the drum|rob fairbanks

missional life?

Sample dialogue for any conversation ever right now
Well-meaning person: well now, and what are you going to do after graduation? 
Me: *turns into a monster taco and eats them*
Okay, actually I mumble something about looking mainly for internships and a few jobs, mostly in churches. But inside that panic attack is kicking into high gear. I’m not making assumptions for the rest of the senior class, but I have no clue where I’m going to be after graduation. What I’m going to be doing. Where I’ll be living. 
Hello, terror. 
Worst of all is that feeling that I won’t end up in the right place, that I’ll suddenly discover I hate what I’m doing and now I’m stuck with it. for me, that confusion is compounded, because I’m about to switch to only a music ministry track and what if I suddenly decide music ministry is just not for me? or I’m really bad at it? I can barely stumble through the prayers of the church on Sundays, and I want to lead services? 
Okay, step back for a second, Anna’s just writing a post about general graduation freakout, we’re in a class called missional church, how do these connect? 
Well, they sort of do in my mind. When I track my terror to its source, it’s that I’m not sure I’m going to end up in the right place. And oh, God’s not going to guide me to the right place? God has no plans whatsoever? great. Once again, my anxiety is really just me pushing God away. No big deal, I got this, I’ll panic about it on my own thanks very much. 
Wherever I end up in four months, God’s going to have work for me to do there. And this is the big takeaway for me from this whole class: I’m on mission for God wherever I am. Whether I’m living in my parents’ basement or working at a megachurch (or both), I’m living out God’s mission. And as long as I spend a lot of time prayerfully asking for guidance, I can’t go too far wrong. 
Can I?

Anna

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

Being Missional Will Kill Me

    Relationship. This is the word I keep coming back to the more I learn about the true calling of the Church and the people of God. Everything centers on the idea that to be a “city on a hill” we have to have relationships with the people around us that will allow them to see what the family of God looks like and what being a dedicated disciple of Christ really means. And, yes, I love the idea of “doing life” with fellow Christians and living in a way that shows what the gospel is about.

    BUT, I am terrified at the idea of relational. I’m not kidding; I am not good at first impressions, holding coherent conversations, making small talk, meeting new people, etc. Don’t get me wrong, God has given me a heart for people and I love being around those whom I already know, but for some reason God also made me a person that would rather stay in a corner than engage others. So when I think about starting conversations with strangers and putting myself out there with other Christians, it scares me.

    At times it is easy for me to tell myself that God must have a more “behind-the-scenes” plan for my place in the Church, since He made me an introvert. However, I have realized that in some way or another Jesus calls everyone to radically change who they are and how they act when they join the family of God. He asks us to lay down idols and sins and our old selves in order to abide in Him and rescript our stories to include the fullness of life that He wants to give us. Jesus says to us in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” What if, for me, denying myself means denying the part of me that would rather not talk to anyone? It might be that being missional will kill that part of me, but I am called to die to myself anyway; “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” Reaching out to strangers and engaging the world might scare me, but if stepping outside of my shell and into Christ’s power allows me to be a part of the work of the Kingdom of God, then it will be entirely worth the pain of death.

Kate

Eucharistic Mess

Jessica

Yes, the Bible does critique your facebook posts.

   Today in class we talked a bit about social justice for the starving and extorted and powerless, talking through Nehemiah 5 and the situation there. Quick summary: the Israelites are extorting their own countrymen, and these countrymen complain to Nehemiah that they no longer have money for food and so are forced into mortgage and slavery. Nehemiah rebukes the nobles and officials, asks them to throw out their usurious ways, and then sets the example by feeding his fellow men and not taking the taxes and food he is due as the governor.

    There’s the example the bible sets—feed the hungry, redeem the enslaved, set a good example for everyone. This picture I pulled off a friend’s facebook page (someone I would consider a deep and sincere lover of the Lord) says something entirely different. If we feed the hungry, they’ll become dependent on us. I know this picture is only meant to be sort of funny, but it sends a powerful message that the Christians liking and reblogging can’t really mean, and yet we espouse all the time. I hear it from my parents, my home church, peers at Whitworth. We believe that everyone is offered the same opportunities and those who are poor simply didn’t take advantage of those—so it’s their fault they’re starving, suffering, powerless. It’s a completely American attitude, and yet we’ve pulled it in and started expressing it as part of our political views despite the way it contradicts everything our Bible teaches us.

    I’m looking at Nehemiah this way: we are the governors, the noblemen and the officials. Right now we’re Nehemiah, looking at the people and saying “you didn’t save enough grain to feed yourself. You made bad financial choices, went with the wrong mortgage, didn’t raise your kids properly. And if we feed you, redeem your children from slavery, and give you power in place of powerlessness, you’ll only become dependent on us and rely on our free handouts.”

    I’m exaggerating. Even the people who would trash food stamps and welfare programs help out at a homeless shelter from time to time, do laundry for the clothing bank. But in some sense we look at these things as beneath us—and therefore, the people who utilize the ministry as beneath us too. That needs to change. We need to become the biblical Nehemiah. 

Anna

Not Doing What the World Says I Should

    I’m not sure how to handle forgiveness. The culture tells me I’m entitled to my grudges, my animosity, my lifelong hate against someone who wronged me. My friends tell me that I shouldn’t allow that one person back into my life—much less forgive them. That it’s idiotic for us to be close friends after the devastating breakup. That the walls I build are justified.  

    Christ and his kingdom step in and call me quite clearly, against the expectations of the world, to tell an alternate story. To forgive seventy times seven, yes, but also to be perfect as my Father is perfect. And yes, that’s great, and yes, I tell myself that I have forgiven and so fulfilled the letter of the law but I still hold a seed of hatred in my heart. I beg off forgiving completely, because they hurt me, they used me, whatever the situation may be, I’m completely and undeniably justified.

    And recently, all that’s been thrown back in my face. Because the letter of the law is there, but no spirit, no heart. This was never and should never have been about me. Rob said in class that forgiveness is the most important tool we have to give people a foretaste of the kingdom, and I’ve been focusing much too hard on myself and my hurt to realize that I should be extending an open hand, declaring boldly that

the kingdom of God is near. No reservations or qualifications. No second guessing. This is about as countercultural as I have ever been. It is everything the world is telling me not to do.

But that is exactly what Christ is calling me to do.

I forgive you. The kingdom of God is at hand.  

Anna

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

"We Need to Kill the Church"

    
“We need to kill the Church.”  As a lingering skeleton of good intentions, the Church has become ineffective at relaying the only knowledge that truly matters in this world—telling all who Jesus truly is.  When I say, “We need to kill the church,” I am speaking about the institutionalized Church of our current day which caters to societal trends, fashions, and the myriad of other “things” that draw people in to church each week.  However, something is lost when we glitz and glam up our churches to fit the marketplace.  That same “something” is also lost when we stand, stiffly and uncomfortably, waiting for praise and worship to end, so we can finally sit down and mindlessly listen (or daydream) while the pastor, priest, or whoever stands on stage for forty minutes talking about how Jesus died for our sins.  The same “something” is even lost in services where enthusiastic worshippers get that “tingly feeling” during a “really good song” or those chills when the pastor brings a sermon home.  These “somethings” are self-edifying, but sadly, they stay within the walls of the church building never to see the light of day.   What is lost?  Jesus.  This man who was born as the lowest of low, who knew ultimate joy, and suffered an unimaginably brutal death is lost.  There is no raw, real Jesus in our institutionalized church today; we have fashioned Him to be either a condoning sweetheart (so we can feel good about ourselves and our actions) or a hardnosed, fire and brimstone bringer of wrath and judgment (so we can look down our noses at homosexuals, druggies, and all the “true” sinners of the world).  So, let us, as the Body and Bride of Christ, choose to shut this “Church” down.  This “Church” that is more a business seeking consumers than a delightful extension of our missional God. 

    This is not to say there are no churches doing it right; that would be absurd!  Of course there are churches, many, who seek after Jesus with everything in their being.  Unfortunately, our society (even Christians) send these churches into exile and deem them crazy radicals. Salvation and eternal life are radical concepts; shouldn’t we believe so passionately to the point of fearlessly seeking God’s holistic view, and not just pieces of it?  We understand the world does not know us because our identity is in Heaven, so let’s not become offended when people disagree with us for making waves.  As long as our actions are biblical and in accordance with God’s character and will, we are surely a force to be reckoned with!  Through community, sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, and the ability to imagine in radical ways, we can collectively step into our role as the true Body of Christ, how the Church was intended to be. Arise, Church, as the hands and the feet and the ears and the eyes of Christ to kill this institutional “Church” and bring Jesus to the center where He belongs.  In this way, we, as the body of Christ, and the whole world will be forever changed.

Jamie

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

The Challenge of MIssion in the West - An Interview

Here is an interview I did for an organization called, The Aqueduct Project.  I am answering questions about the challenges of mission work in western culture.  There is a part 2 coming, but thought this first installment might prove helpful for many of you.

For the interview click here: Mission Work in Western Culture

Peace,

r