the drum|rob fairbanks

Alternative Politic

If you say you are a Christian, it is not an option – you must begin with theology (who is God, who am I before Him and what does He desire), rather than nationalism or partisanship (what is best for our country or the party I belong to) in discerning how to engage culture. While the latter is important, we must be the best of citizens; it MUST be subjugated to the will and ethic of the Kingdom. The most frightening thing for me is not our new President, or Russia or Islam or Fake News, or some other external influence, though each carry with them a reason for consternation. The thing that frightens me most is the famine of “believers” who recognize the collision of Kingdoms that is taking place around them.

This is unquestionably an indictment on the church for its lack of spiritual formation (a topic for another day).

If you begin with the latter, whether you know it or not, you portray a co-opted version of Christianity that is underdeveloped at best and repelling at worse to those who are sincerely seeking the real thing. #alternativepolitic #kingdomfirst

What Makes a Good Theologian?

What is required to do good theology (when I say theology, I am referring to thinking or studying about God and His relation to the world)?

Surely, there is required an interest or curiousity in the subject (God). One also needs a certain level of discipline and rigor to stay with important ideas. I could also throw in aptitude, time, access to resources, etc.

In addition to the above there is an experiential component to theology as well. It has been said that any theology that does not touch the ground (operates in real life) is bad theology. In other words, it has to make a difference somewhere other than in the academy or on a bookshelf. It has to have some experiential tether point to normal life. That said, the theologian that isn’t able to practicalize (I just made up a word) his or her learning’s is doing theology out of a vacuum, and in turn operating on dangerous ground.

If we are studying about God and learning about God, shouldn't it make its way into real life…where we live…how we interact with our families…our ethics of business...etc.? We're not doing pure technical study or theoretical inquiry; we’re talking about a God who created all things, loves all people and has purposely engaged them.

Jürgen Moltmann says in his book entitled, Experiences in Theology (see in Books that I'm Reading), to be a true theologian you must both suffer with God and find great joy in God. What he is referring to is an experiential approach to theology.

He says that suffering with God means that we have experienced his absence, we have experienced God turning his face from us, like Christ saying, “Why have you forsaken me?” Living in the midst of that and still seeking God provides the foment for proper theology.

Secondly, he says that we need to find great joy in God. He calls it a “theo-fantasy.” Paul might put it, “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice!” Is there a personal connection to what we are thinking? Is there a joy related to our theologizing that changes the way we think about and live life? If not, than our theology may just be a “clanging gong or a resounding cymbal.”

Moltmann summarizes, “The true theology of ‘the children of men’ is participation in the delighted loveplay of the divine Wisdom, which interpenetrates everything created.”  EVERYTHING!

If “practical” theologians…you know, the ones that are normal Christians involved in local churches and working remarkable, ordinary lives…can’t ever understand what the “academic” theologians are talking about, one has to wonder… 

Peace,

r

Pete Rollins - Answers and Questions

(A blog I wrote before coming to Europe - a bit late, but better than never)

I got the chance to go to a couple of lectures a couple of weeks ago by Peter Rollins.  His latest book is entitle, Insurrection and has of late caught much of a certain stream of Christianity by storm.

I don’t want to pretend to do a book review.  That is not what this is.  I have read only half of it and it is interesting, but not paradigmal shifting. What I want to do is simply share a few observations from the lectures.  

Before I do, let me say that I am by nature quite cynical and have to battle it everyday, so, I came to the lecture a bit skeptical.  That being said, I was and am committed to listening and thinking through important issues as even-handedly as possible.

First Impression:

Pete Rollins is short. I don’t say that pejoratively (ok, maybe a wee bit), but just a general observation.  You know, when you hear of someone and you create a mental picture of what they might look like.  I guess I was just a wee surprised (notice that I will use “wee” in this post to relate to Peter a wee bit).

Second observation:

Pete Rollins is a master storyteller.  He is VERY entertaining, scattered, but entertaining. I felt like s Ping-Pong ball, and laughing out loud several times (which is hard for me because it is like kryptonite for my cynicism).  A couple of times I literally had to think about something else to keep from going into “outside laughing mode” – you know, the kind that makes everyone else in the room start looking around trying to spot the disturbance and saying under their breath, “What the hell!”

Third observation:

Pete Rollins is self admittedly not a theologian. All of his degrees are in theoretical disciplines.  That being said, he travels into the theological often and, from my humble perspective misses a wee (Ok, I'll stop with the "wee" thing now) too much breadth of thinking. If I would have had more time, I would have wanted to ask him about his view of grace, more about participating in the cucifixtion of Christ (a part of his book - p. 23) and does he actually believe in the historic view of the Rez. 

Fourth observation:

I got the feeling (although, this is conjecture) that his context was overly affecting much of his system.  He is a philosopher/theoretician AND from Belfast.  Much of what he is about is against false religion and if there is anywhere in the world that has unfortunate religious scaffoldings, it is the city he grew up in (Protestant v. Catholic).  All of us are products of our background and environment to be sure, but Belfast is more different than anywhere else I’ve been in the west.  No, seriously!  There is much diversity in the west, but as someone who travels for a living, Belfast ranks as one of the most interesting and acute contexts I’ve had the privilege to visit. From my perspective, the “religion” that those of us in the PNW of the U.S. experience is only a shadow, a glint of what happens in the name of religion in Belfast. I felt like some of his profound reactive points could possibly be tracked back to this context. 

Lastly:

I didn't feel like he was too weird.  I would love to hang out with him. I came in quite guarded, but came away quite connected with his ideas, particularly his existential bit. 

Ok, a 2nd and 3rd lastly (or some odds and ends):

Here is part of a short email interchange that I had with one of our church planters, Steve Hart of Vintage Faith. Steve is a good thinker and I think he captures some other important elements to consider.

Here's my 2 cents: I appreciate Rollins' desire to show how easily we use God as a means to an end, and that God is actually refusing to do that, and that there is a death that happens as we realize that... But the solution is not to then sit in our brokenness with others and extend grace (that we've not received!) to one another. Confessed brokenness does not bring about Redemption. The solution is to look to the God who is actually there, who is actually putting us to death for the sake of resurrection, so that God becomes not a means but an end in himself. Christianity begins not when we come to God to get stuff, but when he shows us the stuff is killing us and that the only thing God offers us is Himself - and that is all we need! God gives peace, joy, life, meaning, etc, but not as a product. He gives it when he gives us Himself.

You can check out a thoughtful/scholarly book review from Jason Clark here: http://theotherjournal.com/churchandpomo/2011/10/31/book-symposium-peter-rollinss-insurrection-2/

If you have read his book or heard Pete lecture, what are your thoughts? 

Is he in "left field" (heretic) or is he offering a helpful corrective to many of the cultural co-opting’s that exist in the western church? 

A new perspective of the Lilac City

By Troy

Yesterday in class, four local pastors stopped by to give real-life examples of the missional church in action. Colby Ivey from Inland Church in downtown Spokane, Justin Byreans from Kaleo Church in Otis Orchards, Dave Wilkenson from the Porch in West Central, and Eric Blauer from Jacob’s Well in East Central.

 

 I’ve always seen Spokane as just a pit stop in the grand scheme of my life, but this class (and especially this session) has given meaning, roots, and a new perspective of the Lilac City.

 

Some of my favorite thoughts from the morning:

 

- Church planter Dave Wilkenson expressed some regret that he started The Porch with a focus on the worship service instead of ‘doing mission.’  He said if he were to start over, he would have put less focus on gathering for a service, but focus on serving the neighborhood. This angle on church keeps reoccurring in the readings. Healthy churches seem to emerge from people doing mission in a particular neighborhood/setting rather than beginning with a worship service.

- The Church will persevere through this age. Despite difficulties, struggles, and persecution, God is Lord of the Church. In light of this fact, church planting becomes less nerve-racking. The God of the universe is fighting with you. My friends and I have semi-fantasized about starting a church, but the odds seem stacked against us. Yet I was encouraged by the words of Colby Ivey: “What if Jesus really gets a hold of this thing!?” We are called to be humble and faithful witnesses of the Gospel and it’s exciting to see how Jesus works through us.

- Eric Blauer compared church planting to the bench press. Starting a church is like benching heavy weight. When it becomes too heavy, you have to call for help. We need to continue to increase our weight, challenge ourselves, and get stronger.

Do Unanswered Questions Hinder the Mission of the Church Today?

      By Kayla

    A few years ago, I had a close friend of mine question my faith in Christ. She was not raised in a Christian home and to her, Christianity was too much of a question mark to give it a chance. She posed the question to me, “How can you have so much faith in something you don’t know for sure is true?” It got me thinking about why things couldn’t’ just be more concrete. It seemed to me that unanswered questions that commonly arise from biblical analysis are nothing but a barrier to those who may otherwise have believed. In our society, we are so centered on answers. We want to know something is for sure before we invest our time, brainpower, or faith in it.

            Some may see this as being a potential problem for the church. I think that many people have the same dilemma as my friend, there are just too many unanswered questions. So many of us wrestle with things like why did my loved one have to die? Why would an all-loving God subject innocent people to pain and suffering? What is Gods will for me? Does everyone go to heaven? These hard to answer questions are ones that pastors are commonly asked. This issue could easily be problematic for the church and has potential to interfere with ministry. However, I think that it can also be a blessing in disguise. Recently, I read a book called Jesus Mean and Wild by Mark Galli.  The author posed the idea that unanswered questions are a crucial piece in our pursuit of God. They bring us into conversation with our brothers and sisters in Christ and the search for answers keeps us actively invested in the gospel. If the church can embrace these hard to answer questions and treat them as starting points for education and discussion, I have hope that it may make a difference for those who are on the cusp of accepting Jesus.

Missional: Old Testament Basis for New Testament Mission

When we talk about the idea of being "missional" we have to include the entire story of God. That means the narrative from Genesis to Revelation. The story obviously begins at creation and it ends at the new creation. In the middle God chooses to use a people. The headwaters of that story are found in Abraham. The Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:1–3) The charge to Abram was to be a blessing. In Christopher Wright's book The Mission of God's People he writes,

“The last phrase of Genesis 12:2 is actually an imperative in Hebrew – ‘Be a blessing!’, though it is most often translated simply as a consequential statement from the preceding phrases, ‘so that you will be a blessing.’ My own exegetical understanding of the structure of Genesis 12:1–3 sees it as two fundamental commands, each followed by three subordinate or explanatory clauses, climaxing in the last line of verse 3. The skeleton message of Genesis 12:1–3 is this:

‘Go...and be a blessing...and all nations will be blessed through you.’

 Is that not a ‘great commission?’ Is it not, in fact the foundation on which the whole thrust of God's mission, including what is usually referred to as ‘The Great Commission’ in Matthew 28, is based? And if so, this has serious consequences for our understanding of the church as well as of mission.”

He goes on by saying, “When God set about his great project of world redemption in the wake of Genesis 12, he chose to do so not by whisking individuals off up to heaven, but by calling into existence a community of blessing. In other words, the missional thrust of Genesis 12 is also ecclesiological. The origins of the church go back, not just to Pentecost, but to Abraham.”

This is quite stirring for me to think about.  God has always been a sender and that project didn’t begin at the New Testament. 

Many questions arise…like:

• What does it mean to be a blessing today? 
• What did it mean for Abraham?  
• How do we justify a “soterian” Gospel (NT Wright or see Scot McKnight's book The King Jesus Gospel)?  
• How does a “whole story” assessment of mission affect our “pop” understanding of “missional?”  
• How about the question of how community (or the church) interescts with mission?  
• Why was "a people" so important in God's plan?

"...and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you!"

 

Let me hear your thoughts by writing in the comments below.

Ellul on Prayer

Jacques Ellul wrote concerning prayer,

"Theology can tell us what prayer is, can enlighten us on the meaning of the revelation concerning prayer and on the place which prayer occupies in the revelation. It can describe for us accurately 'what man does when he prays.' But all this comes to nothing when man does not pray."

A multi-faceted Gospel (i.e. the “good news” is not as monolithic as we often make it) « Stirrings

I have been preparing for Christian Associates’ 2nd annual North American conference called “Connect.”  On Saturday morning at Connect, our 80 or so participants will wrestle with how we “embody the gospel communally.” The premise is that we default to expressing the good news in quite individualistic fashion, making it harder for normal people to really comprehend the beauty and breadth of God’s message in Christ for the world. The gospel is most clearly understand when embodied by communities that believe it and act as signs, foretastes and instruments of the now-and-not-yet Kingdom of God (as the great missiologist Lesslie Newbigin reminds us).

via dansteigerwald4ca.wordpress.com

A great blog by my friend and colleague, Dan Steigerwald.  He draws heavily from a short essay from Tim Keller as he addresses the many facets of the Gospel.

Let me know know what you think.

Theology Matters Pt 2

I believe that our theology does make a difference. There is a Rich Mullins song that states how important  our theological belief system is. He sang referring to the Apostles Creed, “I did not make it, but it is making me.” I believe that. Our theology is not irrelevant or unimportant, but it forms who we are and how we are to act.

If our theology does not move us to love God and our neighbor more, move us to declare the Christ to the world, and move us to step toward the poor, the disenfranchised and oppressed in a redemptive way, then it may be time to revisit what we believe.  In other words, it should make us different....more Kingdom oreinted.  

Is your theology having that affect on you?  Is your belief in Jesus affecting your thoughts and actions? 

Here is one of the most influential creeds in the church’s history (the one Mullins used to compose his song):

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,

 the Maker of heaven and earth,

and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;

He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;
the holy catholic church;
the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body;
and the life everlasting.

Amen.

 

Theology Matters

I really like this short video clip.  The line that comes on first is, "Theology matters because...what we know about God shapes the way we think and live."

A second line, the statement at the end, "We are all Theologians," is so important.  Anyone who thinks about God is functioning theologcally.  

The critical followup question is: "Is what we know about God true?"

DugDownDeep_Carnahan.mov from Covenant Life Church on Vimeo.