Missional Frustrations
I have been growing increasingly frustrated with the seeming gaps in my own preparation for ministry. I don’t intend this to be a bash-div-school sort of a post, but the reality is that I learned very little if anything about the day to day work of ministry there, and what I did learn had more to do with simply maintaining ministries at their current levels. I never once heard a discussion at the place I took my M.Div. from about what it meant to be missional or in mission. I did get some of that at the Lutheran sem I attended, but it was limited to just one class (a class on missions).
So now I go every day to this little storefront mission and ask myself the question, “what does it mean to be a church in mission in the world?” When I attempt to find resources, they are pretty well evenly divided between missions as put-another-notch-in-my-bible-soul-winning type of missions and let’s-use-the-mdg’s-or-some-other-nebulous-social-justice-agenda type of missions. Of course, I can’t forget about the all-you-need-praise-music-to-be-missional folks.
The thing is that I am finding so few people outside of those very confining boxes, with the exception of the emergent/emerging folks. Criticize them all you want, but there seems to be a level of integrity in the conversation that I am not finding anywhere else. Of course, that is probably just because I am tattooed and so are a lot of the emergent folk! Seriously though, the conversation seems to include a number of divergent voices all asking the same sorts of questions. Yet I am unwilling to label myself as emergent/emerging…or much else for that matter.
So here are some of the questions I am wrestling with regarding church and mission:
1. Does it make a difference that we are Christian? If so, what does that look like? How does it affect the ministries we engage in, especially that of evangelism? Or, is Christianity just one more lifestyle choice among many we make in our lives? Because I have to be honest ya’ll, Christianity is starting to feel an awful lot like a lifestyle enclave, and if that is how it is going to function, then I honestly need to be moving on. And this doesn’t have anything to do with how I feel about Jesus, or the whole Trinity thing. I know in my heart of hearts I can never move on from that. But the church…I think we are in serious trouble. I really do.
2. Are we really living into the spirit of what Jaroslav Pelikan spoke of when he differentiated tradition and traditionalism? I mean, are we keeping what is value of disposing of those things that are killing us from the inside out?
3. How do we best proclaim Christ to a post-Christian culture? And here I mean the real Christ: the Godman who stood for the poor, kicked over tables, raised the dead, hung out with drunks and hookers, loved people when they needed to be loved and kicked their asses when they needed their asses kicked. I hear too much of Jesus as a proto-hippie and too much of God as perpetually pissed off.
Understand something here: these questions aren’t abstractions or theological word games. This has really become a burden that is weighing heavy on me. And I don’t want it to seem like I am pointing fingers here…well, I am, but I am pointing a finger at myself more than anything.
January 29, 2008 at 6:24 pm
I felt the same way when I got out of teacher training. And after six months, I decided I was a failure as a teacher.
You stil have Jesus with you, no matter what.
This doesn’t relate to mission, or maybe it does, but my spouse has been reading lots of books about what the Bible has to say about the poor and the hungry. He’ll come home from church and say, “That Gospel lesson today spoke to that issue again, but we seem to sit there and ignore it.” I guess this might relate to your vague comments about tradition because we are called to serve and give, not dress up and parade down the aisle and leave feeling good.
A good question is how does a pastor “succeed” and still preach the WHOLE message of Jesus without driving people out of the church.
January 29, 2008 at 7:41 pm
OK, I’m not on the Fortress Press payroll or anything, but if you haven’t already you need to read “The Evangelizing Church” by Bliese, Van Gelder, et al. I’m reading it right now for something like the fourth time in three years.
The best testimony I can give for it is this: When I picked up the book, I was, to be honest with myself, really looking for a good Lutheran theological excuse for avoiding evangelism. After reading it, I developed a real passion for evangelizing. I’m still not going door-to-door sharing my faith or anything like that, but this is the thing I’m excited about and it’s the thing I’m trying to figure out how to do as my personal contribution to the Church.
Feel free to e-mail me if you want somebody to discuss this with in more depth. Generally, I’m with you. We all need a big collective boot to the rear over this. The thing is, the “we” that really needs the kick is the laity.
January 29, 2008 at 8:25 pm
LP —
Yeah, I haven’t used much of what I learned in seminary in my current appointment – in fact, my wife mentioned a few years back that it took her 3 years of ministry to actually “get over” seminary. I too find myself interested in the emergent movement as well. And I agree that it’s a refreshing trend in many ways.
In terms of your question about Christianity being a lifestyle enclave, I totally agree there, also. The culprit, in my estimation is our consumeristic, entertainment-driven culture. Christianity has been commodified like every other area of life. I’ve grappled with that question and have been refreshed by reading Merton, Richard Rohr, Rowan Williams, Eugene Peterson, Marva Dawn, and Michael Warren, to name a few. I’ve also been meaning to dig into some Lesslie Newbigin, who may have something to offer in terms of missions and culture.
And, as always, the writings of Paul have been a constant source of wisdom in navigating the channels between culture and kingdom.
I have faith in you and in your ministry, brother. I know that the Spirit is guiding you and will open doors for other people through your ministry. I also know that God is within and beyond the creaky structure/system we call the church. What a blessing/curse to be a part of the divine/human body.
January 29, 2008 at 9:57 pm
I have only experience one congregation ever with an idea of what it means to be a missional church. I had a friend in Pittsburgh who belonged to a Presbyterian church that not only supported their own members, but that strove to make a real impact on the world around them. They are accepting of people in the community without forcing beliefs on them, but both their words and actions proclaim the Christ you write about. I only attended services there a few times, but I regularly participated in a small group there, and it was amazing the impact it had on me. Enough so that I really long for that kind of thing still.
If you are interested, I’ll give you the website of the church. I know their current pastor, and I believe that he would be willing to share some insights about leading a missional congregation.
January 30, 2008 at 2:02 am
Excellent questioning. But don’t these same questions apply in settings other than missional? Or is it that all congregations should see themselves as “missions”?
And simply refuse to…
January 30, 2008 at 9:43 am
LP,
Hi, new commenter, but really wanted to respond to your post.
These are really important questions. The split between mission as proclamation (’let me share my faith with you’) and mission as social justice (’let me live out my faith for you’) is symptomatic of a bunch of bigger theological problems afflicting the church, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.
Also, unfortunately the ELCA *is* afflicted with a bad case of institutional maintenance syndrome…we’re more caught up with keeping the institution going than we are with furthering the mission of God (with a few exceptions). I think, unfortunately, a lot of mainline denoms are like this; the best those of us pastors who see things differently can do is hang around, minister faithfully, and use whatever pull we have to try to change things along the way.
Darrell Guder (whose books I enthusiastically recommend to you) once told me that pastors needed to do 3 things to stay in ministry: keep reading, keep praying, and keep talking to other pastors. Seems like good advice to me. Keep talking to emergent types if that feeds you; you don’t have to buy in totally to candles-and-coffee worship just to talk to them….plus, if you have a tattoo, I think they have to let you into their meetings. In addition to the Bliese stuff above, I’d also recommend two books: Patrick Keifert’s ‘We Are Here Now,’ and ‘Transforming Mission’ by David Bosch–they’ll both give you plenty to go on.
Blessings on your ministry.
Dave
January 30, 2008 at 9:58 am
Wow…I have been thinking and pondering some very similar questions. I just lead a presentation at a First Call retreat for pastors dealing with evangelism. But my frustration is that one should not have to talk about evangelism because we should all be “doing it” already. I too am worried about the Church. At the heart of who we are lies the call and command to be who we were created to be…evangelists.
Along with “The Evangelizing Church” I would also commend to your reading “Evangelism for ‘Normal’ People” by John P. Bowen. I am beginning to look at evangelism in a whole new way.
And so..with all this running through my head and heart I have created a NEW evangelism blog to discuss some of these issues (sorry about the plug here). The link is on my my site. Thank you for bringing these questions up and God bless.
January 30, 2008 at 10:01 am
PS – what you say relates directly to mission. And in some ways that is what I am talking about. Why do we hear this stuff week after week and then ignore it?
Andy – thanks for the book tip. I have to admit that I overlooked some of the books in the Lutheran Voices series that are trying to address the topic as well.
Wes – You like St. Paul? Strange!
I too like Peterson and Dawn. I have only read one thing by Newbigin, but did like it. I’ll follow up on your list.
Sheryl – Would love to see the website.
Art – I may need to write a separate post on the use of the terms missional and mission etc. I think we are all supposed to be mission outposts.
January 30, 2008 at 10:06 am
All I know is that when bishops were asked to discuss what they meant by “missional” that ugly neo-logism, they himmed and hawed. It’s a term thrown around by the mainline, but we don’t talk about Jesus much.
It seems to me that on the one hand mission is collapsed into evangelism. The two are mutually informed but distinct. Mission encompasses evangelism, sharing the news about Christ, but it also encompasses more than words of Christ, but also deeds of neighbor care–tangible signs of grace.
The problem is, in my opinion, on the one hand we have folks who collapse the news of Christ into deeds of neighbor care, so that social justice is spoken of as the Gospel rather than an outflow of the Good News. One the other hand, we have folks who have a lot of news, but the Jesus they bring is a vicious bastard and not worthy of worshipping especially on receipt of the type of neighbor care they give which is all about them and not at all about what would do good for the neighbor.
The bigger question we need to ask is what do we mean by the Gospel? And how then does that apply in particular lives? It’s the old orthodox-pietist dilemma in a new key, but it seems Lutheranism at its best is strong minded and warm hearted.
I recommend Craig Nessan’s article on Christology, because both the eschatological and sociological models he examines are mutually correcting, and yet deficient on their own.
January 30, 2008 at 10:06 am
The church (Baptist) down the road from the Lutheran Church here seems to not only teach the children that they are to “go and tell” but they model it and encourage it from kindergarten age on up. The kids are steeped in the idea that they invite others to their youth studies. The adults have events for which they invite others. And they visit the sick, etc. So it isn’t just the pastors doing these things.
For decades Lutheran pastors were, it seems, taught the chaplaincy model. So the lay people only saw that model. Now we had ring about getting more diversity. The lay people need role models to imitate.
January 30, 2008 at 10:09 am
For those of us currently in Seminary, is there a good list out there of Things I should have learned in Seminary compiled somewhere, and more importantly why the heck am I going severly into debt if they aren’t teaching me anything useful?
Peace,
Chris
January 30, 2008 at 10:25 am
Re: Seminaries. They’ve always held this place somewhere between higher learning and a trade school. And seminarians always come down on one side or the other, wishing it were more like a trade school or wishing it were much more academic.
Re: Mission. If you haven’t already, check out Kelly Fryer’s blog. When you’ve got time go back into the archives and catch up on postings that you’ve missed. I don’t always agree with her 100% but I can go most of the way with what she writes and says. Be warned, some of what she writes may offend liturgy wonks.
January 30, 2008 at 10:38 am
Here is the website:
http://www.friendshipcpc.org/index.html
Now, when you first look at the site and see that they have been in existance for 50 years, it doesn’t sound like a mission church. But I promise you that it is, partially because of its location (inner city, poor, mostly African-American neighborhood – not the usual location for Presby. churches), and partially because of their attitude and approach to ministry.
January 30, 2008 at 10:50 am
A couple of things here:
1. Thanks to everyone for the different book and website suggestions. I am glad we are generating some discussion here.
2. I hope everyone knows that I do in fact really value my theological education. I don’t mean to belittle what happens there. So Chris H., take heart, brother.
3. Go and tell seems so simple and yet so overlooked. Think about what we have heard in worship the past two weeks from the Gospel: Come and see! Follow me! Invitations and actions.
January 30, 2008 at 3:14 pm
The congregation is 140 years old… I’ve been there a year (part-time). They want to know why people don’t stay there. They don’t see that they aren’t relevant… important… making a difference in the lives of the people moving in around them. SOOOOO… I ask questions of other ELCA pastors in the area.
The answers I get back… sound like what I was taught in seminary. Don’t make changes. Don’t make waves. Don’t push too hard. Which all translate to me… don’t do anything to upset the status quo… with the congregation or the larger church. Given the steady stream of don’ts…. I too began to seek counsel elsewhere.
I ended up in the same place as you… with the emerging worship folks… the get out of the box and try to be Christ-like folks… the folks that want to change how we are the church… so that we become relevant. Their message is the same that I preach on Sunday morning… but their delivery seems to strike a chord with folks who want to know more about Jesus… but find the church (as they know it) offensive.
Keep praying… reading… studying God’s word… and know this… there are others of us out here traveling the SAME road. Peace.
January 30, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Something I’ve discovered in my reading is that it’s not about “techniques.” The one factor that was a good predictor for whether or not a church grows is whether or not a church has a clear enough vision of where God wants it to go that it is willing to do whatever it takes to follow wherever God leads. An ethos must first be developed wherein the congregation captures a sense of a clear mission and purpose and welcomes innovation and change before evangelism, changes in styles of worship, or establishing a media campaign have an impact.
January 30, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Who’s heart? How?
Kidding. I’ll keep chugging along.
Peace,
Chris
January 30, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Chris – the optimal term you use is “chugging.” May I suggest Yuengling?!
February 1, 2008 at 12:23 am
Eric at heartofevangelism.blogspot.com pointed to this post.
Now I really what to thank your for your third point. It is the absolute most important one that you make. Jesus, the Godman has been sold short by all Christians, its what we call sin. The church and those who serve it are no different.
Jesus in scripture wasn’t ever making plans to meet with the stewardship and finance people after he led an encounter group (funny that so many pastors spend so much time in maintenance and not ministry). Jesus in the gospels was found in the marketplace teaching openly and in the temple doing the same exact thing. Meeting him face to face is shaking. I guess the biggest thing we need to learn is to be as bold in Jesus name in the market places as we are between the walls of the little boxes we set aside for God.
February 1, 2008 at 7:09 pm
LP,
Greetings from the great ‘unwashed’ of the laity!
Your mission and it’s struggle is the same as our mission and it’s struggle. Other than the fact, you are recognized, sanctified, ordain-ized and ‘allowed’ by the church to carry out it’s missions.
I found a website several years ago when I was finishing up my BS degree in Marketing. http://www.churchmarketingsucks.com/. No, I am not trying to tell you to treat the church as a ‘business’, but what is marketing other than understanding how to get a message out to the people? This is a blog, not a business and there are multiple topics of how to get the message out and how the message is perceived by the people. I think you will find some good comments in there if you read through them. I found a simple device that could easily be done by a mission church, hand out prayer boxes to Doctor offices etc. with your church name and people can drop a prayer in and you will pick them up and pray over their concerns.
Your comment, “I hear too much of Jesus as a proto-hippie and too much of God as perpetually pissed off. “ I really like, I actually hear too much of the gooey love Jesus that you hear about in some praise songs these days. Do people think they can have a love affair with Jesus? Maybe not, but what is obvious is there is a need for love to be realized in people’s lives today. Divorces are up, singles are up, where is the connection to family, friends, community? I see some big churches are successful in their ‘singles’ programs, there is a huge one in north of you that is the dating hot spot of Atlanta right now. People are more lost today than ever before, they just have a lot more money to ease their sense of lonelyness and there are many like them to get together in their loneliness. The fact is, Christ is needed more today than ever!
What about your local market? Who is in it? Singles, families, elderly? This is the marketing basics you might want to employ by studying your local demographics. What attributes does your storefront proclaim? How does this message correlate to the message we are asked to proclaim? That is basic marketing.
Maybe you should watch TBN and take some notes from Benny Hinn on faith healing? That might bring in more people to the storefront? SORRY, got carried away there…..But did I? I have experienced several services for healing led by the Luther Punk and it was a moving experience. Your High Church in an emerging setting is needed right where you are. A laying on of hands is more moving than multiple choruses of fuzzy spiritual love in D minor anyday.
Yo.
February 3, 2008 at 10:14 pm
to the guy who wrote about gooey praise songs to Jesus: just a thought: I once mentioned to my husband one of my favorite hymns, “O Sacred Head”, to which he replied, “Oh, an early type of the ‘Jesus is my boyfriend’ song.” which, by the way, I am NOT advocating for. But it did make me think. By the way, he is a Missouri-raised classical guitarist and musician/songwriter, also a student/friend of Paul Manz. Knows what he’s talking about, I think.
February 4, 2008 at 8:38 am
O Sacred Head as a boyfriend Jesus song??? I am going to have to disagree with that one, regardless of his creds.
February 5, 2008 at 6:43 pm
I think he means that it is in its own way, romantic theology. As good as it is (and it is terrific poetry), it is kind of romantic theology. (and not exactly in the boyfriend mode, but you know what I mean, I think?)
think of the great verse…. “what language shall I borrow/to thank thee, dearest friend”
February 6, 2008 at 10:45 am
So, Diane, can we compromise and say it is more of a Buddy Christ ala Dogma?!?
February 6, 2008 at 5:49 pm
yes, it’s the war of the “objective hymnody” (like A Mighty Fortress, and all the didactic hymns) vs. the “subjective” ( like oh, When Peace like a River, O Master Let Me Walk with Thee, and a host of others)
February 11, 2008 at 8:56 am
Wow, what great questions, and what a great conversation they provoked. I’m busy scribbling down the reading suggestions.
I have to admit that my fantasy church would marry emergent energy with high liturgy, a la early church. Reading Lathrop and Saliers, I really think it could be possible. Isn’t the questing spirit of emergen-cy exactly about wonder and mystery? So why is it so often dumbed down?