THE SHAPING OF THINGS TO COME

I’ve just read two excellent books about the contemporary church. One of them was Eddie Gibbs’ Church Next.’ Eddie has radically revised the church growth paradigm (‘church on steroids’ as someone has described that movement).

The other: ‘The Shape of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21st Century Church’, by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch (Hendrickson 2003.)

Michael and Alan’s book is the more missiological of the two: a ground-breaking analysis of the malaise of the contemporary church in the West. Churches are in decline, and they know why: for 1700 years we have operated in terms of the wrong paradigm.

Here are the sections and chapter-headings (which give you a bit of a feel for the key concepts) :

Part One “The Shape We’re In” . 1. Evolution or Revolution? . 2. The Missional Church Part Two “Incarnational Ecclesiology” . 3. The Incarnational Approach . 4. The Shape of the Missional Church . 5. The Contextualized Church . 6. Whispering to the Soul Part Three “Messianic Spirituality” . 7. The God of Israel and the Renewal of Christianity . 8. Action as Sacrament . 9. The Medium Really is the Message Part Four “Apostolic Leadership” . 10. The Genius of APEPT . 11. Imagination and the Leadership Task . 12. Organizing the Revolution

Post-Constantinian Christendom is spiritually bankrupt. The church today is failing to evangelize effectively in its context, and is failing too in transforming contemporary culture. The ‘post-Christendom’ church will have to define itself again as a missionary movement, rather than institutionally, if it’s to experience new life and growth. Mission has to be the church’s priority: ‘What is God calling us to do and be in our current cultural context’? ‘Foundational changes have to be made within the church’s very DNA – which means addressing core issues like ecclesiology, spirituality, and leadership.’

The three mistakes made by the ‘Christendom’ model church: 1. It has tried to be attractional (it must now become incarnational). 2. Its thinking has been predominantly dualistic (it must embrace a messianic spirituality – as Jesus did, engaging with culture). 3. The dominant model of leadership has been hierarchical (in a missional church it should be apostolic).

This book has credibility partly because it’s written by two guys actually doing mission, rather than theorizing about it. Mike teaches missiology and practises mission in Sydney and elsewhere; Alan in Melbourne. Both are brilliant communicators, clear thinkers and are committed ‘evangelicals’.

It opens with an analysis of why BurningMan festivals are so popular. BurningMan is not just a bad day in Black Rock (to quote the movie title). ‘It’s a cry from an emerging postmodern generation for a community of belonging, spirituality, sensuality, empowerment, and liberation.’ (Most of these buzzwords are not popular in respectable churches 🙂

Alan and Mike’s book is an easy read – and should be near the top of the list for seminary students, practising pastors and church leaders. But it’s central message creates unease: instead of expecting outsiders to come to us, the church ought to go where the unchurched hang out. (Now why didn’t we think of that :-)? Mainstream churches won’t renew themselves by doing ‘more of the same’.

So I basically agree with the whole thesis. In this review, however, let me offer what I hope are some constructive caveats or reservations:

1. Pastors in parishes are in a ‘double-bind’. They are shepherds of the flock and they feel their survival depends on keeping the flock together, and happy. Their reaction to ’emerging church’ concepts might be: ‘It’s OK for these guys: their livelihood doesn’t depend solely on a parish; their income derives from other sources. If I’m not caring for the saints – even massaging egos – they’ll leave.’ Which has happened in a few parishes I know where the pastor tried to motivate the troops to ‘do battle on the front-line’ in terms of emerging church concepts.

2. Mike and Alan are tough on larger/regional churches, which have grown because they cater to the needs of Baby Boomers. But, yes, these churches also probably won’t survive another generation unless they spawn alternative congregations. In any case larger churches aren’t really into frontline mission much either: research indicates that they grow largely through ‘transfers’ from other churches: probably only 3-5% of converts are rank ‘outsiders’. See e.g. http://jmm.org.au/articles/8483.htm .

3. I have a problem with Alan’s/Mike’s use of the word ‘minister’ in the singular to refer to the pastor. If we want all Christians to believe they’ re ministers, our terminology will have to catch up with our theology at this point!

4. The book also lacks a strategy for reaching children and families. Many young missional congregations probably have a larger proportion of adult singles participating – many of whom, as one young leader put it, are ‘jaded young adult Christians in the final stages of deconstructing their faith’.

5. Mike and Alan could have given us more clues about motivation and influence. The great missional movements in the past (led by Francis, Luther, Wesley etc.) were not simply exercises in cognitive restructuring, but involved strong mentoring by charismatic leaders. And how/why has the Korean church remained so vital/missional after five generations?

6. An interesting discussion starter could be ‘Isn’t institutionalization inevitable when humans try to do things together?’ Certainly, as sociologist Robert Merton used to say, institutions are inherently degenerative: the evil in institutions is greater than the sum of the evil of the individuals within them. But religious and political movements have never really succeeded in ‘perpetuating the revolution’ have they? Homeostasis always settles in within the first couple of generations.

7. I have a primary concern for mission among the people Bishop Spong calls ‘exiled believers’ – the 50%-plus (according to Barna’s research) of committed Christians not regularly ‘attending church.’ This book doesn’t help much with reaching this group, except to encourage their mobilization to reach out to others. But they’re a negative (selfish? ‘the church hasn’t met my needs’) group: and generally don’t have much positive motivation to do mission anyway.

8. But my main reservation with the thesis of this book has to do with the church’s four essential relational activities – worship (towards God), formation (self), koinonia (Christian others), and mission (relating to those outside the faith/church). Any renewal paradigm ought to major on integrating all four of these at once. Making effective mission the key indicator of the health of a church (as this book does, in my view) is unbalanced. Is there any place for Nehemiah’s choir in the emerging church? Or for a theology of place? What happens to seminaries (which have often been ‘academies’ in the past)? What about programs of spiritual formation? (Exhorting ‘barren wombs to be fruitful is fruitless’). How does the classroom complement field-based instruction?

Now, again, all this is not to say that ’emerging church’ missional ideas are not very relevant. They’re ‘spot on’ to use an Australian expression. Following Jesus is primarily about living in the real world. The call to plant new imaginative communities, and to creatively rethink what the church is for – doing in our world what Jesus did in his – is urgent.

And contemporary opportunities or ‘shop windows’ for the Christian gospel are legion. There are 60 pub churches in Australia. Just two which crossed my desk today: ‘Gospel on the Lawn’ featuring popular musicians and vocalists; Council for Adult Education Book Groups (they have 60 of these in Melbourne alone, and will teach you how to start one).

At the end of the book there’s a useful glossary of specialized terms (bounded set, centred set, extractional etc.) and a very good bibliography of books about mission.

Another reviewer offered this: ‘Ivan Illich was once asked what is the most revolutionary way to change society. Is it violent revolution or is it gradual reform? He gave a careful answer. “Neither. If you want to change society, then you must tell an alternative story.”‘

This book does that admirably. Buy it, read it, discuss it with your group. Then ask: ‘How do I practise all this in my world?’

For more on the emerging church, visit http://www.emergingchurch.org/

Shalom!

Rowland Croucher