtic approach.

Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, spent eight years in slavery under Celtic lords, learning the culture and language of the Irish people. He learned to pray without ceasing and became devout. Directed in a dream, Patrick set out toward the coast, found a ship waiting and sailed in freedom to Rome, where he obtained a theological education. At age forty-eight, while serving as a parish priest in England, he had another dream in which faces of those he remembered in Ireland called to him to bring the gospel. The Vatican validated his "Macedonian call," ordained him a bishop and sent him to reach some of the 150 unreached Celtic tribes in Ireland. By the time of his death, St. Patrick had reached fifteen to twenty of these tribes and set the pattern for the work of Columba, Brigid, Columbanus, Aiden and many others in reaching pagan tribes all over Europe.

So what was the approach used for reaching the Celtic tribes? Might there be some application for better connecting to a postmodern generation today? Their approach may be summarized as follows:

1. Nature. The Celtic movement stressed humanity's kinship with nature, rather than a Roman view of dominion over nature.

2. Human nature. Celtic Christians believed that sin had blurred and twisted the image of God seen in human beings, but not destroyed it or left them as completely depraved.

3. God's presence. Celtic Christians emphasize the immanence (immediate presence) of God more than his transcendence. They long for a God who knows them and loves them and actually wants to be involved in their daily lives.

4. God's power. Dynamic and active, maybe even a little chaotic, rather than static or full of order and stability.

5. Organization. Where Roman Christians looked to preserve their institutions and traditions, Celtic Christians emphasized advancing as a movement through community. They really weren't into the whole organizational hierarchy thing.

6. Culture. While Roman Christians assumed Roman culture was superior to all other cultures, Celtic Christians didn't look to replace their culture, but adapted to it, introducing the good news in a way that made sense for them (while not watering down the message).

7. Religion. When Roman Christians saw other religions they reviled them as demonic or irrelevant, while Celtic Christians saw other religions as evidence of spiritual interest, that God was already at work in their hearts preparing them for the gospel. Pagan practices and symbols, like the standing stones, sacred groves and springs, were incorporated into Christian faith wherever possible. In the same way Christ as messiah was the fulfillment of the Jewish faith, the Celts saw Jesus as the fulfillment of pagan religion, not the destroyer of it.

8. Communications. Unlike the Roman Christians "left-brained" rational, propositional, doctrinal exposition of faith, Celtic Christians took far more of a "right-brained" imaginative approach. Romans taught content of the faith, the Celts helped people directly experience the faith.  They sought to evoke truth, not explain it.

9. Mission. The Roman approach was to preach, see commitments, appoint a deacon, and start a church when people believed. Celtic Christians instead invited people into their monastic communities to belong before they believed. There they saw people devoted to prayer, love, and hospitality, accepting others as friends in a way that was not conditional upon their believing.

Many now, like then, might see these emphases as pretty radical. Others might see it as a Christianity that isn't lame, that they might even consider looking into? 

Quote and information from article adapted from Rick Richardson’s Evangelism Outside the Box: New Ways to Help People Experience the Good News (Downer’s Grove, Illinois: IVP, 2000), pp. 56-60. See also George Hunter’s “The Celtic Way for Evangelizing Today,” The Journal of the Academy for Evangelism in Theological Education, 1997-1998, pp. 15-30.

Aloha Peace

Christianity Today published an interesting interview with Pastor Rick Warren, "After the Aloha Shirts". Not only will you find out why he no longer wears crazy Hawaiian shirts, but you can find out about his PEACE plan, version 2.0...

What is PEACE? The Saddleback website describes it like this:
"The P.E.A.C.E. plan is our strategy to have every small group in our church,  and then tens of thousands of small groups in other churches,  become engaged in solving the five biggest problems in the world: Spiritual Lostness, Lack of Godly Leaders, Poverty,  Disease, and Lack of Education.  These giant problems are so big that neither the governmnent, nor all the NGOs (non-government organizations) can tackle them. There is only one group large enough to tackle these global issues- the Christian church in all its local expressions around the world."

P.E.A.C.E. itself is an acronym for the key points of the plan:
  Promote Reconciliation
  Equip Servant Leaders
  Assist the Poor
  Care for the Sick
  Educate the Next Generation

What does he mean with PEACE 2.0? Saddleback has basically done a beta test of the original PEACE plan, with a focus on Rwanda , listened very extensively for feedback and suggestions, and modified their approach. Now they're basically ready to go "full scale" with PEACE and bring it to the nations and to the churches at a much higher level. In the interview Warren points out "There are three key words in 2.0: Scalable. Sustainable. Reproducible. We never sacrifice sustainability or reproducibility or scalability for speed. The faster way to do it is always to do it yourself."