Urban Ekklesia

House Church. Urban Church. Organic Church. Multicultural Church. Simple Church. This is a space created for both humble and passionate reflection on the missional, emerging church in urban North America.

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Location: Bronx, New York, United States

A space for thinking out loud and inviting others to join the refining process. Justice, mission, politics, the city. Everything is connected. Theology is life.

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Kingdom Community

During the years that the New Testmant was being written, it is fun to imagine what Kingdom community looked like? As a result of study, I know it didn't look just one way. It would have depended on which city and under what circumstances this community was being formed -- among other things. However, I can imagine Greeks, Italians, Jews, and North Africans gathered in a courtyard, a 'master' and a 'slave' sitting at the same table with the same portions, and men and women sharing the same status as full members of the community. And after the meal, the food that remained taken to the widows who could not make this trip into this section of the city. Reading the New Testament alone, we know that they faced enormous issues of their day, but in those communities that rose above the narrative of the Gospel was a centerpiece for discernment.

What might Kingdom community look like today? Participants from various house churches and church planting projects meeting together in a backyard in Yonkers with the host sweating over a barbeque grill. Chinese, Latinos, Anglos, Black Americans, and more. Refugees from Liberia and Indonesia, homeowners, renters, educated professionals, students. Spanish, English, and Chinese flowing off the tongue. Teenagers, preschoolers, and an elderly great grandmother. Believers and a few of their unbelieving friends and family gather in the shade. Scripture is read, words of wisdom is spoken, and Communion is shared. The food that remains goes home with some who are thankful. God is praised. Like the churches before them, this community of house churches seeks to make the Gospel its source for ethics and rediscover its power over and over again. It too faces tremendous theological challenges of its own day, and it continues to pioneer as the Spirit provides new horizons.

I suppose that Kingdom community will look a lot different from city to city and under various circumstances. But I am thankful for tasting community that I'm sure was first imagined in the mind of God.

Pray that as we pursue becoming a missional people we will continue to realize Christ-inspired community, that we will continue our quest not only to reach as many as possible but to truly love and be loved.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

I love NY mornings

A few days ago it really hit me again. I really do love NYC in the morning... espcially early on a Saturday morning. The city is just awakened though some weary laborers have just arrived home from their night shift. The air is fresh, and while traffic has not ceased, neither has it accumulated to a dizzying degree. There is a crispness in the air of the city that rivals its rural cousins. Preparations are underway in Manhattan for parades, bike rides, and walk-a-thons. Window guards make that sound of metal retreating up into a roll. The day begins! I love NYC in the Spring.

Friday, May 19, 2006

American Church

Recently, there has been increasing discussions regarding church planting movements. As a way of recapturing the missional soul of the church, many have chosen to make paradigm shifts regarding the church's expression and life together. This is seen in numerous forms of emergent forms -- especially organic or house churches. I'm part of such a move. Many are looking to several Asian and/or African countries and wondering if the same kind of church multiplication, signs & wonders, and passion for the Gospel can happen here in North America. I'm asking too. While we know anything is possible for the Lord, it makes sense that there needs to be a change in the behavior of His people. I can't help but imagine that the Lord is eagerly seeking our repentance & transformation. We need to repent.

One Indian preacher has compared the American church to Samson in his final days as he was chained to the pillars in the Philistine palace. Bound, blind, but still attracts a crowd. And it has lost the power to put fear in the hearts of the enemies of God.

I certainly hope the fate of Christ's church in America is not the same as that of Samson. However, we do well to listen to our brothers overseas where the Gospel is advancing not so unlike what we often only read about in the book of Acts. Is it a call to structural paradigm shifts? Yes, I suppose it is that. Is it a call to books & lectures on the missional church and postmodernism? Yes, probably; these resources are probably helpful. However, it is most of all a call to repentance. It is a call to seek the Spirit of the Living God to conduct heart surgery.

All the discussions in the world on evangelism won't do a thing if we aren't moved in our gut with compassion for lost people. All the building projects we could possibly undertake will be for nothing if the Lord removes our lampstand (see Revelation). Great presentations and well polished homeletics won't do it if we don't love each other.

It seems that nearly every major turning point in the Scriptures came with repentance. When will this become our starting point for change? When will it for me?

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Let's Talk Politics

The Bible is a very political book — but just not in the sense that we, as Americans, typically think of “politics.” If we read our Bible really well — Democrats & Republics, Communists & patriots, conservative right wing fundamentalists & left wing liberals — should all be deeply offended! The Gospel, in the same breath, casts a vision for eternity and for the present moment.

The Bible is a very political book. For example, did you know that the very statement, Jesus is Lord, could have gotten you killed in the 1st century Roman Empire? It directly contradicted the State-approved declaration: Ceasar is Lord. Jesus is Lord is a political statement, and it is indeed becoming controversial once again.

The implications of Jesus’ teaching, moved the worship of God away from a place (the temple in Jerusalem) and generated a new movement that centered around a person (Jesus). In its original context this was interpreted by the Jewish leaders as an assault on the economic, religious, symbolic, and political center of power— the temple. This kind of message can get you killed if spoken in the right context.

Truthfully, I often don’t want to have anything to do with many of the political causes in America today. Even many of the so called “Christian” political causes don’t always feel very Christ-like, but the political vision of the Gospel is altogether different. If you are looking for politics in the modern sense, open the New York Times, but if the vision of the wolf dwelling with the lamb appeals to you, you’re looking in the right place when you open your Bible.
Yes, as followers of Jesus, we live peacefully and respectfully by our nation’s laws — whatever nation that may be. However, we are called into a subversive lifestyle & a counter-cultural community. We are messengers of wholeness and agents of grace. We are first & foremost citizens of Heaven.

So what am I to do if a law passes that would make it a felony to offer help and hospitality (as the Good Samaritan) to my neighbor, the undocumented foreigner? In the early church hospitality was one of the central virtues of Christian faith, and as a people called to show kindness & hospitality to the orphan, the widow, and the foreigner, we are called to live in contradiction against such injustice.

It’s not the first time we’ve been faced with such contradictions. For example, as Tony Dale has expressed, I understand why there would be no prayer in public schools. I do. We live in a pluralistic society. What I don’t understand is why any Christians would actually obey this law. God’s people are called to be facilitators of grace — both locally & globally. Recently, two small groups from our Bronx/Westchester network participated in activities that reflect the quest for justice in the Bible.

There are a growing number of Christian communities that focus much of their energy on causes that promote social justice in the name of Christ. Many have also discovered that this is a powerful form of evangelism. For example, some churches have gone to build houses in Honduras or New Orleans, and they invite their unbelieving friends to come and serve along with them. They work together, share a common experience, discover opportunities to speak about their love for God while putting flesh onto the Gospel story.

The politics of the Gospel is revolutionary. Think about it. What would happen if churches all across the U.S. sold their church buildings, began meeting in homes, and used the money to rebuild Afghanistan, establish orphanages in Uganda, and start house church movements in the largest mega cities on the planet? The politics of the Gospel simply calls us to think differently.

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Beyond Commercialism

I believe we need to repent. The more I listen and the more I watch and the more I learn, the more I see it. I see it everywhere. I see it in churches that hear about or see on TV. It's in Tennessee, Texas, California, and here in New York. As much as we are working against it, I still see traces of it in our house church network in the Bronx. It's everywhere, and I see it in me too. What is it? Elements of our culture that oppose the Gospel.

Can I confess something? I've often been conflicted about my own vocation as a "minister." Why? Because of ingrained worldviews in our culture, it is incredibly difficult -- as a professional theologian --to teach others to move beyond the blinders that people wear. Because one of the greatest enemies of the Gospel in America is COMMERCIALISM. It's an enemy because it seeps into our worldview and becomes part of our religious practice. We, Americans, expect a certain exchange of religious goods and services rather than becoming the called-out people of God on a mission with Him. Have you ever really stopped to evaulate the kinds of behaviors we can promote in our culture and compare them with the message of the cross?

Unfortuantely, often the answer to this dilemna is to demand people to "Stop it!" oftentimes resulting in the formation of some new cult or legalism in order to get results we can be proud of (yet another idol!). Perhaps right motives in the beginning, but a bad end result. Another answer is just to give in and embrace it as some sort of compromise for the sake of gathering a crowd. I cannot live with either of these choices.

Based on a worldview caught in commercialism, the religious professional provides a service, and the church member is the recipient of religious experience. Sometimes I get into conversations about "concerns" in the church (whether in the Bronx or elsewhere), and my response is generally (in one way or another): "So what are you going to do about it?" Only when people get this (if they ever do get it!), do I then become their eager partner and biggest fan. As soon as we see ourselves (ALL of us) as priests of God, then real change is possible. When the full-time minister or theologian becomes a fellow broken vessel, an equipper, a consultant, a trainer, a visionary, a prophetic voice for the active body of Christ, rather than a dispenser of religious services, we are set free both from disillusioned expectations and from unjustified disappointment about what the professional is supposed to do for me.

I've heard people talk about the desire for "revival" in America for years, and I've read the same statements written before I was born. I believe we need to repent. Perhaps we just need to take the blinders off, and see in a fresh way the radical, counter-cultural vision of Jesus' Gospel once again. Let's pray for that. I'm praying for workers with this kind of vision.