Missional Explorer

Rick Warren Invites (Gasp) a Democrat to Talk About HIV/AIDS!

Today I also see that Rick Warren appears to be in a spot of trouble with more conservative evangelicals for inviting Senator Barack Obama to his church for a conference on AIDS.  Obama's presence at the conference has apparently been met with opposition and protest due to his support of abortion rights.  I like Saddleback's (Rick Warren's church) reported response:

"Our goal is to put people together who normally won't even speak to each other.  We do not expect all participants in the summit discussion to agree with all of our evangelical beliefs.  However, the HIV/AIDS pandemic cannot be fought by evangelicals alone.  It will take the cooperation of all--government, business, NGO's and the church."  To which Obama responded in a written statement hoping for unity "to honor the entirety of Christ's teachings by working to eradicate the scourge of AIDS, poverty and other challenges we all can agree must be met.  It is that spirit which has allowed me to work together--and pray together--with some of my conservative colleagues in the Senate to make progress on a range of key issues facing America."

Good on ya, Rick Warren for inviting Sen. Obama.  And good on ya, Senator, for seeing the issue of HIV/AIDS as Jesus would, an evil that warrants engagement with unexpected allies. 

The Brit Lord Ernest Rutherford?

Just one humorous example of how our New Zealand experience stays with us.  Our oldest son, Adam, was in chemistry class the other day when they read in their textbooks about the famous Lord Ernest Rutherford from England who is considered to be the "Father of Nuclear Physics".  "Excuse me", Adam insisted, "Lord Rutherford is not only NOT from England but was born and raised in Nelson, New Zealand and is therefore a Kiwi through and through.  He even graduated from Nelson Boys College where I was able to attend for a few days.  Hope you don't mind, but I'm gonna cross this out in my textbook and write in the truth" which he proceeded to do.  A great example of (a) how we continue to talk about New Zealand daily (b) how textbooks must always be questioned as part of the critical thinking taking place in any quality class.  More on this later.

 

Missional in Israel & the Palestinian Territories?

Next May, my son Adam and I are hoping to join a team of high school students and a few other adults from JEX on a "Journey of Understanding" to Israel and the Palestinian Territories in the West Bank of the Middle East.  I do not need to tell you that the Middle East remains a cauldron of conflicted faith commitments, alliances, cultures, and emotions and certainly not the "shalom/salem" (Hebrew/Arabic words for "peace" that is described so clearly in the Bible as one of the hallmarks of God's Kingdom.  Intriguingly, we will not be going to the Middle East in the traditional role of "missionaries" so much as to listen and begin to learn from local leaders how we might be "agents of reconciliation" re: their context.  Our desire to help dismantle false stereotypes and help build bridges of understanding that may cross complicated cultural, historical, and religious boundaries.  From what we have been told, it speaks volumes to local residents when young adults are willing to undertake a journey such as this and it speaks even more profoundly that we are following Jesus in this path of peace. 

I will blog more details on this trip later.  While our family is excited about the possibilities of Adam and me joining this trip, we are also wrestling with how this trip fits in as part of our desired missional direction.  The activities and experiences that are planned for this trip are incredibly missional in that we are not seeking to bring anything except ourselves (no evangelism, no hidden agendas, etc.) and are not traveling as experts but as those who are only seeking to learn from locals on the ground.   What we are wrestling with is the traditional "send vs. go" dichotomy which has proved itself so destructive of the missional sense of "everyone going everywhere" as, by virtue of our core identities, we are ALL to live our lives as representatives of God's Kingdom.  Specifically, this means that our family is trying to "think through" the traditional fund-raising dilemma which seems to only reconfirm the "send vs. go" mentality: some would "send" (support) us while we "go" on this mission.   So do/can we somehow avoid fund-raising?  If so, what do our funding options look like?  Similar to our trip to New Zealand, should we try to pay for this on our own for the purposes of "missional" living?    For those of you who have explored this missional territory, what are your thoughts on this trip in general and funding it in particular???   

The Haka Comes to America

This is for my Kiwi friends.  I was fascinated this week to read a full length front page newspaper story about how the haka (a ritual war dance originating among the Maori culture on New Zealand over 200 years ago) has now come to the U.S.   I had heard rumours of the haka being performed prior to a rugby match at one high school here in Denver but this is this first verifiable article I've see about it elsewhere.  It seems that a Tongan player (among 24 Polynesians on this high school football team--Kiwis call it gridiron--in Texas) saw a video of the haka ritual being performed as has become custom before an All Blacks rugby match (the New Zealand national team--currently the best rugby team in the world).  After consulting with local Tongan community leaders and teaching it to the team, the haka was performed at a local boosters club and has now become custom to peform, as with the All Blacks, before every football/gridiron contest.  While the haka originated among the Maori in NZ, it has since been adopted by a number of Polynesian cultures, including that of Tonga, an island kingdom in the southwest Pacific east of Fiji.  While performing the haka before athletic contexts is not without controversy (including a recent brewha over a new All Blacks haka with a throat-slitting motion before the end), it has become a source of pride among the local Polynesian community.  "We do the haka to ignite the breath of competition.  It means that I have your back and you have mine" described one player.  After showing a videotape of it's performance to a group of local Tongan residents, Ilaiasi Ofa, the executive director of the Voice of Tonga (a local advocacy group for Tongan immigrants) told how he had "two older men with tears in their eyes tell me afterward, 'after seeing that, we know that our future generations wil be accepted here'". 

Americans know that football/gridiron has a cult-like following in West Texas so the integration of this Maori ritual into one section of rabid American culture is indeed worthy of a front page article in the newspaper.  Just as an aside, the Trinity Trojan high school team won the Texas 5A championship last year.  So, for Kiwis in general and Maori in particular, I wonder if offense has been taken now that the haka as crossed over to the States by way of Tongan immigrants in Texas.  For those of you who have never seen the haka performed, I suggest you to go to www.allblacks.com and click on the haka in the left sidebar.  Our family has been able to watch the All Blacks rugby matches here in Denver even after returning to the States and we always gather around to watch this awesome piece of NZ/Maori tradition.  It reminds of us the incredibly great time we had in NZ for the first 6 months of this year!!!

"Christian Music" vs Music That is Created by Christ-Followers?

One final post on this blustery autumn day.  While by no means an expert on music, I continue to enjoy recent trends in the industry from a faith-based perspective.  Artists like Sufjan Stevens and Pedro the Lion are creating all kinds of buzz here in the States, partly due to the many faith references in their lyrics, partly due to the creativity of their music, and partly due to their apparent evasiveness when reporters try to pin them down (stereotype) on where they stand re:Christ.  Can you blame them given the recent political climate here in the States which has so identified people of faith with one particular political party and agenda ?  Re:Pedro the Lion, Andrew Beaujon, a journalist and author of Body Piercing Saved My Life was quoted several weeks ago in our major newspaper The Denver Post as saying:

"David Bazan from Pedro the Lion won't even say he's a Christian because of what (evangelical Christianity) has come to mean culturally.  Part of the cost of the political polarization is that Christianity has become a really loaded term, and it's hard for people to reconcile the basic fact that rock'n'roll came out of the church."

Many words like "Christian" and "Church" have indeed become very polluted in recent days not necessarily because they have turned into bad words but because their meanings have become so broadly diluted as to describe almost everyone and/or everything.  Chalk it up to Christendom's legacy.  I just hope that words like "emerging" and "missional" retain their richness of meanings in the debate (including over definitions) to come.   

More on Bono

U2 icon Bono figures prominantly in an earlier article as well (see previous post).  It seems that at mega-church Willow Creek's recent annual meeting, the highlight was a video of WC Pastor Bill Hybels hashing over the fate of the world with Bono.  Newsweek says that "Bono quoted Scripture (Luke 4); the crowd wept.  Cally Parkinson, who runs the Willow Creek media-relations department, was there.  As she was leaving, she overheard one pastor say to another, "I went in there wondering if Bono was a Christian, and I came out wondering if I was."  Powerful impact describing an activist who is definitely walking the walk.

Fascinating Currents

Its been awhile since I put a new post online and its not because I haven't figured out anything to talk about (could that be a bad thing?).   One of the things fascinating me these days is that major media outlets in the U.S. seem to be having an epiphany these days, discovering as if for the first time that the group broadly described as "evangelicals" does indeed have significant differences/nuances within and are neither monolithic in commitments nor can they/we be equated with our "fundamentalist" brethren, least of all to that group broadly painted as the "religious right".   After so many years of patently ignorant writing, it has been refreshing to read (especially since the American elections last Tuesday) that at least some reporters are "doing their homework" in explaining evangelicalism.  (Reminds me of the true story years ago when the Religion Editor of a major Denver newspaper told me that he didn't think one had to be particularly "religious" in order to write as an Editor of Religion!  I resisted the urge to ask this fellow if he felt equally adamant that film critics didn't have to understand/enjoy movies, political columnists understand/enjoy politics, etc.  Probably one reason why major media outlets usually don't get much of anything right when writing on issues of faith.)

In this context, however, I was so very pleased to read several accurate stories in the November 13th edition of Newsweek (provided once again by my student friend Sadie who has helped me "spy out the land") with the cover story identified as "The Politics of Jesus". If you can lay your hands on this issue, there are several excellent articles headlined by (1) An Evangelical Identity Crisis, (2) Church Meets State (which accurately projects the full range of evangelical voices under the "revival tent" from Tim LaHaye on what they call the ultraconservative right to Jim Wallis on what they call the liberal left.  FYI, Brian McLaren accompanied Jim Wallis on the liberal side of the tent.) and (3) A New Social Gospel authored by former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson subtitled "Many evangelicals are chafing at the narrowness of the religious right.  A New Faith-based Agenda".   Gerson in particular demonstrated a admirable breadth of understanding and perhaps even wisdom in articulating the present context.  As just one example, consider his opening and closing paragraphs:

"During my time in the White House, the most intense and urgent evangelical activism I saw did not come on the expected values issues--though abortion and the traditional family weren't ignored--but on genocide, global AIDS and human trafficking.  The most common request I received was, 'We need to meet with the president on Sudan'--not on gay marriage.  This reflects a head-snapping generational change among evangelicals, from leaders like Falwell and Robertson to Rick Warren, focused on fighting poverty and AIDS in Africa, and Gary Haugen, confronting rape and sexual slavery in the developing world.  Since leaving government, I've asked young evangelicals on campuses from Wheaton to Harvard who they view as their model of Christian activism.  Their answer is nearly unanimous: Bono. . . . There is a tendency (in the media) to elevate the most irresponsible and strident religious figures, mostly because it makes for better cable TV.  This practice reflects a stereotype held by many media decision makers, who view every orthodox Christian as a fundamentalist, and every fundamentalist as a theocrat.  The stereotype is unfair and uninteresting.  Evangelicalism is both more diverse and more idealistic than its critics understand.  And that should be welcome news for Americans, religious and secular alike."

How about Communities of Practice?

JES administrator Frank Daughterity has added to our conversation by suggesting the concept of "communities of practice", a phrase which comes from outside of Christian circles but is being suggested by some as an appropriate description for what we are looking for.  At first glance and in conversation with Frank, I really like the phrase "communities of practice" because, in a kingdom sense, communities of practice:

 

* eliminate the false dichotomy of church and parachurch because ideally we are all co-participating in Kingdom work.

* is dynamic in that we can be participants in multiple "communities of practice" at one time yet at different levels of participation (church, organizations, clubs, friendships, etc.)

* emphasizes both "doing" and "being" in the same breath

* in using the word "practice", legitimizes the "process" orientation of the journey as well as the fact that we never fully "arrive"/have it all together

* apparently uses an apprenticeship model of personal growth and furthermore

* learning is seen more as a change in one's identity (becoming a new person) rather than just acquiring knowledge.  In that sense, we are talking about transformational learning.

All of these are just thoughts for the journey as I/we continue on as missionalexplorers.  Your thoughts?

What is a Missional Community?

As we continue to develop a new Missio Dei text for ACSI, my partners and I have been struggling to define and frame up the implications of missio Dei for the context of community.  Our first attempt ended when we realized that we had reflexively equated what God is doing in the world around us as somehow completely captured by "church".  While churches can (but not always choose to) participate in the larger missio Dei, the fact remains that God's mission and activity in this world simply cannot be captured by church activities alone!  Many of you have already discovered this for yourselves in your own journey as you have seen God at work in locations and peoples far beyond the reach of "church".  So, if missio Dei cannot be confined to church, we are now trying to re-frame the question to "What does a missional community look like?  Ahhhh, this has taken us in much different directions.  After some searching and counsel from a fellow blogger, I found a great article by Jason Zahariades at http://www.theofframp.org/missional_comm.html entitled What is a Missional Community?  I strongly recommend you check this out as we continue to search the mind and heart of God re:missio Dei.