the drum|rob fairbanks

Slandering the world & the Christian name

    When introducing yourself as a Christian you may sometimes be greeted in a strange manner. Some people assume that being Christian also means you are an extremist. This is because some of the only interactions they may have had with a “Christian” is someone yelling about God's wrath, or picketing on a street corner. They think we all abide to some strict controlling cultist style life. However we know this to be false. We must do our best to correct this misled view of our collective group of believers. Religious extremists, cultists, and hate mongering groups are destroying the good name of Christ, by standing behind it while they speak nothing of the love and grace of God.

    One such group would be the Westboro Baptist Church, who interestingly enough has no association with the Baptist Church, nor should it even be considered a church. This particular gathering of beings is completely misled by their leader, and believe themselves to be spreading the word of God. This word however, is that God hates pretty much everyone, that he is destroying and will continue to destroy the world and everyone who does not agree with him. The list of people the WBC claims God hates consists of: Homosexuals, Transsexuals, Military, Muslims, Obama, Police, Government, Immigrants, and many more.

    While we would all very much enjoy to shut this group up permanently, our response to them must not be one of equal disprovable as they preach. That would be fueling their fire, as much as it pains me to say, we must react to them in a loving nature, kill them with kindness, in order to prove them wrong. 

Joshua

Hugging Jesus

    I had a dream when I was child that I will never forget. I was walking on lush, green grass when upon looking up there stretched a perfect, blue expanse of sky like I had never seen before.  Then I saw a man walking towards me, I knew it was Jesus.  At this point I got pretty excited, understandably!  I started running as fast as I could to reach Him, and He started running towards me.  He knelt down to me and said a simple “I love you very much” and then He hugged me.  I don’t remember His face, only His eyes.  They were dark and beautiful, telling of everything He is-Savior, healer, lover of our souls, funny, strong, man, God, King, the list goes on and on and on.  When I looked in His eyes I felt stronger and taller but at the same time a complete vulnerability, that my heart was wide open.  What surprises me about this, looking back years later, is that it was not kindness in Jesus’s eyes that I saw.  Instead, I stared back at a fierce, passionate love that so far extends the kindness which we have been conditioned to expect from our white, blue eye, brown hair-with-a middle part Jesus.  What a one dimensional view of His personality!  I woke up stunned and incredibly loved, feeling an unexplainable peace and joy.

    This world does not need any more of these scenarios depicting either a “white, middle-class, nice Jesus” or a “white, middle-class, unforgiving Jesus.”  What is needed is the “wild terrifying, fascinating, dangerous, Middle-Eastern Jesus” (Michael Frost).  Why would I expect a tame, predictable Savior, or one who is “safe?...Who said anything about safe? Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.” (C.S. Lewis)   I am tired of trying to be ‘safe’ in the way I do church and life for that matter.  I want to be all in, to be a part of this awesome Body of Christ, to love the Church, to kill the institution, to dream. To love furiously, with a reckless abandon without a thought of self-preservation.  To be about the Church, we must first be about Jesus and who He truly is, allowing Him in to compel us and change us so that we can further the Kingdom in awesome and radical ways.

Jamie

The Church: A Banquet for Your Friends or a Refuge for the Poor?

Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:12-14)

             The great eighteenth-century hymn writer and ex-slave trader John Newton marveled at the far-reaching impact of these words spoken by Jesus in Luke. “One would almost think this passage was not considered part of God’s word, nor has any part of Jesus’ teaching been more neglected by his own people. I do not think it is unlawful to entertain our friends” he says, “but if these words do not teach us that it is in some respects out duty to give preference to the poor, I am at a loss to understand them.” Looking at the current state of the American church, one can’t help but wonder if the “luncheon or dinner” Jesus was referring to could be what we call our church service today. We spend so much time catering our churches to our friends, brothers, sisters, relatives and neighbors, that we completely disregard those Jesus is calling to invite join us in our “banquet.”

            It’s not that Jesus commands us, his Church, to disregard those who we consider being friends, peers or of high economic status, for Jesus himself often ate with his peers and people of wealth. However, his mission was still for the poor. Jesus commanded that his disciples should share their homes and build relationships not with people of their class or higher, people they could profit from or that would pay them back, but with people who were poor and without influence. I believe he is calling his church to do the same; to be for the poor, with the poor, and in pursuit of the poor.

            Although I am unaware of any churches that actively turn the poor away, I am also unaware of many that actively seek out those in extreme poverty as being a part of their community. Most church facilities and services seem to be catered more to the middle-class who drive in from their different neighborhoods to come together with like-minded, similar looking people of their social class for once, maybe twice a week, fellowship and teaching. Although I’m sure many of these churches do really wonderful things to help the underserved and poor, it’s not as easy to make the case that they are designed “for the poor.” The Bible speaks of God as being “a refuge for the poor” (Isaiah 25:4; Psalm 14:6). Therefore the Church, as the body of Christ, is called to stand with the poor as a physical and spiritual place of refuge for them in this world. Is your church a banquet for your friends or a refuge for the poor?

Melissa

Discipleship as Discernment - Part 1

Spirituality is incomplete except within a broader setting in which disciples of Jesus try to live their discipleship in committed, honest and coherent ways. And discernment is at the heart of discipleship, because when we walk a disciple's path we are constantly faced with changing situations in which we have to discover how to be faithful to the gospel and the leading of the Spirit, and true to ourselves. - David Lonsdale, "Discernment of Spirits"

What is discipleship? What are the foundational ideas you hold concerning discipleship?  How do people become more like Jesus in real time.  I certainly affirm (and cling to) the cosmic side of the equation…that God is going to do a miraculous work in each person who is a follower of Christ.  In fact it solemnly promises in Philippians 1:6 that, “…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”  Ahhhh!  It is like a refreshing rain after days of summer heat.  I love that smell and I love that promise. 

But back to my question, regarding the part that we play in the process, what is your foundational core belief about how it happens?

A month or so ago, I had the privilege of attending a retreat at a Benedictine monastery in Nebraska.  The retreat’s theme was looking closely at the spirituality of Henri Nouwen, particularly keying off of his book, The Return of the Prodigal.  During one of the discussions it was stated that, “Discipleship is a journey to discernment.”  I am a reasonably quick thinker and I have a hypersensitive crap detector.  That said, you should know that I immediately recoiled (inside, not on the out – outside I was keep’in it cool) with the idea, with scrutiny, wondering is that true?  Could it be that this axiom might really be at the center of discipleship?

See, I have read, studied, experimented for most of my adult life with what it means to apprentice someone in the way of Jesus.  I have done courses, led Bible-studies, initiated “come and follow” types of ministries, engaged in one on one relationships, led groups of 3 on 3’s, 12’s, 50’s, even hundreds, all seemingly good gestures that I believe helped those participating in them.  However, for much of the church, discipleship is some form of behavioralism.  It is to develop skill sets on how to pray better, give more, read the Bible more, stop doing a particular sin and start doing some really godly activity…really, behave yourself. It is training people to behave a certain "Christian-ly" way.  Mostly, it shows up under the rubric of “doing” rather than “being.”

So, the fundamental question has to be what is the goal?  I think it would be reasonable to arrive at something like a person being conformed to Christ.  Paul even uses that as an ultimate target in Romans when he says we are all predestined to be, “…conformed to the image of his Son…”

See, for me the definitive end game is transformation, not lock-step behaviorism.  A changed life, yes, but that change is not only acting more like Jesus, but also “being” more like Him.  In other words, transformation is both inside and out.

Now, back to my axiom: “Discipleship is a journey to discernment.”   In I John 3:1-3, the beloved apostle wrote, 

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.”

Though this section Scripture certainly contains an eschatological aspect to it, the transformative anchor is deeply connected to the idea of encounter or seeing Jesus.  The literal definition of discernment carries with it the idea of perception or seeing something rightly.  In other words, if we can get people into a place where they encounter Jesus or see Him in some substantial way, then actual transformation is possible.  This is not to minimize the need for skill set development in disciple-making (all of us need to learn how to do stuff), but real substantive transformation will not happen without an real and existential encounter with Christ.

Here are a couple of questions:

1. What has been your experience with discipleship?  Has it been more cognitive and skill-set driven or more existential, experiential driven?
2. And, how do we lead people into this more experiential model of discipleship? 

I’d like to get some of you thoughts…and then after that, I will (humbly) provide at least the germ of how I believe it happens.

Ok, go!

r

Does the Missional Movement Enhance Conversion to Christ?

I read this morning...

“Anyone who knows Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour must desire ardently that others should share that knowledge and must rejoice when the number of those who do is multiplied. Where this desire and rejoicing are absent, we must ask whether something is not wrong at the very center of he church’s life”.

1st - guess the author?

2nd - Is the missional movment enhancing the idea of conversion to Christ or is it muting it?

Discuss!

r