“The traditional church makes it quite difficult for people to negotiate its maze of cultural, theological, and social barriers in order to get “in.”.. and by the time newcomers have scaled the fences built around the church, they are so socialized as churchgoers that they are not likely to be able to maintain their connection with the social groupings they came from. So we lose contact with non-believers and we lose…
Continue ReadingI spoke recently at a conference using Pauls letter to Titus. Using the language of the apostle Paul in Titus 2:10, the message was about “adorning the gospel.” In that letter we see Paul urging the church in Crete to learn to care, speak and act in ways that don’t give occasion for people to “malign the gospel” (Titus 2:5). Of course, the point I was trying to make is that we…
Continue ReadingThis past year I’ve frequented a church that pours incredible energy into all kinds of justice and compassion ministries throughout our city, and even nationally. They strive to give fair representation up-front to diverse voices often not heard in the body of Christ. They send missionaries to serve both locally and in distant lands. Through preaching, teaching and diverse short-term focus-groups, they constantly challenge us to engage the powers oppressing our “neighbors.”…
Continue ReadingSome years ago, a Work of the People vimeo clip by author Michael Frost caught my eye. In that clip Frost states that the role of the church is “to help you find another way of being human.” I wondered back then if it’s maybe better to say the role of the church is “to help people find a better way of being human” (i.e. the way God intended). Or perhaps, “to help…
Continue ReadingLike many others, I can’t seem to get enough of Lesslie Newbigin. Ever since reading The Gospel in a Pluralist Society and Foolishness to the Greeks back in the early 90’s, I have an insatiable appetite to revisit his writings over and over again. From a missiological perspective, Newbigin is arguably just as relevant to the church today as he was when he first began to speak so prophetically to the Western…
Continue ReadingMany of us have fed so long and voraciously on concepts and practices related to “missional” that we’ve lost the appetite to dig in much deeper. I often feel stuffed myself. Such a volume of material, and so much of it only recasting in new language and stories the same beaten paths of application. Don’t get me wrong, I do still enjoy interacting over the latest nuancing of missional theology and praxis,…
Continue ReadingNot long ago I participated in a webinar with some pastors and church planters. We were interacting over how existing and newly-forming churches can grow in their engagement with their respective local contexts. About half way through, I realized we were really talking about how to help spiritual communities sustain that outward impulse into culture. As people interacted, I started scribbling down some thoughts. What would I recommend that leaders do to counter this…
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