• Archive for March, 2010

    Alan Hirsch – Making Missional Marketable

    March 31, 2010 // 22 Comments »

    I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Alan Hirsch.  The book he co-authored with Mike Frost, The Shaping of Things to Come, was the first I read that began to help me understand the angst I felt with the attractional model of church so prevalent in the US.

    This is why I was so thrown a few days ago when I read that Alan Hirsch had asserted that American Christianity is the great hope for the Church in the West.  He made comments to this point in the opening remarks of his talk at a conference called “Verge” in Texas.  You can view the video (Session 2) here.  At one point he said,

    If we don’t win the battle of the decline of the church here in the states, then it’s not going to come from anywhere else.  We will win or lose the battle over here in the states.

    His rationale seemed to be that 1) the Church is the rest of the West is all but dead and 2) that Americans have a built-in entrepenurial (apostolic) sort of spirit.

    On this count, I was surprised and disappointed on 2 levels.

    First, he seemed to communicate a latent assumption that “the West” maintains a position of superiority in terms of global Christianity.  He admitted that Christianity is growing in non-Western parts of the world, but never suggested that our hope might lie in learning from what God is doing there.

    Secondly, he referenced the American entrepreneurial spirit as the key factor in our ability to “win the battle of the decline of the church.”  I was blown away!  I was immediately reminded of a quote by Einstein, which, even more surprisingly, he referenced later, but totally misused,

    We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

    It is American entrepreneurialism that got us into the mess of creating a church system predicated on the cultural values of individualism and consumerism.  Relying on the same characteristic is hardly a promising solution.

    Over and above all these disappointments comes a more biblical/theological one, namely, that putting our hope in anything except for a willingness to sacrifice what is most dear to us, to listen to the voices of those on the margins, and to trust God with our future (which may very well mean the increasing marginalization of the church), is, in any sense, in keeping with God’s desire for the Body of Christ.

    There was a 2nd major part to Hirsch’s presentation that really made me nervous.

    He made the claim that the dominant expression of church in America, that of the seeker-sensitive/attractional model, has a market appeal to about 40% of the American population.  This yields what Hirsch called a “strategic problem” and a “missionary problem.”

    The “strategic problem” is that 95% of the churches in the US are seeking to become the kind of church that appeals to this same 40% of the population.

    The “missionary problem” is that 60% (and growing) of our population is being virtually ignored.

    So far so good, but at one point Alan was commenting on attractional types of churches that are “reaching” the 40% of the American population and said, “Those who do this well should strive to do it better.”  Not change what they are doing, just do more of the same, better.

    In affirming an attractional (or what he is now calling ex-tractional) model of church simply because it succeeds in drawing a crowd, he fails to critique the most devastating reality, namely, that these churches, on the whole, don’t make disciples. By and large, they facilitate the already pervasive nominal christianity that pervades at least 40% of the American population.

    Let me try to summarize my push back on what I am hearing and seeing from Alan Hirsch as of late.

    1) Putting our eggs in the basket (Easter week!) of the American church is futile, if not sinful.  This is exactly how we got where we are and trying harder ain’t gonna cut it.  It may very well be that God is at work killing off a defunct ecclesial trajectory and we would do better to repent and ask for mercy than to rely on any ability we think we possess to save the day.

    2) Alan is right, there is a descent portion of the American population that has some natural affinity with the sort of church which thrives in Christendom.  But, merely because people will respond to an attractional model of church does not make it ok.  A pragmatic victory is almost never a biblical one.  Attractional models of church are built on the cultural values of individualism and consumerism and, save for the grace of God, are incapable of yielding the sort of disciples the world desperately needs.

    I have a serious and growing concern regarding the temptation to make missional marketable.  The temptation is especially seductive to those who, like Alan, have a deep love for the church as the Body of Christ and want to see it thrive.  But, if God means for missional theology/ecclesiology to benefit the church, it will remain an invitation to repentance, sacrifice, and death.  This sort of invitation has never had much market appeal, especially in the US.

    Posted in christendom, church, consumerism, culture, discipleship, individualism, missional, theology, western culture

    A Birthday Song

    March 23, 2010 // No Comments »

    There are precious few people in the world that I regret not getting to spend more time with than Mr. Ryan Spencer.

    For better or for worse, Fuller leaves roommate selection up to incoming students to figure out on their own.  So, randomly, off a list, with basically no information, Ryan called me in the summer of 2004 and asked me if I wanted to be roommates.  The years that followed produced numerous tales of now timeless Fuller legend.

    Few people get me better than Ryan and he never disappoints for new ways to crack me up – often through impromptu songs. This birthday produced yet another one of those amazing Spencer masterpieces.

    Submitted for your enjoyment, the musical stylings of Mr. Ryan Spencer.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download

    Posted in birthday, friends

    Ecclesia Church Planter Training

    March 20, 2010 // No Comments »

    Quick plug for an upcoming training event for those who are thinking about helping to plant missional churches.

    Ecclesia is a relational network of church planters and leaders.  Once a year they host an event for those those who are considering church planting.  There are lots of options out there for asipiring church planters, but I’d suggest that you’d be hard pressed to find one that will be as relational, encouraging, balanced, and missionally minded.

    If you come to this, you’ll get not just quality training, but friends for the journey.

    Details are here and there’s also a (PDF) brochure.

    Posted in church planting, Ecclesia Network

    Kiss Those School Loans Bye-Bye!

    March 17, 2010 // 6 Comments »

    A few weeks ago Amy and I were having dinner with some friends.  We were talking about student loans and as we were leaving they started to tell us about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and Income Based Repayment (IBR) programs.

    The PSLF is a federal student loan program that forgives whatever debt you have left after 10 years of payments made while in public service or under the employ of a 501c3.

    The IBR is another federal program that structures the amount of your payments based on your family size and income level.

    You’ll find links to Q&A pdf’s regarding both of these programs on this page.

    Since Amy and I envision giving the better part of our lives to work in and through non-profit organizations, we are beginning the process of getting into these programs.

    The first step is to get your loans from whatever lender they are currently with over to Direct Loans, a federal loan provider.  You can do this online here.

    That’s as far as I’ve gotten so far, but from what I understand, once we’ve moved/consolidated our loans to Direct Loans, we can then take advantage of the IBR and PSLF programs.

    It’s more than mildly unfortunate and upsetting that (at least in my experience) Christian schools, whose student populations are largely focused on non-profit work, aren’t doing a better job of informing students of these programs so maybe you’ll help me get the word out!

    Posted in money, theological education

    Anabaptist Missional Ecclesiology – Doctor of Missiology

    March 15, 2010 // 6 Comments »

    All good missional ecclesiology is owing to the Anabaptist tradition.  I came to understand that at some point in grad school and have only become more convinced of it since.

    This is why I want to let everyone I can know about an incredible opportunity coming up this fall.  Ever heard of a DMiss? If you haven’t, you need to familiarize yourself.

    The DMiss is an applied research doctoral degree designed for ministry practitioners as opposed to straight academics, but its focus is missiology – an increasingly vital dimension of study for those engaged in ministry within Post-Christendom.

    This fall Fuller Theological Seminary is launching an “Anabaptist Missional Perspectives Cohort” for those interested in the DMiss program.  From Fuller’s page on the DMiss program…

    The Doctor of Missiology degree equips leaders to effectively integrate theory into missional praxis within the global reality of the twenty-first century.  With this program, key leaders will continue their ministries in-context, attending a cohort-based seminar once a year for four years at Fuller’s campus, and interacting with a Fuller SIS faculty member.

    The DMiss program is designed for leaders with a minimum of five years of missional experience who desire:
    1. To assist mission leaders in context.
    2. To have direct impact on practical ministry.
    3. To maximize their leadership potential within their organizations.

    If you’re interested in anabaptism or missional ecclesiology, have already got a masters degree, are looking for some more education, and are convinced, like me, that the best forms of education are those rooted in a learning community of engaged Christian leaders, you really need to check out this program.  Deadline for applications is the end of May and if you hurry, you might even be able to get a refund on your application fee!

    Learn more about the cohort model of education here.

    Learn more about the program structure here.

    Let me know if you have any questions, I’d love to talk more about it.  And please forward this on to others you think might be interested.

    Posted in anabaptist, Fuller Seminary, missional, theological education

    What is the Emergent Church?

    March 13, 2010 // 38 Comments »

    Last night Amy and I joined a friend for a presentation at Harvest Bible Chapel on the topic of, “What is the Emergent Church?” ((There is no such thing as the Emergent Church. This is a classic conflation of the terms Emergent Village and Emerging Church offered by those who aren’t all that familiar with the topic)) as part of an ongoing apologetics series they are doing.

    As someone who gets to teach the course, The Emerging Church in the 21st Century, once a year, I was looking forward to attending and seeing what was said and discussed; especially considering the speaker for the evening was Dr. David Finkbeiner, a professor at Moody Bible Institute.

    I mean, if you want to get a balanced understanding of what the “Emergent Church” is all about, who better to ask than a professor of systematic theology at a school that officially, “does not endorse the emerging/emergent church” right?!

    Harvest would have done well (though from what I could tell – would never so much as have considered it) to have invited at least one person who could have spoken as an insider to the EC discussion.

    It was clear from the get-go that the tenor of the evening was going to be critical, bordering on condemnatory.  And this, even after Dr. Finkbeiner admitted that there is no simple way to define the EC as a whole.

    Dr. Finkbeiner’s focus for the evening was theological method.  His premise was that what undergirds the “Emergent Church” movement is a post-conservative theological method.  His aim was to critique this theological method overagainst a more traditional conservative evangelical one.

    Essentially, here’s what that meant…

    1) Post-Conservatives err in their non-foundationalist approach to epistemoplogy which takes things like history, context, and culture seriously, where as conservatives rightfully embrace Scripture as the objective and sole foundation to all knowledge.

    2) Post-Conservatives err in asserting that absolute truth, while real, may often times be beyond our ability to fully grasp.  Conservatives rightfully assert not only the reality of absolute truth, but affirm our ability to, “with a little hard work,” objectively know it.

    3) Post-conservatives err in not championing the inerrancy of Scripture.  Conservatives rightly hinge all their hopes on Scripture having been verbally and inerrantly inspired.

    So, here we have a guy who is doing a masterful job of towing the line of modern conservative evangelicalism, lambasting those who dare to think, “There might be some stuff we’re missing here.”

    As I listened to him describe some of the perspectives and viewpoints of post-conservative evangelicals I found it hard to believe that he wasn’t converting himself!

    He quickly and coyly dismissed a broad range of the most helpful aspects of post-conservative theology…

    – The idea that we need one another in the pursuit of truth because all of our perspectives are bound by a host of factors

    – The notion that theology loses its character when not born out of an embodied witness

    – The view that the authority of Scripture lies not primarily in its abstract character, but in its function in the life of the Church

    – The insight that biblical propositional truth derives its meaning and significance from the narratives in which they’re embedded

    – That post-conservative theology is, at its core, a prophetic call to revisit some of our modernistic assumptions

    In each and every instance, the speaker noted that these are the hallmarks of post-conservative theology and then attempted to show why they ought to be rejected.

    OK, so that was the presentation and as enlightening as it was, the Q & A time was even better.  I quote.

    “Is Willowcreek an Emergent Church?  I heard they sell Brian McLaren books.” ((Someone from Harvest was quick to announce that Harvest doesn’t!))

    “Is the Emergent Church a cult?”

    “I’ve heard that Urbana and InterVarsity are becoming more Emergent.  Should I keep my kids away from those groups?”

    I actually had the opportunity to ask the last question of the evening…

    With a little trepidation, but in the spirit of full disclosure, I teach a course on the Emerging Church at the seminary level and I need to say that I think there have been some pretty unfair characterizations of the movement here tonight.  I was hoping that before we go you might offer a positive comment about the role the EC has had in the recovery of the importance of the Missio Dei or incarnational approaches to ecclesiology.

    Dr. Finkbeiner commented that, “Yes, there has been some focus in those areas, but they still are wrong in how they do theology.”  So, no, he didn’t have one positive thing to say the entire evening about the EC.

    Left completely aside from the discussion of the evening was the historical evolution of the EC movement, its place in the scope of the collapse of Christendom, and the most relevant bit of information given the scope of the talk, namely, that theological method simply isn’t at the center for 90% of the people who are in any way affiliated with the movement.  For the vast majority, what is central is joining God in his mission in the world and finding ways to make the church, not culturally relevant (as too many assume), but incarnationally faithful in the pattern of Jesus.

    Between the tenor of the presentation and the questions and comments of the audience, it’s little wonder that conservative evangelicals are so often characterized by fear and close-mindedness.  There are many in the EC community who are trying to carve out a way of being the church and doing theology that doesn’t fell prey to these charges.  I was really hoping to come away pleasantly surprised by the event.  Sadly, I didn’t.

    Posted in christendom, church, emergent, emerging church, evangelicalism, postmodernity, theology

    « Previous Entries