TK Chapters 18+ :: Inviting In

Well, today, I'm going to finish up the posts on Tangible Kingdom by combining the last few chapters.  I am glad that we ventured out in this book together, but it's gone a little long and I'm not sure who has read the book, who has finished the book and who is waiting to jump back in when we move on.

Saturday night, I wrapped up our final night at family camp with a lot of Tangible Kingdom thoughts.  I taught about the Living Out and Inviting In at the back of the book.  We've discussed the Living Out, but here's the recap..

• LEAVING is about replacing personal or Christian activities with time spent building relationships with people in the surrounding culture.  Selfishness is the enemy of leaving.
• LISTENING is eally more about what you do with your eyes instead of just your ears.  Arrogance is the enemy of listening.
• LIVING AMONG is participating in the natural activities of the culture around you, with whimsical holiness.  Fear is the enemy of living among.
• LOVING WITHOUT STRINGS is giving your life away to others without expecting anything in return.  We love because that's simply how Jesus lived.  Expectations are the enemy of loving without strings.
  

That brings us to the INVITING IN part of living in God's Kingdom in a tangible manner.  Once we connect with those in the culture around us, we must be clear about what we are inviting them into.  Halter describes three areas in which we invite people into...

1. Communion represents “oneness” - those things that make up our communal connection and worship of God.  The more we become “one” with Christ, the less consumer oriented we will be.
2. Community represents aspects of “togetherness” - those things we share as we form our lives together.  The more we do “together,” the less individualistic we will be.
3. Mission represents “otherness” - the aspects of our life together that focus on people outside our community.  The more we do for “others,” the less materialistic we will be.

Consumerism, individualism and materialism are the greatest enemies of biblical community today.  Every excuse we make about engaging in the life that Christ wants for us.  It keeps us from engaging with those who walk the same journey with us, and it keeps us from living it all out in the middle of the culture that wraps us up in everyday life.

Tangible Kingdom has proven to be a very rewarding read for me.  I have been affirmed by much of the book and challenged by others.  While the book started off a little bit like every "missional" book, and tempted me and others to discard it because it was just another pastor who seems to brag about drinking and riding his Harley, there was enough in each chapter to keep me reading and laughing.  Then it kicked into hyper-drive and was a great read after that.  

I'm not sure if I'll venture down this road again with a book, but I'm glad we did it once.  Next post is back to "embracing the Christ-life in every place with everything, everyday!"

TK Chapter 17 :: Loving Without Strings

"We think God tells us to serve in order to get people to respect us or like us so that they'll accept our God.  The real essence of biblical blessing is that it's done with no strings attached.  Hopes, desires, fervent prayer, yes - but no strings at all attached." (p143)

How can we reach out and into our world around us without having certain "strings" attached.  When we talk about neighborhood life, we are not talking about Springs small groups functioning so more people can come to the Springs.  We are not reaching out to our neighbors, so they will come to church with us.  We talk about reaching out and into our world for no other reason than loving our neighbors.  Period.

Living the life of Jesus in our homes, neighborhoods, workplaces, ball fields, gyms, courses and malls, has everything to do with being for the sake of being because God called us to be.  All of us can sniff out someone who is being friendly to us with an agenda - at least most of the time.  We can tell something just isn't right when we are getting snowed.  

Jesus said love.  Jesus was the perfect embodiment of love.  Not some weak-kneed, everything is all good, kind of love, but a love that put the interests of others in front.  A love that told the unimportant that they were important.  A love that lifted up the ones who were pushed down.  A love that allowed someone to shout, when everyone was telling them to be quiet.  A love that accepted when others judged.  A love that defended when others attacked.  A love that attacked when others defended, too.

How easy is it for you to love without strings?  If you are like me, you are tempted to say easy almost immediately.  But stop and think.  Your words are only as valid as your lifestyle.  I want to say I love without strings, but my life doesn't always demonstrate that to be true.  I love to be loved all too often and when I don't get it back, I stop dishing it out.  That just sux.  I don't want to be that way, and I honestly think God is changing me in this area.  It's getting easier.  I am not looking to abandon my expectations of others, but I am trying to remove the prerequisites I have often imposed.

TK Chapter 16 :: Living Among

The question that seems to be at the heart of living incarnational in our culture today is a question of holiness.  Grace is good and the freedom that Christ provided in his death and resurrection is real, but what about holiness?  Doesn't the bible say that we are to be holy, even as He is holy?  Aren't we supposed to come out and "be ye separate"?

Holiness is absolutely a requirement of Scripture for the one who stakes their claim in following Jesus.  The question is not whether holiness is required, but "What is holiness?"  Jesus came and embodied perfection...he was holiness in the flesh.  The interesting thing about Jesus is that he did many things that were considered "unholy" by the religious elite of his day.

For whatever reason, the church at large has theologized the idea of personal holiness to exclude normal interaction with the world. (p136)

We write the mission of our church in bold letters on placards in the halls of our buildings that we want to be like Jesus, but few of us (Christians) are actually willing to step out and live like Jesus.  We are imposing rules and calling them "convictions" all in the name of protecting, or really controlling, our children.  In so doing, we develop a lifestyle that actually grows to look less and less like that of Jesus, rather than increasingly looking more like his live in this world.  In living like this our lives become defined more by what we do not do than who we are.  This "theology of 'extraction' creates a peer pressure to move away from the world in all its forms." p(136)

But if we remove all of the "don'ts" then that just leaves us to do whatever we want...no matter.  Well, sort of, but not exactly.  We have to align our "incarnational theology" around our mission as a people of God.  Paul clearly opens up a door to freedom previously inexperienced in the faith community of his day, but he does not allow freedom cart blanche.  As followers of Christ, we are limited only by what Christ would or wouldn't have done.  This produces incredible freedom, but also requires a measure of discipline and self-control that seems to be lacking in our culture.

Living among means participating in the natural activities of the culture around you, with whimsical holiness. (p136)

This kind of incarnational living is going to require that we be willing to integrate our families into the fabric of our society.  This involves knowing our society.  As mentioned in the previous chapter, the way we get to know our culture is to listen to it.  This does not mean that we adopt a family model that fits in Seattle, WA, if we live in League City, Texas.  Incarnational living is much more intentional than copying some form of living from one area and dropping it into a new area.  We have to listen to the people we live and work with in order to gain an understanding of what Halter calls "the natural activities of the culture around us."

I Corinthians 9 and 10 give us a peek into Paul's approach to this issue:

To become like those without the law meant that Paul could overlook rules and regulations that would have otherwise governed his life under Jewish law.  If they aren’t an issue to the pagans, Paul could participate freely as long as he didn’t transgress clear sin issues or his own personal conscience. (p137)

Incarnational life requires that we contextualize all the “warnings” found in the epistles with the larger context of the life of Jesus as recorded in the gospels.  In other words, we’re going to have to learn all the things we can do instead of limiting ourselves based on a few things we’re warned to avoid. (p137)

If we began to "be like Jesus...with those who Jesus would have been with" would our lives look differently?  Back several chapters, we discussed posture - that behavior doesn't change until the heart changes.  When we remember this, it's easier to live whimsically with others who do not yet know Jesus.  Sometimes, we simply need to relax.

The issue isn’t so much about how far you can go to “do evangelism.”  Its more about whether or not we will enlarge our view of discipleship to include behaving like Jesus did with the types of people Jesus would always have made a priority.  You can’t be a follower of Jesus, unless you actually follow him. (p139)

“My prayer is not that you take them out of this world but taht you protect them from the evil one” (John 17:15)

TK Chapter 15 :: Listening Part 2

Okay, okay...in case some of you didn't catch the sarcasm of the last post, I have something else to post about Chapter 15.  I think this is the shortest chapter in the book, but it does have something very crucial to our succeeding as a church plant in our community.  When you and I listen to the people around us, what do we hear?  You see, listening is more about observing than abut hearing.  It's about really "knowing" the people around us.

"When you hear the word listen, you probably think it's about setting up a coffee time and trying to ask probing questions.  It may include that, but our kind of listening is really more about what you do with your eyes instead of just your ears." (p132)

If all we do is rely on demographic data in order to provide for our community, we will miss it.  That is superficial listening and is "about generalities and stereotypes."  We learn a lot more from sitting at a local pub or coffee shop for an hour watching and listening to the people around us.

How would our perception of our neighborhoods be different if we took some time to really listen to the neighbors around us.  Sit down for dinner or sit out in the driveway and ask questions about them.  It's not that you are trying to "get somewhere" with that person, but simply getting to know that person better.  This kind of listening can't be done in 30 second soundbites at the mailbox or a wave from the car.  We have to invest...don't we?

TK Chapter 14 :: Leaving

[Leaving is] about replacing personal or Christian activities with time spent building relationships with people in the surrounding culture.” (p127)

When you think about some of the most intiamate activities believers can do together, you might list prayer, worship, leadership development, fellowship or communion.  All these are things “believers” do.  Yet, when you look at the biblical story, we find believers doing these activities in the midst of sojourners or “outsiders” all the time. (p128)

If we are going to get the fullness of this book...the fullness of the missional life, we must understand that Leaving is the first step in this incarnational process.  If we are going to be the body of Jesus in our communities, we must take this step.  For many people, this is the most difficult step to take.  It's easy to read a book, easy to read these blog posts, easy to talk about being tangible, incarnational and missional.  It's not so easy to actually "leave."  In fact, when I first read the quotes above, I had a sinking feeling in my throat that made me nervous.  Halter goes on to say that 99% of the miracles of Jesus and the disciples were done outside the church.  That alone begs the question, "Why did He set it up that way? And how does that translate to us?"

If being missional is about being more like Jesus was when he walked this earth, then I must do what I have to in order to be more comfortable being "out there" with others.  Over the past 7 years, I have grown more intentional in this process, even though I'm nowhere close to where I should be.  A few weeks ago, we were in Fort Worth picking up our daughter from the grandparents, and we went to one of our favorite restaurants.  We got there and one of the waiters we had gotten to know several years back was still working there and we got her section.  We enjoyed dinner with a friend serving us - it was awesome!  More recently I have gotten to know Lee at Burger House in League City.  He has become a friend because of the time I invested when we first started eating at his restaurant.  I try to be intentional about meeting neighbors outside by the mailbox - just last week, I visited with some new neighbors.

You may be saying, "Whoopee, this isn't that big of deal," and you'd be right.  It's not.  In the end, my intentionality helps me get to know some of the people around me.  I want to know what makes them laugh, cry, jump, shout, ponder, wonder, hope, fear, celebrate and dance.  Why?  No reason other than that they were made in the image of God and when I see them I see Him, when I listen to them, I hear Him, and when I serve them, I am serving Him.  And that stirs my soul.  I'm not keeping one eye open for a chance to "share the gospel presentation" with them...I am keeping both eyes open and attempting to be the Church wherever I am and whomever I am with (or whoever, also).  You see, for me, there is no church Brad or work Brad or whatever Brad...I'm just me everywhere.  

How easy is it for you to "leave" the comforts of your everyday routine to meet new people or invest in relationships right in front of you?  Is it easier for you to invite someone to "church" or to invite them to come alongside you in your life journey?  Our "class" seems to be struggling about this time of the summer...don't give up...push through...keep the conversation going...if not here, in your own life with people you care about and who care about you...be the church!

TK Chapter 12 :: Tip It Over

"The pyramid structure was an appropriate form when a large portion of the culture valued and looked for a good church to go to - when leaders

 were respected by the culture and when people assumed you to go

 church to find God.  The form fit the function.  But when the culture is no longer looking for a church to go to, isn’t that interested in church music,

 sermons or programs, when they don’t innately value or trust church leaders, the functions of the church must be adjusted.  And thus the form must adjust in kind." (p108)

Are the people in our culture today looking for a good church?  Do they believe that to find God, they have to go to church?  From my experience with those who don't attend church, I hear things like "I don't have to go to church to meet God" and "Church doesn't really help me connect with God."  Those statements do tend to show that something is different with this culture than with that of my grandparents.  

I'm not sure that the deconstruction of the "image of the church" is such a bad thing, either.  In just about any given community, 80% of the people do not attend church on a given Sunday morning.  That's a lot of people.  In my city, that's more than 53,000 people.  Obviously the form is not working for these people.

Halter proposes a new structure, he calls "The Missional Diagram."  If we are going to begin to reach into this culture that is drifting away from the church, but often looking for God, we would do well to consider his ideas.

Here is a short description of the diagram - Missional People are those of us who have considered the calling of a relationship with Jesus and surrendered to that way of life.  We have clear beliefs and practices, and God is forming something new in us.  We are committed to penetrating the culture we live.  Sojourners are those who have not yet surrendered to the same relational way of life, but are interested in things of the Kingdom of God.  They are often dabbling in the community expressions of the missional people because they are appealing.  Pew Sitters are those who call themselves Christians and maybe even attend church on a regular basis, but they are not on mission - they are not out and penetrating their communities, living as Jesus would live in the midst of our culture.  It is interesting to note that sometimes "sojourners" are more missionally committed than pew-sitters.  They serve more, give more, love more.

My questions right now center around how to incorporate Sojourners into the life of our church - and I'm not primarily referring to the Sunday gatherings.  How do we invite Sojourners to our Tables?  How do we "come alongside" them in the journey of life?  Are there certain "convictions" that I might need to put down in order to live with those who don't know Jesus?  Do I continue to create the security bubble for my family, or do I trust that God will work all things together for good in our experiences with those who live outside our value system?  If 80% of my neighbors do not go to church on Sundays, how can I step into that world with them?  Should I?

"The dotted line around the Sojourner oval is very important.  Unlike the missional people, Sojourners can come and go as they like.  They can sin, cuss, swear at their kids, yell at the ref, spend their money on useless endeavors, vote any way they want, chew tobacco, and hold any sexual orientation they like, all without judgment or pressure."

This is what we mean by inclusive Christian community. (p116)

Go Hard or Go Home

Today, I read about 4 chapters while I was riding my bike at the YMCA.  I'm not going to comment on them all today.  What struck me today was what I was overhearing next to me as I rode.  There were two guys in the their 30's peddling away next to me and as they neared the end of their ride, I heard one of them encouraging the other to "Go hard or go home."  He was almost mocking the saying, but it definitely got Buzz moving faster and they both finished strong.  It even got me to pump a little faster!

For those of you who set out on this Tangible Kingdom journey with us, the "pain" is about to pick up.  I believe that Chapter 8 :: Paradigm is the pivotal chapter of the book.  I'm now through Chapter 17 and, looking back, I can see that clearly.  If you are struggling to keep up with the reading or just decided to put it down and not push through, I believe that you will miss something special.  So much of this book is wrapped around the missional principles that drive me personally, our family and The Springs.  I have been challenged to my core and encouraged in our journey.  I don't want anyone to miss this, so keep it up.

If you feel the need to comment on pages beyond my post, please email me.  I may start posting chapter discussions more frequently since the chapters get shorter (four chapters today were less pages than chapter 8).

Also, if any of you are interested, I am opening a face-to-face discussion at 9am on Sunday morning in the conference room at the Y.  Our gathering starts at 10, our students are meeting at 9am in the Aerobics Room across from the gym and we can just sit around the table in the conference room and talk through our journey over a cup of joe.  If you've been reading the book, the blogs or both, come and join us!

Chapter 7 :: The 1,700-Year Wedgie

Well, after getting a bit off-track at the end of last week, I hope to refocus our attention on the book. In so doing, maybe we can clarify the journey we are on just a little. The discussion was good on Sundays, but not what I had hoped. By the way, I had a great Sunday with my church yesterday. We worshiped, we played, we celebrated dads and it was encouraging. So, for those of you who might be worried that I'm not experiencing anything good in my Sunday expressions of the church, that just is not the case.

Now for today...The 1,700-Year Wedgie. Just reading the chapter title brought back memories of 7th grade sleep-overs at friends houses! Once I got passed my juvenile tendencies, I settled in for a great 7-page chapter. Here is the first part that grabbed my attention:

"When we call for the ancient way of church to return, we are calling for a return to this revolutionary position, outside the center of the dominant culture." (p51)

Right now, I am sitting at "The Chick" (Chick-fil-a), writing and I am listening to music that at one time was reserved for the privacy of one's own heart and maybe a youth campfire service. As I look around, no one is bowing, no one is lifting their hands, no one is clapping, no one is singing (out-loud). The Chick just might be the most popular fast-food restaurant in our area. There are always people here. That being said, "worship music" plays on the stereo and people hardly even notice. I love The Chick and I hope they keep playing the music, but to me it is an example of how the church has lost it's revolutionary position.

"The ancient church influenced the world not by lightening up their values or by veiling them, but by living them out in plain view of the culture around them. Their lives exposed and challenged the present value system with new Kingdom values." (p51-52)

I see this as achievable for the Church today. I do not want to go back to primitive dwellings, no electricity, no cars, no this no that. I have said before that I love our modern amenities. However, there is a place in the culture that the ancient church occupied that I want to get back to. Don't misunderstand our push for ancient church as a push for method - it's about mission!

Halter then moves into 3 specific cases where Kingdom values replaced current values...and can again!

1. The Value of Sacrificial Community (Acts 2:44) - operating like a spiritual co-op, where people had their needs met within the community
2. The Value of Confrontation (Acts 5:1-11) - because incarnational practices are relational, confrontation is much more direct and affective.
3. The Value of Inclusive Community (Acts 11:1-18) - God was getting Peter ready to change how Peter viewed people, especially the "nonbelieving Gentiles." The Good News was there for everyone - man, woman, young, old, slave, free, Jew and Gentile.

It's easy for us to get caught up in conversations about Sunday morning - nice conversations, by the way - but ultimately we all have to ask ourselves serious questions about our experience, no matter what flavor. In the early church, nobody repainted the picture to make it more attractive - in fact, a case could be made that Jesus often made His Way less appealing to those with whom he shared. "God's strategy of challenging valueless values with Kingdom values was the way the church grew in respect and in numbers." (p54)

These three specific values are increasingly difficult in the sterile environment of large group gatherings, but not so in smaller groups of relationally connected people. Yes, we can all come together and pool resources and gather 1000 backpacks at school, but the impact of a small group pooling their resources to support a family in the group whose husband has lost his job, is not only revolutionary to the one being served, but to the rest of the group as well. Sure, the speaker at a large gathering can "confront" everyone in the room with the words he says, but personal confrontation from people we trust and who know us goes a lot further for both the confronted and the one confronting. We can have services that involve people in large room of different colors and maybe different versions of the same belief, but in the smaller group context we can have people of any, all or no faith sitting in a room discussing their views of everything from Tiger Woods to the early apostles, and it's good.

This chapter gave me further clarity in the reason we are sailing in uncharted waters as a small church plant. We refuse to settle for good things, when better things might just be around the corner. As others have stated recently, different does not always equal better, but when the goal is to see people relationally connected to God and to their neighbors, different methods must be explored, lest we just repeat the same patterns of ineffectiveness as our predecessors. I for one, want more and I know there is more out there.

Chapter 5 :: Moving Violations

"As I once heard, 'Doing church differently is like rearranging chairs on the Titanic.' We must realize that slight tweaks, new music, creative lighting, wearing hula shirts, shorts and flip-flops won't make doing church more attractive. Church must not be the goal of the gospel anymore. Church should not be the focus of our efforts or the banner we hold up to explain what we are all about. Church should be what ends up happening as a natural response to people wanting to follow us, be with us and be like us as we are following the way of Christ." (p30)

This is the passage that resonated most with me in this chapter. How many times have we looked at our "gospel presentations" and found only an invitation to attend a church. One of the large churches in our country that I have learned a ton from even used it as a strategy - Invite them to a service and we'll take care of the rest! No, no, no! I am not an advocate for cold-sell evangelism strategies, but I do believe that when people look at our lives - personally and corporately - they should see an accurate reflection of Jesus. The way they see that in us is if we invite them to something bigger, something more substantive, something more engaging than a "worship service."

The focus should not be about the show. Cameron and I sat at the Chick today discussing our "Sunday services" and especially this weekend, and our desire is for the gatherings on Sundays to be a result of something more, not an end in themselves. Both can be good and both are needed, but the church has been too preoccupied with themselves on Sunday mornings for too long. I am weary of come-and-see ministries because the "show" is not what is attractive to the people we hope to meet and introduce to Jesus. What appears to be attractive now is the life lived the way Jesus would live - people actually taking seriously the living out of the Christ-life in every place, with everything, every day!

Let's talk now...

Chapter 3 :: Tremors

As I thought through the five tension points, the one that garnered the most emotion from me was #4 - the tension that comes from seeing the structure of the church falling, and realizing that everything the church stood for might go down too.  When I first read this, I thought he was being a little extremist, but I kept reading. The top paragraph on page 19 is me!  I am what Halter would call a "Galilee Christian" and in many ways this is messing with everything I've grown up with, while in other ways it's bringing clarity like never before.

Pete, your comment yesterday was dead on.  I very much believe that we ought to be more about knowing Jesus than knowing about him.  Sometimes I read a book and think, "Wow, our hearts connected," meaning that what I am passionate about, I found expression in the writings of so-and-so author.  I want that to be true of me and Jesus also.  I want my "heart" to connect to his.

I really do believe that if we start with the life of Jesus and let that impact how we live, then our expression of how we do church will not only make more sense to us, but will actually be impacting our communities.  The ground underneath my ecclesial feet is shaking and it can be nerve racking, but isn't that how the disciples lived with Jesus for 3 years?

Tangibility of the Kingdom

As I sat at breakfast with my friend, Pete, this morning, something came clear to me.  One of the things that drew me to reading this book was the title - "The Tangible Kingdom."  I grew up in a Southern Baptist church that didn't talk much about the tangibility of the kingdom of God.  I grew up thinking that the Kingdom was much more cerebral...and even something that would come later, not necessarily something that was now.  Part of this may have been by accident, but some was by design.  As Baptists, we had a very strong aversion to works-based salvation.  We believed, as do I today, that our salvation is not earned by good works, but by the grace of God's sacrifice of Jesus.  It's a gift.  However, this also kept us from ever really emphasizing the "good works" that are referenced in the book of James.  I grew up thinking that the correct "good works" were going to Sunday School, going to church, reading the bible, giving to the church, going to discipleship training, going to visitation, going to prayer meetings and possibly going on a "mission trip" once a year.

Those all seem tangible, but not very Jesus-like.  The tangible kingdom of God seems to be more about caring for the orphans and widows, giving food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, releasing captives and proclaiming freedom to those in chains.  Today, it's the latter tangibility that I desire.  I've tried the other and there was still a void left in me.  I am now looking for more and am finding that more in opportunities to serve others - cookies to this neighbor, watching this neighbors house while on vacation, helping build a house for someone in need, helping repair a home for a family who can't do it themselves, gathering shoes for AIDS orphans or gathering supplies for those same kids.  I even love walking through valleys of disease, wayward children, deaths of parents with those in my circle of community.  I love the tangibility of hanging out with my community, in my neighborhood, of sitting at a friends bar on Sunday afternoon and him on the kitchen counter, talking about...it really doesn't even matter.  It's people.

People are the tangible expression of the image of God, aren't they?  If you think you can experience the kingdom of God apart from people, I believe you are missing it.  But that's just me.  "I would hate the ministry, if it weren't for the people!"

"The Tangible Kingdom" - A New Opportunity for All of Us

Over the past couple of weeks, I have journeyed through Eat This Book by Eugene Peterson and some of you walked this journey with me.  This time, I'd like for us to take a journey together.  This is a new thing for me and for our church, but my hope is that in this journey together, we find a new way to study and learn from one another.  Some of you let me know that you wanted enough time to pick up my next book, so here you go.

NEXT MONDAY (one week from today), I'm going to start another book read and I want to invite all of you into this read with me.  I will be reading "The Tangible Kingdom" by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay.  They are the guys that produced the small video on the left of the blog under "Why We Do What We Do."  I was so taken by the video that I went out and got the book.  It's new and I haven't opened it yet, but I'm going to start blogging about the read next Monday and I wanted to invite you into the online journey.  You can buy the book through my blog and it should be here in time to start or you can try to pick one up at the bookstore.  I had a little difficulty locating the book around here, but eventually found one copy at Borders.  Here is a link to get a taste of the book.

I am fascinating by the topic of the Church being the incarnation-al presence of Jesus in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces and in our fun places.  The Springs has been planted on the possibility of this actually happening in western League City.  I cannot wait to wade through the pages of the journey of these two pastors from Colorado, who shepherd a really cool community there called Adullam.

Take a look, by the book and let's go on a little ride together.  I've included a survey this week in the upper left corner, so take a moment and let me know if you are going to journey with us...and how.  Thanks.