Tag: Alan Hirsch

VERGE: Pre-conference Reflections

Posted on February 4, 2010

This is the unofficial launch of jonathandodson.org, heretofore known as Creation Project. We are still working out the kinks, but I hope you’ll: Bookmark it. Blog it. Tweet it. Comment on it. Link to it. Not because I am great but because the gospel is great. You can read more about the origin and meaning of Creation project here. Concisely, the aim of Creation Project is to equip and converse on all things Gospel, Culture, Church, and Mission.

Today I spent the whole day with other missional leadersÂ in the VERGE pre-conference. We thought hard about how the gospel should work through the church in our culture on mission. Alan Hirsch & Leadership Network facilitated our time together by leading us through best practices conversations. Mega and Micro churches were represented. Here are a few take-aways:

We need a Missional Imagination to break through our inherited forms of church and really see the gospel take root in our communities and cultures. Falling back on top down, heavy-handed methods have moved us away from the DNA of gospel movements.
Church as Family must permeate everything, from the way we run staff meetings (less telling people what to do and more listening to people) to how we spend our time (more missional less administrative “staff”).
Invite people into my life, not just my Missional Community. Mission must be everyday life, not an occasional event, a monthly practice, a new Christian language. I am excited about upping this in my own life, about inviting our City Group leaders into my life more. More dinners and mission together, less formal meetings and trainings.

Revisiting Hirsch/Stetzer Missional Ecclesiology

Posted on January 23, 2009

We had a great discussion in a previous post trying to figure out which should take priority in determining a missional ecclesiology—missiology or ecclesiology? Both Stetzer and Hirsch have kindly provided their schematics to help clarify their positions. Stetzer writes:

My point is that scripture sets the agenda and has provides direction for all three– one does not “come from” the other but they are all derived from scripture, interact with each other, etc

Ed Stetzer

Hirsch explains: We believe that Christology is the singularly most important factor in shaping our mission to the world and the forms of ecclesia and ministry that form that engagement…Before there is any consideration given to the particular aspects of ecclesiology, such as leadership, evangelism or worship, there ought to be a thoroughgoing attempt to reconnect the church with Jesus; that is, to ReJesus.

Alan Hirsch

Stetzer sets Scripture as the starting place and Hirsch begins with Jesus. What are the implications for these slightly different starting places? Do these differences matter?

Reviewing ReJesus – III

Posted on January 20, 2009

Previous reviews here.

The thrust of ReJesus is to recover the centrality of Jesus’ example for the church–radical, passionate, merciful. Hirsch suggests recalibrating discipleship and church by the template of Jesus: “whether one talks about becoming a little Jesus or uses that wonderful old phrase “imitation of Christ,” the essential function is clear—the modeling ourselves upon his life lies at the center of our spirituality.” A timely call to a methods, not Jesus-driven American Church. Hirsch goes on to provide a four page chart of how we can imitate Jesus (56-60). I cannot help but detect a dangerous tendency towards a new moralism, a WWJD without the power of the gospel to do it. The imitation of Christ minus the power of the Spirit. So I recently asked Alan:

What keeps imitatio Christ from becoming a new works-righteousness? He replied:

“You are right that imitatio can become works righteousness. But I guess most of us are not in danger of that as we have have a meaty diet of salvation by grace alone. I guess here what we are saying is akin to Bonhoeffer’s idea of cheap grace layed out in his book Discipleship…(read the rest)”

In chapter three, Hirsch & Frost turn their attention to reJesusing the church and organizations. They argue that many churches have become de-Jesus, religious organizations and what we need is a rebooting with Jesus at the center. Later on in chapter five, they present a much more compelling vision of what it means for us be reJesused. There Hirsch calls us to monotheistic christology, as he did in FWs, but with an ethical spin. The lordship of Christ over all things calls for a distinctive discipleship that is expressed in all domains of life. With Jesus as Lord, there is no such thing as private Christian faith. To be Christian is to be a public little Jesus. This is a robust, biblical vision of Jesus and discipleship. How can a church live under the lordship of Christ in all society in such a way that the society is changed? What does this look like in the marketplace, the Arts, Technology, Education, Science, Government, and so on? They provide a very helpful chart on p. 175 that helps churches begin to implement a reJesused approach.

I skimmed chapter four. Others have reviewed the Jesuses of history much better (Todd Johnson, Philip Jenkins, Jaroslav Pelican, Mark Driscol), though Hirsch and Frost bring out some good insights. Chapter five is worth the book. Again, anytime a missiologist is willing to take up monotheistic christology as a starting place for being the church, i am all ears. Hirsch moves beyond MC into what he calls ethical monotheism, the idea that the oneness and sovereignty of God in Christ compels us to live very differently in all domains of life, to live like Jesus. However, his disproportionate emphasis on the ethical, again, is cause for concern. So I recently asked him:

Is ethical monotheism dangerous ground if we don’t fully grasp ontological monotheism? To which he responded:

“As for the issue of ontology, I do believe that we cannot lose a sense of ontological monotheism and Trinity! But again we are well trained to think this way. what we need is correction. We start with what the Bible and Biblical worldview can affirm and build from there–not the other way around.”

Hirsch’s little phrase—“What we need is correction”—says a lot. The whole book, ReJesus, is an attempt to correct Western, doctrinally-driven, non-Hebraic ways of knowing. ReJesus and chapter six chart this corrective for us.

Hirsch vs. Stetzer on Ecclesiology

Posted on January 8, 2009

Here are a couple graphics that Ed and Alan use. They are helpful in clarifying their respective understandings of how christology, ecclesiology, and missiology relate. By the way, these guys are friends not foes, so I’m not trying to make them enemies (see Ed’s recent interview with Alan). I know you’ll appreciate that. Great discussion on the previous post.