Dating Time and the Irony of Western PC Semantics

It's been quite some time (yes, pun intended) since I've had the chance to write anything - been a bit preoccupied with other things.  One of the things I have been doing in my time (there it is again) away from blogging is reading lots.  Specifically, I've been doing a lot of academic reading in the field of Christian-Muslim Relations and Christian and Islamic history.  Reading in academia on Christianity and Islam has made me take note of a fairly large inconsistency in scholarship regarding scholars' choices for designating time.  The use of BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini - Latin 'in the Year of Our Lord') is obviously out of style in the Western academy these days, being replaced more and more by BCE (Before Current Era) and CE (Current Era).  Forget the fact that this politically correct silliness is really just, well, academic silliness, since merely changing the terms doesn't change the fact that the delineation still stands (i.e. the break between BCE and CE just happens to revolve around the birth of a certain Jew from Palestine)!  Be that as it may, what is more silly to me is the way that Western academics who choose to use BCE and CE when discussing the Gregorian calendar simultaneously choose to use the Islamic dating system (AH - Al Hijri) when discussing the same dates.  Thus, I often read things such as, "In 634CE / 12AH, so and so said such and such...".  So in the very same sentence, an author is trying to be politically correct by not daring to use a term which references the life of Jesus Christ, while at the same time he uses a term which references the life of Muhammad.  Hello people, am I the only one who finds this pathetic?  Either make it all secular, or keep it all religious, but don't cut one and keep the other!

Holy Restlessness

From Witvliet, John. 2007. "Afterword: Inculturation, Worship, and Dispositions for Ministry." In Christian Worship Worldwide: Expanding Horizons, Deepening Practices, edited by Charles E. Farhadian. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans:

Missional Christianity lives in a constant, question-asking, liminal, restless state - a kind of holy restlessness that comes from loving people and loving the gospel at the same time. Restlessness about culture is a sign of health this side of the coming kingdom. For now, it is the way things are supposed to be. Whenever this restlessness fades, whenever the question-asking stops, whenever practices are perpetuated just because "we've always done it that way" on the one hand or just because "it's on the cutting edge of ministry" on the other - then it is time to worry…

Ultimately, the topic of culture and contextualized ministry leads not to despair, but to hope. It leads us to consider things far greater than we would ever imagine on our own. And it reminds us that the source of our confidence in ministry does not rely on any culture-bound form, but rather on the sturdy fact that the church belongs to Jesus Christ our Lord.

On the Resurrection

Every sermon preached by every Christian in the New Testament centers on the resurrection.  The gospel or “good news” means essentially the news of Christ’s resurrection.  The message that flashed across the ancient world, set hearts on fire, changed lives and turned the world upside down was not “love your neighbor.”  Every morally sane person already knew that; it was not news.  The news was that a man who claimed to be the Son of God and the Savior of the world had risen from the dead.

From The Pocket Handbook of Christian Apologetics, page 69.

Lead Like Jazz (Part 2), Scott Olson

(Part 1 here: Lead Like Jazz, Scott Olson)

From Leadership Journal: Lead Like Jazz (Part 2): How to help your team find their groove. Here are some sound bites (pun intended):

I often see other leaders in my organization, regardless of whether or not they've ever picked up an instrument, as musicians that I may get an opportunity to play with. While most people lean more toward one leadership style than another, the ability to move between styles and remain fluid can be a tremendous asset to any team…

In jazz, the "groove" created in the moment determines the outcome (sound, emotion, feeling). In classical style, the composer and conductor have predetermined the outcome. When a leader and team find that "leadership groove," where they mesh creatively and challenge the sheet music, they can move into an incredible place of synergistic collaboration…

To find the leadership groove, you gotta know what song you're trying to play, you gotta know when it's your time to play…

Leaders need vision. We may not always know how we are going to get there, but we do need to know where "there" is. Bill Hybels once said, "A leader's job is to move people from here to there." Andy Stanley described "there" as a "clear mental picture of what could be, fueled by the conviction that it should be." Stephen Covey described "there" as "beginning with the end in mind." While jazz musicians are able to improvise and make things up on the spot, great band leaders are visionary and strategic, always knowing what song they are playing and what song they're going to call next…

Can you see the tremendous potential that exists when jazz leadership smacks up against the daily grind of your leadership journey? Leading like jazz opens new doors for leaders. There are certain moments in life for which there is no script. Our formal training and preparation can take us far, but sometimes not far enough. Sometimes we just need that extra "something." The ability to apply jazz leadership from time to time can be an incredible addition to your and the people you work with. You can't play the right notes (or make the right strategic moves) unless you're listening to what's going on around you. Healthy teams and dynamic organizations need people who can play classical and jazz…

Read the whole thing.

Exegeting Culture with Lingenfelter

For those who want to be be able to exegete their context and the cultures they live in, including their own, I recommend Transforming Culture: A Challenge for Christian Mission (1998) and Agents of Transformation: A Guide for Effective Cross-Cultural Ministry (1996).  Transforming Culture lays out the blueprint of culture and the roots of cultural bias, and Agents of Transformation goes deeper and provides tools for analysis.

According to Sherwood Lingenfelter, there are five “social games” people play based on their culture and personal bias (1998). This theory is based on the “grid-group” classification of cultures proposed by Mary Douglas. The classifications run along a continuum and the two axes are plotted against each other to form four dimensions. The “grid” dimension describes the place and role of individuals, and the “group” dimension describes the degree of social solidity. In weak grid cultures, people can interchange roles easily and are more homogenous in their place in society. In strong grid cultures, people are distinguished and classified according to roles, and there is a sense of entitlement. In weak group cultures, people are more isolated from each other, whereas in strong group cultures there exists a strong sense of unity and people are bonded together.

The first culture, Authoritarian (the Social Game) and Bureaucratic (the Environment), is a defined by weak group, strong grid. Here there are great differences between people, but they do not feel close together. The second culture, Hierarchist and Corporate, is defined by strong group, strong grid. This is the collectivist culture that feels a strong solidarity with one another, and each person has a defined place in society. The third culture, Collective and Egalitarian, is defined by strong group, weak grid. Here there is less difference between people, and they all share a common identity. The fourth culture, Individual and Individualist, is weak group, weak grid. In this culture, individuals are less controlled by a central authority, and each person is free to create her own identity. The fifth culture is known as Hermit or Autonomy and this person lives in isolation as a social dropout. Important to note is that all cultures play multiple games depending on the context, and each cultural above should be viewed as a “prototype” because in reality there are endless variants. “Each of these five social games is potentially present in every sociopolitical context, often in variant cultural forms… The individualist and hierarchist games are typically the central and dominant paradigms, while authoritarian and egalitarian games constitute border or peripheral options” (Lingenfelter 1996, Kindle Location 295 - 316).

According to Lingenfelter, a Christ follower is a pilgrim in the sense that she can serve the gospel while participating in any of the four social games above. “Once you have an understanding of your social values and the social games that you prefer, you will be able to identify the social roots of situations of conflict and tension and apply Scripture in an appropriate way to help you and others live transformed lives” (1998, 38). The Christian pilgrim’s goals transcend each culture because they oriented towards the Cross and serving others.

Lingenfelter’s main thesis…

“…is that Christian cross-cultural workers will desire to be agents of biblical transformation, rather than agents of sociocultural change. An agent of sociocultural change brings new economic, social, and cultural interests and facilitates the change process so that members of a local community adopt ways of education, economy, and lifestyle common to the industrialized nations of the world. While change agents may have a positive effect in the development of communities in the two-thirds world, and some Christian workers may legitimately serve in this role, the primary objective of much Christian cross-cultural ministry is to help people come to know Christ, and thereby to become his disciples” (Agents of Transformation: Kindle Locations 16-20).

These two books though are about more than just context analysis; they are actually a cross-cultural hermeneutic to understand Scripture.  Lingenfelter uses many Biblical case studies as examples and has challenged my thinking on many key issues of theology.  His writing style is dry, and the material is complicated, but Lingenfelter helps us include a much needed (albeit small) slice of anthropological theory in our missiology.

What size should a church planting team be?

From From Seed to Fruit, The Gathering of Teams of Laborers, page 141:

Fruitful Practice #2: Aiming for a Large Enough Team

This implies that team size matters, and it does. The average team size of
consultation participants was nine adults (the number being raised by a few very large teams) although the majority of teams were less than nine in size. Team size in itself is not the key to fruitfulness, but a survey of the teams represented at the Consultation indicated the following:

>> Teams with fewer than four adults showed a greater probability of
not planting even one fellowship or church.
>> Teams with eight or more adults had a greater probability of
planting at least one fellowship.
>> Teams with twelve adults showed a greater probability of planting
multiple fellowships.

It would seem, therefore, that if our desire is to see church-planting movements, we need to be aiming for larger numbers of laborers in each team, supporting the strategy of sowing widely. Research suggests that five or six team members should be the lower limit of a team size.

Thoughts? Counter evidence?

How do you teach people to obey?

From Bill Mounce:

Jesus does not tell us to teach data; he commands us to teach people to obey what they are learning. How do you do that?

This is one of those questions that is more easily answered by saying what it is not.

• Lecturing to a class does not make people obey.
• Knowledge that doesn’t move to wisdom isn’t obedience.
• The purity of academics, while essential to the process, is only half the process.

The only way I know to teach someone to obey is to do so in community, in relationship. Jesus preached to thousands but discipled 12, and it was those 12 who turned the world upside-down by fulfilling the Great Commission through the power and leading of the Spirit.

Problem-Solving, Opinionated Americans

From Leadership Journal, The African Planter: Nairobi Chapel pastor on mission trips, and working well across cultures. An interview with Oscar Muriu (quoted in Leading Across Cultures: Effective Ministry and Mission in the Global Church pgs 110-111):

Americans have two great things going for them culturally. One is that Americans are problem-solvers. Every time I come to the U.S., I like to spend a couple hours in a Wal-Mart. I find solutions to problems that I never thought of!

The rest of the world, even Europe, isn't so intent on solving inconveniences. We tend to live with our problems… Americans don't easily live with a problem—they want to solve the problem and move on…

The second great thing for Americans is that your educational system teaches people to think and to express themselves. So a child who talks and asserts himself in conversation is actually awarded higher marks than the one who sits quietly.

Those two things that are such great gifts in the home context become a curse when you go into missions. Americans come to Africa, and they want to solve Africa. But you can't solve Africa. It's much too complex for that. And that really frustrates Americans.

And the assertiveness you are taught in school becomes a curse on the field. I often say to American missionaries, "When the American speaks, the conversation is over."  The American is usually the most powerful voice at the table. And when the most powerful voice gives its opinion, the conversation is over.

I tell Americans: "We're going into this meeting. Don't say anything! Sit there and hold your tongue." When you sit around a table, the people speaking always glance at the person they believe is the most powerful figure at the table. They will do that with you when you're the only American. And at some point, they will ask you: "What do you think?"

Don't say anything. If you say anything, reflect back with something like "I have heard such wisdom at this table. I am very impressed." And leave it at that. Affirm them for the contribution they have made. Don't give your own opinion.

Americans find that almost impossible. They do not know how to hold their tongue. They sit there squirming, because they're conditioned to express their opinions. It's a strength at home, but it becomes a curse on the field.

In a sense western missions has been marked by that. But isn't it strange that Jesus not only entered society incarnate at the weakest point, as a defenseless child who needed the care of his host community, but he also told his disciples: "Do not go with money; do not go with a second pair of shoes; go in a stance of vulnerability; be dependent on the communities you visit"? Isn't it interesting that for 30 years he doesn't speak out; doesn't reveal himself; he remains quiet, and only after 30 years of listening and learning the culture does he begin to speak…

“No sacred forms, only sacred meanings.”

What do you think? From Darrell Whiteman’s chapter in the book MissionShift, edited by Stetzer and Hesselgrave (2010):

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One often hears the question, Can one remain a Muslim or a Hindu after becoming a Christian? I think that question needs to be reframed. Perhaps a more accurate way to pose the question is to ask, “Can someone enter the kingdom of God without becoming a follower of Jesus?” To maintain fidelity to the Bible, the answer is unequivocally “No!” (Acts 4:12; John 14:6). But if we ask, “Can someone enter the kingdom of God without becoming a Christian?” that’s a more complicated question and deserves a more nuanced response. When the term Christian was first used in Antioch (Acts 11:26), it simply meant a Gentile follower of Jesus and was often used pejoratively to describe those who were followers of Jesus. Today, however, 2,000 years later, the term Christian has become encumbered with many extrabiblical trappings that are now part and parcel of the Christian religion with all of its religious traditions. Therefore, the term Christian today is no longer synonymous with simply following Jesus. Tragically, hundreds of millions of people call themselves “Christian” but have never followed Jesus because it never occurred to them that being a Christian meant following Jesus. If we reframe the question to ask if a person can enter the kingdom of God without joining the Christian religion, then I think we are asking the right question. And here the Bible can help us think through the answer. The lessons from the decision of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 that Gentiles did not have to become Jews to follow Jesus, and Jesus’ own ministry among Gentiles, point to the fact that one can enter the kingdom of God and confess Jesus as Lord and Savior without necessarily changing one’s religion. At first blush this may sound scandalous to us conservative Evangelical Christians. Nevertheless, many Muslims today are attracted to Jesus but turned off to Christianity, which for them conjures up negative images of the Crusades, colonialism, a foreign religion, and the “Christian” West where we eat pork, drink alcohol, and watch R-rated movies. No wonder they don’t want to be identified as “Christians,” but they certainly want to follow Jesus and make Him Lord of their lives.

The question is frequently asked, “Where should we draw the line before contextualization becomes syncretism?” Because many of the debates seem to circle around where to draw the line, some are comfortable with a C5 expression of Christianity, but others are uncomfortable with going that far in contextualizing the gospel. As long as we argue over where to draw the line, we will never get far in understanding what God is doing in the world, encouraging people to know and understand Jesus in a wide variety of religious and cultural contexts.

If the debate over where to draw the line before contextualization erodes into syncretism is an unhelpful approach, is there a better way? Hiebert’s concept of “critical contextualization” gives us a useful procedure for determining how to distinguish appropriate contextualization from inappropriate syncretism. I want to suggest that perhaps a more fruitful approach would be to look at the underlying meanings that are expressed through contextualized forms. We will find much more common agreement if we focus on the Christian meanings being expressed in different forms. However, when we focus on the diversity of forms instead of the underlying meanings, it will cause great debates in the Christian community. The global church cannot even agree on the “correct” form of baptism or what elements should be used for the Lord’s Supper. Perhaps we would find much more consensus if we focused on the underlying meanings of both ordinances.

Radical biblical contextualization such as we see in C5 expressions of Jesus movements within Islam creates much debate and sometimes dissension because the forms used by these Muslim followers of Jesus appear so unfamiliar to us. For example, if we see a Muslim follower of Jesus (Isa in Arabic) praying to Allah five times a day with forehead touching the ground, it will be hard for us to believe that he or she is praying to Jesus because the form of prayer looks so Islamic and so different to us in the Christian tradition. However, the form of the prayer is not as important as the meaning it expresses. It is the meaning of following Jesus that must be maintained to have an expression of vital Christianity. In fact, when the “Christian” forms continue but the underlying meanings are lost, the result is that “they will hold to the outward form of our religion, but reject its real power” (2 Tim 3:5 GNB). When this happens, we have classic nominal Christianity. Tragically, we find this throughout the world.

I am convinced that there are no sacred forms, only sacred meanings. This does not mean that forms are not important. They are important, but they are important precisely because of what they point to, that is, the underlying meanings. Some forms are undoubtedly incapable of carrying Christian meanings, but that decision must be made by local believers who understand their culture and who, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, decide which forms are redeemable and which ones are not. While growing up in a conservative Evangelical church in the 1960s, I was taught that the twang of a guitar and the beat of drums in the church were not forms that could be used to worship God. They were pagan. Today that same church has a praise band, complete with noisy guitars and banging drums, all making music in praise to our Lord. What happened? Did the church go liberal? No, not at all! The people in that church came to realize over time that these musical instruments could be used in acts of meaningful worship to Almighty God.

I have developed the following grid to help us sort through the distinction between forms and the meanings they convey. If we can separate form and meaning in our thinking, it makes it much easier to understand radical biblical contextualization and movements of God’s Spirit like the Insider Movements among Muslims. The horizontal axis of FORM at the bottom of the diagram moves from Western on the left to Indigenous on the right. The vertical axis of MEANING to the far left of the diagram moves from Christian on the top to Pagan on the bottom. When you combine these two axes, you get four possible outcomes. In our cross-cultural mission efforts we need to understand the important difference between Indigenous Christianity (which we want to promote) and Syncretism (which we want to avoid).

This combination of the two axes, Form and Meaning, gives us four different outcomes as explained below.

Quadrant 1. When Western forms are combined with Christian meanings in other parts of the world, we have nonindigenous (typically Western) Christianity, which is frequently perceived to be foreign in that context. This was one of the consequences of mission in the age of colonialism, and we find expressions of Western Christianity all over the world today.  In other cultures this form of Christianity is more prone to becoming syncretistic or nominal over time because of the difficulty people in that culture have in adapting imported foreign Western forms and applying this imported faith to the real issues of their lives.

Quadrant 2. When Western forms are combined with pagan or non-Christian meanings, we have syncretism, which is the combination of Christian and non-Christian beliefs and practices. The resultant form is distinct from both Christianity and the pagan religion. It is neither Christianity nor traditional religion. It is something entirely new and different, as I have explained elsewhere:

Religious syncretism is essentially a response to the problem of meaning. In the interaction between Christianity and animism, if the newly introduced Christian forms are given pagan meaning, then syncretism results—the new belief system is neither Christianity nor is it traditional primal religion; it is a mixing of both, and thus the product is qualitatively new.

Quadrant 3. When indigenous forms are combined with pagan meanings, we have no change at all and so the traditional non-Christian religion continues. But how does one encounter traditional religion with the claims of Christ? Our standard approach has often been to introduce Western Christianity, perhaps because we felt confident that if potential converts adopted our forms they would also follow our Christian meaning. Yet this approach is more likely to lead to syncretism because syncretism comes from striving after meaning. So, if the introduced foreign forms do not make sense to converts, it will be easy to revert to traditional non-Christian meanings in order to fill the void left by foreign forms.

Quadrant 4. When indigenous forms are combined with Christian meanings, we have indigenous followers of Christ, that is, contextualized Christianity that is appropriate to the context.  Christ-centered communities that fit the C5 category are good examples of those found in this quadrant, where the forms are appropriate to the context, but they are used to communicate Christian meanings. Far from being the slippery slope that so many neocolonial missionaries fear will lead to syncretism, contextualized Christianity is the best hedge against syncretism.

I believe the answer to the debate over where to draw the line in contextualization is better understood if we ask a different question: “Do the forms that are appropriate to the culture of the converts adequately convey biblical meanings?” Forms are easy to see; meanings are hard to detect. But we must trust the Holy Spirit to lead followers of Christ into discerning what forms are usable in a particular cultural context for the sake of the gospel.

Much of Hiebert’s writing has been aimed to help us find a way through the sometimes complex world of contextualization so that the universal meanings of the gospel can be understood and lived out in contexts appropriate to the culture in which followers of Jesus live. To move into this missiological arena of radical biblical contextualization will require that we relinquish our need for certainty in exchange for our quest for understanding. May God give us the wisdom and courage to do so.

The Mobile Ministry Forum

From 2012 MMF Consultation Executive Summary (HT: Missions Catalyst):

Overview

119 mission strategists representing 56 organizations* participated in the third Mobile Ministry Consultation sponsored by the Mobile Ministry Forum (MMF). This more than doubled the 2011 Consultation participation. Presentations and discussions addressed a wide variety of issues critical to the use of mobile devices in ministry (see the topic list below). Collaborative outcomes of the consultation include plans to expand the four-week course into a six-week course, develop a training manual to equip ministries and local believers to use social media, create a mobile ministry pathway for ministries considering mobile ministry, develop a centralized online hub for all resources related to mobile ministry, design a three hour introductory online course, and create a taxonomy for discipleship criteria on the mobile platform.

Opportunity

Never before in human history has there been a technology as highly personal, rapidly deployed, and universally embraced as the mobile device. In late 2011, the number of people living on earth passed seven billion, while mobile phone subscriptions may surpass seven billion by the end of 2012. By 2015, the majority of all Internet access will be through mobile devices. The mobile device presents a unique, two-way communication channel that represents the most important technology available for kingdom advancement.

Content

(Some of links are for Google Docs and may require a Google log-in)

Slide Show – A 90-second slide show from the consultation.

Schedule – The detailed program flow.

Notes – The detailed, crowd-sourced notes from each session on Google Docs.

Mobile Ministry Course – The current four-week mobile ministry course (online).

Presentations

(Links to recorded presentations are being added as they become available)

Keynotes

• Jihad: Pull vs. Push Media in Movements (Preston)
• A Theology of Technology (Dyer)
• m-Learning and the Great Commission (Metcalf)
• The Illusion of Mobile Security (Ed)
• Preparing for the Post-Mobile World of 2019 (Williams)

Strategy Workshops

• Building the digital tools that empower others and broaden your reach- JESUS Film (Brubaker)
• A Mobile Ministry Methodology (Wright)
• The Unrestricted, Mobile Future of the Global Church (Jore)
• Integrating Digital into the DNA of Your Organization (Barela)

Tactics Workshops

• Implementing SMS Outreach (Roes)
• Mobile Technology and Digital Video (Gates)
• Going Mobile- From Concept to Launch (Short)
• Sharing Beyond the Web and Off the Grid (Brad-Edmiston)

For More Information, contact members of the steering committee:

Brad

Clyde Taber

Jay Clark

Johnathan Pulos

Keith Williams

The Mobile Ministry Forum

The Mobile Ministry Forum (MMF) is a coalition of ministries working towards the goal of giving every unreached person a chance to encounter Christ and His kingdom in a compelling, contextualized fashion through their personal mobile device by 2020.

* This included 31 participants who joined through interactive, remote access.

Related Posts:

Mobile Phone-Empowered Ministry

How do we respond to the mobile phone revolution?

The Insanity of God (Ripkin 2013)

Twice I’ve had the privilege of attending “The Bleeding Edge: Managing Faith in the Midst of Persecution” seminar on the persecuted church led by Nik Ripkin, himself a RNBB (Redneck Background Believer).  It is one of the best trainings I’ve had; here’s a good summary (highly recommended resource).

I’m excited to see The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected finally published.  These stories have significant implications for how we minister to Muslims.

Make sure to check out http://www.nikripken.com/ for a wealth of important articles.  Ripken’s unique missiology stems from his experience in interviewing more than 600 persecuted believers, mostly from a Muslim background.

About The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected:

The Insanity of God is the personal and lifelong journey of an ordinary couple from rural Kentucky who thought they were going on just your ordinary missionary pilgrimage, but discovered it would be anything but. After spending over six hard years doing relief work in Somalia, and experiencing life where it looked like God had turned away completely and He was clueless about the tragedies of life, the couple had a crisis of faith and left Africa asking God, "Does the gospel work anywhere when it is really a hard place? It sure didn't work in Somalia.”

Nik recalls that, “God had always been so real to me, to Ruth, and to our boys. But was He enough, for the utter weariness of soul I experienced at that time, in that place, under those circumstances?” It is a question that many have asked and one that, if answered, can lead us to a whole new world of faith.

How does faith survive, let alone flourish in a place like the Middle East? How can Good truly overcome such evil? How do you maintain hope when all is darkness around you? How can we say “greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world” when it may not be visibly true in that place at that time? How does anyone live an abundant, victorious Christian life in our world’s toughest places? Can Christianity even work outside of Western, dressed-up, ordered nations? If so, how?

The Insanity of God tells a story—a remarkable and unique story to be sure, yet at heart a very human story—of the Ripkens’ own spiritual and emotional odyssey. The gripping, narrative account of a personal pilgrimage into some of the toughest places on earth, combined with sobering and insightful stories of the remarkable people of faith Nik and Ruth encountered on their journeys, will serve as a powerful course of revelation, growth, and challenge for anyone who wants to know whether God truly is enough.

Another nail in the C Spectrum’s coffin?

Here is presentation from Jens Barnett called “Refusing to Choose” from the Coming to Faith in Christ Consultation II in 2010.  Barnett has recently modified it and allowed us to post it on Circumpolar with the hopes of furthering the discussion on socio-religious identity as it relates to our beloved MBB brothers and sisters.

Barnett has two chapters in the upcoming book Longing for Community: Church, Ummah, or Somewhere in Between?  The presentation is a preview of these chapters and includes some very helpful diagrams that enable us to think in terms of identity outside the confines of the C Spectrum.  Barnett’s contributions to MBB discipleship involve the theories of hybridity and multiple belonging, and need to be considered by anyone with an opinion on the Insider Movement.

(See the continuing discussion with evangelical leaders weighing in after the CT Cover Story.)

Download “Refusing to Choose” here and be sure to comment below.  Barnett will be following the comments.  Is this another nail in the C Spectrum’s coffin?

“Kingdom”: perhaps the flabbiest term being used by Christians today (McKnight)

This is one of the best posts on kingdom theology I have ever read.  Below are some selected quotes intended to tempt you to read the whole thing (it’s brief so don’t worry).  From Scot McKnight, Steve Jobs’ Legacy: Kingdom Work?:

My beef today is that too many today have abstracted the ethical ideals from Jesus’ kingdom vision, all but cut Jesus out of the picture, and then called anything that is just, peace, good and loving the “kingdom.” The result is this equation: kingdom means goodness, goodness means kingdom. Regardless of who does it. My contention would be that kingdom goodness is done by kingdom people who live under King Jesus…

Yes, feeding the poor is good and it is God’s will for this world, whoever does it. But “kingdom” refers to that special society that does good under Jesus, that society that is buried in his death and raised in his resurrection and lives that Story out in our world today. It makes no sense to me to take this word of Jesus that he used to refer to what God was doing in and through him at that crucial new juncture in time and history and use it for something else…

Read the whole thing.

Related Posts:

• Does the “Kingdom” Make Sense to Muslims?
• The Kingdom, the Cross, and the Church

Longing for Community: Church, Ummah, or Somewhere in Between?

[UPDATE: Longing for Community now available on Kindle.]

One book you’ll want to read in 2013 is Longing for Community: Church, Ummah, or Somewhere in Between? forthcoming. Edited by David Greenlee. Pasadena, CA: William Carey.  I’ll link to it when it releases later this year.  It’s a collection of essays from the second “Coming to Faith Consultation” in 2010. The first consultation in 2004 also resulted in a book: From the Straight Path to the Narrow Way: Journeys of Faith (2006) which is a key contribution to the field of MBB conversions in missiological research.  

David Greenlee wrote an article detailing the highlights of the 2010 conference which gives a glimpse into the themes and topics covered in Longing for Community.  Here it is below from this source.

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Identity, Discipling Women, and Diversity:

Highlights from the Second Coming to Faith Consultation

One of the major themes of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is centered on the phrase “in Christ.” To list a few of Paul’s expressions, we are blessed, chosen, and included in Christ. We hope in Christ and are marked in Christ in accord with God’s plan purposed in Christ to bring all things in heaven and earth together under Christ. We were once far away but now in Christ are brought near to God, Gentiles together with Israel sharers in the promise in Christ.

Six years ago, at the first “Coming to Faith Consultation” (CTFC) the focus of research and reflection tended to be on the processes and factors involved in how our Muslims neighbors are coming to faith in Jesus Christ. As presented in From the Straight Path to the Narrow Way (Authentic 2006, and just released in Korean), three key, typical factors emerged: those Muslims who come to faith in Jesus Christ have generally experienced a touch of God’s love, seen a sign of his power, and encountered the truth of God’s Word.

Early in 2010 a similar consultation, CTFC2, was held, both events having a focus on understanding what “coming to faith in Christ” means from the perspective of the believers. At CTFC2, Dudley Woodberry helped us to see how this “emic” approach complements the approach of the Fruitful Practice Research (described in the article by John Becker in this journal), in which the emphasis is on understanding the fruitful approaches and attitudes of those witnessing among Muslims. Combining their findings, as Woodberry has done, gives a fuller picture of how God is at work.

At CTFC2 we observed a shift in the theme of many research papers as compared to the 2004 consultation. Rather than focusing on how people are coming to faith in Christ, the core questions were centered on issues of identity: who we were and are in our society, and, as believers, who we are in Christ and how this affects our social identity.

Selected papers from CTFC2 are now being compiled and will be published in 2011 - notice will be given in this journal. However, as a preview, let me point to the themes of some papers that will appear in that book.

Social identity is multi-dimensional. The one-dimensional C-Scale is helpful to describe a range of practices of communities of believers. However, it is not adequate when we try to extend it to describe the complexities of human identity - corporate or individual.

Jens Barnett suggests that we describe identity in terms of dialogue or multiple narratives.

This is true not only of those who suggest that ‘converts’ should be fully identified with the established churches as well as those who argue for new believers to remain, to the extent possible, within their birth community. As he notes,

In practice then, a purely Muslim ‘insider’ identity, free from all other cultural influences is both an impossible and a misguided ideal. Every believer has internalised a unique combination of narratives from multiple cultural sources. Each of these narratives contains its own scripts, roles, and belongings, and each of these in turn, can appear as a voice of identity within the dialogical self.

The son of a prosperous Muslim businessman added to the discussion, reflecting on the experience he and other Indian believers have shared in attempts to assimilate into the Christian community.

Understanding the strength and unity of the Umma and the role of the Umma in an individual’s identity is essential to understand the struggles that a Muslim seeker will undergo. His life within the Umma has been a place of security, acceptance, protection, and identity. For a seeker it is an enormous sacrifice to lose his place in the Umma. As a Muslim seeker moves into fellowship with the Christian community, it is important that his sacrifice should be acknowledged and understood. The community of Christian believers should become a new place of belonging and inclusion.

In comparison, Enoch Kim noted the changes among the urban Hui of China who, through the impact of modernization and social network changes, have developed multiple identities or “faces” that grant more freedom to make individual choices.

The most important and ultimate decision-maker in [China’s] modern world is “I.” The Hui used to make decisions by what “we” or “others” want, but now it is by what “I” want. . . . the community pressure that the Muslim individual feels has lightened up because now “I” have more rights and abilities than before. As community pressure lessens, individuals will choose what they want.

Discipling women. Often we have emphasized the limitations on women in Muslim societies, perceptions that affect our approaches in evangelism and contributions to teaching and discipling. Mary Davidson noted, however, the important role of women both in private as well as in da’wa, in their homes, at shrines, in rites of passage, and even in impromptu Qur’an recitations she observed on the Cairo metro! Such religious gatherings have many roles, including community and connection, an acceptable reason chance to get out, as an opportunity for leadership, finding blessing and God’s power, and maintaining or challenging community norms. Davidson’s work concludes with questions and suggestions of how such existing social roles for women should be recognized and built on in our evangelism and discipleship.

Complementing Davidson’s insights, writing from Bangladesh Christine Shepherd relates her surprise when several rural women told her that they could freely travel to a village some two hours from their home on a regular basis - “We will just tell people we are visiting relatives,” they explained. Shepherd draws our attention to “the alarming fact that women followers of Jesus … are not typically receiving training through intentional discipleship programs.” Given their important role in leading their children as well as women friends to faith in Jesus Christ, not giving women adequate honor, discipling, and opportunity to fulfill their important role as followers of Jesus, she says, “may lead to a disastrous future for the Muslim background church.”

Shepherd concludes with the words of a Bangladeshi women, nothing that change can take place,

• As men and women, based on biblical teaching, recognize women’s value from Jesus’ teaching and from his example;
• As male leaders give the opportunity for women to take an important part in the jamaat; and,
• As women are taught that they are created in the image of God and that they have an important role in the kingdom of God-they need to know they are necessary to the life of the jamaat. When they are aware of their identity in Christ through receiving proper Bible teaching, men will refrain from oppressing them and women will be able to share their opinions in appropriate ways.

Diverse, and yet one in Christ.

John Kim updated us on the story of “Anotoc,” one situation in which God is at work among “insiders.” (The original story told first in From the Straight Path to the Narrow Way while the updated paper appeared in an earlier edition of this journal.) Others described situations in which the new believers express their faith as part of the existing community of Christians.

While we rejoice in the variety of positive responses to the gospel, we were concerned as an Azerbaijani told us of his research among university students who, though evangelized, have not yet believed. While many Muslims of this region would consider Jesus to be “the God of Russians” this writer notes other reasons for their failure to come to faith, some of them factors that apply to youth in many settings, not just among Muslims.

Traditions of strong family bonds, respect for parents and elders, as a part of local culture, make embracing Christianity costly and troublesome for Azeri youth. Other non-theological hindrances are their indifference, their love of secular and sinful lifestyles and a belief in their own security. . . . The greatest challenge is that they do not want to believe some facts in the Qur’an and in the Injil regarding Christ, the message and authenticity of the Bible, interpreting them as it suits them.

We celebrate our diversity, but remember that it is not an undefined variety. Our identity, whatever outward expression is given, is grounded and deeply rooted in Christ that we might be “to the praise of his glory,” living carefully and wisely as children of light (Ephesians 1: 12-14; 5:15-16).

As Jean-Marie Gaudeul observed,

As we discover the many ways in which Christ, ‘lifted up from the earth, draws everyone to himself’ (John 12:32), we are struck by the extraordinary variety of the ways in which people, finding new faith in Him, discover their new identity: they are changed and yet the same. And we know that this diversity is only a small part of God’s infinite skill in leading us to His house where Unity will combine with the fulfilment of each person's originality.(AFMI)

www.thehardplaces.com

Give to support the project and watch the trailer here.

About:

“The Hard Places” will be a new documentary film profiling the powerful life story of humanitarian and optometrist Tom Little. Dr. Little worked in Afghanistan for the International Assistance Mission, an organization that provides nearly 90% of all eye-care in the war torn nation. He, his wife and their children endured over three decades there: through Soviet occupation, civil war, Taliban rule and most recently, the U.S. invasion. Despite the constant danger to their mission and their lives, they refused to leave. Tom believed it was his calling to help those who had no options, who were caught up in violent circumstances, but yet whom he also saw as fellow human beings in need of love, laughter, and a healing touch. Tom trained native Afghans to become eye doctors, and established numerous clinics throughout the country to treat the thousands of Afghans suffering from vision problems. To the Afghan people, he became affectionately known as “Dr. Tom”.

As a humanitarian, Tom Little cut an unconventional and, at times, controversial path in order to build bridges between Christians and Muslims, East and West, ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’. He bucked the traditional stereotypes and persevered through a process of constant adaptation and imagination, shunning bureaucracy, in order to treat the sick, wounded and dying. And when it seemed that every other western family had fled from the warzone, he and his family dug in, choosing the basement of their home in Kabul during the worst days of the civil war, rather than safety of their home in the suburbs of America.

In July of 2010, Tom and a team of fellow aid workers backpacked 120 miles into the remote province of Nuristan at the invitation of village elders to serve a population of nearly 50,000 people who had no access to medical care. Tom and his team endured great personal risk to treat the never-ending lines of people, many of whom had walked for two days or more to receive care. On August 5^th, 2010, as Little and his team were returning to Kabul, they were ambushed and murdered in the wilderness. In 2011, in recognition of his life’s work and sacrifice, President Obama posthumously awarded Tom Little the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor bestowed upon any U.S. citizen.

This documentary will probe the dangers and challenges involved in a decades-long mission to provide health care in a desperate nation, and reveals the lasting impact and continuing legacy of Tom Little’s work. In addressing the timeless values of service, self-sacrifice and the incredible power of forgiveness, “The Hard Places” will illuminate how the power of a man’s faith could lead him into the shadow of death, at the risk of his – and even his family’s very existence. Finally, the film will follow the extraordinary journey of an ordinary man who chose to forsake a life of comfort and security in order to reach out and touch the lives of strangers, literally delivering the gift of sight, in a country that he called one of ‘The Hard Places’.

CT Cover Story: Worshiping Jesus in the Mosque

Wow. Christianity Today, goin’ for it!  See the new issue here.

I don’t like the title.  It’s possible to remain in “Islamic culture” without ever going to the Mosque.  But I guess you have to create a title that sells.

In any case, you know the “Insider” debate is in full stride when CT features it on the cover!  Hopefully, there will be more missiology like this in CT in the years to come.

Here is the line-up:

Worshiping Jesus in the Mosque (Cover Story)

What it's like to follow Christ embedded in Muslim culture. An interview with a Muslim follower of Isa.

Gene Daniels

 

The rest are for subscribers only:

The Hidden History of Insider Movements

For generations, Islam and Hinduism have had believers.

Timothy C. Tennant

Jesus Saves, Religion Doesn't

Insider followers of Jesus may not have changed religions, but their lives have been changed by Christ.

John J. Travis

Too Much Context May Harm

I learned the limits in contextualizing the gospel for Muslims.

Phil Parshall

Islam: Ready for Export

Why is Islam a global faith despite the untranslatability of its charter document and the Arabization that accompanies its diffusion? 

This answer sums it up pretty well:

This is the essential substance of Islam, perhaps as simple and easily marketable a religious package as has ever been prepared for export.  Lacking a formal church organization by means of which they could enforce orthodoxy, the learned doctors of Islam have of necessity a gradualist position: first the Confession, then the Pillars, later the piety, and after that the learning of the law.

Top Circumpolar Posts of 2012

5. Found in Translation: A New Missiological McCarthyism (My personal favorite blog post of the year on any blog.)

4. Identity Issues for Ex-Muslim Christians, Tim Green

3. Cranmer on Bible Translation Controversy

2. Qur'anic Variants

1. Miraculous Movements: An Interview with Jerry Trousdale – Part 1 & Part 2

Bridging the Divide Resources

From Missio Nexus:

Bridging the Divide

• 2011 Consultation Report
• 2012 Public Summary Report
• Code of Ethics Evangelical Relations

Examples of Contextualization

• 2010 IMB Contextualization Report
• Final Generic Contextualization Paper-April 25, 2012
• Generic Policy on Contextualization with Muslim Ministry
• Pioneers Statement of Guidelines on Contextualization
• Generic Principles of Contextualization
• Practical Wisdom for Leaders regarding Contextualizations, IM’s and MI’s

Recommended Reading

• Recommended Readings regarding Contextualizations, IM’s and MI’s
• Beyond Christianity – Insider Movements, Higgins
• A Muslim Tribal Chief is bringing Jesus to His People, Mohammad
• Possible Pitfalls of Jesus Movements, Rebecca Lewis
• When God’s Kingdom Grows like Yeast, Travis and Woodberry
• The Main Question is Identity, John Azumah
• 2010 Position Paper on the Insider Movement, Houssney
• Concerns about the IM and those involved with it, McCurry
• Insider Movements-The Historical Approach, Morton
• 2011 The Nature of Islam as perceived from various Christian Perspectives II
• Seeing Inside the the Insider Movement Exploring our Theological Lenses and Presuppositions, Bartlotti
• Looking at Insider Movements, Coleman
• Comments, Questions and Concerns regarding IST Documents 9.6.2012

Wolfgang Simson’s 15 Theses (in English and Arabic)

Wolfgang Simson is known for being a pioneer of the house church movement. His “The House Church Book” is a brief summary of his philosophy.  I mostly agree with him, but because I believe in the principle of the irreducible ecclesiological minimum, I think the Bible prefers some flexibility in the form of the church according to the context (though I think the NT is quite clear on the leadership structure).  Simson argues that the church must be formed around the oikos.  In any case, I think his proposal is correct for pioneer settings, and especially helpful for new MBBs who, for some reason or another, think they need to do church the way CBBs do church.

To that end, here are Simson’s Fifteen Theses towards a Re-Incarnation of Church (read the whole thing, below are just the main points):

1. Church is a Way of Life, not a series of religious meetings
2. Time to change the system
3. The Third Reformation
4. From Church-Houses to house-churches
5. The church has to become small in order to grow big
6. No church is led by a Pastor alone
7. The right pieces – fitted together in the wrong way
8. God does not leave the Church in the hands of bureaucratic clergy
9. Return from organized to organic forms of Christianity
10. From worshipping our worship to worshipping God
11. Stop bringing people to church, and start bringing the church to the people
12. Rediscovering the “Lord's Supper” to be a real supper with real food
13. From Denominations to city-wide celebrations
14. Developing a persecution-proof spirit
15. The Church comes home

And here is a pdf of the 15 Theses in Arabic. (HT: Jens Barnett)

How many “pillars” in Biblical faith?

We all know Islam has 5 pillars.  Recently I’ve told a couple young (in the faith) MBBs that there are 2 pillars in the Injeel: baptism and communion (they were asking what those are so I used the word “pillars” as an analogy).  I didn’t plan on explaining it that way, it just kind of slipped out and I don’t know how to feel about it.  I think they got the point, but…

…are there more than 2?  Is it a bad idea to call these things “pillars?”  Is there a better way to explain to MBBs in unreached areas who have never met a near-culture CBB what baptism and communion are?  These are not rhetorical questions. 

Go ahead and weigh in in the comments below.  If you have any good resources on this topic (explaining baptism and communion to MBBs, esp. in Arabic) please link to them.

GoCorps: Mid-term is the new Short-term

www.gocorps.org:

GoCorps exists to build the movement toward going to those beyond the current reach of the gospel by enlisting passionate Christian young adults to serve globally for two years. We recruit recent college graduates from all backgrounds and career interests to go for two years to the least reached and those in extreme poverty through eight tracks of service.

GoCorps goers serve in the hardest places where both cultural and economic factors have converged to leave whole generations without access to a culturally relevant understanding of the gospel. As such, GoCorps goers are often the first to tell those in the city that they are placed in about the good news of life in Jesus Christ.

Yet we recognize that enlisting hundreds of qualified and passionate cross-cultural two year volunteers is not the ultimate solution to the great commission. We believe that the best hope for seeing the completion of the great commission in our generation is to build a massive force of World Christians in all fields who are committed to leveraging their gifts, passions and availabilities toward God's global dream of the fulfillment of the great commission.

Beyond two years of service globally, our hope is for GoCorps goers to bring strong leadership and influence to the church and the market place, instilling a commitment to lifelong involvement in the great commission task, especially advocating for and addressing the special challenges in bearing the message of Jesus Christ to those among the least reached globally.

Lead Like Jazz, Scott Olson

From Leadership Journal, November 2012, Lead Like Jazz by Scott Olson:

Jazz. I absolutely love it. I know some don't. Others say it's an "acquired taste," but for me there's nothing like it…

It's not just about the music, either. The older I get, the more I'm seeing the impact that jazz has played on my leadership style. Sounds strange, I know. But the connection between leadership and music makes sense, especially when you begin to understand the difference between classical and jazz. Both genres correlate to distinctive leadership styles…

There are times when we as leaders need to take a classical approach. Highly detailed projects require careful attention to detail. We need to play every note on the page. I don't want my dentist playing "jazz" in my mouth during a root canal. I want accuracy. I want rules followed. I want exact science applied. Many leaders are process people and have personalities that tend to make them focus on details, accuracy, and good process. But there are certain situations that call for a different approach. There are times when we encounter obstacles and ambiguity, times where a little "jazz" is just what it takes to lead on another level…

Leading with jazz is not always the best answer, but neither is playing only classical. The key is to know when to switch styles in order to match the leadership situation…

Read the whole thing (1 page).

One of my fears…

I have no shame in sharing that I’m a wannabe missiologist.  I suspect most readers of this blog are too, and we even have some official missiologists who subscribe to Circumpolar (Missiology is a dynamic academic discipline which examines the theories and practices of Christian mission as it relates to Biblical theology, history, and the behavioral and social sciences.). 

In any case, one of my fears is that my missiology will reflect the following (pg. 175) criticism of it, which is unfortunately descriptive of most evangelical missiology today:

[Missiology is] the marriage of mediocre anthropology and shallow theology.

No Lord, may it never be!

On using the word “Cult”

Helpful thoughts from Ed Stetzer: Dealing with this "Mormon Moment": Cults, Truth, and Grace