shalomization

Mature Faith

I'm re-reading Toxic Faith: Experiencing Healing from Painful Spiritual Abuse by Stephen Arterburn & Jack Felton.  There is an excellent listing of 8 characteristics or discriptions of a mature faith that they took from Peter L. Benson and Carolyn H. Eklin, Effective Christian Education: A National Study of Protestant Congregations (Minneapolis: a research project of Search Institute, March 1990). What is interesting to me is the significant focus on community and issues of justic and mercy.  It is a reminder of Micah 6:8, "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (ESV).

A mature believer:

1. Trusts in God's saving grace and believes firmly in the humanity and divinity of Jesus.

2. Experiences a sense of personal well-being, security, and peace.

3. Integrates faith and life, seeing work, family, social relationships, and political choices as part of one's religious life.

4. Seeks spiritual growth through study, reflection, prayer, and discussion with others.

5. Seeks to be part of a community of believers in which people give witness to their faith and support and nourish one another.

6. Holds life-affirming values, including commitment to racial and gender equality, affirmation of cultural and religious diversity, and a personal sense of responsibility for the welfare of others.

7. Advocates social and global change to bring about greater social justice.

8. Serves humanity consistently and passionately through acts of love and justice.

This would probably lead us to a discussion between the difference in a private faith verses a personal faith.  I'm not sure you can find a legitimate defense for a purely private faith in Scripture.  Our faith brings with it an inclusion in the missional work of God - "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation." (2 Corinthians 5:17-19 ESV)

Jesus Creed

In The Jesus Creed, Scot McKnight (Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies at North Park University) adapts the Shema of Judaism as the "creed" of the Old Testament to the "Great Commandment" of Mark 12:28-33 as the "creed" of the New Testament for Christianity.  Basically, he proposes that "loving God and loving others" from Mark 12:28-33 is the focus of our experience of living by faith.  I have to admit that I find a lot of value in that perspective.

However, this must be more than a creed to repeat or a doctrinal supposition to adhere to.  It must be a tangible expresssion of how we live on a daily basis.  I have always heard that we should live in such a way that others will see Jesus in us.  Maybe this is backwards.  Maybe we should live in such a way that we see Jesus in others.  This might cause us to respond in ways that seek their well-being before our own.  This was certainly the case in the story of the "good Samaritan" in Luke 10:30-37.

Maybe that's how the church should live in community.  Not necessarily that others will "see" Jesus in our buildings and programs, but that we will see Jesus in the community and serve "Him" in compassion and humility.

As Dr. Phil might ask, "How is your current 'creed' working for you?"   

I had Hopes, I had Dreams

As a child in Mexico, cruel poverty was his family's reward for hard work.  As a teenager, he said he found his father in tears.  "I found him crying because he just couldn't provide.  And I promised myself that I would do everything within my power to make sure that I provided for not just my parents and my siblings, but for my future family," he said.

"I just take off, just like a sprint -- all this adrenaline going through my body. I just go over the fence, jump about 16 feet to the floor and run towards the United States," Dr. Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa said, remembering the day he fled to the U.S.  He was one of many Mexicans who flee to the U.S. out of desperation. He said poverty and the hope of a better life drove him to make the leap.

But Dr. Quinones-Hinojosa doesn't work on a farm anymore. Nineteen years after he jumped a fence into San Diego with a few dollars and no English skills, he is now one of the best brain surgeons at the world-renowned Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.  Read the full story http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17474911/from/ET/

Wineskins & Missional DNA

The three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 9:17, Mark 2:22 and Luke 5:37-38) describe Jesus teaching about the necessity of putting new wine into new wineskins.  The issues had to do with a vibrant and vital ingredient that could not be placed in older containers.  Church structures must always find ways to adapt to a vibrant and vital Gospel.  This Gospel is new every day in that it is a living reality with the work of a loving God who gave Himself for His creation.  Yet, it is old in that it is the timeless story of a loving God who gave Himself for His creation.  Yes, I did say the same thing!

So how do congregations adapt themselves to this "new wine"?  First, is a historical return to the an understanding of the mission of God (missio dei) that is being recaptured in missional terminology. Missional is not an update of "every member a minister/missionary".  It has to do with a congregation or ministry that becomes agile enough to "retool to meet a new market".

Agile Competitors and Virtual Organizations: Strategies for Enriching the Customer by Steven L Goldman, is a writing out of the corporate world from which congregations and ministries can learn much.  The business world and the church face many of the same problems: rapid change, global competition (religious pluralism has come to our neighborhoods), economic uncertainties, ethnic population changes, and a "postmodern" mindset that does not value "brand loyalty".

Four Dimensions of Agile Competition (I have added parenthesis to apply to the church who is more interested in mission than maintenance).

1.  Enriching the customer.  "An agile company (missional church) is one that is perceived by its customers (unchurched community) as enriching them in a significant way, not only itself.  The 'products' (services and ministries) of an agile company are perceived by its customers to be solutions to their individual problems (meaning, purpose and direction).  The packages of goods and services that customers buy are only the means for implementing the solutions, for solutions are what customers are actually paying for -- and they are increasingly aware of this.  This situation creates new marketing strategies for management to consider.  At the same time, it demands a reconceptualization of what the company's products really are". (how do we describe what we are "selling" to the unchurched world?  Services and programs for our own edification or an encounter with Jesus Christ!)

2.  Coperating to enhance competitiveness.  "Cooperation -- internally and with other companies (churches and other "friends of good will" whether sacred or secular, governmental or corporate) -- is an agile competitor's operational strategy of the first choice.  The end is bringing agile products to market as rapidly and as cost-effectively as possible.  One strategy for doing this is utilizing existing resources regardless of where they are located and who owns them (especially with needs based ministries, e.g. literacy, food, clothing, substance abuse treatment, housing, etc).  Cross-functional teams (pastoral caregivers, publicity, literacy ministry, prison ministry, benevolence ministry all working together), empowerment (emphasis on releasing for service and not just gathering for stimulation), reengineering of business processes (everything is done to enhance the mission/vision of the church), virtual companies (web based outreach efforts), and partnerships even with direct competitors (churches down the street) are all means employed to leverage resources through cooperation." (an emphasis on Kingdom principals allows cooperation and collaboration for Kingdom growth first.)

3.  Organizing to master change and uncertainty.  "An agile company (missional church) is organized in a way that allows it to thrive on change and uncertainty (yes, we've never done it that way before and we may have to rewrite our bylaws and budget!).  Its structure is flexible enough to allow rapid reconfiguration of human and physical resources (positions, buildings and budgets do not limit mission).  There is no single 'right' structure for an agile company, and no single 'right' size (small is ok too).  Personnel who are motivated and knowledgeable enough to convert change and uncertainty into new opportunities for company growth are empowered to do so, routinely and rapidly (passion is appreciated and risk is enabled - see Matthew 16:25).

4.  Leveraging the impact of people and information.  "In an agile company (missional church), management (church staff/elders, deacons) nurtures an entrepreneurial company culture that leverages the impact of people and information on operations (God speaks to and uses anyone or everyone).  It does this by distributing authority, by providing the resources personnel need, by reinforcing a climate of mutual responsibility for joint success, and by rewarding innovation (whether it fails or succeeds - often, results are in God's hands).  People -- what they know, the skills they possess, the initiative they display -- and the information are the differentiators between companies (churches) in an agile competitive environment (the Church really is people, not buildings and programs).   Because knowlege-based products (you shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free - John 8:32) offer the greatest potential for individualization (salvation and completeness in Christ), continuous work force education and training (discipleship) are integral to agile company operations (church programs).  They constitute an investment in future prosperity rather than a cost to be assigned to current overhead expenses." (See first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness...)

What think ye?

Children Shall Lead Them

Larry James is the Founder and Executive Director of Cenral Dallas Ministries.  This is one of the premiere Christian community development ministry sites in the country.  On his blog (http://larryjamesurbandaily.blogspot.com/) he shows how children are stepping up and addressing the issue of child health insurance and the lack thereof. 

Check out http://www.electsusie.com/ Susie Flynn and her passion for justice.

"The wolf will romp with the lamb, the leopard sleep with the kid.  Calf and lion will eat from the same trough, and a little child will tend them." (Message)

Downwardly Mobile Church

Henri Nowen once called "downward mobility" as giving yourself away in the name and spirit of the Christ who, 'though he was rich, became poor for our sakes'.  What would happen if the church were to take to heart this attitude of Christ?  What would happen if sucess were not our goal but instead the goal of significance?

Christianity in the southern hemisphere doesn't have to worry too much with this problem.  Basically in third world countries, Christianity thrives among the poor and marginalized.  Charles Lee Williamson is a retired missiologist (though I doubt he was ever called by that title) who understands the position of the church in todays mission context of North America.  Some years ago he described the "Upward Mobility of the Church" and tried to show how denominations (primarily churches of 'like faith and order') would grow in affluence and importance and begin to see their numbers decrease.  He used a pyramid to describe this upward mobility and how there were fewer and fewer people to reach at the upper end of the pyramid.  However, the grassroots churches had a great appeal to the common man (read poor and marginalized). 

Large churches have now created separate non-profit corporations to provide those outreach services to the poor and marginalized.  However, it is interesting to observe that once the non-profit corporation is established it usually begins to separate from being a ministry of the church to "what those folks over there do". 

Maybe it's time to take to heart the Scriptural description of Jesus and apply it to today's church.  Can we become poor for our unchurched community?  Maybe that's part of what "shalomization" means - seeking the welfare of the community.