Don’t be put off by the less than creative title. Earl Creps is actually quite culture savvy. In fact, his book OFF-ROAD Disciplines: Spiritual Adventures of Missional Leaders, takes top-shelf missiology and places it within reach of the average pastor/leader.

Yes, this is another book that deals with “missional” living. But before you dismiss it as another needle in the nebulous missional haystack, know that Creps defines missional and lucidly builds on it: “A missional life, then, means living as an inside-ousider, ‘not of the world any more than He [Jesus] is of the world.’” This definition falls in a chapter that confesses our need to submit our cultural assumptions of ministry practice to the sanctifying influences of Scripture. Some ministry and leadership models are fluid and not right or wrong. When we hold to tightly to our way of doing church we may fail to see that “Jesus did not construct an auditorium and demand that the people come to him. He went to them.” Missional living de-centers us and our methods from the focus of ministry and re-centers everything on Jesus.

This missional undercurrent runs throughout the two-part book, part 1- the personal disciplines and part 2- organizational disciplines. Instead of summarizing each chapter, I will provide a quote that reflects a main idea from each chapter, followed by a critique and contribution summary.

1 (Discipline of Personal Transformation) – “A missional perspective springs from a transformed interior life that gives us moral authority to lead God’s people…”

2 (Discipline of Sacred Realism) – “sacred realism: the discipline of holding the truth in one hand and faith in the other…Most of us think about how we can change the culture. Sacred realism gives culture a chance to change us.”

3 (Discipline of Point-of-View) – one of the stronger chapters, focuses on getting us to consider the various Christian point of views, e.g. modern, pre-modern, post-modern. I especially enjoyed his discussion of the difference between philosophical and cultural postmodernism, during which he points out the significant variations in “postmodernia” calling us to be missionaries with discernment among the various perspectives in postmodernia

4 (of Reverse Mentoring) – “Previously, I understood my role as [mentor] knowing important things, and their [mentees] role as receiving those things form me. Now, I admitted the truth: they knew important things too, and part of my job revolved around grasping those things by way of relentless listening.”

5 (Spiritual Friendship) – Though not the main idea, Creps grapples for new, less offensive, more sensitive language to describe non-Christians: “I suggest that we might refer to lost people not as seekers but as the sought.”

6 (Decreasing) – This chapter best drives home his focus on rethinking personal spiritual disciplines. “Humility is the discipline of decreasing the scale of my own story until it fits inside the Jesus story, until he defines me rather than my defining him…mission without humility tends to make my autobiography seem like the story of the whole world, producing self-centered extremism.”

7 (Missional Efficiency) – “So the first thing Jesus might do is not measure certain things…identification with Jesus always makes the ministry more missional, aiming it for the margins with Jesus at the center, rather than us at the center and Jesus at the margins.”

8 (Harmony) – “I suspect that everywhere brand conflict breaks out, moderates in all the camps tend to get lost in the ‘fog of war’ when exactly the opposite posture better serves the goal of harmony. Spiritual leaders give everyone a hearing but bolster the cause of reconciliation by proactively cultivating moderates rather than reacting to pressure from the margins.”

9 (Discernment) – “…one of the primary tasks [of the church] is fundamentally theological: keeping the ministry accountable to the mission. The purpose of theology is therefore to support the Church in cooperating with the mission of God, not the other way around.”

10 (Making Room) – probably the best chapter contributing to rethinking organizational spiritual disciplines, in this case, evangelism. “Love needs an address…Caring profoundly about the sought and developing venues in which to interact with them creates only the potential for mission…nothing happens without the agency and power of the Holy Spirit.”

11 (Surrendering Preferences) –

Overall this book is very helpful for church and ministry leaders, especially those with more of a modernist, traditionalist framework. At the same time, it is ripe with balanced wisdom for the so-called postmodern pastor. At times, the coining of new terms trumps pedagogical value and opening stories swing between perfunctory and illustrative. Neither robustly theological, nor excessively practical, Off-Road Disciplines offers a synthetic approach of theology-meets-practice, addressing key disciplines, both personal and organizational with fresh insight and aged wisdom.

(HT: EC)

Churchplanting Network, Acts 29, has published a new article I authored on a Christian response to the city called “Hate the City, Love the City.”

Love the City, Hate the City is an article that attempts to confront, rework, and redeem our generally bad or non-existent theology of the city. There are enough Christians that think the city is bad, bad city. “Hate the city” is their stance towards their habitat. Some stand on Scripture for this approach. This was mine for a while.

Yesterday I was asked what it’s like to be a father for the second time. Although it’s a bit soon to make any hard and fast conclusions, the first thing that came out of my mouth was: “It’s not as exciting but it’s just as special.” The edge of first round fears were worn off with our first child, Owen, though with Ellie there has always been a concern for saftey and health. The excitement of the unknown was also demystified with Owen, but Ellie is beautiful and awe-inspiring in her own right.

What has remained the same is a sense of desperation, the need for superhuman help to father these two dazzling Dodson imago Deis. How will I maintain the loving tension of strength/discipline with mercy/affection in raising not one, but two eternal souls? Then there’s the weight of providing for my family’s physical and emotional needs, dividing and focusing attention and resources among all the family members.

The gravity of the moment has driven me into prayer, begging God for superhuman help–grace–to lead, love, and serve my family well. This morning I was struck by a similar theme in the Gospel of Matthew. In chapter 17 there is a man who throws himself to his knees at the feet of Jesus to beg for his son’s life. Apparently his son was given to convulsions, tossing himself into fires, and the disciples could not cast out the demon behind the activity. Jesus spoke a word and the boy was immediately healed. Why couldn’t the disciples help this father and son? They lacked the faith of the father. This redemption required knee-time, fasting and praying. The father, not the disciples, embodied humble dependence.

In chapter 18, Jesus calls the disciples to humble dependence again. This time he calls a child to himself as an object lesson for participation in the kingdom of heaven. The lesson was prompted by pride: “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” The path to greatness is easily lost when one encounters toe-stubbing obstacles. In fact, the dependence of children is the model for kingdom participation and despising children the motorway to hell. Humble dependence is the means to faithful fathering.

God is described as father at least three times after this object lesson. Stringing these references together, Jesus’ teaching reveals a Father who loves, forgives and helps those who draw near to him in humble dependence. Becoming a Dad for the second time is about me as much as it is about my kids. As the authors of Becoming A Dad write: “Fatherhood is so much more than changing diapers or making a living. Being a dad has more to do with bravely facing the deep questions of your soul than mastering the mechanics of babycare.” The authors argue that true fatherhood requires facing the questions of our hearts such as: Am I needed? Can I love my wife and children well? Am I prepared to father? Will my past hinder my fathering? In response, they chart the course for thier wisdom-weighted work stating: “The outcome of a man who is engaged with his heart is a man who is postured to love his wife well, to pour into his children, to care for the people in his world, and to worship his God.”

This posture, this heart exploration, will require humility before an all-seeing Father and confidence in his love and acceptance. In short, humble dependence is the path to becoming a godly father. Lord, help me.