I should probably say upfront that I have a ton of 3DM (the training network behind this book) friends.  I love them, their hearts, and their ministries, so as I come to this book, I’m already biased in favor of it.

The easiest thing to say about this book is that it’s practical.  While it’s easy, even fun, to read, it almost can be treated more like a resource manual than a book.  It doesn’t need to be read straight through and it’s easy to reference bits and pieces depending on your interests.

Before diving into all the good stuff I want to say, let me go ahead and get my one major criticism out of the way.  There is a small chapter entitled, “Attractional vs. Missional” in which the authors attempt to argue that we need both.  My opinion, however, is that the argument fails on both theological and analogical fronts.  They use the pre-Reformation phenomenon of Roman model churches (if you build it they will come) and Celtic model churches (more outward focused) to suggest that we need attractional and missional kinds of churches playing off of one another.  The analogical problem here is that what is generally meant today by attractional and missional does not at all correspond to the realities and circumstances in which these models of churches existed.  As for the theological problem, I can probably best articulate that by sharing the last sentences of the chapter and my notes in the margin.

The quote…

We just need to understand what Attractional does well and do it.

We need to understand what Missional does well and do it.

My notes…

Impossible – attractional and missional churches are such because they have divergent understandings of basic Christian doctrines.  What we need is a theologically robust understanding the relationship between the the Missio Dei, the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and the Church.  This will lead us not to the ‘best’ of these two models, but to a cohesive vision of a missional ecclesiology.  This is the great error of ‘AND’ thinking; you never get to core issues because you spend all your time trying to artificially hold incompatible things together.

The saddest part of this is that the underlying genius of the book actually does this work.  It undercuts the errant theology and philosophy driving attractional churches.  I just wish they had been more direct in stating it.

UPDATE: Be sure to check this post Mike Breen offered in response.

OK, on to the far more substantive praise.

The authors fully communicate their heart for the life and ministry of local churches in their various forms.  They offer not just a proposal, but a methodical plan for churches of any size (though it seems pretty obvious that they have in mind mainly new, smaller communities and then more established larger communities in mind) and kind to begin to incorporate missional communities into the life of their larger church community.

Discipleship, leadership and mission are the driving themes of both the book and the entire philosophy of missional communities.  To get the point of the book, you have to understand that from the author’s perspective, the task of the church is discipleship – period – the end.  And they are right.  You also have to embrace the idea that the replication of leaders is imperative to the larger task of discipleship.  If you don’t equip and empower leaders, you can kiss your changes of exponential discipleship bye-bye.  Again, I’m totally with them here.  Finally, mission is the context in which leaders are equipped and disciples are formed.  Amen!  If you can embrace and own these three things, then you’ll love this book and what it offers.

A few final things.  I deeply appreciate that they didn’t skip over the tough (practical) issues like kids, schedules, and finances.  they address these things as only those who’ve lived through the ins and outs of the details could.  They also interspersed quotes and stories from those who have gone through their 3DM training and others who have implemented missional communities (or some derivation thereof) into their larger church context.

Seriously, it was a great book – something that we are finding valuable at Life on the Vine even.  The guys behind 3DM are doing a good work and the people who contributed stories to the book are the ultimate testimony of that.  I highly recommend you pick up a copy or two to read through with a group that’s interested in the whole idea of missional communities – you won’t find a better practical guide for sure.

Related posts:

1. Book Review – Tending to Eden: Environmental Stewardship for God’s People
2. Toward a Thepoetic of the Cross (Book Review)
3. Missional Communities

A while back I had the chance to conduct an interview with Scott Sabin, the author of Tending to Eden and the Executive Director of Plant with Purpose – a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to helping the rural poor through environmental restoration, economic empowerment, and spiritual renewal.

Plant with Purpose has put together a Holiday Village Market.  Through the market you can buy or contribute toward..

Animals

Trees

Eco Items

A Family Garden

Business Skills and Micro-credit Loan Management Training

Spiritual Renewal

I think it would be simply brilliant to buy one (or way more!) of these gifts on behalf of a friend or family member and give them some token of it as a way of stimulating conversation or even direct involvement with regard to the basic and urgent needs around the world.  Please leave a comment here if you plan to make use of this Holiday Village Market this Christmas.

No related posts.

Plant With Purpose is an international environmental organization that transforms lives in rural areas where poverty is caused by deforestation. For over 25 years, Plant With Purpose has provided lasting solutions to heal the relationship between people and their environment by planting trees, revitalizing farms, and offering loans to create economic opportunity.

Yesterday, I had the chance to actually interview Scott and ask him a few questions about the book.  Besides providing an overview of Plant with Purpose and the book, Tending to Eden, we spend some talking about the devastation in Haiti, one of the places where they serve, the vicious cycle of poverty and environmental degradation, and the relationship between creation care and the gospel.  The whole interview (~ 22 mins.) is worth the selection of the book that Scott reads toward the end.

Download audio file (Sabin%20Interview.mp3)
Download.

If you’re reading this in a feed reader and don’t see the audio player, click through to see it.

If you buy the book through the Amazon link on this page, a portion of the proceeds will directly benefit the rural poor.

Related posts:

1. Book Review – Tending to Eden: Environmental Stewardship for God’s People
2. An Interview with N.T. Wright
3. Give the Gift of Hope

Sabin is the Executive Director of Plant with Purpose, a Christian relief and development agency.

Christians have a responsibility to love and care for our environment as part of God’s creation and Sabin gets that for sure, but that’s not the genius of the book.  The real beauty of this book comes in the author’s ability to explain to readers, with remarkable insight and simplicity, the inherent connection between caring for the environment and caring for the poor and oppressed. He does so by providing a relational framework for understanding the issues throughout the book.  Through first-hand stories and lessons learned from years of experience, Sabin unmasks the naivete and ignorance of the brand of evangelicals for whom creation care is auxiliary to (their version of) the gospel.  He suggests – at times more implicitly than explicitly, that all the challenges we face, as well as the solutions to those problems, are relational in nature

Throughout the book, the author tackles issues such as deforestation, sustainable agriculture, sanitation, grassroots enterprise, and climate change.  In each case, his aim is to point out how our engagement with these issues has everything to do with out concern for those who are most globally at-risk.

For Sabin,

…without God, all the development and environmental restoration in the world will not bring transformation.

At the same time, he is able to articulate that transformation is not something other than God-infused labors of development and environmental restoration.

As someone who believes that one of the hallmarks of the missional church is listening to voices from the margins, I was struck by this comment from the author.

The idea that stewardship and conservation are part of a liberal agenda seems ludicrous in much of the developing world.  I remember the shock on the face of our Dominican director when I tried to explain the suspicion with which many U.S. churches regarded the environmental aspects of our work.  It was a horrifying thought to him that American Christians would be less than enthusiastic about caring for the earth.  Many of our brothers and sisters in the developing world are way ahead of us in their understanding of stewardship, and there is much that we can learn from them.

For anyone wishing they could find a book that offers a global view of some of the most pressing environmental challenges without getting lost and confused in technical jargon, this book is an excellent resource. The book even features a discussion guide at the end for each chapter making it an excellent choice for groups interested in studying and talking about these issues together.  Through raising our awareness and offering practical suggestions, Sabin offers readers a hope for the future that is rooted not in our ability to affect change, but in God’s invitation to join him in his mission of the reconciliation of all things.

Related posts:

1. Tending to Eden: An Interview with Author, Scott Sabin
2. Launching Missional Communities (Book Review)
3. Great Book

I used to want to be the next Rick Warren or Bill Hybels.  What student pastor in the late 90′s didn’t?  As I look back, my misaligned, youthful arrogance was fueled in large part by the national conferences I was attending.  Predicated on the modern notion that bigger is always better, these conferences communicated and celebrated the paradoxical and lamentable reality of “Christian celebrity.”

These conferences sprang up from and in turn sought to facilitate the modern megachurch phenomenon.  And, in my opinion, did/do more harm than good.  In the Christian world, when it comes to conferences, the national variety tends to capitalize on the “cool factor,” something that seems grossly out of place to me now for those who follow a crucified Savior.

At national conferences there are typically big name speakers, higher attendance and more bells and whistles.  (Maybe even a dude jumping into a foot of water from 35 feet up?)  National conferences, at least the better ones, can have value for inspiring people I suppose, but I would venture to say that regional gatherings possess far more power and value in terms of their ability to help shape and equip the church and her leaders.  Here’s just a few reasons why I say that.

• Relationships are more easily cultivated and sustained
• With greater ease and interest, topics of conversation move from the theoretical to the practical
• Traveling costs are much lower
• Conference costs are much lower (if not free like Verge LA which my friend JR Woodward (@dreamawakener) is helping to put together
• Conversations regarding context and culture gain more immediate traction
• The loss of the “cool factor” translates into a higher caliber of fellow attenders
• Virtually everyone gets to participate in meaningful ways
• There is greater access to gifted people who would probably never get invited to present at a national gathering because they are w/o book deals and cult followings
• There is no hype to distract from the more important issues being addressed
• Young and impressionable leaders aren’t made to feel inadequate or handed delusions of grandeur

For these reasons and still others, I am hopeful that we will see more and more groups who exist to strengthen the missional church and her leaders investing in regional gatherings.  And where and when national gatherings continue, my hope is that they will focus on supporting regional networks, leaving the hype behind.

Related posts:

1. The Power, Promise, and Potential of Stories
2. Transitioning Traditional Churches into Missional Ones
3. Missional vs. Attractional Equipping

I love books, and I get excited whenever someone recommends a book they think I’d be interested in.  But I have to be honest, every time I see a book referenced with a link to Amazon, Google, or some other corporate giant that isn’t doing anything unique and creative for the good of others, I get a little sad.  So here’s my pitch for you to make Better World Books your Go-To place for shopping, referencing, selling, and checking out books.

They’re into recycling.

They buy books back from you.

They work for global literacy.

They are committed to social awareness and sustainability.

They never charge you shipping!

—————————————-

You can subscribe to their blog.

Follow them on twitter.

Connect on Facebook.

Check out their stuff on YouTube.

Grab a gift certificate for someone.

And if you get really inspired, you can get me something off my wishlist

Related posts:

1. Change Your Life – Change the Lives of Others

I’ve got a few ideas for follow up posts on the subject – thinking about how and where this practice intersects with theological education, community/spiritual formation, support raising, stewardship & sustainability, etc.  However, I think it might be most helpful to clarify how I understand the relationship between bi-vocational ministry and missional ecclesiology.

As I have said numerous times before, being missional is no mere add-on to current church practice.  Nor is it a shift any particular church community might make without rethinking those things which are most fundamental.  A truly missional ecclesiology arises out of a particular way of doing theology and the understandings of things like the gospel and salvation that emerge as a result.

While I can see why people from various ecclesial backgrounds might resonate with bi-vocational ministry as a model for church leadership, I think it makes most sense within a truly missional framework.  Here’s a few reasons why.

Missional churches gain their identity from the Missio Dei.  Their understandings of the gospel and salvation are defined by the very notion of participation in the life and mission of God in the world.  Appropriately, they would happily embrace a model of church leadership which creates a participatory context.

Since missional churches see Christendom as a cultural condition which distorts rather than enhances Christian discipleship and witness, it is no wonder that they would shy away from models of church leadership predicated on its very existence. As Christendom continues to crumble, the viability of multiple full-time church staff will continue to crumble with it.

Because missional churches seek to shape a people who are passionate about God’s redemption of the whole world, it would be second nature for them to embrace a kind of ministry in which the leaders of the community model the practice of vibrant Christian witness in the marketplace.

For me anyway, it’s the theological connection and not the pragmatic rationale of bi-vocational church leadership that is most motivating.

Related posts:

1. Bi-Vocational Ministry & Support Raising
2. Bi-Vocational Ministry & Theological Education
3. Bi-Vocational Ministry & Spiritual Formation

Related posts:

1. Bi-Vocational Ministry & the Missional Church
2. The Scandal of Election
3. Tending to Eden: An Interview with Author, Scott Sabin

In this original post I decried the unfortunate separation of the typical Christian church and theological education. I said that in a future post I would try and offer some more constructive thoughts – and so I shall.

I would say that churches, in as much as they have ceased to be a people who seek to be deeply theologically challenged, and therefore formed, have lost a vital dimension of what it means to be the people of God. Moreover, centers of theological education, inasmuch as their approach to and practice of learning has become disconnected from the actual living out of the Christian faith in various contexts and cultures, fail to do that which they claim to do – prepare men and women for lives of Christian witness and discipleship.

If the church in western culture is to bear Kingdom fruit in the future, these two dimensions of Christian existence must find fresh expression in their unity. I see two primary ways forward, neither perfect, but each necessary if something truly new is to emerge in the end.

First, centers of theological education, Seminaries and theological graduate schools, must explore ways to partner with in-service Christian leaders. Even better, they need to think strategically and creatively about partnering with entire communities of faith rather than simply individuals. This would have the following results…

1. Those engaged in theological education would be able to use their present ministry, context, culture and so forth for practical trial and reflection. Theory would be joined with real life practice and experience thus resulting in a mutually interpretive system which would enhance both educators and learners.

2. By necessity, theological education would become more of a dimension of life as opposed to just a season. As people are in-service, they will hardly be able to take the work of full-time students and will instead study and reflect at a slower pace.

3. By abandoning our current system of theological education whereby only a few have the opportunity and resources to pursue theological education, the number of people who could participate would sky rocket.

Second, churches across the board need to choke down their share of humble pie and realize the current and growing state of crisis the church in the west is in (theologically, I am more inclined to understand this as God’s judgment, but that’s another post). In short and on the whole, authentic discipleship is simply not happening, division amongst Christian brothers and sisters is painfully spreading, our world is not in awe over the works of God amongst his people, and the Jewish people are certainly not becoming increasingly jealous over Gentile believers (Rom. 9-11).

All this ought to combine to compel us to revisit our understanding of who God is and his intention for his people and the world. How do we do this? I have a few ideas, all of which have to do with discipleship as it relates to the sort of theological education I described above.

1. In studying and reflecting on the nature and purpose of the gospel, we need to walk with others into “Kingdom praxis” – studying and reflecting on theological issues and then ingraining practices into our lives whereby the implications of those reflections and insights are lived out.

2. In studying and reflecting on the nature and purpose of the church, we need to get way more serious about church discipline. This isn’t something that many people enjoy talking about as it sounds so very unloving and intolerant, but I would suggest that if this is how we think of it, then our understanding of God we profess to worship is sorely lacking. God, for the sake of the world has seen fit since the dawn of creation to discipline his people when they failed to be what he called them to be. Should the church as the incarnational witness of God in the world be any different? Of course God’s discipline has and is always done for the sake of restoration and reconciliation. I am not advocating rigid and intolerant churches, only ones which are consumed with the importance of being for the world what Jesus was for us.

3. In studying and reflecting on the life and ministry of Jesus, we need to let love abound. This can’t be overstated. By stepping into the life that Jesus has called the church to – seeking the good of others, blessing enemies, siding with the forgotten and oppressed, we will mysteriously and graciously find our capacity to love radically and captivatingly enhanced.

These are just a few of my thoughts as I dream about the reunion of serious theological reflection and missional living.

Related posts:

1. Missional Church and the Future of Theological Education
2. The Missiological Future of Theological Education – Introduction
3. The Missiological Future of Theological Education – Training Missionary Leaders

America is unique for another reason.  There is perhaps no where else in the world where the effects of Western modernity and the Enlightenment  have become so pervasive, if for no other reason than the enormity of the US’s population.  One of the central distinctives of enlightened modernity has been the pursuit of sure knowledge for the sake of certainty and progress. 

Combined, these factors have had the following effect on the Church in the US.

1. Because of the second distinctive, we elevate the teacher and his or her role above all others.  Preaching and teaching are typically the central elements of worship services, small groups typically function primarily as Bible studies, churches offer sunday school classes and other options that are geared toward the dissemination of information, and the list goes on.

2. Becasue of the first distinctive, those who teach well (either insightfully or pleasingly) are looked upon with celebrity status.  They are often revered and sought after as quasi-saviors.

Consequently, churches within the US come to be built around the personality, charisma, and giftedness of their teachers having at least 2 negative effects.

1. The rest of the gifts of the spirit end up playing second-fiddle to that of teaching resulting in a one-dimensional type of Christian witness, in effect distorting even that dimension.

2. When the teachers whose personality, charisma, and giftedness the church is built on or around need/must/choose to leave, the church suffers – either by losing many of its members who were there primarily to sit under that teacher, by second-guessing all the teaching they received if the circustances surrounding the teachers leaving are questionable, or by feeling let down if an equally inspiring teacher can’t be found.

All that being said, I would be the first to say that God uniquely equips some individuals with a teaching gift so profound that we would be remiss (to say the least) not to allow them to use their gift.  However, I fear these individuals do the church a disservice when they allow themselves to be thought of as pastors, those who called to shepherd people by knowing and being known by others.   They do a further disservice when they allow themselves to be the central figure in a community’s regular worship because of all I said above.

If Christian communities desire to center around the person of Christ and not a gifted teacher, then those blessed with this gift in a culture like ours need to take extra precautions to ensure that they do just that by spreading the wealth of their giftedness to the larger body of Christ.  Perhaps they would beter steward their gift by embarking on a mission of itinerant teaching, creating resources, and equipping others identified as gifted teachers.

By the way, I say all this as one whom God has used as a teacher and preacher.  What I am after is the decentralization of myself and people like me for the sake of the Gospel and the health of Christian communities within the US.

Related posts:

1. Preaching in the Missional Church
2. Missional Preaching Part 1: Preaching as a Communal Activity

These are smart guys and I really enjoyed having this conversation with them.  It reminded me just how much ideologies like consumerism, materialism, and individualism invade our souls and distort how we see the world and reality.  It also reminded me of how incredible it is when we truly allow Scripture to illuminate us as to who God is, what He is like, and what His desires for His people are.

Related posts:

1. A Fulller Sex Talk