"Pops" Brings a Whole New Meaning to Missional

Last Saturday I met with my class EM 731 Evangelism and Missions in an Urban Setting.  Afterwards we set out to meet up with a graduate of the seminary named Craig. He has recently planted Restoration Church in the Houston-Tomball area. This house church ministers regularly to homeless, and so after Craig explained his ministry to us, we met a couple of people on the street who are homeless. We had picked up some food for them and listened to their stories. My class and I left that experience knowing that they definetly had a story of how they ended up homeless. When you listen to such stories you realize that they are not choosing to beg as some easier option but as a necessity to survive. But this brings us to the guy named "Pops" who brings a whole new meaning to the word 'missional.' Although we did not meet Pops (yet), we heard about him. Pops is a man who intentionally chose to become homeless in order to work among the homeless. His ministry is twofold: 1) to help those who become homeless to adjust to life on the street, and 2) to help those who are homeless make the transition back into society. Hearing about Pops challenged us concerning what it means to enter our context and serve as Jesus served-- in incarnational ministry. While we are often content to think that we are missional in our regular or semi-regular missional activities, Pops brings a whole new meaning to this concept. He does not return every night to his comfortable home but lives among the homeless willingly. Hearning of his work, I am reminded of Paul's words about Jesus: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." (2 Corinthians 8:9) I am not sure if I will ever have the privilege to meet Pops, but I would like to. I think that he would have a lot to teach me ... and my class about missional, incarnational ministry. May God bless Pops!

Missional Communities: The Rise of the Post-Congregational Church by Reggie McNeal

In this book Reggie McNeal examines a number of models of missional communities in the UK and USA. If you are looking for a snapshot of missional community strategies, this book offers several. While the missional communities vary in size and form, they are united in incarnational mission, gospel-community, life rythms, and leader multiplication. Some are substructures of a local church, much like cells in a cell-church, while others function independently, or in a network. The author presents these as means to reach those who will not be reached by traditional attractional churches. Most models are in the research and development phase of what he calls "this new life form." Of course, this brings up the question if this is really a "new life form." It seems that he is reacting to the traditional, attractional church of the the 20th century because of its inability to reach the majority of people in today's society. This is to be commended. The church today needs to mobilize and send its people to engage communities with the gospel in word and deed. With that said, he seems to be fuzzy on ecclesiology and various ecclesial models in church history such as Waldensians, Franciscans, German and Scandinavian Pietists, and Methodist societies that organized small missional bands. The largest contribution of the book is the call for reform from the traditional, attractional mindset of the church in America and the UK toward a missional, incarnational praxis. For this, I thank Reggie McNeal for Missional Communities!

Missionality ... Part Two

            When the church addresses the needs of people within its sphere of influence, it establishes a positive presence, gaining credibility among them. Its sacrificial service in the world enhances communication of the gospel, validating its message.

            The church's character is an integral part of its message as it proclaims and exemplifies the good news. The gospel of love, forgiveness, holiness, and peace is seen by others to be credible when it is shared by believers who serve the needy, forgive sinners, stand for justice, and make peace in the world. The message and messenger are interrelated, with the full impact of the gospel being felt by words and deeds, and in many cases more by deeds than words, for our lives are letters "known and read by everybody," (2 Cor 3:2). Credibility wanes when others perceive incongruities between the message of the church and its behavior, between what it proclaims and what it does.

      The church becomes a credible witness as its attitudes, words, and actions are conformed to those of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter said, "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us," (1 Pet. 2:12). The evangelistic impact of the church is dependent upon its corporate testimony, proving itself as a credible witness to the world.

"Missionality" from My 1995 Fuller DMin Dissertation -- Part One

            Mission originates in the heart and mind of God, flowing out of his divine character and being.  The mission of God, or missio Dei, is to establish his rule and kingdom on earth, as well as in heaven.  It consists of his purposes for the creation of the world and the redemption of humankind, impacting every realm of life including the spiritual, moral, personal, social and physical realms.  Mission centers upon the salvation of the world through the incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection of God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

            Therefore, the mission of the church is the continuation of the saving activity of God in the world.[1]  It is a mission of humble service that embodies the total impact of the church as it is sent to carry out God's will and work in the world.[2]  This mission continues the mission of Jesus, heard in his words, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you," (John 20:21).  The church participates in establishing God's rule and kingdom on earth and in heaven.  It was re-created in Christ Jesus for this very purpose.

            The mission of the church includes the mandate for compassionate service and the mandate for disciple-making.  They come together in the mission of God, as integrated ministries of word and deed, components of the witness to the saving work of Jesus Christ.[3]  The church acts in its commission with God to restrain sin in the world and to redeem sinners.  It possesses a responsibility for social action as "the salt of the earth" and "the light of the world," (Matt. 5:13-14).  It has an evangelistic responsibility to "go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation," (Mark 16:15).

            The mandate for compassionate service, also known as the cultural mandate, carries authority and responsibility to care for all creation and to maintain order, peace and justice in the world.[4]  It is good works with redeeming value, whether directed toward individuals or to society in general.  It stems from a Christ-like compassion so that the hungry are fed, the naked are clothed, the sick are healed, the oppressed are liberated, the ignorant are educated, and the estranged are reconciled.  Despite resistance by a secular world, this mandate fulfills God's standards of grace, righteousness and human dignity.

---

    [1]Roger E. Hedlund, The Mission of the Church in the World (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1991), 73.

    [2]John R.W. Stott, Christian Mission in the Modern World (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1975), 24.

    [3]C. Norman Kraus, ed., Missions, Evangelism, and Church Growth (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1980), 23.

    [4]Lausanne Covenant, International Congress of World Evangelization, Lausanne, Switzerland, July 1974, para. 5.

Rethinking Christian Witness -- Part Two

New Orleans - sharing the good news
after a day of gutting this family's
house

How else have I been challenged in my thinking about evangelism—sharing the good news of Jesus Christ? Fourth, I have found it helpful and necessary, as others have, to question periodically the received tradition. This can bring necessary change and renewed perspective and conviction.  When I visited with George Hunsberger at a local restaurant this past year, he mentioned that for many, evangelism in the second half of the 20^th century was based on the sales model. I have to admit as a former Campus Crusade for Christ staff member with a business degree that I recognized and embraced the similarities. The emphasis was often on “closing the sale” by leading a person to pray to receive Jesus. What George mentioned is that there are other paradigms for sharing the gospel such as the journalist model . A journalist is a storyteller, but in order to do this he or she must ask questions, listen to others’ stories, and then write or tell the story.  The goal of the journalist is not “to sell” or “close the deal” but to ask, learn, comment, and then, tell. I appreciate the humility of this model. It communicates that we are here to learn about others, to understand their stories, and as we have opportunity, to share the story of Jesus with them and how it intersects with their stories.  This introduces a fifth challenge that has reshaped my thinking.  In our postmodern context, we must operate with humility, not arrogance that we” know it all.” While we embrace the truth of the gospel, we cannot approach others as though we have all the answers. And we don’t!  While a seminar in apologetics can help us answer questions that we or others may have, it runs the danger of us coming across as experts with all the right answers. The problem may not be in what we say but how we say it. Again, it is necessary to maintain an attitude and posture of humility. As 1 Peter 3:15 says: “always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.”We need to acknowledge the limits of what we do and can know.  We need to empower others in conversation by asking questions that they have and then joining them to find answers.  A sixth area of Christian witness that I have been challenged to re-examine is the gospel itself.  What is the gospel? This question makes some nervous, especially since we are “evangel-icals”, those who believe the “evangel”—the gospel.  On this point my former professor at TEDS Scot McNight in his book The King Jesus Gospel says that we have not been proclaiming the gospel but rather a reduced-to-a-minimum, personalized soteriology (doctrine of salvation). I agree.  In contrast, the gospel as told in the Gospels, as well as in Acts and the Epistles, is the story of Israel fulfilled in the story of Jesus.  While this story clearly has application to individuals, it is a story about God’s work in creation, humankind’s fall, God’s work of redemption in Israel, the coming of Jesus the Messiah, his life, death, burial and resurrection. I think we need to be faithful at telling this story and simply invite people to believe.

Book review of Many Colors: Cultural Intelligence for a Changing Church by Soong-Chan Rah

Although I grew up singing "Jesus loves the little children, red and yellow, black and white" I can't say that my context gave me much opportunity to practice this same love for the "other." Or perhaps the problem was that I didn't see the opportunities. If you suffer such "color blindness," this book by Soong-Chan Rah can help correct your vision. Framed within a kingdom-driven-, holistic gospel-, missional perspective, the author explores culture in its good and fallen aspects with a call to engage it responsibly. He provides a chapter on understanding our current North American cultural landscape in light of political, social, and ecclesial histories, answering how we got to where we are. His chapter on the spectrum of expressions within a culture is quite helpful as he examines differences such as: individual vs. group, guilt vs. shame, equality vs. hierarchy, direct vs. indirect, and task vs. relationship. Whether you aspire to plant a multi-ethnic church, or minister cross-culturally within a North American context or abroad, this book challenges you to examine aspects of power, dominant-culture privilege, and systems with new lenses. The books gives practical means too for hospitality and storytelling (under-the-radar evangelism) that easly translate from culture to culture. In contrast to McGavran's application of the homogeneous unit principle, Soong-Chan Rah advocates that despite numerous obstacles in society and human nature, God calls local churches to be a diverse community that truly represents the kingdom of God. I am glad to have required this book for my course Evangelism and Missions in an Urban Setting.

Rethinking Christian Witness – Part One

Our relief team in New Orleans

In the past seven years I have been challenged in my thinking about evangelism—sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. My thinking has been reshaped by several things. First, in 2005 my church became involved in relief work shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. For the first time I experienced the combined witness of relief work and sharing the gospel. The witness came naturally as we worked to rebuild neighborhoods house by house. Through this I saw the value of walking alongside and serving people whether or not they were interested in the gospel message. What I found was that they became more interested. Second, my doctoral work in the history of Christianity reaffirmed that the church’s witness has come often by practicing Jesus’ teachings, not simply proclaiming the evangel. The lifestyle and actions of Christians opened doors for the verbal message. Christianity grew exponentially in the Roman Empire because Christians lived out Jesus’ teachings which gave credibility (ethos) to their message (logos). In new American evangelicalism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a focus on the verbal proclamation of the gospel, in many cases, eclipsed Christian charity and social action.  In my dissertation research, I discovered that D. L. Moody’s early ministry in Chicago among immigrants involved considerable relief work but this was dropped almost entirely in his later ministry for a strategy of mass evangelism—an exclusive emphasis on “rescuing souls.” According to historian George Marsden, new American evangelicalism followed this trajectory of Moody’s later ministry.  Third, my teaching at the university level has increasingly exposed me to a population that is critical of Christians who are merely about “saving souls.” Such Christians are viewed as exclusive, judgmental, and irrelevant to contemporary society. One group was disappointed that Harold Camping’s prediction of the rapture didn’t happen, “hoping that the world would be rid of these Christians.”  The question to ask is: Is this a reaction to the gospel itself or to a form of out-of-balance Christianity? It appears that society has read correctly that “some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.”