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

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

What is the Missional Church?

I am always poking around the web looking for resources that could be used to help understand the theology of mission.  Here is one that could be a great assest.  John Franke has be a bit of a harbinger of the emerging/missional movment.  He is bright and rooted.  Check it out.

 

Peace,

r

What about the Spirit?

By Josh

In class we have been talking about and reading so many things about becoming a “missional church”. But I have noticed a lack of recognition and dependence on the power and guidence of the Holy Spirit in both the discussion and the books. Everyone has so many good ideas of ways to reform the church and make it into what God intended it to be…..which is not a bad thing in itself; the problem lies in the fact that Christians often take an American entrepreneurial approach in this reforming, and I can’t help but wonder where the guidance and submission to the will of the Spirit is in all of this.

 

It is important to remember that even Jesus, the incarnated Son of God, was led around by the Spirit much like a child is led around by his mother (Matthew 4:1, Mark 1:12). We must also remember that Paul was led and directed by the Spirit in all of his missionary ventures (Acts 13:4, Acts 20:22). In Romans it declares that the Sons of God are led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14). Should we not as Americans, who often have very little in depth vision into the will of God, not rely on the guidance of the Spirit much more than these men did?

 

Yet we see Christian after Christian pursuing missions or pursuing the ministry without ever have consulted the Spirit for guidance. Christians need to be constantly submitting themselves in prayer to seek to know what the will of God is as revealed to them through His Spirit. And until we figure this out, the majority of our church plants will continue to fail within the first few years.

Finding Nemo in the Church

Anyone who has watched the movie “Finding Nemo” knows that clownfish live where? “In an anemonenene”. The symbiotic relationship between the clown fish and the anemone is truly beautiful. The fish constantly feeds on small invertebrates that potentially kill the anemone, and the anemone protects the clownfish with its stinging cells. If either of the two organisms is not present, the remaining one will struggle to survive and probably die.

 

A healthy church has a similar relationship between the sodalic and modalic structures. Examples of sodalic organizations are Youth for Christ and Campus Crusade, while most churches are examples of modalic structures; this is where people are primarily fed and grow in their faith. In simple terms, sodalic organizations bring many new converts into the church, while modalic structures nurture and develop these new converts into servants (which often results in sodalic servants). Do you see how this symbiotic mutualism is similar to the clown fish and the anemone? The modalics feed the sodalics and the sodalics feed the modalics. An example would be a small church that is also a Youth for Christ center. The YFC center would constantly be bringing new converts into the church and the church would reply by developing these converts and placing them in the YFC center. When both organisms are functioning together, life flourishes.  

 

However, in America this symbiotic relationship is rarely found. You see churches all over the place trying to function and draw people in on their own, and you see sodalic organizations converting people and then trying to “place” them in a church (which is similar to transplanting a killer whale into a mountain lake in many cases). Since these two categories in the church are not functioning together, both are struggling to survive on their own. It is similar to a clown fish trying to survive without the anemone; while the fish may survive, it will not be healthy and will constantly be attacked by its enemies. This is all because the clown fish is not living the symbiotic mutualism that God designed it to live in……. and the same is true about the church.

Planting Churches Worldwide - from CA's Connections E-newsletter

The following is from an entry from me in Christian Associates Connections e-newsletter.  If you would like to get these monthly updates, you can type your email in at the bottom of the CA site.

This last March I delivered one of the plenary session messages at CA’s Summit in Spain.  I made a couple of statements that may have come off as a bit confusing.  One thing I said with a bit of bravado is that I don’t want to plant churches.  Now, that comes off a bit peculiar, since I lead a church planting organization.  That is what CA does – we plant churches.  What I mean when I say that I don’t want to plant churches must, however, be qualified.  What I really mean is that I don’t want to plant churches that just do “church.”  I see many churches being planted at this time, but many of them are really simply starting worship services.  The reality is, we don’t need more worship services.  Most churches in most cities have plenty of seats available – right?  Read what veteran missionary and theologian  Howard Snyder says about this dilemma:

“The church gets in trouble whenever it thinks it is in the church business rather than the kingdom business. In the church business, people are concerned with church activities, religious behavior in spiritual things. In the kingdom business, people are concerned with kingdom activities, all human behavior and everything God has made, visible and invisible. Kingdom people see human affairs as saturated with scriptural meaning and kingdom significance. Kingdom people seek first the kingdom of God and its justice; church people often put church work above concerns of justice, mercy and truth. Church people think about how to get people into the church; Kingdom people think about how to get the church into the world. Church people worry that the world might change the church; Kingdom people work to see the church change the world... If the church has one great need, it is this: to be set free for the kingdom of God, to be liberated from itself as it has become in order to be itself as God intends.” 

What we need are churches that represent the reign and rule of Christ in the world.  We need churches that follow the “missionary God” into the world declaring his reign  and demonstrating his Kingdom.  So, in all actuality, I do want to plant churches!  The churches that we need (and we need 1000’s of these kind) are a unique type and breed.
 
To illustrate this let me share with you a story.  I was recently talking with one of our project leaders, and the topic of church planting came up.  As we talked, it became clear to me that this person was ardent in his desire to address the many needs in his community.  I asked him straight out, “What needs do you see around you?”  His response was quick and clear: “In my city the major problems are racism, unbelief in God and profound poverty.”  With even more energy he said, “That’s why I don’t want to plant a church, I want to do ministry to change those areas!”  My response was, “That is precisely why you need to plant a church…a church that is motivated and oriented around God’s power and kingdom.”  See, the problem with many people is that their orientation of the church is so contoured by a faulty view  that they can’t connect the dots.  In many people’s minds, it is this equation: Church = a gathering of Christians vs. authentic incarnational ministry = something besides the church.
 
What I am suggesting is an overhaul, a rebooting of our idea of church.  Most of what you think about the church has been formulated from how church has been done in the “Christianized West.”  I don’t have room here to explain that concept, but suffice it to say that many churches have been built around the idea of taking care of socialized Christians rather than being a missionary community declaring the Gospel to the world. 
 
What we are involved with at Christian Associates is starting a whole new generation of churches that see themselves (identity) as missionaries to their particular city.  In fact, the new iteration of our mission statement says, “Christian Associates creates (establishes) (multiplying or reproducing) churches who follow Jesus in transforming their world.”  To think otherwise is not only an inadequate biblical view of the church; it simply doesn’t seize a person’s heart enough to want to die (or live) for their faith in Christ!!!
 
Do you dream of challenging the injustices in your city, do you long to end poverty, and do you aspire to see scores of new believers raised up to follow Christ?  That is what these new churches do. If that is what ignites your heart like it does mine, let me invite you to partner with us.  That can happen two ways:

1. You can join us in multiplying missional church plants in the cities of Western and Eastern Europe, and Latin and North America!  You can become a missionary with us.  We are earnestly praying for courageous new women and men to join us on the ground to help set in motion this vision of starting 100’s of Kingdom communities worldwide.  Click here if that’s you!
2. You can help resource those efforts!  I will just say it; it costs money to do this work.  We faithfully seek God’s supernatural help, but to pretend that we don’t need resources for these God-sized projects to succeed would be untrue.  We need you to help us.  With your monthly gift of $50…you can partner with us in taking the Gospel to some of the least Christian and hardest to reach areas of the world – the cities of the west!  Will you ask God if you are to join us, to partner with us in this quest? Click here if you would like to begin donating!

We are excited about the future of church planting throughout the world and what God is doing.  We at Christian Associates look forward to partnering with you and many others who are like-minded about bringing the joy of Jesus to a waiting world. 

Rob

"Gazuntite"

"Gazuntite"

In Alan Hirsch’s book, The Forgotten Ways, he talks about how the Gospel spread so quickly in the early church – in the midst of persecution – by making the Gospel “sneezable.”

 

I’ll be honest; I don’t think the idea of making evangelism or missiology analogous to the action of a bodily discharge has ever crossed my mind. I mean even the phrase bodily discharge sounds really awkward and weird - let alone comparing the apostolic efforts of the early church to something I do when my nose is tickled. But upon further contemplation (and reading a little bit further down the page), I find this analogy to sneezing illuminating just as it is provocative.

 

Hirsch argues that the early church was able to “sneeze” the Gospel, or in other words “distill” the Gospel (Note: look up the definition of distill. It is a verb that essentially means to condense - not to remove or compromise - but to condense down to its purest and simplest form, without changing it.) because of the great persecution they were under. In other words, these early Christians didn’t exactly have months or years to really explain and unpack the contents of Scripture in a 12 sermon series. More often than not, these guys (and gals) probably only had minutes.

 

What they essentially “distilled” it down to is this; Jesus is LORD. Hirsch goes into some detail to set up and explain why the proclamation - Jesus is LORD – was so scandalizing and meaningful. We might look at that and think, eh, no big whoop. But to the early persecuted church, affirming or denying those three words was literally a life or death decision. This and other factors helped make this Gospel message spread like an epidemic or infectious disease. It just so happens that many infectious diseases are spread by sneezes. Interesting.

 

My point in bringing this up isn’t much of a point; it’s more of a question. Maybe two or three questions actually. What if, or what/how would it look like, in a modern post-Christendom culture such as ours, to preach the Gospel in a similar “sneezable” manner, that was so “infectious,” it would cause some freak Jesus epidemic? Is that even plausible in such a comfortable and affluent “Desperate Housewives” suburban society?

 

Something tells me that there is a lot to learn from the early church, and also examining how the Gospel still manages to spread like wildfire throughout persecution to this day. It will obviously look different, but I think there are definite lessons to be learned and extrapolated to our post-Christendom/post-modernity culture in 2011.

- jessemac

 

Ten greatest challenges of planting in Urban America - Dan Steigerwald

For over two decades now, I’ve had the privilege of being involved in church planting and pioneering leadership (both directly and/or walking alongside as a coach to such leadership). Realizing that contextual realities make this ridiculous to apply generically across the board, here’s some of what I’ve seen as the greatest challenges to successful church planting. Two things I’ll mention up front: 1) Spiritual warfare isn’t on the list, it’s just assumed at every level; and, 2) the order below does not represent any ranking by importance, just my outpouring of thoughts. I do invite feedback, as I know my list will be found to leave out other critical challenges my mind isn’t grabbing at the moment. NOTE: I’m still using the word “planting” because it’s easier to get around with that descriptor when talking about forming new churches (though “birthing” is maybe more accurate as a term for describing the process of starting missional incarnational churches).

via dansteigerwald4ca.wordpress.com

From my now, very prolific traveling buddy and blogger friend, Dan Steigerwald. Fantastic thoughts Dan!!!

Missional Shifts in the European Church - Martin Robinson

via vimeo.com

Here is a video from friend and theologian, Martin Robinson on changes he sees in the church in Europe.  He leads an organization called Together in Mission (TIM). I had dinner with him in Birmingham a few weeks ago and he shared both optimism and caution about the church in western culture. One thing he did communicate was that he saw few who were reaching the 20 year old in the UK.  A niche that I believe needs passionate Gospel investment.  He see the greatest portion of missional church planting in the suburban context.

If you are interested in missional/incarnational church planting in Europe, check out Christian Associates' website for opportunities.