The Hsu’s Views

Len Hjalmarson over at Allelon has also blogged about Tom Sine’s article and the identification of the four streams that seem to characterize the current re-imagining of church. He focuses on Missional, Emerging and Monastic, confessing little contact with the Mosaic (multi-cultural) stream.

I enjoy Len’s insightful reflections on these streams, and his analysis of how each helps to balance the other. New to me is the connection of chaos theory and the emerging stream. He is absolutely right that all these streams need to inform each other.

In fact, continues Len, “I’m convinced that the convergence zone is where some of the most creative experiments will occur.” If you have a hard time with the notion of the church experimenting, you will be challenged by his reference to Elizabeth O’Connor:

“We would say that the church of Christ is never an experiment, but wherever that church is true to its mission it will be experimenting, pioneering, blazing new paths, seeking how to speak the reconciling Word of God to its own age. It cannot do this if it is held captive by the structures of another day or is slave to its own structures…” (Call to Commitment, 1963)

These words are so helpful for my church as it tries to figure where it needs to go to address the missional challenge before us. We need to hear that if the church is true to its mission, it will be constantly experimenting, and working to communicate the gospel faithfully in each cultural moment.

A side note on the Mosaic stream. I rightly/wrongly associate this stream with my friends that have been burdened for planting multi-ethnic churches. I wonder if it was birthed in reaction to the Homogenous Unit Principle. I think you can also find some crossover with the Kingdom values of reconciliation and social justice issues. Mosaic makes it onto the diagram above… somewhere.

I’ve been paying more attention to spiritual formation recently through a book that our ministry is reading together called, “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality,” by Peter Scazzero. He talks about the importance of growing emotionally. He writes that “Emotional health and spiritual maturity are inseparable. It is not possible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature.

The second half of the book describes some of ancient spiritual practices that can be employed to help one develop an emotionally healthy spirituality. One of these includes the Daily Office. The “office” is a liturgical aid that contains bible readings and prayers that are intended to be used by a community to keep people focused on the Lord together. It provides a rhythm or an order to ones life that centers it on Christ.

I’ve been using “The Missio Dei Breviary” for a bit now, and will be switching to a printed version of the Northumbria Community’s daily office.

The prayer for this morning’s reflection was/is called The Methodist Covenant Prayer. I enjoyed it’s message and included it below for your benefit.

THE METHODIST COVENANT PRAYER
I am no longer my own, but Thine.
Put me to what Thou wilt,
rank me with whom Thou wilt;
put me to doing, put me to suffering;
let me be employed for Thee
or laid aside for Thee;
let me be exalted for Thee,
or brought low for Thee;
let me be full, let me be empty;
let me have all things,
let me have nothing;
I freely and heartily yield all things
to Thy pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Thou art mine, and I am Thine.
So be it.
And the covenant
which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.

“It is not the church that has a mission of salvation to fulfill in the world; it is the mission of the Son and the Spirit through the Father that includes the church” Moltmann 1977:64

Mission is thereby seen as a movement from God to the world; the church is viewed as an instrument for that mission. (Aagaard 1973:13)

There is a church because there is a mission, not vice versa. (Aagaard 1974:423)

To participate in mission is to participate in the movement of God’s love toward people, since God is a fountain of sending love.

David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1991), 390.

I ran across a great quote in a BGU dissertation by John Lamb. He was making a point about how successful Campus Crusade for Christ has been in ministry over the years, but that achievement is not necessarily an asset as the ministry attempts to address the changes in today’s world. The more successful you are, the more likely you will be driven by that success to do more of the same.

He quotes Dallas Willard from “The Divine Conspiracy”:

Intense devotion to God by the individual or group brings substantial outward success. Outward success brings a sense of accomplishment and a sense of responsibility for what has been achieved — and for further achievement. For onlookers the outward success is the whole thing. The sense of accomplishment and responsibility reorients vision away from God to what we are doing and are to do — usually to the applause and support of sympathetic people. The mission increasingly becomes the vision. It becomes what we are focused upon. The mission and ministry is what we spend our thoughts, feelings, and strength upon. Goals occupy the place of the vision of God in the inward life, and we find ourselves caught up in a vision-less pursuit of various goals. Grinding it out.

Success can cause a ministry to lose focus on what God’s calls it to. Next thing you know we are driven by what we have accomplished and that becomes the important thing. Whether you are a large missions agency or a successful mega-church… success can make it difficult to diagnose our myopia.

Dallas Willard, The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’ Essential Teachings on Discipleship (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2006), 95.

Here is a good article by Tom Sine that lists four approaches that people are taking as they work to reimagine or redefine a Christianity that makes more sense to the world today. The four streams are emerging, missional, mosaic, and monastic. You can read his definitions which are just sketches, and are a bit too distinct, but the categories can be useful. I especially liked the links to churches or movements that represent each of these streams.

As I read the article, I could identify San Diego locals that might be a good representation of the different streams. The reality is, at least with my friends in town, we can fit in several of these streams at the same time. So, I don’t want to put anyone in a box, but if you want to connect with someone in town that would be knowledgeable in a stream this list might be useful.

• Emergent: Sarah Ferry (I just reconnected with) and Erin Martinson (who I’ve not met yet) lead the SoCal Emergent Village Cohort for San Diego. Perhaps churches like MissionGathering would be a good representative.
• Missional: I think I would put myself in this camp, along with friends over at Harbor Presbyterian Church. Jason Evans with the Ecclesia Collective fits here as does Steve Denney of CityWalk Church.
• Mosaic: Yucan Chiu of Ethnos is doing a great multi-ethnic work. Roberto Shim of Harbor Presbyterian Church is beginning a new church plant. My friend Luke Chen of Lord’s Grace has been burdened for multi-ethnic work for some time.
• Monastic: Rob Yackley with Nieucommunities in Golden Hill has tendencies in this direction. For many in the U40 group, there is interest in this stream because of the streams priority on spiritual formation/development as a community on mission.

As I reflect on the creation of this list, I realize how unsatisfying it is to try an attach a label to someone’s ministry or church. Comments or additions?

I’ve been wrestling with needing to define the term “missional,” largely because I get nervous when I hear the word used without a healthy understanding of the term. Too often, the word is thrown into a conversation as if people knew what it meant (I’m probably very guilty of this.) And people listen politely, don’t ask for a definition (because, speaking autobiographically, I would give a long multi-syllabic response which only furthers the confusion.)

I’m most alarmed when “missional” is used as a synonym for “missions” or any outward Christian expression of love, care and concern toward others. These are good things to do, but is very different from what missional means.

Missions can be seen as a “department” of the church that funds various evangelistic or social service activities. It is seen as a subset of what the church as an organization does. Missions is a noun. Missional, in contrast, is an adjective that attaches the idea of “God with a mission”, with “followers on mission.” The shift in thinking is that while missions is something you do… and is often outsourced to professionals or those really committed to God, missional describes the way a disciple lives as one that organizes his life around God’s mission.

I think it is critically important that the church in N. America moves away from the idea that we can fulfill our mission in the world by proxy through missionaries, and personally assume the privilege/responsibility as followers of Jesus.

Alan Hirsch has written a great post about the difference between the “emerging” church people and those who are “missional” church people. Both groups share the desire to find a more relevant way to following Jesus in this new world, Hirsch maintains a distinction between the two. He argues that the “emerging” movement is a renewal movement, whereas the “missional” camp is a missionary movement. In the post, he further elaborates on the distinctions and pleads for restraint on willy-nilly use of the term “missional.” He writes:

And my advice to all you folks on both sides of the debate that mix up the term, be warned! What you are doing is only making it harder for the Church to come to grips with its deepest sense of call and purpose in this time and place–no less! You are therefore mucking around with what could be one of the most significant ideas that the Church has to grapple with if we are going to survive, let alone thrive, in the 21st Century. For God’s sake, be clear in your use of the term or can I suggest that you stop using it.

The post is quite articulate and deserves a good read. Note also his pairing of Missional with Incarnational. The incarnation of Jesus highlights the fact that the best medium for the gospel to be communicated is in the life of a person that dwells among others. Missions might be about going out and doing stuff, but comes back. Missions can also connote an activity or event where the proclamation of the gospel is primarily a bunch of facts one needs to know. In contrast, missional is about going out… and staying out… developing relationships with people and incarnating the gospel message to others.

Reggie McNeal addresses the Reformed Church in America’s leadership conference called, “One Thing.” He speaks about Kingdom in the video below. Wade through the first several minutes of bantering and listen to his teaching about the Kingdom and the church. He includes some interesting comments regarding the fastest growing religion in the world (Christianity - but contrary to this post by Steve Addison.)  McNeal references Philip Jenkins work that it is growing fastest in the Southern hemisphere and asks where is the church stagnant? (N. America)

Memorable lines:

“We have looked at the Kingdom through our church lenses. We need to look at the church through a Kingdom lenses.”

“We’ve worked hard to get the church where it is today.”

You can find both messages (video or audio) at the RCA site.

Here are a few photos from our last U40 meeting at Point Loma Nazarene University on Jun 14, 2008. Click through for more.

Ran across a video that was helpful in tweaking my understanding of poverty. Like many, I would attempt a definition that begins with the lack of something(s) material. In this video, Brazilian “crazy” pastor walks you through a thought experiment and highlights relationships as a critical component to poverty. Reductionistic? View, then comment below.

My friend Cari Jenkins informed me about a new book and documentary entitled, “Lord, Save us From Your Followers.” It is a humorous/incendiary documentary that explores the question, “Why is the Gospel of Love dividing America?” Though interviews, “Bumpersticker man”, and confessionals, this documentary can really stir some great conversations.

I’d like to see it. Let me know if you book it. In the meantime, click below to view the preview.

Visit the website for interviews, short clips, and a host of other things associated with the movie.

Hear the author and director Dan Merchant on a Today Show interview.