Living as Christians in the Real World

On Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 three more congregations from the Presbytery of Yukon will participate in presbytery’s Acts 16:5 Restart Event.  This event will start a second round of congregations participating in the Acts 16:5 Initiative, a process to help congregations to identify God’s mission for them in the real world communities they live in.  

Personally, I am very enthused about churches entering into this process.  Both the real world experience of our presbytery—which recently participated in an essential, and spiritually vibrant cross-cultural Reconciliation event in the village of Gambell—and my recent reading of The Faith of Leap (please read this book!) have made it clear that not only congregations, but also presbyteries need to grab onto the opportunities offered through the Acts 16:5 Initiative.

Why am I pushing for this kind of work in our churches now?  There are many, many reasons.  For now, though, let me offer two, based on our presbytery’s experience and on one example from The Faith of Leap.

Church leaders in our presbytery know that celebrating cultural diversity is a must for us.  Clearly, we must expect that churches operating in the off-road villages do two things.  They must nurture Christian community work, discipleship and worship in ways that honor God, and they must do it in a way that enhances the faithfulness and health of the people within their own Native Culture.  Similarly, the Korean churches must fit their context and the other road system churches must fit their own, specific communities.  God’s mission is not a fast-food franchise that makes all Christians culturally identical.  Rather God’s mission is a relational one that celebrates the way God created us as diverse peoples across the world.  Jesus Christ died for all of those people, and the church is called to take its form only after observing and learning what God wishes within the local context.

Unfortunately, it has always been a temptation for missionaries to come to a new people and impose their own assumptions upon a people.  We have had to admit the damage that giving-in to such temptations has sometimes caused.  The Acts 16:5 Initiative asks us to learn from those mistakes not make the same kind of mistakes again.  

Instead, the Acts 16:5 Initiative asks the local people to study their own towns, their own hearts, and God’s Word, and only then to take action to form ministries that fit their time and place.  This is an initiative that embraces God-given diversity, while calling on church leaders to mold their uniqueness according to the demands of the gospel. 

The authors of The Faith of Leap insist that this kind of contextual work is essential everywhere today.  Anything less results in a failure to offer Christ’s hospitality to our neighbor—and we all know that Jesus holds loving God and neighbor as non-negotiable.  

On the other hand, loving one’s neighbor is risky.  To consider one’s neighbors concerns as important, and to shape ministry with those concerns in mind is always risky, because when we consider the world’s concerns there is always a risk of syncretism (becoming too much “of the world” rather than “of God”).  Yet, churches dare not become places that refuse to be sent into the world on behalf of Jesus. In the words of The Faith of Leap:

To rediscover the church as missional adventure, we will have to start by reJesusing the church—we need to be willing to factor Jesus, the wild Lord (his life, teachings, ministry, salvation work), back into the equation of church—to become disciples on the Way. And in terms of the church, we will need to rediscover the meaning of the word movement ...[as opposed to] being administrators of a stifling status quo, or worse, purveyors of fine religion.

  (Kindle Locations 281-285).    

The risk of becoming “administrators of a stifling status quo” or “purveyors of fine religion,” rather than followers of our surprising and world-changing Savior is absolutely abhorrent to me!  We must be willing to bring the gospel into the world, addressing the important issues of our own places.  And we must be willing to allow different places to experiment with new ideas on how to form Christian communities that proclaim gospel (good news) in a way that fits their own context.

So, as these churches begin exploring the Acts 16:5 initiative this weekend, please hold them in prayer.  At the same time, take a look at your own church.   Has your church taken the leap that begins the adventure with Christ?

A Few More Quotes

On Adventure

By definition, an adventure is a journey with an uncertain outcome. (Kindle location 363)

We live in an age of considerable uncertainty—who knows what five, ten, twenty years will bring? The combination of climate change, revolutionary technologies, and massive geopolitical shifts alone is enough to cause overwhelming excitement or anxiety.

  (Kindle Locations 367-369).   

Adventure does not consist in something won or lost, enjoyed or endured. Rather, it is the very rhythm of life itself, and acknowledging this transforms mere experience into an adventure.

  (Kindle Locations 373-374).    

It is not an overstatement to summarize Jesus’s work on earth as that of starting an adventure.

  (Kindle Locations 375-376).    

On Doing Ministry That Fits the “Neighborhood”

Part of the problem for the traditional church today is that in many places it is not seen as being for the neighborhood. (Kindle Locations 3269)

Part of the problem with the traditional approach is that the church often blunders into a neighborhood with a preconceived idea of what is wanted or needed. (Kindle Locations 3316)

We need to get to know our neighborhood, intimately and without presuppositions or prejudgments.  This is what Paul Hiebert was suggesting when he talks about doing exegesis on our culture [which is explained in detail in the book]. (Kindle Locations 3316)

Often we launch ministries just for the sake of doing something, anything.  What if we stopped doing something and just sat there in our context?

1. Listen to the rhythms of your context
2. Be employed in the neighborhood.
3. Engage in snowball research.  That is, meet the community gatekeepers, the movers and shakers.  Listen to them.  Hear of their dreams for your neighborhood…
4. Get rid of your church building!!  [At least get rid of “building” as a primary goal!]
5. Say yes to every invitation you receive.  [At the least, always be ready to consider saying “yes,” rather than being too busy for what is your neighbor’s interest]
   “What would happen of we as Christians took the risk of saying yes…?  What groups would we join?  At whose table would we find ourselves eating?  What adventures would we end up having?”
6.  

On the Importance of Risk

Likewise, a church addicted to security and safety is not the church of Jesus Christ; it is in reality something else.

  (Kindle Location 670).    

Living systems theory maintains, rightly, that the sweet spot of innovation takes place on “the edge of chaos,” or on what is called “a burning platform”—a situation where the organization is threatened with possible dissolution.

  (Kindle Locations 698-699).