Category: Missional Church

Review: Untamed, Hirsch (pt 3)

Posted on April 27, 2010

Almost finished with my review of the Hirsch’s very fine book Untamed: Reactivating Missional for  of Discipleship. See Part 1, Part 2. If you’ve been tracking with me, I’ve had very good things to say about this new work. It combines the theological and the practical in a very creative, helpful way. I will offer some constructive criticism in my next and final post.

Spirit-led Discipleship (most of us don’t experience it)

As someone who aspires to a robust trinitarian faith, I gravitate to good treatments of the Holy Spirit. Chapter 3 offers us just that, not in a work of pure theology or exegesis, but as a compelling, creative, and culturally savvy reflection on the person and work of the Spirit in the missional church. The Hirsches write: “Discipleship is birthed in the Spirit, but it is also very much maintained in the Spirit.”

Unfortunately, there are theological camps that cut him right out of spiritual life. Even some of the circles I run in, I find a serious neglect of the Spirit, as if “the gospel” substitutes for the Spirit. The gospel is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the Gospel of God, a trinitarian God–Father, Son and Spirit. I have addressed this at length in Spirit-led Ecclesiology: Following the Spirit through Church Planting (new article on this forthcoming). But perhaps the more threatening aspect of missional church to Spirit-led discipleship is our reliance on models, methods, and books. In a word, “technique,” which is a terrible substitute for God, the Spirit. The Spirit does much more that regenerate.

The Creative Holy Spirit

“The Holy Spirit is the most creative person in the universe.”

This quote has stuck with me for weeks. It prods me to write more, dream more, create more, rely on the Spirit more. On Sunday I was praying that the Spirit would stretch his wings over our congregation and flap new life and healing into our people. He did it in the beginning (Gen 1); he did it with Israel (Deut 32); he did and continues to do it with the Church (Acts 2).

The Hirsch’s point out that the “Holy” Spirit is set on making more than our morality holy. The Spirit wants to release powerful, creative waves of mission through disciples of Jesus, but before he can, we must repent of our sinful dependence on comfort, convenience, and technique. Once we do, the Spirit can release a “sanctified imagination” that envisions and enacts an entirely new way of living that brings hope in all places to all people. The Spirit produces “lots of little Jesuses” that bring hope and renewal into our present world.

Let’s repent for neglecting and assuming the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s turn to his creative, sanctifying power to envision new neighborhoods and cities, wonderfully transformed by the Spirit of God through the disciples of Christ.

3 Great Missional Principles

Posted on April 26, 2010

Gregory the Great would have made a great church planter, but instead, he was a kind of church planting coach. Gregory sent missionaries to Britain to “make the Angles into Angels.” His choice emissary was Augustine of Canterbury, who, with 40 monks, set up mission base at in England. Like many of his Celtic predecessors, Augustine realized the strategic value of having a mission training and sending center among his target people. Augustine’s tactical prowess was driven by a robust missiology. Gregory the Great coached him on three great principles of contextualization:

  1. Adaptation
  2. Gradualism
  3. Exchange

Read about them here.

Sunday Services Aren’t Enough

Posted on April 23, 2010

In Austin City Life, we like to say that City Groups are where the church is the church to one another and to the city. This kind of “church” is rare. Unfortunately, much of American ecclesiology has devolved into an inflexible structure that facilitates attendance—a church building. Church equals building or Sunday service. This defective ecclesiology approaches “church” as an event not as a people. Tim Chester and Steve Timmis offer a helpful corrective: “Church is not two events during the week. It is a gospel-centered community on mission.”[1] City Groups are meant to facilitate gospel-centered community on mission. They are where we can be church to one another and the city.

Why Sunday Isn’t Enough

While Sunday gatherings of the church are important, they are an incomplete experience of what the New Testament describes as church. It is impossible to carry out Paul’s “one another” instructions to the church in the context of an hour and a half on a Sunday morning. Therefore, we need some kind of structure to facilitate loving one another, bearing one another’s burdens, encouraging one another, forgiving one another, forbearing with one another, weeping with those who weep and rejoicing with those who rejoice. City Groups are meant to facilitate this kind of “life together.”[2] They are flexible church structures designed to facilitate the people of God living out their intended life together. While City Groups are not a “purer” expression of church than Sunday gatherings, they are a much-neglected expression of church in North America.

Steady State Community

What then does “life together” look like? City Groups are encouraged to view church, not as two events during the week, but as a steady state of community.[3] Instead of seeing community as something that primarily happens during a meeting, we need to adjust ourselves to see all of life as community. Steady state community is a constant flow of social, gospel, and missional connections throughout the week. It’s not adding special “community building” events to your already full calendar. It’s inviting people into your existing calendar. Invite people into your life not just to your City Group meetings.

*This is an excerpt from my forthcoming book: City Groups: Gospel-centered Missional Community.

Arts & Mission

Posted on April 22, 2010

This morning we had the privilege of hearing from some great practitioners who make Art on Mission to renew Austin.

  • Nate Navarro: founder and co-director of Austin non-profit Music for The City, and City Group Director at Austin City Life
  • Steven Bush: photographer and musician who specializes in Music, Portrait, Documentary, and Travel photography. stevenbush.org
  • JJ Placensio: Dove Award Winning, Grammy nominated bassist for the the groups Sixpence None the Richer and Plumb, founding engineer and producer at Hot Pepper Studios

Here are a few thoughts that emerged:

Missional Tension in the Arts

  • Who should get the credit in making art in the city? The church or the artist? Who should get the credit for non-profit work in the city? The church or the non-profit? If the non-profit, do we miss out on an opportunity to credit Christ change the reputation of the church in our cities?

The Church & Artists

  • How can the church re-engage burned artists to join them on mission?
    • Teach them to be ministers first and artists second.
    • Empower artists to make good art that is kingdom-minded.
    • Find out who they are and get to know them, really.
    • Discover non-musical artists and figure out how to empower them.
  • How can artists use art on mission?
    • Work with egotistical artists in humility to demonstrate a counter cultural way of being an artist who embodies Jesus and still makes good art.

Art in Church

  • What is the role of art in the Church?
    • A visual story is often more powerful than a aural story. People weep over a scene in a movie before they would by hearing the story. Allow art to tell the story of the gospel.
    • Appreciate artists instead of assuming and using them.