Missiology precedes Ecclesiology

I was asked by Len Hjalmarsen to write a response to the question; "Do you think missiology precedes ecclesiology, or is it the other way around?

Here is my response.

Len,

Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch in The Shaping of Things to Come established for me some real clarity regarding this issue. With their help I came to understand that missiology precedes ecclesiology and our Christology informs our missiology (p.209). I believe John 1:14 and Philippines 2:5-8 affirm this reality.

The supremacy of Christ demands that He is the center of all that the Church is and does -- the shaping influence. For me John 1:14 in THE MESSAGE describes for the Church its correct missiological paradigm:

The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.

Philippians 2:5-8 describes how Christ fulfilled his mission by becoming "flesh and blood and moving into our human neighborhood" -- on an incarnational mission so to speak. He did this as He "emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men." (Phil.2:7 NASU) Christ's ecclesiological nature (form) was that of being a human being; inhabiting human form and likeness. Like Christ the church should take what ever form/structure necessary to facilitate the missio Dei (the mission of God); its missiological responsibility.

As further stated in John 1:14 the form (ecclesiology) must reflect Christ's glory in a way that is culturally observable in whatever neighborhood it finds itself. This glory in unlike any other glory -- "one-of-a-kind," as described in the remainder of the verse.

Every time the church manifests another order other than Christology, missiology, ecclesiology, it looses its missional edge and focus; becoming distracted by the forms and structures. Christ determines our mission, and our mission must shape our ecclesiology.

Praying for the Tragedy at Virginia Tech

Dear Lord, once again we are faced with a tragedy that makes no sense. May all those involved know your presence in this most difficult time. For the families and friends who lost loved ones may your peace and comfort be a reality as they walk through all the pain and agony that is now a part of their lives. Bring resolve and justice to bear for the sake of those suffering. In your name O Lord, Amen!

Following Jesus into the Culture

I'm currently making my way through An An Emergent Manifesto of Hope edited by Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones. This volume contains a number of divergent voices from what is known as the "Emergent Church;" a rising tide of individuals who seem extremely serious about the missio Dei "mission of God." For this reason in addition to others I consider myself among their number.

One compelling voice is that of Ryan Bolger assistant professor of church in contemporary culture in the School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary. In addition to writing Chapter 11 of this volume, he teamed with Eddie Gibbs">in Emerging Churches: Creating Community in Postmodern Cultures

Chapter 11 is titled Following Jesus into Culture: Emerging Church as Social Movement. In this chapter Bolger describes one of the movements of the Reign of God as a communal movement.

He states that:

"Every activity Jesus performed he did in a sociopolitical context.Jesus could have simply sought to transform society at the macrolevel, but instead he created a microsociety to transform culture. This 24/7 community addressed all of life. As a new type of family, they practiced alternative politics, economics, and social structure. The Sermon on the Mount served as their founding charter

.
He goes on to suggest that churches involved within the kingdom of God are to embody the message of the good news by learning how to serve, how to forgive, how to love, and how to open up our homes.

When the church stresses the microlevel rather than the macrolevel there truly is a different way to be and live. It calls forth expressions of a living organism that now embodies that for which too long and too often has been proclaimed verbally. We who follow Jesus, as never before have the opportunity to express an entirely different way of life, rather than conforming to either the secular culture or that of Christendom were able to authentically enter into our neighborhoods up close and personal, loving people for Jesus' sake.

Maunday Thursday

Today is Maunday Thursday on the Liturgical Church calendar. A part of Passion Week that has been somewhat ignored by much of the Western Church in recent times. This morning at a meeting I attend the first Thursday of each month my friend Dennis Fuqua reminded us of the significance of Maundy Thursday. He shared that word Maundy comes from the Latin word from which we get our English word mandate. This is the day when we are reminded of and seek to make fresh the new mandate or commandment Jesus gave His followers in the upper room discourse.

John 13:34-35: "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

We need to be reminded that this is a command that needs our attention, not just during Passion Week, but through out the rest of the year. May we embody it in a way that "the world might know." Thank you Dennis for the reminder.

The People Formerly Known as The Congregation

Bill Kinnon on his blog wrote the following and I thought it was worthy of our attention -- so I pass it on. Personally this speaks forthrightly to some of the issues that make the Body of Christ out of joint at times.

Let me introduce you to The People formerly known as The Congregation. There are millions of us.

We are people - flesh and blood - image bearers of the Creator - eikons, if you will. We are not numbers.

We are the eikons who once sat in the uncomfortable pews or plush theatre seating of your preaching venues. We sat passively while you proof-texted your way through 3, 4, 5 or no point sermons - attempting to tell us how you and your reading of The Bible had a plan for our lives. Perhaps God does have a plan for us - it just doesn't seem to jive with yours.

Money was a great concern. And, for a moment, we believed you when you told us God would reward us for our tithes - or curse us if we didn't. The Law is just so much easier to preach than Grace. My goodness, if you told us that the 1st century church held everything in common - you might be accused of being a socialist - and of course, capitalism is a direct gift from God. Please further note: Malachi 3 is speaking to the priests of Israel. They weren't the cheerful givers God speaks of loving.

We grew weary from your Edifice Complex pathologies - building projects more important than the people in your neighbourhood...or in your pews. It wasn't God telling you to "enlarge the place of your tent" - it was your ego. And, by the way, a multi-million dollar, state of the art building is hardly a tent.

We no longer buy your call to be "fastest growing" church in wherever. That is your need. You want a bigger audience. We won't be part of one.

Our ears are still ringing from the volume, but...Jesus is not our boyfriend - and we will no longer sing your silly love songs that suggest He is. Happy clappy tunes bear no witness to the reality of the world we live in, the powers and principalities we confront, or are worthy of the one we proclaim King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

You offered us a myriad of programs to join - volunteer positions to assuage our desire to be connected. We could be greeters, parking lot attendants, coffee baristas, book store helpers, children's ministry workers, media ministry drones - whatever you needed to fulfill your dreams of corporate glory. Perhaps you've noticed, we aren't there anymore.

We are The People formerly known as The Congregation. We have not stopped loving the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Nor do we avoid "the assembling of the saints." We just don't assemble under your supposed leadership. We meet in coffee shops, around dinner tables, in the parks and on the streets. We connect virtually across space and time - engaged in generative conversations - teaching and being taught.

We live amongst our neighbours, in their homes and they in ours. We laugh and cry and really live - without the need to have you teach us how - by reading your ridiculous books or listening to your supercilious CDs or podcasts.

We don't deny Paul's description of APEPT leadership - Ephesians 4:11. We just see it in the light of Jesus' teaching in Mark 10 and Matthew 20 - servant leadership. We truly long for the release of servant leading men and women into our gifts as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. We believe in Peter's words that describe us all as priests. Not just some, not just one gender.

We are The People formerly known as The Congregation. We do not hate you. Though some of us bear the wounds you have inflicted. Many of you are our brothers and our sisters, misguided by the systems you inhabit, intoxicated by the power - yet still members of our family. (Though some are truly wolves in sheep's clothing.)

And, as The People formerly known as The Congregation, we invite you to join us on this great adventure. To boldly go where the Spirit leads us. To marvel at what the Father is doing in the communities where He has placed us. To live the love that Jesus shows us.

A Unique Kind of Conference

I attended a conference March 23-25th in Los Angeles, California which was something of an anomaly. Let me take a few moments and give you a heads up – because it is one of the best I’ve had the privilege of participating in.

The conference is titled “Wineskins” and occurs twice a year; once in the spring and again in the fall. It is sponsored by The Church of the Servant King who reside in the Gardena area of LA in intentional community. They have faithfully and missionally incarnated the good news of Jesus in this area for nearly thirty years.

The only similarity this conference has with others I’ve attended is that they invite someone from the outside to be the main speaker. This Wineskins, the speaker was Lee C. Camp, professor at Lipscomb University in Nashville, and author of Mere Discipleship: Radical Christianity in a Rebellious World. (A book I would highly recommend to anyone serious about their faith).

The Conference begins on Friday at 6:00 p.m. and ends around 2:00 p.m. on Sunday. Here are some features of Wineskins that make it unique as a conference. 1) They ask that all participants commit to being present for the entire conference. If for some reason an individual is unable or unwilling to make that commitment they are encouraged not to attend. 2) Wineskins limits attendance to 44 people. 3) Spouses are encouraged to pack separately because they will not be rooming together. They have men rooming with other men and women rooming with other women. Even the speaker rooms with others. These three things are done in order to achieve the objectives of koinonia and dialogue amongst the participants. Another unique feature is that the speaker does not receive an honorarium, but his travel and other expenses are covered. The desire is that the speaker is attending more out of a calling or mission than just for monetary reasons.

The speaker is allowed to share on anything he/she chooses. The only criteria for subject matter, is that it challenge and cause the participants to think and ask questions; both on individual and corporate levels.

At the outset, each person is assigned a small group with three others. These groups meet regularly; about 8 or 9 times during the conference to answer pre-scripted questions for the purpose of getting to know one another. Groups are also encouraged to discuss the subject matter the speaker presents at the teaching sessions. And they go to lunch together once during the conference. The small groups, in addition to small number of people in attendance seemed to facilitate “koinonia” at an extremely high level.

As one who has attended multiple church conferences, it was amazing to observe and experience the high degree of participation when a conference is limited to just 44 people. Each person was able to be fully engaged throughout the conference even when time restraints became an issue.

I left the Wineskins knowing I had experienced connection with most of those attending as well as the speaker. And in the process of connecting I learned not only new things, but made new friends who shared in the experience with me. I felt I had experienced something of koinonia as opposed to another big event. Rather than leaving thinking; “been there, done that,” I left thinking, “I’d like to do that again.”