(All of my posts from Renov8 will be at this page. Refresh (and comment) often.)
The questions to be answered: What is God doing in my nhood and how can I discern that? What does the missio dei look like in a particular place? How do you know if something is an act of God or just social action?
Church planters used to think they were “bringing God to the nhood”. We do not “bring God with us” into the nhood; he is already there.
The simplistic, attractional programmatic model is no longer working. We must distinguish between unchurched and dechurched. Dechurched (former church-goer) demographic is shrinking; unchurched/neverchurched demographic is growing immensely.
“God’s church does not have a mission; God’s mission has a church” – Stuart Murray
We used to know ahead of time what a church plant would look like… because we were targeting the dechurched. A plant among un/neverchurched is far less predictable, which is why the nomenclature of the “emerging church” has caught on.
At this point I was more or less on board. After this I wasn’t in total disagreement but my attitude about the talk took a turn.
He spoke a lot about Shalom being “the dream of God for his creation”… the goal of missio dei. Fine, all will be well… all things new… reconciliation. But next he said that “God is not choosey about who he uses to bring shalom. Partners and allies everywhere…” In other words – and this is something I heard all afternoon – God uses people who don’t know themselves that God is using them. Well, yes, this is partly true but I’m not sure it’s correct to paint this as normative. But that seemed to be the gist of the talk, that God’s preferred way of working in the world is through people other than Christians.
I am willing to be challenged and expanded on this so feel free to comment.
3 things planters bring:
1. The story of God, interpretation. We help people see what God is doing in that neighborhood
2. Spiritual resources to weary shalom seekers
3. Catalyze a community of faith that makes sense of what God is doing in that community and mediate those spiritual resources
Do we believe that the Holy Spirit can work even where the name of Jesus is not yet known? She assumes we do. Again, he may but we should not paint this as normative.
“Don’t just sit there. DO something!” often results in unprepared short-termers who sometimes do damage. Rather say “Don’t just do something. Sit there.” In other words, live there. Don’t just act hastily; consider your actions first.
Social networking in neighborhoods: find out who makes things happen in the community. Basically, cozy up to the community influencers. Is this really a Jesus model? Didn’t he tend to be with the people who had no influence because they were outcasts?
Is God able to work beyond the “walls of the church”? She assumes he is. Again, yes he might, but the church is his preferred instrument throughout the NT.
She came right out and said, “Get rid of your church building.” This would encourage nhood involvement and huge benefits would result. This came up again in the Q&A an she backed away from it some.
“Take a lesson from this movie that came out last year: Yes Man.” Her point? Say yes to any invitation you receive. To parties, meals, etc. but the relationships opened opportunities we otherwise wouldn’t have got.
What will your neighborhood look like when the kingdom has fully come?
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All of this leaves me with some questions: If people are already agents of shalom, is there any need for them to respond to the gospel or any consequence for rejecting it? The presenters seem to be saying that people are generally good and are actually already doing God’s work. We just need to awaken them to the fact that this is what they’re doing.
If this is the case, when do we tell them about the need for repentance? Do we tell them? Wouldn’t their response be “What would I repent of? You already told me I’m doing the work of God.
In a morning session, Anthony Brown told us that, “The gospel is meant to provoke a public response because it is public news. The message must be clear; people must know that there is a decision to be made.” This is what seems to be missing in this session: any indication that a public response or decision needs to be made.
Without getting too far into eschatology, asking a question like, “What will your neighborhood look like when the kingdom has fully come?” without acknowledging (with much regret and sadness) that those who have not responded to the gospel and made a decision about Christ as savior and lord will be eternally separated from God seems a little disingenuous.
This is not to say that the presenters presented lies, only that they didn’t bring the whole truth. Jesus is a demanding savior, and he is as demanding of those who have not put their trust in him as he is of those who have.
Engage.
More From The Ascent to Truth
- “Faith Undone”: A Tabloid Treatment of the Emerging Church – Talking about music is like dancing about architecture…
- Scripture and the Theory of Evolution – Talking about music is like dancing about architecture…
- Stuart Murray & Julie Kilpin – “The Church That Transforms Neighborhoods” (Renov8 #rv8) – Talking about music is like dancing about architecture…
