tabletalk

How to Speak Missional: Present the Implications of the New Reality

Dally suggest this as another part of preaching/speaking missionally. What are the implications of the new reality of the Kingdom of Heaven, being presented to your senses?

Let me illustrate simply. This Sunday I will be preaching on a text from Matthew 9:35-38 - The Harvest and calling out laborers into the field.

A while ago a friend of mine was in Las Vegas and came across the following WWJD banner.

If you can't read the writing at the top of the banner it translates WWJD as "Who Would Jesus Destroy". And then the seemingly inexhaustible list. If you look at only the adjectives like "unrighteous" or "proud" or "haters" or "fearful" or "unbelieving" or "malicious" you'd get it right - NO ONE WILL BE LEFT.

When Jesus looks out at the masses he has two responses: 1 - Compassion for people he sees are aimless and wandering like sheep with no shepherd. 2 - Solution - take healing to them - yes, you yourselves go - be the extension of my compassion. Heal and restore.

The WWJD banner - is the antithesis of Jesus. If we believe Jesus' himself, then one of the implications is that we are asked to be healers and reconcilers. But it begins by adopting Jesus' vision of the world - not as something to be hated and feared but loved and restored. Remember John 3:17 - "For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but that through him it might be saved."

Remember Lewis's words from his great sermon "The Weight of Glory" "There are no ordinary people. You have never met a mere mortal...But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendours...Our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner - no mere tolerance, or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses."...vere latiat - the truth hidden inside.

The implication(s) of the new reality of God's Kingdom - we are to be compassionate as Jesus is. The implication is that if you adopt Jesus' eyes you will adopt Jesus' posture towards those you see. When we don't, we need to get back with Jesus to see what he sees. And then act in accordance. We don't distance ourselves from others. We engage in compassionate actions. This is what it will take.

So if you want to speak missionally let people know that it will require a different way of seeing and acting. Not merely thinking. Remember, faith is a verb. Act on it.

How to Speak Missional: Present an Alternative Reality

How do we begin to train ourselves to be missional? John Addison Dally in his book "Choosing the Kingdom" talks about preaching in a way that I find helpful for organizing sermons. But more than sermons, I think it is a helpful way for us to form language and images for a witness that practices missionality. Though I will present these ideas in a linear fashion, they need not be thought of as linear in nature, just parts of how our conversation with each other and the world should go.

The first thing Dally suggests is that we proclaim and alternative reality to the present one most of us captive to. Following Jesus' lead, this means proclaiming the reality and presence of the Kingdom of God. It's a world that beats swords into plowshares, where people of different cultures sit at table, where there is no Jew nor Greek, male nor female hierarchy. What he suggests is that we give people another choice besides what is directly in front of them.

It is what the church is supposed to model - a new reality. We are to be a sign and foretaste of this alternative to the way things are. I know we fail miserably at this. But I do believe that some of it is simply attributable to the fact that we have such a limited and beaten down imagination. In many ways this is C.S. Lewis's suggestion in "The Discarded Image", that the medieval church had the right imagination. They saw the Kingdom of God present around them and had an imagination to receive it.

To present an alternative reality to people is to be genuinely creative and hopeful. It is also helpful. The world is mired in its present condition, and this includes Christians. How can one get out of the mire, if they can't imagine more than what is before them. Look again at Lewis's "Silver Chair" in Narnia. Isn't it Puddleglum who states to the Emerald Witch something like - If we're just babies making up a world, then how is it that four babies can make up a world that licks the 'real' world you suggest? The biblical view of the way things should be is sorely different from the way we act and believe. But we need to still put forth a different reality in our speech.

Next we need to begin to put forth an alternative reality in our actions. We need to live into the Kingdom's values. We need to live out - love thy neighbor, turn the other cheek, lay down your life. They are intended to be present realities not merely future promises that end up as cynical critiques of the failure of Christians to live out their faith. I honestly believe that when the bible says "turn the other cheek" it means it. I stand condemned by all the times I've failed to do this. But I also stand guilty, remorseful, grateful, graceful, forgiven, and restored. But not for my own satisfaction. This is intended to be turned out again to the world so that the Kingdom can be proclaimed in word and deed.

This is a bit of a ramble as usual, but you get the point. We don't need more clever ways to be God's people, we need to believe in and live into the Kingdom reality that Jesus began. We need to do all the hard stuff, and realize that the hardest stuff - forgiveness and restoration and love enough to be sustained in this life is accomplished by Jesus.

Next up: Implications of this Alternative Reality.

Your Church's Story: The Rituals

A year and a half ago I posted the 3rd of what would have been five articles. I got waylaid!

Rituals: Rituals symbolize the beliefs, archetypes, behavior patterns, and ideals of a church. Rituals are collective activities that do not serve a pragmatic purpose but that the church considers socially and even spiritually essential. Rituals are carried out for their own sake. - Kevin Ford "Transforming Church"

How does this work? To re-establish using Trabuco Pres as an example when I was there - let me suggest a common practice of coffee, donuts, and conversation following worship. This is a ritual repeated in many churches. This ritual is repeated weekly, year after year. It is not religious, but it is done religiously.

One of our mission partners was the Markus Church in Plauen, Eastern Germany. We had many exchanges between the congregations over the years. While we were visiting with them, we were having brunch at our pastor-friend's home. The group consisted of our friend, the assistant Pastor of the Markus Church, her husband - Pastor of the Paulus congregation, our team and some friends from the Markus Church. In the conversation our pastor-friend sighed and said, "I wish we could have our people stay around after church and enjoy a time of fellowship and coffee, like you do at Trabuco." Our response was, why don't you? The response was swift - "Because the women all have to go home and make "klossel"!

We didn't understand. The explanation was forth-coming. A traditional German wife would go home on Sundays to make the mid-day meal. It consisted of "klossel", a dumpling, served with gravy and meat and potatoes and vegetables. Apparently it took some time to get it done, and the women would leave quickly and not linger at church so they could get the meal done.

At this point our friend's husband chimed in, "I don't get klossel!" The response was quick and to the point, "I work on Sundays!" The retort was "My mother made klossel." Now we had the makings of a good debate! It went back and forth for some time, then finally our friend's husband pounded on the table declaring, "Klossel is Christian!" At which point the room erupted in laughter.

As funny as it sounded, they finally got to the point of the "klossel" ritual. It was that "family food" trumped "congregational fellowship". I can only hint at what it meant about the church's code. Perhaps it meant that centuries of Christendom had made that Sunday meal as much church as anything. You could unpack the values in that and probably get close to writing a piece of the congregation's code. Maybe strengthening the family meal time would be a better strategy for church transformation than trying to get people to "hang around"? Maybe the idea of family could be extended to others in such a way that the Sunday meal was shared regularly with other families? But you can see what a ritual is and how it shapes the church's code.

What are you rituals? Not merely describing them, but what are the stories associated in them. Those stories will add to your understanding of code. They will be consistent with themes that emerge from your recounting of the myths and heroes of your congregation.

What is your coffee hour ritual? What is your klossel?! (pronounced - kloo-zel)

Your Church's Story: Symbols of Your DNA

This is completely stolen from "Transforming Church" by Kevin Ford. It's a great book and quite helpful. What I hope to do here is give you examples of things that reflect the "dna" of a particular church. Why? Because when the chips are down and we feel stressed we will return in our behavior to the patterns of the past. Also, though these things are always operating in the background and even the foreground of our institutions, these symbols, actions, values, character, they don't need to be responded to in the same way as we might have a few years ago. For me as the son of an alcoholic, I won't change that or how it has shaped my life. But the reality is that I no longer respond to that past in the same ways I did when I was 16 or even 50. But if I don't know how the alcoholic past plays out in my life I am at its mercy and can live out the same craziness. Don't know if this makes sense. But the reality is there is no value to ignorance and knowing our "dna" as a church is critical to being able to respond to it with intelligence and not be victims to our pasts.

Ford suggests there are four symbols to explore that will show us our "dna" or as he puts it our "code" as a church. For him these are the myths, the heroes, the rituals, and the visuals. Over the next few posts I want to explore each of these and give them legs as I understand how it works. My hope? That we'll take a more serious view of the things that have shaped our life together in our congregations so we can respond to it in the light. So that it doesn't operate in the shadows but out where we can see it and make healthy choices and habits.

I believe in my version of "Transforming Church" you can find this around page 82....

Post-Advent: C.S. Lewis - After the Resurrection

Christmas Eve, my friend Jerry Tankersley used a section from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe that I want to use here. After Aslan, the great Christ-Lion of Lewis's Narnia tales, returns to life, he takes the girls, Lucy and Susan to the Witch's house. This is what happens.

"What an extraordinary place!" cried Lucy. "All those stone animals-and people too! It's like a museum."
"Hush," said Susan, "Aslan's doing something."
He was indeed. He had bounded up to the stone lion and breathed on him....
..."Oh, Susan! Look! Look at the lion."
I expect you've seen someone put a lighted match to a bit of newspaper which is propped up in a grate against an unlit fire. And for a second nothing seems to have happened; and then you notice a tiny streak of flame creeping along the edge of the newspaper. It was like that now. For a second after Aslan had breathed upon him the stone lion looked just the same. Then a tiny streak of gold began to run along his white marble back - then it spread - then the colour seemed to lick all over him as the flame licks all over a bit of paper - then, while his hind-quarters were still obviously stone the lion shook his mane and all the heavy, stony folds rippled into living hair. Then he opened a great red mouth, warm and living, and gave a prodigious yawn. And now his hind legs had come to life. He lifted one of them and scratched himself. Then, having caught sight of Aslan, he went bounding after him and frisking round him whimpering with delight and jumping up to lick his face...Everywhere the statues were coming to life. The courtyard looked no longer like a museum; it looked more like a zoo."

Two observations. First, I'm reminded often that Presbyterians have, in recent years, been identified as God's frozen chosen. Along with my previous post, I believe it is true enough of many. It is like we have been frozen by the Witch's wand into stony statues. Part of the wonder of Christmas is the unfreezing of human hearts. This is the childlikeness I spoke of earlier. One of the tasks of Christmas for the church is to breathe God's Spirit into the world and bring it to life. For many Christians, it is having Christ break the spell first - we've fallen asleep and become "the frozen chosen". Animated not for their own sake, but so that they can assist in turning other statues into real beings.

Second, I'm reminded that when we do invite new life, particularly in the church where we have become content with being the non-messy statuary, it will look more like a zoo than a museum. A lot messier. A lot more exciting. Certainly more challenging. Don't forget this. If new life is moving into your static congregation or set of friends, it will be more like a zoo. Nothing will be status quo and you can't force it backwards.

The world needs to be transformed into Christ's living beings. But so does the church. Too often we are content to stay in the statue garden. Christ brings life-giving breath to all. May he begin with us this season.

Missional Church: A Field Guide - Discipling Communities

Growing and healthy congregations have several things in common. One, is that their growth and health is related directly to the emphasis and quality of their disciple making.

In this book by Rouse and Van Gelder, they make these observations about congregations that focus on developing disciples.

1. They are not as concerned about numbers; and more concerned with how well people are living their faith and sharing the gospel.
2. They are not as concerned about how well they care for members; and more concerned with how they serve needs of the world around them.
3. They are not as concerned about maintaining institution (structure); and more concerned with empowering people for ministry.
4. They are not as concerned about preserving facilities (ownership); and more concerned with offering them as a gift to their community. p.61

These are paradoxical qualities and actions. One would intuit that to grow a church you would focus on evangelism. But that isn't the case. Focus on the evangelists, training your people to give. Missional church character is developed as a paradox. It is the mirror of the gospel. Don't hold on to what you've got, give it away. Don't focus on your needs, but the needs of others. Don't try to preserve things, but use them up. Don't bury your resources for a rainy day, invest them.

All of this is gospel message. It's nothing new to us. But our implementation of the gospel is sorely lacking. If we follow the paradoxical teachings, like losing our lives, then the end result is we gain our lives.

There is a great scene in the first Harry Potter movie where the children are tangled in a plant. The more they struggle the more they are entangled and their lives are threatened. Hermione remembers her lessons and tells the boys to relax and stop struggling. Harry is able to and drops through the branches safely. Ron continues to struggle and must be rescued.

The gospel lessons are there for us to remember. I'm reminded often of how difficult it is to fall asleep when you focus on falling asleep. Or how uncomfortable it is when someone really works at being your friend and the result is anything but friendship. The goal isn't to grow the church, it's to follow Jesus. The goal isn't mission, it's following Jesus. The goal isn't institutional salvation, it's following Jesus. And when we do - and rest (relax) in him, we find that the very things we would have aimed at get thrown in as side benefits of keeping ourselves focused.

Remember, that discipleship is never solitary. It is never intended for the self-satisfaction of the individual. It is always gospel oriented, which means it is good news to all people.

* a note. This week I will be home surrounded by my books and my beloved C.S. Lewis. I will break with this Missional Church blog and do some Advent observations from Lewis. Yea!

Missional Church: A Field Guide - Unmasking Principalities and Powers

I believe this is one of the most understated roles of the church. Partly because the church has to risk its very life to do this. For me, most mega-churches ride the wave of cultural acceptability. They rarely risk unmasking the "prevailing plausibility structures" which is how Newbigin describes the principalities and powers. What most culturally driven congregations do is baptize the prevailing culture and say something like, "You just need to add Jesus to your life and it will all make sense." The key here is that culture isn't questioned, and the only thing missing is a spiritual component that will "round out" a person's life - meaning and fulfillment will follow.

The irony is it fails to ask anyone to give up anything (except for money to build the facilities that give the impression of success!) I have a friend that would like to challenge the title of a book "From Success to Significance". He would like the next book to skip the 'significance' stage and move straight from success to sacrifice. It think Jon's right. It isn't until we unmask the things that have power to shape and guide culture and us, that we will begin to demonstrate the power of the Gospel.

Many have said that our wealth masks our needs. It gives us a false sense of security. It is true that our current economic situation is unmasking the false promises of false gods.

The church needs to consider doing this intentionally, not merely accidentally. That is we need to say no to those things that give us security and value and importance that are not born in God. We also need to unmask the motives of holding power and influence in our seemingly spiritual acts. The reason my friend suggests that we need to skip the significance part of the above equation is that we can still use all our manipulative and power holding skills to move ahead a very spiritual agenda, and God can be no where in sight. The means are the end for true spiritual success. So we need to give up our own powerful means so that God's means can be seen clearly.

I did a research project some years ago. In it I asked if preaching shaped the missional practices and character of newly forming congregations. The surprise wasn't that it did, but how much it did. The most interesting part of the research to me, however, was that what 'wasn't preached' equally had an effect on the church. In those congregations where social justice and prophetic challenges were absent, so were justice practices and prophetic actions. What we don't say speaks volumes.

At this point it is Paul's admonition in 2 Corinthians that informs me. "We have this treasure in fragile clay vessels to prove that this light doesn't come from us, but comes from God."

Principalities (princely or governing powers) and powers (culture shaping energy, say like advertising or nationalism), that tell us "the way things are" can only be unmasked when we demonstrate that they are wrong. We do this in weakness and reliance. We do this in brokenness and vulnerability. We get there through tragedy and sacrifice and identifying our lives more closely with those who have not, than those who have.

Why else do you think Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem? Jesus unmasked the principalities and powers in his incarnation. We need to get inside Jesus' life and live there.

Missional Church: A Field Guide - God's Vision for Congregations (Christmas!)

Rouse and Van Gelder believe that God's vision for congregations is to live out its missional identity. Congregations need to live out their sent-ness.

Let me give you an example. A friend of mine pastors a church that is about 10 or 12 years old. In the past, their church has spent a lot of money and energy on creating a spectacular Christmas Eve with everything from live animals to pyrotechnics. Things flew and illumined, startled and marveled those who came. Each year it was bigger and better and thousands came. It was a prime example of a ministry that we would call attractive in nature. Their Christmas Eve was an excellent event that brought many into contact with their church.

Earlier this year they decided as a leadership not to do it. It wasn't merely about money. It was a definite dis-ease with the "come to us" attitude that so many of us adopt during this season. They decided instead to go to different parts of the community and tell the story of Christmas through their actions of kindness and sacrifice throughout their city. They decided to go to the people. I will be curious to know how it all went. But I think they get it right.

How appropriate. How risky. They run the risk of alienating their own congregation by canceling the "big event" and giving themselves away. Why - isn't Christmas Eve service a tradition for my family? How can we celebrate with our family without it?! It's so cozy and warm and ... for us....for me...for my...I.... The opposite of missional is 'I' 'me' 'mine'...the heart of missional is 'thou' and 'thine.'

This is the description of missional - sent! We are sent into the world. It is the essence of incarnation, the very essence of Christmas...go into the world. God isn't just with us (the church) God is with the world! Maybe this is a good Christmas message.

Let me give you another example. On Christmas day, some friends of mine are headed East to be with family. During the last year they became acquainted with a homeless man who was working the 12 step program at the Rescue Mission. One of the parts of the program is to take responsibility for past actions and make amends. The man had an outstanding warrant and went back to Maryland to face charges. He is serving time in prison for his part. On Christmas day my friends will spend part of their Christmas day in prison visiting him. They truly count it a privilege and are looking forward to it. Their friend has been in prison for a few months now. They will be his first, and to date, his only visitors.

Maybe these two true stories will serve as an encouragement and example of what is meant by being sent into the world. Missional character is Christmas cheer for the world.

The Starfish and the Spider - quick recommendation

For a continuing series discussing this book go to It Takes A Church by Tod Bolsinger. Here is a quick review that may help and add to the conversation. This book fits nicely with the missional conversation.

The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations
By Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom (see it in my books list to order from Amazon)

The overleaf of this book says, “If you cut off a spider’s head, it dies; but if you cut off a starfish’s leg, it grows a new one, and that leg can grow into an entirely new starfish. Traditional top-down organizations are like spiders, but now starfish organizations are changing the face of business and the world.”

A friend of mine observes in a dissertation that church organization often follows the organizational structures of the prevailing culture. In the 50’s denominations mimicked the United Nations and in the 80’s and 90's - corporate America. We are in a different and fast changing time. This book is a helpful analysis and challenge. It looks closely at the success of many companies that have decentralized leadership. It looks too at how those practices can be incorporated in other places. The authors challenge us to look at our roles and see if they help or hinder an organization in accomplishing its mission. It is one of the questions facing our denomination – Does our organization help or hinder our mission? Maybe that question has been answered by most – that it does hinder our mission. But the next question is – What do we do about it?

The title is a misnomer. These organizations are not “leaderless”, but neither are they controlled by an individual or small group “at the top.” One of the helpful observations is that the starfish organization is led by catalysts not CEOs. Here’s a quote:

“While both are leader types, catalysts and CEOs draw upon very different tools. A CEO is The Boss. He’s in charge, and he occupies the top of the hierarchy. A catalyst interacts with people as a peer. He comes across as your friend. Because CEOs are at the top of pyramid, they lead by command-and-control. Catalysts, on the other hand, depend on trust. CEOs must be rational; their job is to create shareholder value. Catalysts depend on emotional intelligence; their job is to create personal relationships. CEOs are powerful and directive; they’re at the helm. Catalysts are inspirational and collaborative; they talk about ideology and urge people to work together to make the ideology a reality. Having power puts CEOs in the limelight. Catalysts avoid attention and tend to work behind the scenes. CEOs create order and structure; catalysts thrive on ambiguity and apparent chaos. A CEOs job is to maximize profit. A catalyst is usually mission-oriented.” P. 129

One quick question:
Which style of leadership seems more like Jesus?

One quick observation:
When we adopted the CEO model for church and pastoral leadership (following
the culture) we moved away from the ways of Jesus.

Transforming Church: Transforming People

In this final chapter of Ford's book (right before the appendices - which constitutes another chapter or two!) he summarizes the five areas discussed in these blogs and reminds us of the examples he used to show the transformative movement of churches. He also gives examples of changed lives as well. (A good chapter for preachers!) But most importantly Ford makes the following statement:

"Is your church ready for change? Are there problems that need to be addressed? If you have the courage to face the adaptive issues, the tenacity to deal with inevitable resistance, and the humility to ask for God's help, then be assured: Your church can and will be transformed into the image of Christ - one step at a time." p.201

This is encouraging. It is encouraging particularly in the light of the question I have had about the "Code" of a congregation. My question is, "Is the code of a congregation value neutral when it comes to health or potential health?"

Tod Bolsinger and I had this conversation last week. My concern is, are there congregations where the Code is so opposite of what God would be about that we should walk away from it? In our conversation, what I heard was that the Code simply is. You can't change what was written. But you can change what will be written and this is the work of God. It is painful work to be sure. It is not easy nor simple. It may not even be reasonable. To attack the Code and to question it is to invite difficulty. Be forewarned.

It reminds me of C.S. Lewis' comment to Lucy in the book, "Voyage of the Dawn Treader". When queried about how things might work out with others, Aslan responds to Lucy 'No one is ever told another person's story. But you can find out about your own by getting up and doing what I ask.' (my words) - Lewis reminds us of this throughout his writings and particularly in Narnia. In "Prince Caspian" Lucy wants to know if everything will work out and again Aslan responds by saying get up and find out.

All of this reminds me of the line in "The Fellowship of the Ring" film uttered by Frodo to Sam as they begin their adventure by leaving the Shire. Sam stops in the middle of the cornfield and Frodo turns as asks what is wrong. Sam responds that if he takes one more step that he will have traveled farther from home than he has ever been.

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,” he used to say. “You step out into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

With God's assurance it will be a journey towards health.

Let me suggest that you go to PresbyGrow It is our commitment as a Presbyterian Church to initiate and transform churches into healthy, missional communities.