the drum|rob fairbanks

I Don't Want to Hate the Church

      I venture to say, based on observations as far as I am able to see, more people are calling themselves Christians while more Christians are denying the title for all its negative connotations. Have you heard anyone claim their faith as “believer” or “follower of Christ” or “Jesus lover”? That’s dandy, and true. But the term “Christian” has been taken away from us, much as the symbol of the rainbow has. As a young person learning that I am in the midst of much needed revelation and change for “the church,” I fear the negativity toward the church. I fear for non-believers because it will keep them away, and for believers because of unforgiveness and bitterness toward those who have been getting it wrong. I fear the anger I’ve seen. I fear more splitting, more division dangerously close at hand within the whole Christian body. I pray it doesn’t happen that leaders who are making right changes due to convictions about how the church has been failing begin to find new titles. I don’t want to see a new movement rise up again only to lose itself in its mission once more. I want to see the church be taken back; for the term Christian to be taken back.  To bring them back to mean the body of Christ and Christ-like. The only way to know those meanings is through Christ himself and we find him in the Word, our Bibles, and in prayer. I think this means we must look at the broken church with a heart of forgiveness. Jesus saw the broken and flawed and he forgave them, then said, “now sin no more.” Forgiveness and correction. Jesus was, is, for the church, his bride, so I want to be, too. Jesus’ heart probably breaks for her, I want mine to, too. Let us lift the church back up to what it should be, not break it down.

   “And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had… they worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity- all while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.” Acts 2.44, 46-47

-Ashley

Joyfully Removed

    The Western church is no longer center stage in modern culture, and as we are shunted aside it seems reasonable to think that becoming more like the world will entice more people into our buildings. Then I come upon Jesus’ words, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Hold up, what?! Blessed are who? It might be a small stretch to equate marginalization and persecution, but I am beginning to think that being pushed out of mainstream culture could be the best thing that has happened to the body of Christ today.

    In his book The Forgotten Ways, Alan Hirsch points to the church in two different times and geographic areas, the early Christian body and the underground church in China. Both of these groups of believers became vibrant and large communities during harsh and unrelenting periods of persecution. Hirsch sees that “Persecution drove both the early Christian movement and the Chinese church to discover their truest nature as an apostolic people” and it “acted as a means to keep these movements true to their faith and reliant on God.”

    But how did these communities turn persecution to power to promote the Kingdom of God? James calls out from the Word, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.” Think about that for a minute. This isn’t telling us to tolerate trouble or to “grin and bear it”, but instead be joyful in it—have a deep, indescribable emotion welling up in us whenever we face trials because of faith in the Lord Jesus. What if, instead of pushing back as we are pushed aside or fearing persecution for our faith, the Western church opened ourselves to the possibility of being collectively JOYFUL? How much more would we be able to point the way to the Kingdom of God if our joy in all situations shone through? Something attracted millions of converts in the early and Chinese churches. Maybe this joy in persecution promised to us by our living Savior can be the way we truly live into our calling as a missional and sent church. Maybe this strange joy from hardship can revitalize us and help us be the instrument and foretaste of the Kingdom we were meant to be for the world.

Kate

Leadership, the Self-Life and the Kingdom

The Franciscan, Richard Rohr in his book on Simplicity wrote:

“Three things that in my opinion we have to let go of are the following: First there is the compulsion to be successful.  Second is the compulsion to be right – even, and especially, to be theologically right…Finally there is the compulsion to be powerful, to have everything under control.” (Simplicity – the art of living  - p. 44)

I am aware that these three tenets might not be that important or convicting to some of you.  They might even seem insipid, but for me they strike at the very core of my “self-life.”  It seems as if I have been on a perpetual undulating cycle of victory over these aspects and re-enshrining them my whole adult life.  Success, being right, and attempting to control everything! 

The thing that makes it even more difficult for those of us in ministry as vocation is there is a baptized version that we need to learn and embrace from business and leadership types that look like they are related to a way that is right, but exacerbates the twitching nerve in us to win, to be aggrandized, to be powerful, to succeed. To be evenhanded, there are those, like Greenleaf, who espouse something more akin to Kingdom approaches, but at least from my vantage point, wisdom from the world jumbled with my own inner-weirdness often creates a striving that must be “put down” if I am to represent Jesus in anyway close to the real Kingdom rendering that is unmistakably found in the Gospels.

Peace,

r

The Rancor of Dying to Self

Why is it so difficult to admit my brokenness…my neediness? 

I suppose it is because all of who I am is built around competency and sufficiency.  I have been reared to be both of those things, but upon entering the Kingdom I must put each down.  I am beckoned to a distinctively unusual way. I know that, but to say that I have reached the end of my competencies and am not completely sufficient is like getting something stuck in my throat…like communion bread without enough wine. 

I presume the trouble comes from the fact that, in some way, it is a part of dying.  This idea really is found easily within the pages of the Gospels.  Take up your cross… Deny… Daily…  The reality is, everything in us resists dying.  One of the miracles of our bodies is that it resists both external and internal elements in a unrelenting quest for survival. Yet, in the Kingdom life, we are called to submit to the dying.  Stop resisting…it is the only pathway to life.  It is the grand reversal ethic of the Kingdom.

Such a difficult and confounding journey for those of us who have prepared most of, if not all of our lives to be competent and sufficient.

r

Should we use the word "Leader?"

While perusing FB today, I came across the below quote from Lance Ford. http://www.facebook.com/lncford

“Both “servant-leader” and “servanthood” are watered-down terms that fall short of the necessary gumption to overcome the leader-centric mentality that saturates the church world. They are but twists on a vague notion of semi-humility. In many evangelical leadership cultures the idea of a servant-leader is in reality tantamount to a benevolent dictatorship.”

I wholeheartedly agree with Lance on the statement (As a matter of fact, I come out of a denomination that actually uses the term “benevolent dictator” as a common descriptor of good pastoral leadership – I am not joking – wait, I just threw up in my mouth as I recalled that fact), but some of the dialogue that followed in the FB thread seemed to be more of a reaction to what I would call an unrestrained American version of what leadership means, which seeks to somehow extricate the term from our vernacular like that will make the throbbing desire for attention or power go away.

I haven't read Lance’s book (so he may deal with this in it), but the question I might have from the FB thread is how does it fit with Paul, while talking about spiritual gifting saying, "the one who leads, do with zeal..." The word means to have charge over or rule. I'm certainly not contesting the servant/slave model or the need to live as a follower under the Kingship of Christ, but to dismiss the term leader seems like it may be an overstatement that misses the point.  Look, leadership happens regardless if we say the word or not.  It can be very good or very bad. Why is there a line to listen to authors (like Lance) or pastors or conference speakers?  An aside: it probably wouldn’t hurt the American church to have moratorium on conferences and guest speakers for a year – any kind of big shot stuff. Revival might actually break out.

BTW – this is not to in anyway dismiss Lance or his book.  I have heard nothing but good things about him from friends I have that know him well. I hope to take a look at the book in the future (as usual, there are many in my queue right now – here is the Amazon link), but I am speaking to a general reactivity to the term that I have been picking up.

What do you think? How should we view the term "leader?"

Is there a legit leadership function that God empowers and uses to help His work in the word?

Are You Apostolic?

There has been much talk recently (at least in the Missional conversation) about the apostolic.  It's function is a critical and needed piece to reforming the church into what it is supposed to be in the world, a beautiful and radiant bride. A community of followers who actually look and act like Jesus. Unfortunately, like much of what happens in the church (particularly with the American, commercialized, hyper-entrepreneurial version) it looks like it may soon be overdone.  Similar to how the term “missional” has grown to mean almost  everything and almost nothing, it appears that the term "apostolic" may quickly move from the arena of being overly stigmatized to over-used (which usually translates to misused). 

Why do I say this? One of the main reasons is seeing how many people now self-identify as “apostolic.”  It’s a veritable contagion.  It seems like any one who actually cares about the world and the gospel fancies him or herself as apostolic.  I am not persuaded.  Case in point: While consulting with a large-ish church recently I had their entire leadership team (staff and elders) take the APEST test (found here).  The APEST is a test constructed by Alan Hirsch, et al that attempts to identify a persons location within the 5-fold leadership functions of Ephsians 4 - Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Shepherd and Teacher. One of the key leaders from this church whose sole role is to teach tested out as apostolic.  When the rest of his team were asked what they saw as his primary calling, to a person, they all cast him as shepherd/teacher.  If this were an isolated example, I would have just chalked it up to a “fluke,” but it hasn’t been.  There are more apostolic folks running around then ever.  You can hardly go to the Grocery store these days without running into an apostle (note sacrasm). Can this really the be?  Has it become the sexy…wanted gifting?  I’m just gonna say it; the church is often simply crazy in it’s panting for the new (or old in this case).

A little advice: If you think you may be called to the apostolic keep in mind at least these two things.

1)   Apostles were and ought to be required to have the recognition of their peers.

Others should be able to attest to the fact that a person is operating in the apostolic.  Like the person cited above, if everyone you are ministering to say that you aren’t, you aren’t (the converse is only potentially true). It is more than a personality assessment. Testing of this function should be done by those who are affected, not by the person thinking he might of might not be. It is really an assessment of impact, not of personal perspective or passion.

2)   Apostles must have specific fruit.

It must be demonstrable. The “proof is in the pudding” (not sure where that saying comes from).  In other words, there should be observable fruit such as established churches (starting one might not be enough), spiritual children in mission and penetrating the gospel into targeted areas.

There are more of these caveats, but these two alone will allow us to begin to parse out the throngs a bit and help us test all things.  We are supposed to be the… “one holy, catholic, and apostolic church.” Again, the "function" of the apostolic is pivotal to the church being who it is supposed to be. We desparately need the church to carry with it an apostolic impluse, but not necessarily a church full of apostles.

BTW - You can even get a cool apostolic button HERE. Check it out.

Galatians 6:9

posted by allie

Is the Church too strong?

By Jeff

I cannot help but wonder if our churches have become too muscular?  Have our churches become immobilized due to overwhelming attendance and the resulting church politics? Is it possible to grow die hard disciples out of a large church? Special Forces soldiers and Rangers are rarely stacked with muscle and yet they are the most effective soldiers in the field. Should we strive to build congregations so full of Christians that they are impressive on the exterior due to mass but rendered ineffective by the very same characteristic that we find impressive?

 

Special Forces soldiers and Rangers are not stacked with muscle for a reason. Too much muscle hinders agility and speed, thus making them a slower target. It seems that we as the Church have placed too much value on well attended services (just as athletes can become obsessed with numbers numerically representing their performance) that we have created congregations that cannot run the race of missions. Unfortunately, since the church has supported the numbers game, the congregants have followed suit. We now have vast amounts of congregants who have overloaded their lives with things that seem to be positive (like muscle) but leave them unable to walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death unless they make some serious sacrifices before they begin their march through the Valley.  We as a church have packed on so much ‘muscle’ that we cannot quickly adapt to the changing currents in the ocean in which we swim.

 

We must become more like Special Forces soldiers or Rangers, we need to cut the excessive muscle and re-gain our agility to navigate through this rapidly changing world.

Marriage and Mission

By Caitlin

If you have ever been to a small Christian college, or know someone who has, then you have probably heard the term “ring before spring.” And it is unusual to find an unmarried seni or pastor at any church. I’ve found that the Christian Church in America definitely emphasizes the importance and sacredness of marriage. Considering that we live in a culture obsessed with sex, this emphasis is probably a good thing. After all, Paul does say in 1 Corinthians  7:9 that “it is better to marry than to burn with passion.”

However, I do wonder if the pressure to find a husband/wife can distract from living out God’s mission. I know many people who, when considering the potential of another for dating or marriage, really only consider whether or not they claim to be a Christian, and if they have chemistry. Both of those are important, but I don’t think it should stop there. Many of  my friends seem to look for that “special someone” first, and consider how they can live out God’s mission afterward. 

We had a group of really wonderful people come into class to talk about living missionally, and two of them were a young married couple who run an organization called Global Neighborhood, which helps refugees from other countries adjust to life in the United States. Both of them had given up everything to follow Christ’s call for their lives, and he blessed them with one another. But I started to think, what if one of them hadn’t listened to this call? Would that have stopped them both from living out Christ’s mission, or just changed the way they do that?

Like almost any other twenty-year-old woman, of course I want to get married at some point. But people look at me strangely when I say, “I’d be okay if I stay single my whole life. ” Especially in the last couple of years, I’ve felt God calling me to the dark places, to work with broken people. I do not really want the American Dream. However, I could see myself being easily swayed and pulled away from following this call if I started considering a significant other’s desires or needs foremost. I think that God plans for some people to serve him as singles, and some as married couples. Why is this such a unheard-of concept to so many Christian college students today?

Tim Tebow: Separation of Church and Life

By Peter

Well I figure that I might as well go ahead and write about the most provocative figures in the country today even though I know more than enough has been said about him already and much more is sure to come.  I just can’t get over how polarizing he is and how obsessed the media has been in creating and fueling the never-ending debates we see or hear about everywhere we go.  Everyone seems to have been sucked into it.  Last week at church the topic was prayer and images we associate with it.  Of course the picture of you-know-who was in there.  More than 42 million people watched Sunday’s game and there were over 9,000 tweets per second about it during and after the game ended.  People are now growing weary of the ridiculous attention he has been getting and wish that there could just be a separation of church and game. 

While I agree that all the commotion is getting a bit overwhelming, I can’t help but be amazed at how this simple act of public prayer and attributing everything he does to God has stirred up this attention.  There are plenty of athletes out there who pray and speak about their faith publicly but for some reason this guy is different.  I’m sure there are plenty of other reasons, namely the actual job he does and the exciting finishes that somehow keep happening. 

A lot of people might criticize him for praying ‘on the street corner’ and being too public about his faith but when Jesus criticized the Pharisees for this it was for being hypocritical and for doing it just to gain attention.  I can’t say for sure that all the attention isn’t perpetuating him further but I do know that he had this faith and prayer habits before getting all the national attention and that his behavior off the field backs up what he is preaching.  (If you are curious you should read Rick Reilly’s recent article about what happens after every game).  I also know that in our culture we really like to separate our work from our play and especially from our religion or faith.  Everything has its place.  Well here we have on the nation’s stage a guy who refuses to categorize his life but lets his faith form his identity, no matter how much criticism he gets for it.