January 31, 2007

Preaching the Word in an Image–Oriented Culture

My childhood church had a silver cross suspended in the sanctuary. It was the visual focus of our worship. I recently returned to the church and the cross was still there, but few people notice it anymore. A large screen now hangs in front of it.

We live in an image-oriented culture, and that reality has impacted the way we worship, the way we design our churches, and even the way we preach. But how do we reconcile the discipline of preaching - a traditionally verbal form of communication - with our culture's captivity to images - a visual form of communication?

Next week thousands of church leaders will descend upon San Diego for the annual National Pastors Convention. Marshall Shelley and I will be there to facilitate an open dialogue with three church leaders on this subject. We'll be talking mainly about the use of visuals and technology in preaching - both the dangers and the opportunities. Each of the participants reflects a different ministry setting, but all are committed to faithfully communicating the gospel.

The panel participants are:

Jarrett Stevens is director of the college and singles ministry, and teacher for 7|22 at North Point Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. Previously, he served as a teaching pastor in Axis, the Next-Gen ministry of Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago.

Shane Hipps is the lead pastor of Trinity Mennonite Church - a missional, urban, Anabaptist congregation. Prior to pastoral ministry Shane had a career in advertising as a strategic planner where he gained expertise in understanding media and culture.

John Palmieri is pastor of the multi-cultural New Life Community Church in Melrose Park, IL. Prior to his pastoral ministry in urban Chicago, he was involved in the business world.

We invite you to share your stories of using images and technology in worship. What has worked well? What was a disaster? And what questions do you have for our panelists? Questions submitted by Out of Ur readers, along with the questions of pastors in attendance, will help direct the conversation. We will publish portions of the conversation in an upcoming issue of Leadership.

Posted by Skye Jethani at January 31, 2007 | Comments (14)

January 30, 2007

Create-A-Caption

When we ask subscribers what they love most about Leadership, we often hear the same answer: "the cartoons." That's why we are pleased to bring this lighter side of ministry to Out of Ur. Here is your chance to share your wit, humor, and appreciation of life's ironies by submitting a caption for this Leadership cartoon by Tim Walburg.

What captions come to mind for this cartoon?

Winning entries will be published in the Spring 2007 edition of Leadership. Please include your name, your church’s name, city, and state. To be published in the print version of Leadership, entries must be received by February 20, 2007.

Posted by UrL Scaramanga at January 30, 2007 | Comments (39)

January 25, 2007

Sundance Film Festival: Report 2

David Swanson, associate pastor of Parkview Community Church in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, is back with his second report from Park City, Utah. In this post he questions our assumptions about church and culture, and asks leaders to consider a new posture toward films.

It's day 4 of the Windrider Film Forum at the Sundance Film Festival and so far I've seen 4 dramatic features, 4 documentaries, and a set of short experimental music videos. I find this funny since I don't generally watch this many films in a year! Some of the films we've seen have been purchased by production companies and will soon be coming to a theatre near you. Others will be seen by very few people after this festival ends in a few days.

Our days at the Windrider Film Forum begin each morning with a teaching session at Mountain Vineyard Christian Fellowship facilitated by Fuller professor, Craig Detweiler. Craig has asked us to view each film with an open mind, expecting to catch glimpses of the Kingdom of God. This quote from C.S. Lewis has served as one of our starting points:

We sit down before the picture in order to have something done to us, not that we may do things with it. The first demand any work of art makes upon us is surrender. Look. Listen. Receive. Get yourself out of the way. There is no good asking first whether the work before you deserves such a surrender, for until you have surrendered you cannot possibly find out.

This week we've been asked to "get ourselves out of the way" as we show up to these films and pay attention to what the filmmakers are attempting to tell us about our world. It's been a fascinating experience.

For example, yesterday we saw a gritty film about sex trafficking called Trade . Surrendering to this film means watching some horrific realities about our world. Looking, listening, and receiving from the filmmakers meant paying attention to the stories of depravity and redemption they chose to tell. This film raised questions for me about the presence of God in the darkest places in our world, and encouraged me to pray for the people found in those dark places.

Another take-away from our morning sessions with Craig came from our conversations about how ministry leaders should think about the role films play in our culture. How are we to lead within a culture that is looking increasingly to films for ways to understand how the world works? For those of us in pastoral leadership this means accepting the reality that most folks in our churches watch a lot of films. Much of our tradition has been to tell people to abstain from films, to only watch films with certain ratings, or to sponsor screenings of explicitly "Christian" films.

But this week Craig Detweiler is proposing another response to the pervasive presence of films. He calls us to engage in "interpretive leadership." In other words, rather than asking people to distance themselves from some of the most significant stories our culture is telling, equip people in our churches to come to films prepared to engage significantly with these stories.

I'm finding Craig's idea of "interpretive leadership" to be very helpful and applicable beyond films. Many of us in pastoral ministry are growing in our awareness of the disconnect between our evangelical subculture and the culture at large. Rather than feeding that disconnect I'd like to suggest that ministry leaders wade into the thick of our culture and begin interpreting what we find and equipping our people to do the same. If the Kingdom of God can be found in a field, I'm guessing it can be found in a film.

Posted by UrL Scaramanga at January 25, 2007 | Comments (27)

January 23, 2007

Introducing 'Gifted for Leadership'

For all you women out there, I'm thrilled to announce the launch of Gifted for Leadership. It's a new resource designed specifically for Christian women who are capable, called, and gifted leaders. Unfortunately, many Christian women in leadership feel alone in their calling. They need a place where they can converse about the issues they face, encourage one another, and challenge each other. They want something different from the women's ministry resources and events that discuss issues unique to women. They want tools that visit topics that are not unique to women, but that approach them from a woman's perspective.

That's why we're producing a blog, a free monthly e-mail newsletter (you can sign up at the blog), and - coming soon - a collection of downloadable booklets. These tools will equip, encourage, challenge, and unite women who exercise leadership gifts in church and parachurch ministry, in business, and at home. They'll also build a community of women with leadership gifts who can challenge and support one another and grow together.

Like Out of Ur, "Gifted for Leadership" is a resource of Christianity Today International, produced in partnership with the editors of Leadership journal. I'm very excited to launch this blog and to tell you about our Gifted for Leadership philosophy:

We believe that people who have the spiritual gift of leadership are called to lead, not for their own benefit, but for the sake of nurturing the body of Christ. Women with leadership gifts, as with all gifts, are obligated to use those gifts in the ways and the places God has called them to. We are committed to speaking with these values:

Biblical truth - We always look at leadership issues through a biblical lens.

Reality - We are realistic about the issues, struggles, challenges, opportunities, and joys women leaders face.

Honesty - We are committed to addressing reality with honesty and without apology.

Redemption - We express ourselves without bitterness. When speaking from personal pain, we point to hope and

Healing - even if our healing process is incomplete. This is not a forum for mere arguments or expressions of personal anguish.

Love - We care about women in leadership and want to make personal connections with them.

Equipping - We help women get better, and more confident, in what they do.

Encouragement - We want women to feel good about the gifts God has given them, and we help them see how they can use those gifts. We love and root for the church and its people.

Challenge - We challenge women to use their leadership gifts, pursue spiritual growth, and think deeply.

Unity - We help women rise above the arguments and judgments about where they should lead. Instead, we agree that we are all obligated to use our gifts in the ways God has called us to do so.

If you're committed to these values, please join this conversation. Let's encourage each other to use the gifts God has given us.

Amy Simpson is Executive Editor of Resources at Christianity Today International.

Posted by UrL Scaramanga at January 23, 2007 | Comments (6)

January 22, 2007

Sundance Film Festival: Report 1

For ten days each winter filmmakers and film-lovers descend upon Park City, Utah, for a movie-watching frenzy. The Sundance Film Festival has been taking place since 1978 and has evolved into one of the premier independent film festivals in the world. Our man on the scene is David Swanson, associate pastor of Parkview Community Church in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. This week he's attending Sundance with students from Fuller Seminary in conjunction with the Windrider Film Forum to explore the intersection of faith and culture.

After settling in with our host family from Mountain Vineyard Christian Fellowship, a few of us set out to explore the town. On the bus ride into Park City, we interacted with an actress from England, a film music coordinator from New York, and a bunch of high school students from L.A. Later that evening we watched War/Dance, a tragically beautiful and redemptive documentary about refugee children in Uganda.

After a quick night's sleep, we lined up for a 9:00 AM screening of Save Me, a film about a young man's journey through a Christian "ex-gay" 12-step ministry. This was a hard film to see and one I would only recommend sparingly. I left the theatre completely wrecked - my head spinning.

The film portrays the struggles of gay men convinced their behavior is sinful and the attempts to restore them by a husband and wife who believe faith in Jesus is the only way these men will experience wholeness.

One of the things that struck me about this film was how the filmmakers (some who are themselves gay as we learned during the question and answer time following the screening) portrayed the motives and stories of the conservative Christians who lead the ex-gay ministry with tenderness and grace. Is it possible that many in the gay community are more gracious in their understanding of Evangelical Christians than we are towards them?

Even more striking were the numerous men in the theatre who wept during the most poignant moments of the film, usually when the men in the 12-step program described the pain and brokenness in their pasts. How well, I wondered when leaving the theatre, is the church prepared to really understand this type of brokenness and this amount of pain? And how willing are we to acknowledge our own role in much of that painful memory?

At most of the ministry conferences I've attended I've known what to expect, and I usually feel satisfied by the things I've learned. This week is completely different; I have no idea what to expect. I certainly couldn't predict that this post would center on the topic of the church and the gay community! But I will tell you this, despite the lack of sleep, the jet lag, and the heavy film this morning, I feel encouraged.

Here in Park City, in the thick of a sub-culture many of us have written off, I sense the Spirit moving. The stories in the two films we've seen so far are crystal-clear in their themes of redemption, hope, and healing. I think the church knows a little something about these themes. The question is, do we know our culture well enough to tell our story with the grace exhibited by these filmmakers?

Posted by UrL Scaramanga at January 22, 2007 | Comments (22)

January 18, 2007

The Gates of Hell

In part one of his post, Shane Claiborne challenged our assumptions about hell. Is it merely something people experience after death, or is hell a living reality for many on earth? Claiborne continues by proposing an offensive rather than defensive posture for the church toward hell.

C.S. Lewis understood hell, not as a place where God locks people out of heaven, but as a dungeon that we lock ourselves into and that we as a Church hold the keys. I think that gives us new insight when we look at the parable of Lazarus or hear the brilliant words with which Jesus reassures Peter: "The gates of Hell will not prevail against you." As an adolescent, I understood that to mean that the demons and fiery darts of the devil will not hit us. But lately I've done a little more thinking and praying, and I have a bit more insight on the idea of "gates." Gates are not offensive weapons. Gates are defensive - walls and fences we build to keep people out. God is not saying the gates of hell will not prevail as they come at us. God is saying that we are in the business of storming the gates of hell, and the gates will not prevail as we crash through them with grace.

People sometimes ask if we are scared of the inner city. I say that I am more scared of the suburbs. Our Jesus warns that we can fear those things which can hurt our bodies or we can fear those things which can destroy our souls, and we should be far more fearful of the latter. Those are the subtle demons of suburbia.

As my mother once told me, "Perhaps there is no more dangerous place for a Christian to be than in safety and comfort, detached from the suffering of others." I'm scared of apathy and complacency, of detaching myself from the suffering. It's hard to see until our 20/20 hindsight hits us - but every time we lock someone out, we lock ourselves further in.

Just as we are building walls to keep people out of our comfortable, insulated existence, we are trapping ourselves in a hell of isolation, loneliness and fear. We have "gated communities" where rich folks live. We put up picket fences around our suburban homes. We place barbed wire and razer-wire around our buildings and churches. We put bars on our windows in the ghettos of fear. We build up walls to keep immigrants from entering our country. We guard our borders with those walls - Berlin, Jerusalem, Jericho. And the more walls and gates and fences we have, the closer we are to hell. We, like the rich man, find ourselves locked into our gated homes and far from the tears of Lazarus outside, far from the tears of God.

Let us pray that God would give us the strength to storm the gates of hell, and tear down the walls we have created between those whose suffering would disrupt our comfort. May we become familiar with the suffering of the poor outside our gates, know their names, and taste the salt in their tears? then when "the ones God has rescued," the Lazaruses of our world - the baby refugees, the mentally-ill wanderers, and the homeless outcasts - are seated next to God, we can say, "We're with them." Jesus has given them the keys to enter the Kingdom. Maybe they will give us a little boost over the gate.

And in the New Jerusalem, the great City of God, "on no day will its gates ever be shut." The gates of the Kingdom will forever be open. (Revelation 21:25)

This article was reposted with the permission of PRISM - America's Alternative Evangelical Voice. Visit their website to learn more.

Posted by UrL Scaramanga at January 18, 2007 | Comments (33)

January 16, 2007

Loving the Hell Out of People

Last year Brian McLaren shared his views about hell in a series of three posts on Out or Ur. This year we welcome a new voice on the subject. Shane Claiborne is a founding member of The Simple Way, a new monastic community in Philadelphia, and the author of The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical. In part one of his post, Shane discusses his childhood memories of preachers "scaring the hell out of him," and reflects on a more Christlike alternative.

I figure anytime you are about to talk about hell it's good to start with a joke, so here we go?.It was a busy day in heaven as folks waited in line at the pearly gates. Peter stood as gatekeeper checking each newcomer's name in the Lamb's Book of Life. But there was some confusion, as the numbers were not adding up. Heaven was a little overcrowded, and a bunch of folks were unaccounted for. So some of the angels were sent on a mission to investigate things. And it was not long before two of them returned, "We found the problem," they said. "Jesus is out back, lifting people up over the gate."

I remember as a child hearing all the hellfire and damnation sermons. We had a theater group perform a play called, "Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames" where actors presented scenes of folks being ripped away from loved ones only to be sent to the fiery pits of hell where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, and we all went forward to repent of all the evil things we had done over our first decade of life, in paralyzing fear of being "left behind"? the preacher literally scared the "hell" out of us.

But have you ever noticed that Jesus didn't spend much time on hell.

In fact there are really only a couple of times he speaks of weeping and gnashing of teeth, of hell and God's judgment. And both of them have to do with the walls we create between ourselves and our suffering neighbors. One is Matthew 25 where the sheep and the goats are separated, and the goats who did not care for the poor, hungry, homeless, and imprisoned are sent off to endure an agony akin to that experienced by the ones that they neglected on this earth. And then there is the story of the rich man and Lazarus, a parable Jesus tells about a rich man who neglected the poor beggar outside his gate.

In the parable we hear of a wealthy man who builds a gate between himself and the poor man, and that chasm becomes an unbridgeable gap not only with Lazarus but with God. He is no doubt a religious man (he calls out "Father" Abraham and knows the prophets), and undoubtedly he had made a name for himself on earth, but is now a nameless rich man begging the beggar for a drop of water. And Lazarus who lived a nameless life in the shadows of misery is seated next to God, and given a name. Lazarus is the only person named in Jesus' parables, and his name means "the one God rescues." God is in the business of rescuing people from the hells they experience on earth. And God is asking us to love people out of those hells.

Nowadays many of us spend a lot of time pondering and theologizing about heaven on earth and God's Kingdom coming here (and rightly so!), but it seems we would also do well to do a little work with the reality of hell. Hell is not just something that comes after death, but something many are living in this very moment? 1.2 billion people that are groaning for a drop of water each day, over 30,000 kids starving to death each day, 38 million folks dying of AIDS. It seems ludicrous to think of preaching to them about hell. I see Jesus spending far more energy loving the "hell" out of people, and lifting people out of the hells in which they are trapped, than trying to scare them into heaven. And one of the most beautiful things we get to see in community here in Kensington, is people who have been loved out of the hells that they find themselves in - domestic violence, addiction, sex trafficking, loneliness.

This article was reposted with the permission of PRISM - America's Alternative Evangelical Voice. Visit their website to learn more.

Posted by UrL Scaramanga at January 16, 2007 | Comments (28)

January 12, 2007

Missional Buzz

The upcoming winter issue of Leadership will wrestle with the meaning of a very popular word - missional. Tim Conder, pastor of Emmaus Way in Durham, North Carolina, says, "So many fellowships that once boldly self-identified as cell churches, meta-churches, house churches, seeker-style, or purpose-driven now claim to be missional. It's such a buzzword that it's fair to ask, ?Is there really any such thing as a missional church?' Tim's full article on the subject is featured in Leadership's theme section, "Going Missional." Here is a preview.

The game show To Tell the Truth pitted three guests (two imposters plus the day's mystery guest who had some unusual occupation or accomplishment) against a panel of celebrities. The panelists asked questions of the guests, trying to identify which one actually had that occupation or accomplishment. The show ended dramatically when the truth was revealed: "Will the real ____________ stand up!"

Today, it would be almost impossible for "the real missional church" to stand up. Yes, there are plenty of imposters, but there's no one true example to play the day's mystery guest. And any panel of celebrities probably wouldn't accept the outcome.
So many fellowships that once boldly self-identified as cell churches, meta-churches, house churches, seeker-style, or purpose-driven now claim to be missional. It's such a buzzword that it's fair to ask, "Is there really any such thing as a missional church?" Although some use the term glibly, I believe the answer is "yes."

Missional at the core

In essence, missional churches seek to align their identity, activities, and hopes with God's redemptive mission on earth. This is a tall order for churches that brim with cultural and programming expectations, resource abundance, iconic labels (like "evangelical" or "mainline" or "Pentecostal"), and visions of grand ambitions. The temptation is always to have a grand scheme to which we incessantly try to woo or invoke God's presence rather see ourselves fitting into God's agenda.

In contrast, the missional church is a corrective to or an outright rejection of commodified and cultural Christianity, steeped in institutionalism, individualism, and sentimentality.

Identifying missional churches can be difficult. Such churches are separated by identity and perspective as much as their visible forms. Nonetheless, there are some common commitments.

(1) Missional communities try to align themselves holistically with God's theme of redemption. They resist the use of Christianity as an anesthetic to the pain of human needs and as an affirmation of the superiority of one culture's way of life.
This is lived out in several common practices.

(2) Programming and finances are directed outward. It's easy for much of the church's program and fiscal reflexes to become directed internally. Emphases on church growth or "building the body" are often presented as the mission ("A larger church means more space and opportunity for our community to encounter Christ," is the overt message, when the real message to staff is, in fact, "Keep the saints happy and coming back.").

To counter this temptation, missional communities may cut back on programming to leave space for breathing and living. Some ministries are relocated from the safe confines of the church into the community. Financial assets are viewed as both opportunity and burden. Some missional churches have made a pattern of giving away resources without control or strings attached to reduce congregants' sense of entitlement.

(3) Missional communities are discontent with spiritual formation as primarily cognitive assent ("I believe this to be true"). Instead, formation is presented as a way of life, a rhythm of being, and a rule of values. It emphasizes faithful living during the week rather than gathering for worship at a weekend event. The sharp boundary between the sacred and secular is evaporating as missional fellowships seek to hear God's voice in culture and creation.

(4) Embracing the ethnic and social diversities of local communities is becoming a moral expectation. (This is one aspect of God's voice that I believe we have heard strongly from outside the confines of the church.)

(5) Finally, missional communities are not only ardent listeners for the earmarks of God's redemptive work in our world, these communities are passionate activists when they find the pathways and trajectories of God's redemptive presence. The work of justice, reconciliation, peace, and spiritual direction are becoming the dominant reflexes of missional communities.

In this spirit of activism, theological debates and historical sunderings are becoming marginalized. Not only does the sacred/secular boundary blur in missional communities, but also the sharp divisions between mainline and evangelical, between Catholic and Protestant, and even between Western and Eastern Christianity.

When I think of broad-based and radical changes like this, no single community or individual leader can stand up, "tell the truth," and perfectly embody the spirit of that revolution before a panel of inquirers. The missional church is diverse beyond single models and dominant voices. It comes in Reformed and post-reformation varieties, new monastic and post-church gatherings, and in transitional churches building missional ministry on their traditional foundations.

The missional church is far from complete; the exploration has just begun. But from the wide-angle, historical lens of God's great redemptive narrative, the task remains the same - to find and join God's gracious work.

Tim Conder is the founding pastor of Emmaus Way in Durham, North Carolina, and author of The Church in Transition: The Journey of Existing Churches into the Emerging Culture (Zondervan, 2006). This post is excerpted from an article in the Winter 2007 issue of Leadership.

Posted by UrL Scaramanga at January 12, 2007 | Comments (30)

January 10, 2007

Three Celebrities and a Funeral

I took a bit of morning time to watch President Ford's funeral service as it was televised from the National Cathedral. There was music (Christian hymns which have buoyed the heart for many generations) sung and played with a beauty, a grandeur, and an artistic excellence that made the soul soar. There were scriptures-so appropriately selected-read with great dignity. There were eulogies (marked with affection, historical reminiscence and humor) that reminded one that Gerald Ford was a very good man. Words like decent, nice, and principled were used more than once to describe his character. All in all, it was a cleansing experience to watch that funeral.

Then later in the day, my wife, Gail, called me down from my study to watch a few minutes of Oprah Winfrey who has brought into being a school in South Africa which will train hundreds of girls who come from the deepest poverty, from abuse and molestation and AIDS-dominated circumstances. The gleaming smiles on the girls' faces, their alertness in responding to questions, and their simple girlish beauty was stirring, arousing tears. All in all it was an inspirational experience to see what Ms Winfrey has accomplished through her compassion and determination to help others avoid the kind of background out of which she came.

Then in the evening on the national news came the report that Pat Robertson was informing our nation of a word he has received from God to wit that several million Americans (who knows where or how) would perish in some unspeakable disaster in 2007.

I must be frank here - what kind of a god tells someone, "there's going to be a big disaster in the next 12 months, but I'm not going to tell you when, or where, or who." When God told Abraham about an impending disaster, he mentioned the place: Sodom. Couldn't he have done the same this time?

Three experiences in one day: one about a man of whom President Bush said, "he brought grace to a nation in grave doubt." Another about a woman who decided to invest in the future of some remarkable girls. And a third about a man and his "god" who speaks vaguely about the doom of millions.

When I was a child, the people in my church would have disparaged a Gerry Ford who smoked a pipe and said "damn" on occasion. "Couldn't be a Christian," they would have said. But his achievements and personhood as celebrated in his funeral speak to me of what the Biblical tradition said of Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus: he was a righteous man.

The people in my sub-culture would have put distance between themselves and Oprah citing a few aspects of her private life that they would have found totally unacceptable.

But many of them would have embraced the third because he espouses an essentially evangelical theology. And they would not have through what his "prophecy" means to a larger world where many people think evangelicals are fools and now have a bit more evidence for their opinion.

Now I will humbly offer my own "prophecy" (if one minds). When Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, and Warren Buffet fork over billions (billions!) of dollars to deal with poverty, eradicate disease, find clean water, freshen the air, and educate the young, could God (just humor me here!) be saying to those who (like myself) claim an essential orthodox foundation of belief, "if you will not be known for doing these things unto to the least of my brothers, then I will use others not of your fold to get the job done."?

Posted by UrL Scaramanga at January 10, 2007 | Comments (32)

January 5, 2007

Have We Become Crypto-Christians?

To my knowledge this blog hasn't tackled too many issues of church history, so this post may be more "Out of Place" than "Out of Ur." Still, I have found that the past often illuminates my understanding of my faith and the times we all inhabit. In fact, I often use historical illustrations in my sermons. Not long ago, while doing some sermon prep, I was researching Christianity in 16th century Japan (stop yawning). The story of a small group of underground believers caught my attention.

In 1549 the Jesuit missionary Xavier introduced Christianity to Japan. As the church grew rapidly to 300,000 the shoguns became uneasy with the European influence over their country. In 1641, the missionaries were expelled from Japan and Christians were required to register as Buddhists or Shintoists. Those who refused were pursued and executed. The brutal persecution cleansed Japan from virtually all Western influence.

Unknown to the shoguns, however, some continued to hold to their Christian faith. Known as Crypto-Christians, or Kakure, their external lives were indistinguishable from other Japanese. They adopted the practices, forms, and appearances of non-Christians to ensure survival. The Crypto-Christians even constructed Buddhist shrines in their homes with secret compartments where Christian icons and statues were hidden and prayers were offered to the "closet god."

The strategy of adopting Japanese cultural forms to mask their Christian faith continued for 240 years, but this survival plan backfired.

Over time the Crypto-Christians confused their Christian beliefs and their Japanese disguises. The result was the emergence of a hybrid religion no longer resembling the orthodox faith of the missionaries. When Europeans regained entrance to Japan in the 19th Century they were astonished to see communities of hidden Christians returning from the hills around Nagasaki.

This amazement waned, however, when they discovered the faith of these forgotten Christians was hardly Christianity. As one historian notes, "Although the faith followed by the underground Christians had the outward appearances of Christianity, the vital content and spirit of the religion evolved into something entirely different?It would be more accurate to call it a folk religion altogether Japanese in spirit and content."

Thousands of Kakure still exist in Japan today, and at least 80 house churches continue to worship the "closet god" by reciting rituals in an indecipherable amalgam of Japanese and Latin. When Pope John Paul II visited Japan in 1981 he met with the leaders of the Kakure community to welcome them back into the fold of the Catholic Church. "We have no interest in joining his church," one Crypto-Christian said; "We, and nobody else, are true Christians."

Ironically, it is often our zeal to protect our faith that leads to its loss. Abram was called to leave his country and follow the alternative ways of God. But when feeling threatened Abram disguised himself with the ways of Egypt, allowing his wife to be taken into Pharaoh's house. Later, God called Israel to be separate from the nations - an alternative people, a holy nation, a royal priesthood. But in time they felt threatened and asked God for a king (a leadership model employed by their enemies) to protect them. The peoples' desire was innocent enough. They still wanted to follow God, they just wanted to do it in a way more "like the nations around them." The Lord warned that a king would rule over them just as Pharaoh had in Egypt, but the people refused to listen.

The record of the Old Testament affirms God's prediction was correct. By adopting the forms of the nations God's people opened the door to their values as well. Ultimately the prophets denounced the people for becoming indistinguishable from their neighbors - not caring for aliens, orphans and widows, failing to act justly, cheating their countrymen, amassing gold and silver, exploiting the poor, and all the while hypocritically honoring God with their festivals and songs. Over time, almost imperceptibly, they had become Crypto-Israelites.

These meandering history lessons have led me to this question: Have we, like our processors, become Crypto-Christians? Seeking survival and fearing irrelevance, have we clothed our faith with the forms of our American culture to the point that our Christianity has morphed into something entirely different - a folk religion altogether consumerist in spirit and content? Like the Kakure of Japan, are we holding so tightly to our faith we cannot sense that it is already slipping between our fingers?

By replicating the practices of the nations has the church, like ancient Israel, yielded its imagination to the idols of our day? By heavily adopting cultural forms, like the Kakure, have we forgotten the central teachings and practices of the apostles? Was Walter Brueggemann correct when he wrote, "The contemporary American church is so largely enculturated to the American ethos of consumerism that is has little power to believe or to act."?

Posted by Skye Jethani at January 5, 2007 | Comments (31)

January 2, 2007

Book Review: Reimagining Evangelism

Eight centuries ago St. Francis of Assisi famously told his followers to "Preach the gospel always. And use words if necessary." Like Francis, Rick Richardson's new book Reimagining Evangelism: Inviting Friends on a Spiritual Journey (Intervarsity, 2006) challenges our popular assumptions about outreach. To jumpstart our discussion of Richardson's ideas we've invited David Robinson, pastor of Harvest Fellowship Church in Manhattan, Kansas, to review his book.

Rick Richardson opens his book, Reimagining Evangelism, with this statement?"Over the years, evangelism has gotten a bad name. It is sales, manipulation, TV preachers, big hair, pushing people to convert and going door to door. It elicits feelings similar to the intrusive practice of telemarketing." People are repelled by clich? images of evangelism and the church's tendency to reduce the dynamic work of God into an easy to read, streamlined, impersonal message. After our recent barrage of political ads, it's frightening to consider their similarities with certain methods of evangelism.

Reimagining proposes a fundamental shift in our current image of evangelism. If we are to engage people in this consumer culture with the gospel message, Richardson believes we first need to rid ourselves of this unhealthy image of evangelism as "closing the deal" on some impersonal spiritual sales call. He proposes the image of a travel guide who encourages those around them to recognize what is already going on and invite them to take part in God's much bigger story.

I appreciate how Richardson plainly states that those who follow Christ need to see themselves as collaborators with the Holy Spirit in guiding people on a spiritual journey. I think he does an excellent job of showing how evangelism is not exclusively reserved for a special group of Christians, but is something that we are all gifted to be a part of.

He takes this a step further by saying that evangelism is not to be seen as simply the role of one individual, but that entire communities have a role as well. In his challenging 3rd chapter he claims that there is a shift "to a central focus on community in the process of conversion" taking place. He states repeatedly that conversion is not to be seen as a "me and God thing", but instead as a family affair where we shift allegiance from the world to Jesus. In our "commitment-phobic" culture, this shift puts a much greater emphasis on healthy, authentic communities that understand their identity and their role. This importance of our corporate witness is certainly something the Church today needs to consider.

Richardson understands that we live in a spiritually hungry and self-absorbed time. He reminds us that what many people need know about Christ is that those who follow him can be trusted. I appreciate not only Richardson's clear writing and to-the-point style, but also his spirit of humility and vulnerability throughout. May we be the kind of communities who will guide others on the spiritual journey with the same spirit of humility and vulnerability.

Reimagining Evangelism
Inviting Friends on a Spiritual Journey
By Rick Richardson

Posted by UrL Scaramanga at January 2, 2007 | Comments (13)