Emerging / Postmodern / Missional - Say What?

With the ongoing advance of technology, and the growing globalization of our world, we live in what must be the most fast-paced time in the history of humankind. This incredibly fast growth is bringing a variety of nations and cultures into each others back yards. Humans must adapt to a multi-cultural life, where worldviews are continually challenged and changed as human cultures clash and conform at amazing rates. Many would say that the Church has been slow to adapt. Some would say that the Church has been unwilling to adapt. But the reality is that Christ’s Church is still alive and well, albeit a bit behind the times, particularly in the Western cultures.

The heart-cry of many faithful church leaders today is “how do we not only survive the incredible cultural shifts going on around us, but how do we thrive and faithfully accomplish the mission of God, which is to make disciples of all the nations, and bring healing to a broken world?” The Western Church in general is in decline. The problem many in the West are finding is that the institutional mainstream model of ministry passed down to us from our grandparents and parents is no longer functioning in a way that could be described as missional. The mainstream church tends to serve within a local community from an “attractional” position, hoping to provide enough advertising, programs and entertainment to draw non-Christians into the buildings so they might become disciples. The idea is along the lines of “build it, open the doors and they will come”. The attractional model is just not very attractive anymore for postmodern, global, technologically driven younger folks. The average age in most mainstream churches is now somewhere around 50 and above. Frankly, most non-Christians have no desire to attend a “traditional” or even “contemporary” congregation.

Humanity and the Church are at the cusp of one of the most massive cultural shifts in history. Making the changes necessary will prove to be difficult for many. There is much misunderstanding between those who many of the authors I am reading would categorize as Moderns and Postmoderns. In short, Moderns grew up in an Industrial Age, where science was the final word on truth, attending church was the social norm, and the church building was the center of community fellowship. Postmoderns are growing up in an age of high-tech computers and nano-chips, where no truth is easily trusted, much of the culture is hostile to Christianity, and the internet is becoming the center of community fellowship.

The disconnect between the church and the culture is the crux of what many church leaders are struggling with. As followers of Jesus, we are called to be in the world but not of it. We must engage the culture with the good news of Jesus Christ and allow the gospel to transform the culture. What does faithful Postmodern Christianity look like? Many are saying that it looks like historic Christianity has many times over in many different places among diverse people groups. The Gospel has the amazing ability to adapt and speak God’s truth through Jesus in many different ways and contexts. The problem is not the Mission of God and the Gospel, the problem is the institutional ways we organize the church without continually re-imagining our forms with a missional emphasis on engaging the culture and introducing others to Jesus.

Moving the church from maintenance to mission is a common theme among many of the authors I am studying... (Webber, Hirsch and Frost, Pagitt, Kimball, Nessan, Newbigin, Sweet, Oden, Tanner and Hall) Some interesting secular books on the future at hand... (Scharmer - Theory U, Pink - A Whole New Mind, Gardner - Five Minds for the Future)

Click on the Title of this post for a link to Video: Tim Keller, Characteristics of a Missional Church

prayer (for) life

"Be earnest and disciplined in your prayers". - 1 Peter 4:7

Of all the activities we may engage in today: ordinary maintenance and routine, extra-ordinary problem solving, deep thinking and learning, kind actions, holy conversations, community care, world changing developments; the most vital and foundational activity requires intentionality and patience, for truly divine wisdom and character is forged within us when we set apart time to humbly and simply release ourselves to the sacred quiet in prayer. Without prayer we are lost and wandering, within prayer our path is illuminated as we are connected to the Source. Prayer is relationship and power, pure and simple. Prayer is the Maker's way.

QUOTES from: A Pocket Prayer Book - 1941 (given to me at graduation in 1987).

"I have much work to do today, so I will arise an hour earlier in order to have time for quiet prayer." - Luther

"Prayer is not a mere telephoning to God to ask Him to do things, but a developing life, an expanding, a deepening, a heightening, an intensifying of the whole being." - A.H. McNeile

"Lord, what a change within us one short hour spent in Thy Presence will prevail to make!" - Archbishop Trench

FARMING WITH GOD (what a privilege!)

There is no doubt about it – God is a Farmer. And God’s field is a big (from our perspective) blue & green ball spinning around a massive ball of fire in a galaxy we call the Milky Way. This field of the Maker’s imaginings is set in the midst of a universe which is so massive that we can not even begin to fathom the complexity and size of it all. From beginning to end, the Scriptures use imagery of a garden filled with abundant life and good things. Everything is perfect at the beginning (Genesis) and the End (Revelation), but there is that season in-between when something has happened, and the land has been tainted and disturbed. This in-between season has cycles of weather that we could describe in scientific, agricultural terms as “good”, “bad”, and “ugly”. “That was an ugly storm that moved across the western fields yesterday”… “Looks like good weather today in the southern fields, as the sun rises and a cool front blows through”… “A bad storm is brewing over in the middle east fields today”… And so the forecasts and reflections go, a never ending cycle of confusion, disturbances, and occasional peace and hope. But we who know the Farmer, are certain that these weather disturbances are only temporary. We know because the Farmer has told us so.

"My thoughts are completely different from yours," says the LORD. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands! Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow. Where briers grew, myrtles will sprout up.” This miracle will bring great honor to the LORD's name; it will be an everlasting sign of his power and love. (Isaiah 55:8-13)

Seeds are being planted and watered; workers are being called into the fields to prepare for the harvest. Our toil, tilling and sweat is not in vain; the Farmer knows His land, He knows its cycles, He sees the broader picture and He has the patience to bring about an incredible, plentiful crop that will produce abundant life and fullness in this field. The Farmer is not distant and remote, but rather walks among his crops, testing the soil, adding fertilizer where needed, pruning so as to produce much fruit, caring, tending, and enriching the fields as much as is needed, exactly as is needed.

Toward evening they heard the LORD God walking about in the garden…(Genesis 3:8). In the beginning the Word already existed. He (the Farmer) was with God, and he was God. He was in the beginning with God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn't make. Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone. But although the world was made through him, the world didn't recognize him when he came. So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the (Farmer) - Father (John 1:1-4, 10, 14).

His timing and concern is perfect. The Farmer knows the seasons; He does not waste one bit of soul, (excuse me), soil; He scatters seed everywhere with loving care, especially in the marginal zones, in places one would not think to plant. He is a creative master, a botanist of the highest order, and knows how to grow anything, anywhere. He sends His hired hands out to work and tend, to water with loving care, to distribute the fertilizer of His Word of Life especially in those places that seem desolate and unproductive. For the Farmer has a green thumb; He can create life out of emptiness simply with a song.

"Peace be with you. As the (Farmer) has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21).

The Farmer’s awareness is always upon this spinning ball of life, He lingers among His fields, both day and night, and not one little detail misses His careful and precise attendance. He knows when the Harvest will be ready, and all of creation awaits that day with longing and expectation! The Maker’s Way is the most excellent method, and our hope is in the Farmer’s loving care and marvelous wisdom.

Then an angel came from the Temple and called out in a loud voice to the one sitting on the cloud, "Use the sickle, for the time has come for you to harvest; the crop is ripe on the earth” (Revelation 14:15). And the angel showed me a pure river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, coursing down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations. No longer will anything be cursed. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. And there will be no night there-- no need for lamps or sun-- for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever (Revelation 22:1-5).

(link to song Blackland Farmer - just click on post title)