Tag: Missional Church

Review: Untamed, Hirsch (pt 2)

This is part two of my book review of Alan and Deb Hirsch’s book Untamed: reactivating missional discipleship. See part one.

God-centered Discipleship

Given the age of programs, systems, and missional techniques, it was very refreshing to see the Hirsch’s start off with a profound theological focus. Chapter Two lays a God-centered foundation for discipleship by explaining the difference between a healthy and a sick disciple. The Hirsches set the tone by saying: “A book on missional discipleship must first get the basics right in relation to God.” They make it clear that missional discipleship isn’t about being trendy or socially active; it’s fundamentally about worshiping God. They write:“If we are going to be missional disciples then we need to put our best efforts into knowing God, into the pursuit of the Holy.”

Shema Spirituality (holistic discipleship)

The problem with every disciple is that we worship things and persons other than God. Drawing on Lewis’ distinction between ordinate and inordinate love, they point out that the sick disciple is one who inordinately loves anything other than God (very Augustinian). A distinction is made between idol worship and worship of the one, true God, what they call Shema Spirituality. No, it’s not Eastern mysticism, it’s based on the Great Shema of Deuteronomy 6 which tells us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind.Discipleship is loving God first and foremost, and then loving everything else in light of that love.”

True discipleship involves a right knowing of God, and right knowing includes feeling, thinking, and acting. Mature disciples grow in all three areas. They note that these ways of loving God are more natural to some than others. In fact, each way of Shema spirituality tends to align with certain spiritual leaders: Pastor (feeling), Activist (acting), and Theologian (thinking). Each of these types of leaders need to spend time with one another for mature discipleship to come about. And all disciples need all three types of people in their lives.

Reflect on your Discipleship

We do well to pause and consider where we need to grow as disciples—as theologians, pastors, or activists? Are there other Christians in your life that can “round you out” to foster a God-centered knowing and maturity in your discipleship? If so, ask them to lunch and explore ways you can grow together as disciples of Jesus. As with every chapter, the Hirsches provide helpful application points and questions for discussion.

5 Ways to Fail My Church

Reading through the Pastoral letters of the New Testament, I’ve been struck by the fact that if I don’t insist on Gospel-centered doctrine in my church, then I will fail you in at least five ways. If I don’t insist on Gospel-centered doctrine, then…

  1. The church will devolve into a socially-minded non-profit or a consumeristic Groupon. The gospel of Jesus Christ is what sets the church apart from any other organization or community. If I remove the gospel, or don’t insist on its centrality in everything we do, then you do not need the church. You can find social service outlets with better non-profits and community with Groupon gatherings.
  2. You will lose a substantial reason for living in community and on mission. Though anyone can experience community and mission outside of the church, it is a gospel-centered church that keeps mission and community from becoming your raison d’etre (reason for being). If community becomes your reason for being, then your community will likely become ingrown, selfish, snobbish, cliquish NOT inclusive, diverse, generous, growing, and vibrant. If mission is your raison d’etre, they mission will eventually become optional or so essential that you will look down on others who aren’t on mission. Only the gospel can call us away from these two extremes because it reminds us that Jesus Christ is our raison d’etre. Bottomline, community and mission will always fail you but Jesus will not. You need a church that reminds you of that.
  3. I will become unfaithful to what the Bible teaches and misrepresent historic Christianity to you. This is intellectually dishonest, historically unfaithful, and theologically untenable. You need a pastor who does not see doctrine as an end in itself, but that the gospel is the end of every doctrine.
  4. I will remove the one Person that consistently loves you, satisfies you, beautifies you, and releases you into your created purpose–to glorify God by enjoying him and calling others into a life of spreading that gospel joy over all the earth.
  5. I will remove the very Person and principle upon which the church was formed–Jesus Christ. Not only is this inconsistent, it is a genetic fallacy, distorting something from its designed purpose, tampering with its DNA.

GCM Collective Launches Soon!

The GCM Collective (Gospel Communities on Mission) will be launching a live, interactive resource website on March 1st! The vision of GCM is to equip churches and leaders to plant, lead, and transition churches in gospel, community and mission. The GCM site will host discussions forums on important topics such as:

  • Developing Missional Leaders
  • Everyday Mission
  • City Renewal
  • Contextualization
  • Missional Theology
  • Culture Creation

In addition, you’ll have access to the writings, resources, and interaction of the following missional leaders and their respective churches:

Sign-up for updates on the site launch and the GCM Collective National Conference, which will be held later this year!