Urban Ekklesia

(Another) Christian Response to Robertson

2010-01-16T19:34:00.000-08:00

Katrina, 9/11, Haiti.... What do these and other events have in common besides loss of life and massive destructive? Pat Robertson made a highly publicized comment describing the catastrophe as God's judgment. Shortly after images from the earthquake came across our TV screens, Robertson claimed that Haiti was being punished for a pact with the devil made during the slave revolt over a century ago. Naturally, there are numerous alternative Christian responses to Robertson's comments, and though I haven't made use of this blog for some time, I felt moved to briefly add some of my own thoughts to the range of Christian responses.

It is striking to observe how many Christians intuitively share Robertson's sentiment. It is equally compelling to discover how many of Christ's followers passionately take exception with the judgment of Pat Robertson. It is abundantly clear that Robertson doesn't speak for the whole church of God.

To be clear, God is indeed Judge of the living and the dead. He is Lord and King over all the nations. However, Christian thinkers can and do debate if or when or in what way God judges tribes and nations today. If not futile, it may be an interesting theological enterprise. However, Robertson's comments are embarrassing, to many Christians -- myself included -- and entirely troublesome.

Beyond the theological difficulties raised by Robertson's comments, the inconsistencies of his judgment reveal a more troubling observation. Robertson reflects a rush to judgment more rooted in his cultural bias than in Scripture. He is quick to claim that 9/11 was a result of homosexuality in NYC, but the primary victims were workers in international commerce and the working poor of the service sector that supports them. He made the same claim about Katrina hitting New Orleans, but it was the poorest communities that were ravaged by Katrina. Now, Haiti is crushed due, according to Robertson, because of a pact with the devil over a century ago. It seems that whenever a part of the world that lies outside of the cultural boundaries preferred by Robertson undergoes a tragedy it is quickly determined to be Divine judgment.

But why are tornadoes in Kansas not God's judgment? Why are Hurricanes in Florida or the Carolinas not Divine wrath? Why are floods in the Midwest, America's heartland, not judgment from on high? Are death tolls resulting from random shooting sprees in rural Arkansas or Texas or Colorado not the hand of God too? There are other problems with Robertson's comments -- including theological issues deserving of a more extensive discussion -- but the most obvious problem to me is the shear inconsistency. It is that inconsistency that reveals the true source of this rush to judgment -- good old fashioned cultural bias.

Anger in Darfur

2008-05-11T05:22:00.000-07:00

I was outraged. Following the presidential politics, I was checking a news website, and I came across a headline: Bush voices concern over Darfur rebels strikes against Sudan government. What?!? After 10 years of the international community sitting by while religious and ethnic genocides ravages this country, the current U.S. administration shares concerns over violence now?

I do not promote violence or violent resistance. The way of Jesus was imitated well in popular movements led by Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. The way of Jesus makes foolish any who follow the way of violence. But still, what are we to expect from Darfur when the powerful look the other way. When thousands of voices are lifted in protest while the principalities and powers of this world clasp their hands over their ears, are we surprised that some rise up in rebellion against a government that has raped and murdered them?

What I can't believe is NOW after 10 years of genocide the White House is concerned over Darfur. After years of the Chinese trading arms for oil with the Sudanese government and rebels manage to fight back, we get concerned. After years of protests and student movements and banners -- Save Darfur -- hung from church buildings and synagogues, now that their are dissidents to deal with?
G I V E M E A B R E A K!

2008-02-13T11:14:00.000-08:00

About a month ago I showed a group of people in the Bronx a music video by the secular band, Nickleback, called If Everyone Cared. (It's a great video by the way.) At the end of the video they display a quote by Margaret Mead -- Never doubt that a small group of people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.

A couple of months ago I turned in a paper for my current studies in missiology. Studying simple church networks (such as ours) in global cities (such as ours), I confronted the question that some have asked. Do house churches have any real continuity? To do research with integrity and with minimum bias, I felt it could be a good idea to further investigate the issue and so I raised the question. My professor disarmed the issue writing instead:

The continuity question seems to be a straw man. Most who ask it arepart of dead churches that have great continuity. But do they change a city?Change usually comes from a small group of people who are committed tochange, not by the institution itself.

I've continued to reflect on these statments. Jesus appeared to understand that change dynamics start with a small circle of committed followers. We see this in his practice -- choosing a small band of disciples -- and in his teaching -- the Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed.

For many of us, this becomes a significant shift in emphasis, but I'm learning it's value. Bronx Fellowship and MetroSoul are at a point in time in their development when a small group of committed people is really going to matter. In Bronx Fellowship we are moving towards a new period of ministry development that promises to begin very small. In MetroSoul we are addressing the need for new initiatives in order to empower people and support long-term goals.

Pray that we follow the Lord's leadership. Pray that we recognize where the Lord is at work so that we can join Him there. Pray for a discerning spirit. Pray that the eyes of our hearts will be open. Pray that people will be set free by the power of the Spirit of God and by the name of Lord Jesus. And may the Lord multiply small bands of committed followers of the way of Jesus. Pray that those who are encountering the Gospel through us will have their hearts softened and receive the Father's life-changing grace.

Proclamation and Presence

2007-11-21T09:42:00.000-08:00

When we look at the story of Jesus, we see a fully integrated description of both proclamation and presence of the Kingdom of God. Jesus embodied God's reign of righteousness-justice, and his words and deeds were an inseparable representation of God's Kingdom. Jesus was fully present amidst the brokenness and lostness of our world, and he brought justice and restoration. Jesus proclaimed the worldview of the Kingdom of God as true reality, and he did so without apology.

As the church in the western hemisphere turned out to embrace a more Greek worldview, Jesus' model of holistic ministry was dissected. Debates between liberal and conservative Christians reinforced this split. More liberal Christians took it upon themselves to embrace works of justice for the physical world around them. More conservative Christians were concerned with the soul and the eternal outcomes of savlation and judgement. Jesus appears to cares for both of these things somewhat seemlessly.

Proclamation was the primary ministry of conservative Christians during the Modern era. At their best, they communicated the Gospel as truth with precision and reason. Unfortunately, proclamation of the Gospel too often stopped short of presence. Preaching, on-the-spot conversions, and church growth outcomes blotted out authentic community, transformation, justice, and ongoing discipleship. Proclamation outweighed presence.

Post-modernism is just that -- "Post." It is a shift away from the worldview of the modern era. It is likely that many young post-modern Christians will follow this shift from one side to the other as part of the "post" phenomenon. Many good things are being embraced -- relationships, community, authenticity, and justice. However, without proclamation of the Good News, this

shift will still fall desperately short. But no less so than previous generations.

The nature of the Kingdom of God and the ongoing ministry of Jesus (through His people) is to be holistic. God's people proclaim Jesus while demonstrating, through their presence, the works of His Kingdom. It is my prayer that during this time of cultural change and upheaval in the church, Jesus' followers can again embrace a holistic practice of the Christian faith that is modeled on Jesus.

helpful conversations

2007-10-12T14:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I've just begun the "field work" portion of my research project, and this is the part -- while a little more difficult -- that really gets me excited. It's the part that I believe we have the most to learn from. Last year, I put together a literature review paper that worked through some of the major themes involved in organic church planting in North America, and at this stage I'm conducting interviews with actual organic church planters. First, I'll survey (via phone) leaders of church networks in Chicago, Toronto, L.A., and San Francisco, and then I'll spend even more significant time digging deeper into the dynamics that impact ministries in NYC through extensive interviewing and participant observation. I consider this more than an acadmic project, but rather a ministry that can provide insight for any number of missionary-leaders in global cities across this continent. And if nothing else, it should really help to improve our thought processes here in our city.

I've only conducted a handful of interviews so far (so there is nothing quite so scientific coming from this e-mail), but I have already been enriched from the conversations that have taken place. Even in the few interviews conducted so far, there are commonalities. More than one have mentioned that challenge of the messiness of doing ministry this way, and more than one has mentioned (and this is truly sad) that having a church background in America can be a barrier for effective involvement in this kind of missional-organic community. Most have emphasized the "low cost" or "low overhead" since it is all about people without structures demanding expensive programs, professionals (though missionary leaders are often involved to some degree) or buildings.

One statement has really resonated with me through the week. One Latino leader in L.A. expressed that it is sometimes hard not having something big or programatic to point to as OUR success but then said, "When I step back and look at the big picture, it is amazing. We are in so many cracks & crevices of our community. We are in so many lives, and it is amazing because we are such a small group of people." It really hit (and affirmed) me. Our leadership base is even smaller than theirs, and we too are in so many lives and pouring the Gospel into so many "cracks & crevices" of the Bronx. It highlights one of the strengths of this approach in conjunction with the Lord's faithfulness. Comparable to a liquid, the Gospel is able to flow into lives through other lives because it is not limited to the imposition of a rigid structure. This is what many for years have called "incarnational" -- that is, fleshing out the Gospel.

Pray for us as we seek to "incarnate" the Gospel and see it flow into as many "cracks & crevices" as possible. Pray that we will have great boldness. Pray that the Lord will raise up workers (of many different giftings) from the harvest. Pray that my current research will open up new windows of insight for urban missionaries in North America. And may the Gospel be found pouring into the 'cracks & crevices' of your community.

Campfires & Church Planters

2007-09-24T15:27:00.002-07:00

A couple of weeks ago my family and I went tent-camping for three nights. It was not only Adalia's first time, but it was Hylma's too! It was great. On the last night there, someone nearby came over asking for lighter fluid. Unfortunately for them, I had to explain that I didn't have any lighter fluid and had lit my fire "the old fashioned way." Knowing well how to build a fire combined with a lack rain, I didn't use more than a couple of matches throughout the entire 3 days.

During this trip, I contemplated what lessons could be learned from something as simple as a campfire. My friends, John White, Neil Cole, and Ben Cheek, all seem to be obsessed with lessons about the Kingdom and about the church observed in nature, and I'm proud to say that I've learned to share this obsession. These guys can't stop talking about viruses and agriculture and physics (okay, physics is just Ben). But it is largely fueled by the fact that Jesus seemed to have the same obsession as well. Jesus talks about farmers and mustard seeds and fishermen rather than the machines of His day. Paul explains things like "plant" and "water" and the church as a human body. Even Peter can't help but express that it is living stones that represent the individuals who make up the church. It all makes sense really. Authentic transformation of life is a growing process with the help of the Holy Spirit. So as I look at a campfire, there are some important lessons to learn from nature. Before the age of pre-soaked charcoal and lighter fluid, we had to actually build a fire. You have to collect tender -- small twigs, paper thin bark, etc. -- arrange sticks, and then finally add the logs arranged so that the fire spreads effectively. I've really been learning -- unfortunately through much trial and error -- that catalyzing church multiplication, we must begin with individual disicpleship. We can't expect churches to pop out disciples anymore than we expect to light a campfire starting with a log, but as we collect our twigs, bark, shavings, and sticks to receive our flame, we can expect disciple-making to result in churches.

All of this reinforces beginning small and having patience. We're not just throwing a pile together and splashing on some chemicals. I'm not sure I have all of this figured out yet or if I ever will, but it does seem that everything in nature takes us back to that mustard seed or to that farmer. It always begins on the smallest level and multiplies out from there. It often requires patience. It seems unavoidable that the mission of the God of creation would direct us along a such a path when encountering human souls.

Pray (passionately!!) for workers from this harvest. Pray that God will specifically place us into the lives of individuals who will embrace a life of discipleship. Everything begins there. That's certainly where Jesus began.

A Generation Losing Church

2007-09-24T15:27:00.001-07:00

I've done a certain exercise with a few different groups as I've had opportunities to teach. I ask everyone to list several qualities that they believe their "unchurched" or unbelieving friends would say about church. I've done this in two different states and a handful of different groups, and the response is always the same. Negative, overwhelmingly negative. Then, I ask them to list several qualities that they believe the crowds -- not the Twelve -- said (or would likely have said) about Jesus. Overwhelmingly positive and usually includes qualities like confident or powerful as well as humble and loving. Now while I know that there are many churches that must overcome the harm done by others, this exercise demonstrates a significant tension. The very definition of being a Christian is to be a Christ-follower, and yet a disproportionate number of our Christian institutions don't appear to look or feel very much like Jesus.

Last thursday I was sitting in a park on University Avenue in the Bronx. As I sat on a park bench waiting to see if some of the kids that I sometimes meet there were going to show up, I overheard another conversation on the next bench. Two teens began talking about another girl that had just walked away after an exchange of typical insults and counter-measures. "Words hurt," the girl said to her friend. Then, she followed up with another comment, "She needs to go back to church." At that point the conversation shifted gears. It took me just a few moments for me to realize the new theme of their talk. I wish I had caught everything they said (I wish even more that I had taken advantage of the opportunity this could have been before they got up & walked away!!), but they started sharing a discussion about church. The girl asked the young man, "Do you ever go to church?" He answered, "I used to go with my aunt, but not for a long time. I'd usually fall asleep." The girl then stated, "I went once with my grandmother to her church. Never again!" And the conversation ended.

Today, I went and attended a rally that took place across from the United Nations in support of ending the violence in Darfur, Sudan. The crowd was overwhelmingly young people -- probably college aged mostly. One of the many statements that stuck in my head from the speeches given by Sudanese, Rwandans, and social justice & anti-genocide advocates was this. A young American girl in a video said, "We look at what has happened in the past, and we ask, where were the people that could have done something to stop it. But now we are becoming those people." (I was on the edge of weeping during nearly every speech as I thought about the heart-wrenching pain that comes from the evil of human injustice.) One rabbi from an anti-genocide commission stood up and explained that in a week in the liturgy of synagogues across the country the prophet Isaiah would call us to account for the unjust suffering in our world. As Christians, don't we also read this as a word to the church? ....concerning injustice in our world, but also about everything we are called to be?

It seems that if we have any hope of reaching those kids sitting in the park and so many others like them, "church" might have to be re-thought and probably done a little differently. But more than that, we need to invite Kingdom into our lives, families, and churches. To me, all of our decisions concerning church structure, ministry, outreach, etc. needs to beg the question: Is this going to push us to look more like Jesus? Think about it. Is that really how we typically make ministry decisions? Aren't we more often grounded in pragmatics? That is, what works. What if what "works" isn't exactly the same as what is faithful? What if what inspires us or comforts us is the exact thing that keeps us from being courageous? What if we are simply too often on an adventure in missing the point?

I suppose I've tried here to string together a few fairly different experiences, but are they so different at the core? I suppose the more we imitate God, the more we are going to be sick to our stomach to remain silent while rape and murder continues unchecked. I suppose that the more church becomes family rather than a stiff institution, the better our chances (not that all soil is guaranteed to be receptive) to reach kids that visit a church and then say "Never again!" It's all connected, and there is an axis where all of my thoughts connect here: Are we willing to risk enough to look like Jesus?

People or Maintenance?

2007-09-24T15:25:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago I received a call from a minister/church planter in Florida. We had never met, but our hour and a half conversation was the result of his own need to connect to someone doing this sort of "organic" ministry that he is feeling drawn towards. He described his own heart for people, his love of God, and his search for church as community.

Trying to encourage him, I assured him that he is not alone in the way that he is feeling. He shared how so many church planters get involved in their work because they care about people, are passionate about the Great Commission, and want to be used by God. However, after planting their church, they get wrapped up in the day-to-day maintenance of keeping the wheels of an institution going. While some enjoy this administrative role, there are many that go on and on without ever finding the courage to tell anyone -- especially their congregants -- how they feel. During our conversation this man told me that six months ago he also thought he was alone, but now, as he has shared these sort of conversations, realizes that he may be part of a much, much larger group. This seems to ring true as many 20-somethings I've spoken with are now staying clear of traditional church planting while remaininig excited about Christian community, social jusice, and even evangelism (but by any other name!).

Even with our church structure as stripped down as it is, it is easy to get buried in event planning, developing curriculum, and the like. These aren't bad things in themselves and sometimes it is practical for me to do them. However, I've been learning these same lessons. If we are going to see discipleship rise up from the harvest, we must keep the main thing as the main thing. The first Apostles understood this. When the Hellenized widows were missing out in the distribution of food, the Apostles instructed that servants ( i.e. deacons) be appointed to coordinate it. (Notice that the Apostles didn't even do the appointing, they told the people to do it.) They had to stay focused "on the word and prayer." They needed to continue and empower the body. Today, we face similar decisions. Missiologists, church planters, and similar leaders are needed to empower discipleship and service in others but sometimes fall into consumeristic expectations to please the body rather than to empower it.

Pray for these leaders, and pray for me. I am working to stay clear of the patterrn described on the phone by this church planter. May the Lord raise up servants, leaders, planters, counselors, intercessors, and many others who will be self-initiating, reproducing followers of the King. May the Holy Spirit produce fruit rising up from the harvest in the city.

relational networking as norm

2007-08-23T10:03:00.000-07:00

Occassionally, I travel to speak with churches in various places and every now & then I'm asked a question by an individual or two: How will people find you if they come into town and they want to use the phone book to find a church? My answer: They probably won't find us (though they would likely find us if they used the internet rather than yellow pages) becasue this is all really rooted in the networks of relationship. Relationship is a powerful medium. When we experience loss in ministry, it hurts more ( I've even felt this impact recently). When we experience victory, we're filled with joy because of the impact of relationship, and I've celebrated this joy many times. It is a powerful medium for the Gospel.

This morning I drove Malissa Endsley and a young women who has been living with her for the past few years to LaGuardia Airport. This young woman is going to college on the "left coast" in L.A. The two of them are staying at the McCullom's this week. The McCullom's are a couple working to reach the diverse populations of West Hollywood through planting organic/simple churches. I've been in their home, shared lunch standing by a taco truck, and enjoyed dinner in a Thai diner, and Malissa, also acquainted with the family, knew to make a phone call before their trip out west. Our young Bronxite turned Californian has an opportunity to meet them and stay in their home because of Malissa's relationship to them.

If we read Rodney Stark's Rise of Christianity, it is likely that it wasn't much different during his mission work stretching across the Mediterranean region. Paul leveraged his Jewish connections, networked with former co-workers, and took advantage of family/friendship relationships throughout the diaspora. The early church was connected through a web of relationships. Connecting through relationship rather than primarily through signs, buildings, and yellow pages (although our internet presence is actually quite substantial), but in a world of MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Google, Skype, and other such tools we find that relational networking is once again coming out onto center stage.

It is a new world indeed, and I've thought a lot over the last year about the value of missional experimentation. The reality is that many of us have been doing what missionaries have been doing overseas for years. We've been attempting to figure out how to faithfully practice missional engagement in our North American context. We, as a people, have generally thought as if missions is something that only happens "over there" somewhere. However, now that that myth is steadily fading, we must emerge from our religious enclaves to do the painful work of trial & error discovering how to engage -- as a people on mission -- with North American cultures.

God is indeed moving and doing some interesting things and teaching us a great deal along the way. I'm thankful for the many missional, incarnational workers across this continent who become a node in a web of relationships and missiological experimentation. As a result, none of us ever need to be truly alone.

the gospel?

2007-07-20T06:30:00.000-07:00

During some of the teaching opportunities with already-christians lately, I've asked a question. What was the Gospel that Jesus taught? The most common answer tends to be "love." However, while that was indeed a major component and motivator of His Gospel, I find myself challenging, if not correcting, this assumption much to the surprise of the group. Groups of people have repeatedly not known the answer to the question: What was the Gospel that Jesus taught?

The Gospels tells us that Jesus proclaimed the Good News (i.e. Gospel) of the Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven if you're reading Matthew. I can't do justice to this subject in a brief reflection e-mail, but it is helpful to begin and think about it. The "Kingdom" is not Christendom (a mistake made in medieval Europe) nor is it any one religious organization today. Rather, Jesus continued a theme begun in Genesis and runs right up through Revelation. God reigns, and He is working within the story of humanity to re-align creation with it's rightful Ruler -- the Creator. Jesus' life, ministry, and teachings is the manifestation of this truth. How important is this to our Christian faith? ...Besides being central to it? Think about some of the familar alternatives.

What happens if we receive a gospel of pragmatism (i.e. the gospel "works" better)? The faith crisis often comes when we have trouble making the gospel "work" and produce the right results or outcomes. What about a gospel of moralism? We face the crisis head-on when we encounter people who are morally better than ourselves but who don't share our belief system (or drive ourselves crazy in an effort to be better so that our gospel is justified!). The gospel of reason has legs to stand on, right? But the Apostle Paul calls the Gospel "foolishness" to some. He wasn't talking about unreasonable or even "bad" people; rather to people who's worldview kept them spiritually blind. The self-help gospel is quite popular as a kind of religious pop psychology and is very similar to the gospel of consumerism or religious experience whose sole objective is to somehow make me satisfied.

The Gospel -- actually all of Scripture -- is a story of relationship with the major parts & players being: God, a rebellious creation, His redeeming work, and His redeemed people. It's the story of God's mission to redeem creation and restore His Reign. We're part of a larger story. But as the seed is planted in the soil of human hearts, we reep what has been sown -- whether by us or in previous experience.

Pray for us. Allow me to echo one of Paul's prayer requests (adapted from Eph. 6:19-20 NLT) with a few changes to fit our local situation. And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words as I boldly explain God's secret plan that the Good News is for [everyone. There is a price to pay] for preaching this message as God's ambassador. But pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should.

Simple pleasures

2007-07-19T16:46:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting on our sofa with my 2 1/2 year old daughter. She's snuggled up next to me and asks, What do you think? I responded, Oh I'm thinking about God. People have a lot of problems and I'm trying to understand how to explain the Kingdom of God to them.

Then I ask my daughter, Princess, what do you think?

She answers, I think I want a popsicle.

Discipleship & Inclusion

2007-07-07T14:52:00.000-07:00

These days, a lot of Christian leaders from many different backgrounds are discussing Christian discipleship. That is, there is a renewal of studying the concept of the Kingdom of God, of reflecting on the character of Christ, and of taking initiatives to facilitate these themes in contemporary society. An atmosphere of struggle in Christianity in the West seems to be producing somewhat of a "theological revival." A friend from Sacramento best sums all this up, when he asks the question about every aspect of ministry: Does it look like Jesus? Of course, the challenge here continues as we must realize who Jesus was in HIS original context in order to know who He is today in ours.

This evening I was reading Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context by Glen Stassen and David Gushee. As I read, I came across this statement: The delivering righteousness that Jesus taught therefore exceeded that of the Pharisees, for they excluded outcasts and the impure from their community of righteous practice (2003:70). I've come to appreciate this about Jesus. It was the Pharisees who thought cleansing their community of all sin and sinners was the answer and Jesus seems to really go after them on this point, to the extent of telling His followers -- don't be like them at all! Now, the Pharisees were the "good guys." They kept everyone in check. They kept everythinig pure. They made sure that the righteous were in and that the unrighteous knew that they were unrighteous. Jesus doesn't stand for this.

Jesus calls his followers to be more inclusive than the Pharisees. To include the sinner in their midst. To practice table fellowship with someone in the First Century context, was to commit to the deepest act of fellowship. Jesus calls us into the places of great messiness and compassionate fellowship with the world. But Jesus doesn't just say, It's all good either. He calls His followers to a deeper holiness. Don't even be given to lust or greed or resentment or worry!

I have grown to have a deep appreciation of this aspect of imitation of Jesus. I find myself (along with others) living in this embrace of the sinner while holding out the call to follow the Master. In imitation of Christ, we even sometimes find ourselves in settings where the unbelievers, the struggling, and the marginalized outnumber the followers of Christ. At its core this is an embrace of the Mission of God and is imitation of Christ.

Drum Circle

2007-06-18T22:23:00.000-07:00

I'm in Los Angeles -- Pasadena to be exact -- as part of an academic program in missiology. I miss my family, but the program itself is a great experience. We are with our cohort from morning til evening everyday for two weeks as part of an intensive residency, but we get the weekend off to rest and get ready to week 2.

So I found a cheap rate on a car rental for the weekend and spent Sunday afternoon at Venice Beach. I read, prayed, walked, and contemplated God's mission in the city. And I couldn't help but take in the sights: palm readers, street performers, artists, Quasi-Eastern mysticism, beachside body builders, team sports, vendors of all sorts, the works!

What really caught my attention was the drum circle. It was a circle of people hanging out in the middle of the beach between the pedestrian street and the surf. Probably a hundred or so people were gathered in a circle for a type of community that apparently takes place on Venice Beach every weekend. There had to be at least two dozen percussion instruments of all types -- steel drums, bongos, cow bells, base drums, you name it and it was there. And the rhythm just goes on for hours. Some could rest while others played, and then play while the others rested, but the rhythms never stopped. A few people were dancing in the middle of the circle, and every now & then the wind would reveal the unmistakable scent of marajuana being inhaled from somewhere in the crowd. (I used to smell it nearly every night from the apartment next door to ours when I first moved to the Bronx.)

For a while, I just sat and enjoyed the rhythms and people-watched. And I realized this was a community. People greeted one another as familar faces. Anyone was welcome. Everyone appeared to be approachable, welcoming, and comfortable. It was inclusive. Young, old, black, white, Asian, men, women. Some guys looked like they'd be in the office the next morning while others sported dread locks or mohawks with sun-soaked skin as if the beach was their first -- not their second -- home. Anyone was welcome. You could sit and beat your drum. You could dance in the circle or just sit back and groove to the rhythms. You could take your spot where the rhythms pounded the strongest, or you could hang back a little distance away.

It wasn't Christian. Some made it quite obvious that they were not Christ-followers. But there was something to learn here as I reflected on the life of Jesus. Jesus hung out in places like this and among people like this. All were welcome into His presence. The zealot, the pharisee, the tax collector, the prostitute, the once-diseased, the children, the women, the Samaritan, and so on. Each person was given dignity, opportunity, and choice. Mortal enemies found themselves in the same circle with Jesus. They could come into the circle and begin to follow the rhythm of the Master or they could sit out on the edges of the circle as part of the masses and just observe. I began also thinking about our churches -- homogeneous, polished, professional -- and how disturbing it might be that this group of sinners, unbelievers, and the like might actually look more like the parties Jesus frequented than many of our church gatherings. We do well at building institutions, planning services, and organizing events, and none of these are bad things in and of themselves. However, the question that I hope & pray will guide every aspect of my life & service to God will be: Do I look like Jesus?

Are we a people where outsiders can hear the Gospel without coercion? Do we welcome the "other" with dignity? Does the rhythm of our life resemble that which compelled Jesus into the lives of the broken and marginalized? Is the rhythm of our life in step with the rhythm of the Master? Do we look like Jesus?

Keeping First Things First

2007-03-20T21:27:00.000-07:00

I've heard a sentiment expressed these days that there are many people in our society today who "want Jesus, but not church." Actually, my experience tells me that many people admire Jesus, but don't actually want him. He asks way too much of us. But in general, the sentiment does seem to be true. Much fewer people actually want "church," at least not as they've known it.

This evening, I was sitting in a family's living room for our regular discussion of God, faith, and the Bible. Each week they reflect on the Bible together as a couple and then I come over so we can process it together. The man, who has absolutely no religious background, expressed something to me. He explained: Since we've been visiting about faith in God, he's noticed that every time he encounters 'religious people,' they talk about church. He claimed that that is the beginning, middle, and end of their discussion. He said that he's noticed something different about our conversations. He noticed that we talk about Jesus. We've hardly even talked about church at all.

I went on to explain that identification with a Christian community as well as other elements of our faith should be an overflow of a relationship with Jesus. If someone is truly following Jesus, they'll probably begin to desire Christian community. But in reality someone may indeed "go to church" without really becoming committed to Jesus.

What if our main message was always Jesus? I'm not sure people would flock to us, but if you've ever gone through a catalogue of church outreach materials, you know how much this message would certainly stand out among the noise of "My church is better" style advertizing. It strikes me in Acts how the message was Jesus & His Kingdom, and church just kind of happened as an outcome.

I actually do talk about church. Of course, this conversation is especially for those who are already pursuing Jesus, have a background with church, and have an invested interest in working through the issues of Christian community for the sake of mission in our current cultural context. Nevertheless, tonight felt good. I don't want to be known as someone who talks about "church" all the time. I hope to be known as a deeply devoted follower of Jesus. And then, see church happen as a result. Lord, forgive us (me) when we lose sight of this.

May we all be known as disciples of the King.

Messy Communities

2007-02-13T20:34:00.000-08:00

It seems to be a recurring theme lately, but someone described to me recently just how "hard" organic church is. "But," she said, "do I return to what is "easy?"" I went on to explain that organic/house church settings are not at all church utopia, but rather they are environments that make transformation likely BECAUSE of the messiness. What happens when believers meeting in a living room or coffee shop get past the "honeymoon" phase of life together? Scott Peck is helpful here.

S. Peck describes four phases of community. 1) There is Psuedo-community. Everything is on the surface. 2) Then, there are periods of chaos. This is when the "honeymoon" is over. Conflicts rise. Expectations remain unfulfilled. The temptation to retreat back into consumerist (please me!) religion raises its head. 3) We then turn to self-emptying. This is what Paul points out almost 2000 years earlier in Philippians 2. Many groups never move beyond the second stage but retreat back to psuedo-community out of a sense of fear. 4) True Community happens when we refuse to return to what is easy. I've seen this most often when community is bound together because of a common mission.

For the many on the outside looking in, "house church" is hard. It is hard because there comes a time in the life of every individual and every community when the question rises whether we will indeed go deeper, whether we will move into Agape love that bears with one another, whether we will live for others beyond ourselves, whether we will discover the profound joy, peace, and purpose that only comes through surrender. I'm not sure if this is possible without the messiness, without the "honeymoon" fading into history and getting into real messiness.

I'm an evangelist and love seeing conversions. However, pray not only for the harvest, but that we will grow deeper, have courage, and cast away all fears to live fully in the way of Jesus.

upgraded website

2007-01-30T21:11:00.000-08:00

Check it out. Our website got rebuilt recently and is looking pretty sharp. Visit....

www.bronxfellowship.org

-Jared

Writing from Long Beach

2007-01-30T21:00:00.000-08:00

Written: Jan. 28th
Here I am in Long Beach, CA writing from a coffee shop. Rob (a new son of God as of Easter '06) and I came out to the Organic Church Movements Conference. The first night Neil Cole, author of Organic Church, stood up and shared his heart. It wasn't polished; his video clips didn't even work! He just shared his heart. "'Doing church' organically is messy," he said. Hurting people hurt people. It's not coreographed. You can't control it. Most of all, as a worker you focus your energy and your emotion on people rather than filling seats in a crowd. He confessed the temptation to take the easier road, but he also expressed how the Lord alone has renewed his strength after a very hard year in ministry. And that, yes he is staying faithful to the call. We continue the missional journey because it is worth it, not because it is easy.

Organic church is hard. It's hard because life is messy. Hurting people hurt people. We act out in all kinds of ways -- impatience, withdrawal, isolation, resentment, anger, & so on -- because we hurt. In the economy of the Gospel, victory comes by way of surrender, but on the road to sweet surrender it's all pretty messy. As I listened to my friend share his journey, I felt God working in my own heart -- strengthening my resolve, affirming me, and convicting me of my own areas where repentance is needed.

As I sat in a forum on "organic church" (i.e. house church, simple church, etc.) in the Black community, one man reaching out to some well known hip hop artists in L.A. shared a prayer. He challenged us to ask God to teach us to love people. He reminded us that this will often begin at home with our spouse and that this prayer can revolutionize our hearts as God begins to answer. A friend to the left of me was weeping, and my own heart moved as I reflected on what God has been doing in me since I first prayed that prayer. And feeling that He has more to do in me, I promised to pray it again. Renew us. Give us a love for people, Oh God.

If you get this tonight, pray for my safe travel. (I'm on an overnight flight back to NYC in a few hours). Overall, a great conference well worth the travel. God is certainly up to something.

2007-01-14T19:09:00.000-08:00

Well, I was supposed to be in Texas today, but weather conditions forced me to turn back around at Houston and return to New York short of my planned destination. As a result, I had the opportunity instead to participate in one of our 'house church' meetings. It was one of those gatherings that represents what organic church is supposed to be. We started off (more or less on time) with meaningful prayer for one another and for outsiders. While still not of the highest quality, the singing time was energized and meaningful. It was intergenerational as the 1 1/2 year old raised her hands and cheered participating in the praise, and later while changing my (almost) 2 yr old daughter's diaper at home she continued singing her adaptation of one the morning's anthems: "I follow Jesus, no turn back, no turn back." The non-Christian among us asked questions. Everyone shared during the discussion, and application to our lives was made naturally and spontaneously. It was apparent that most, if not all, had spent time in the Gospel text during the week. A teenager shared her testimony of practicing healthy conflict resolution with some of her unreached peers and then how she initiated prayer with them at the end of their conversation. Sharing Communion and then later a salad together, the group continued to share their lives with one another while the women in the group made plans for a ladies night at the movies tomorrow.

Most importantly, it wasn't so much that the meeting went fairly well, though it did. Rather, the dynamism comes from the fact that each person is in pursuit of the Kingdom of God. (Organic meetings depend on this; rather than on well-done coreography.) At one point I looked around the room and just thought to myself, how much each person here has really grown in Christ, and how much they have contributed to my own development as well. God is at work indeed. May each one continue to grow in Him in ways that they (or others) would have never imagined.

Continue to pray for each participant and each house church to choose a real faith, real humility, real passion, real love, making a real difference in our truly broken world. Pray for workers from the harvest. Petition that the Holy Spirit cultivate transformation and allegiance to Christ in each heart. As we sow the Seed, may the Lord of the harvest bring the growth.

Confronting Commercialism

2006-12-22T13:06:00.000-08:00

Today, I was standing in line at a Bronx post office. Music from the radio filled the room serving to fill awkward silence and to cover over common complaints. Then, a commercial caught my attention. A church in Brooklyn was advertizing its Christmas Eve & New Year services.

One woman asked the other what her plans were for the holidays and proceeded to invite the other woman to a church service. Sounds good, right? But it goes on. The first woman mentioned the pastor and both agreed that the choir was "hot." They determined that they could fit the church service in and still make an anticipated party. The second one agreed to attend followed by the declaration from her friend, "You need all the prayers you can get!"

Does it bother me that she invited her friend to a church gathering? Of course not! I would celebrate that. What struck me was how this church ad was unlikely to be distinguishable from advertizements for Macy's, Disneyland, or Lite Beer. It was distinctly and unmistakably commercial. What broke my heart was the absence of Jesus, loving one another, the mission of God, social justice, life transformation, or the hope of resurrection. Okay, you might say Is this really so bad? I mean, you have to get 'em in the do, right? Yes, I might get 'em in the door (Of course I'm really interested in a much more missional -- less attractional -- perspective); however, but we have to ask: what sort of spirituality will this reproduce?

Merging Christianity with commercialism becomes something unrecognizable in light of the Gospel. We begin to ask, What does this do for me? Do I feel less guilty? Entertained? Am I inspired? (If the Jesus narrative doesn't inspire, then I don't know what to say!) Again, I think we are asking the wrong questions altogether. At the very heart of the Christian message is a call to something -- or rather Someone -- greater than ourselves. Some years ago Henry Blackaby helped us to rethink the question. And so did Roland Allen before him and Thomas a Kempis before him and so many others over the last two thousand years.

What is God up to, and how can I join Him? This is entirely different from our current worldview draped in commercialism. This sort of journey may call me to places that are new, uncomfortable, exciting, joyous, sometimes dangerous, or even... (this one's hard) unsuccessful. The catch is, it re-orientes our entire worldview. It moves us away from self-centered to a God-centered spirituality and away from self-satisfaction to God-glorification.

Heavenly Father,
Holy be Your name.
May your Kingdom come,
May your will be done,
On earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive others' sins.
And don't lead us into temptation, but protect us from the evil one.
The Kingdom, the glory, the honor is Yours alone, oh God.

-Jared

Wrong Question

2006-12-22T08:24:00.000-08:00

In our society we are very focused on outcomes. As a results-driven culture, our churches often ask, "Does it work?" about any number of new ministry initiatives. It has struck me recently that it is the wrong question -- at least to start out with -- and may lead down a dangerous road. I still care about results and want things to "work" because I care about people being transformed, our city being impacted with the Gospel, and God being glorified. I will work until my last breath for these kinds of results. However, asking "Does it work?" as the first and/or primary question focuses us towards OUR efforts and therefore OUR results. Asking "Is it faithful?" focuses on relationship with Jesus and where He desires to lead us.

Evaluating Structure

2006-12-15T12:05:00.000-08:00

The current landscape of theological reflection in the west hosts an increasing amount of hopeful analysis on the missional church. That is, the church reclaiming its identity as a people on mission. A common trend is to embrace organic formations of church, and I'm a participant in this move. There are a number of conversations that have demonstrated tension to some degree. On the one hand, a reclaimation of mission in the church has led to radical re-engineering of organizational structures. On the other hand, there are conversations that attempt to leave structure largely out of the analysis as a noble attempt to avoid being prescriptive about issues not central to the Gospel. I've also participated in this conversation insisting that the real need for the American church is "heart surgery." Structure is a an elusive subject. It doesn't feel as though it should be at the center of conversations about the Gospel, and I agree that it shouldn't. Yet, structures make an impact all their own.

In The Social Construction of Reality, Peter Berger describes institutionalism at the most primitive level as multiple persons committed to a repeating social pattern. For example, three guys meeting at a diner every Monday morning at 7AM for breakfast and prayer for the last two years could be considered an institution, at its most primitive level. Institutionalism is a human endeavor and to some degree unavoidable. Yes, structure is unavoidable and is actually welcome. Committing to repeating patterns and establishing social structures helps define purpse and influences behaviors. As a result, structure -- though not central to the Gospel -- will have an influence.

Stuctures that encourage participation will likely have an impact through practing new behaviors. It is likely that an environment where listening to the stories of peers will nurture compassion to a different degree than oration. Structures that are fluid are probably more likely to invite contextualization, and structures that are organic and participatory should create opportunity to put the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers into actual practice.

No, structure is not central; however, structure will have a profound impact on spirituality. We have more recently begun to recognize the need for structure to be contextualized based on the host culture. Furthermore, it is equally important to recognize the ways that structure influences spirituality, worldview, and behavior.

Evaluating structure raises a number of issues. How does a particular structure relate to the teachings of Jesus? For example, do we take Jesus seriously when He instructs his followers that they are not to rule over one another but to become servants, and how do rigid, hierarchical models relate to this? Does a particular structure represent cultural contextualizaton? What human behaviors are produced or encouraged by a particular structure? While church structures don't hold as central positions as incarnation, cross, resurrection, repentance of sin, and justice, they continue to be issues unwise to ignore.

May the Lord of creation give us wisdom.

Interesting Times

2006-11-11T16:18:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago a colleague and I received an invitation to participate as consultants in a meeting with Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education (SCUPE). We agreed and spent Thursday in Chicago as contributers to a report to be submitted to a planning committee for SCUPE's 2008 urban ministry conference. Let me share some things I took from this trip.

There were foundation representatives, church planting directors, ministers, university professors, and others of various "stripes." I was part of a team that synthesized the group's feedback on the state of leadership and church development. The overall response was striking.
There was a general disatisfaction with the current state of the American church. This represents the feelings of leaders from a variety of races, denominations, ages, and both male and female. Numerous responses addressed struggles with heirarchial organizational structures and ego-driven leaders among other issues. There is an almost desperate appeal for new wine and for new wineskins. At the same time there was a feeling that the current climate of crisis creates an increasing openness to church innovation and that there are signs of hope and grace on the horizon.

One comment that resonated with me was this: There are indeed new creative ministry efforts emerging but that there are no (or few) examples that we can follow into this next era for the church. I would say that this is especially true for missional ministry as opposed to "reshuffling the deck" ( i.e. Christians moving from church to church). In other words, we know we need to experience change, but there are few footprints in the sand to follow. This is the place we find ourselves today.

Over the last few years I've been involved in learning and putting into practice relational disciple-making, forming Chrisitan community, and facilitating networking as an organic church structure within intensive urban settings. There's been some celebrated success, and there certainly has been some deficit involved in our efforts. Lessons that I cannot quantify are those of being a kind of pioneer. Like the comment I mentioned, there have been few (examples) footprints in the sand for us to follow as we've engaged mission.

Still, what encourages me most about having no footprints ahead of us is that it forces us to focus on the footprints of Christ. It compels me to trust Him. It leads us to rethink our assumptions and to rethink again. It influences me to go beyond my assumptions and become once again immersed in the Gospel narrative. Perhaps this process of breaking new ground for the missional church is not for the faint-hearted, but as many have pointed out.... This is the need of the hour.

We do indeed live in interesting times. Pray for us. Pray to the Lord of the harvest for workers. Pray that we will resist quick-fix solutions but rather be empowered by grace, love, and the leadereship of the Holy Spirit.

A missional movement?

2006-10-30T14:20:00.000-08:00

There have been some big numbers discussed these days regarding the contemporary house church movement. A recent study by a credible pollster and friend of the simple church expression has claimed that literally millions of people in North America are participating in "house churches" (i.e. simple church, organic church, etc.) . Taking in consideration several personal encounters, it just seems that a lot of lovers of God are simply dissatisfied and disillusioned (and in some cases deeply wounded) due to their church experiences in the U.S. context. Therefore, it is not hard to affirm the potential accuracy of recent studies.

I'm an insider to the U.S. house church movement, and I am excited about what God is doing through some dynamic churches and networks of churches across the country. However, as an insider, I wish or rather hope that these numbers are an overestimation of the situation. I don't necessarily leap up & down as if this is great news. Wonder why? Let me tell you.

If millions of believers are part of house churches across the U.S., then there should be multi-millions of dollars every year being generously poured into feeding the hungry, providing for refugees, and sending church planters into the poorest communities of our cities. This is what I would expect from faith communities that don't pay for big building projects or sustaining costly programs. I've heard of a house church network in Waco, TX that raised one million dollars for Gospel causes and of house churches supporting missionaries, but I haven't been so overwhelmed to see something congruent with such high statistics.

If more than 5 million believers are part of house churches across the U.S., I would expect that we would begin feeling the impact of a missional force on this continent. Relationships are the medium of the Gospel message, and simple church is just that -- simple, reproducible. A missional movement of this magnitude would shake the foundations of our society.

As an insider to the house church movement, my concern is that we could be participating in a reformation of sorts rather than a missional movement bringing justice and salvation to our cities and to suffering people around the globe. Reformation is not a bad thing if it is actually reform, but at times reformation movements fall short of the deep issues of the soul of a people that call for collective repentance.

I advocate for 'doing church' in organic, relational, and simple ways. I've seen the freedom that it unleashes with the help of the Holy Spirit. However, without repentance that leads naturally to mission, we may find ourselves to be rich & well-fed Christians only filling some need in the Maslow's pyramid instead of bringing transformation to our world.

I celebrate that we may be taking good care of one another through the relationships of our simple churches. That is overdue. May it spill out into neighborhoods of the hurting, the poor, and the marginalized. I pray that we may be attentive to the suffering rising from the cities across our land and around the globe. If people and resources have been unleashed from high infrastructures and control mechanisms, then be unleashed indeed. Be unleashed indeed.

Keeping Focus

2006-10-15T21:24:00.000-07:00

I don't really count anymore. I used to, but I'm not sure it is the most reliable measure of our stewardship. Listen, I don't have any "baggage" when it comes to numbers & counting numerical growth nor do I think it is some sort of restless evil. Every head counted is a life, a soul. And while sometimes we find reasons to gather crowds in the Bronx, I simply much rather focus on much deeper issues than crowd-gathering.

For example, think about evangelism. I've grown weary of conversations that mourn the U.S. church's lack of evangelism. We ask, "Why don't we evangelize?" We wonder if we're too scared or too lazy. We devise some new plan to get people with the program. This has been going on for decades, and how has it worked so far? The statistics say: Not good. I'm happy to offer evangelism training for those who just need to understand culture and un-learn bad religious habits, but the usual conversation about the U.S. church's lack of evangelism just gets tiresome.

Perhaps we're asking the wrong questions. Maybe the real questions are, "Do we understand God's story? Have we gotten a clear picture of Jesus? Have our hearts been moved by His mercy?" I'm convinced that if the Good News, the story of Jesus, really gets a hold of us that evangelism will take care of itself. Too often, we just put the cart before the horse and wonder why we're not making any progress.

Of course, I do still count sometimes. Every year we have a fellowship retreat, and so every year I count all the people who are somehow connected to us and have potential to participate. Each year I have discovered that our overall constituency is actually growing -- gradually but steadily despite the harsh reality every church faces of losing some along the way. Gathering a crowd is not the main priority, but the increase is encouraging. Last week my wife and I came back from a little sabbath time away in New England and then at the end of that trip participated in Revolution, a Northeast youth retreat (which was anything but sabbath). I discovered that there had been potential for 20 teens from the Bronx to attend with 13 actually going. We're also seeing a lot more connections into youth culture, and it's emerging from multiple contacts and initiatives from across the network.

Still, the workers are few. I am committed to knocking on the doors of Heaven asking for more workers. May God raise up laborers among teens, among Spanish-speakers, among Albanians, among Muslims, among twentysomethings. That every nation will seek the peace of the city and glorify Jesus our Lord.

Pray with us to the Lord of harvest.

A Message from the Future

2006-09-12T11:12:00.000-07:00

As I've stepped into doctoral work, reflected on my experience of hosting interns, and look towards developing an apprenticeship initiative in the city, I've been thinking quite a bit about how to prepare emerging leaders for a world for which the previous curriculum was just not written. In previous classes at conferences or other other events, I've given an introduction that I sometimes don't think people completely grasp, at least not really. I stand up and say, "Hi, I'm Jared and I'm from the future." Let's take a brief stroll along the pathways of an explanation....

Numerous trends and reports seem to indicate that much of North American culture is moving in directions already true for NYC. Here are some important examples. I've been doing a lot of studying in the area of urbanization lately especially as it applies to urban centers known as 'global cities.' Without a doubt, NYC is in a very small group of cities (London, Paris, Tokyo) at the top of the global urban hierarchy. Now, the realities of globalization that are true for NYC are becoming true at various rates and to various degrees for the rest of North America. As many sectors of U.S. culture attempt to address rising multiculturalism, many New Yorkers might find homogeneity a rather odd social environment. Even as we now live on a planet more than 50% urban, I probably don't need to explain to many how NYC provides the ultimate in urban culture shock for new comers to the city. And as the church in North America seeks to reclaim its identity as a missional community, once again 'welcome to the future.' Many researchers are showing an increasing decline in church involvement across the country even as the church grows by leaps and bounds in the Southern hemisphere. If many of the religious researchers are correct concerning the declining state of institutional religion -- especially concerning western Christianity -- then before the U.S. church scene looks more like Western Europe as some predict it will, it may look a whole lot more like NYC (with the exception of the strong Catholic roots unique to NYC, Boston, and other Northeastern regions). For example, NYC has half as many Protestants as it does Muslims and is already showing the signs of a 'Post-Christendom' culture.

New York has taught me to love lost people. No, I didn't say 'care about evangelism.' I've always cared about evangelism as a natural outcome of my faith. I mean, I have learned to get out of the religious enclave and relate to people who are not like me. I love inviting them into our community or taking our community to them and observing their astonishment at 'the Christ in us.' A place like NYC can teach us to be insulated and put up a fortress to keep ourselves from any of those nasty urban influences, or a place like NYC can teach us to love people, cry for justice, and take off our missional training wheels. There are certainly both responses here.

There are so very few that have gone ahead of us attempting what we are in the city. As I seek to invite emerging servants to live & work in the future, I pray for them. I have discovered that there are many sincere believers that neither grasp a missional vision nor feel prepared for the inevitable future. They desire to bless young emerging leaders but aren't sure how or if they should at all. Pray for these workers crossing cultural barriers and being changed by it. They are only a few, but they decide to walk along side us at the cutting edge. If the church is going to be a missional community in the coming decades, it will need to have a presence in cities like this one. There is a need for a cultural conversion into engagement with cities such as this one where the church has often struggled. The pioneers willing to take the plunge are few and far between. Pray for them to arise by the power of the Holy Spirit. Instruction in theory -- as important as this may be -- will never quite get us there. For those willing to be salt and light in this new world, missional engagement can become a reality.

Pray for us as we seek to equip leaders here in the future.

Ramblings of a Gringo

2006-08-30T05:56:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I was teaching a class on urban evangelism at a conference in Texas. At the end of the presentation I opened it for questions, and one young preacher asked me for advice for reaching the Mexican-American community in his town. My response? 'Find yourself invited to quinceañeras... and attend. Barbaque in the park. Learn Spanish.' If we're not willing to embrace even some cultural practices of others, don't attempt Spanish ministry. Just don't do it.

Many Christian "gringos" desire to see church growth among the increasing Latino populations in their community, but we often fail to be incarnational. Jesus moved into culture and He fleshed out the Word (consider John 1; Philippians 2). We are called to the same incarnational ministry following the footsteps of Jesus. As a "gringo," the Gospel teaches me to value the cultures of others and whenever possible to flesh out the Gospel with respect to that culture. If there is not effort to move across cultural boundaries into the world of the "other" -- as Jesus did -- our efforts at urban ministry will often fall short of a Gospel witness.

My Spanish is not great. I often don't understand half of what others are saying. Often, I don't 'get' the worldview of others. On a regular basis I seek to understand the expressions and practices of Latinos, Africans, West Indians, young, old, etc -- not to mention my own multicultural marriage! However, I am often blown away by the appreciation and acceptance I receive for an honest effort. Besides, it is actually really humbling. For example, in English (my first language) I can articulate spiritual concepts effortlessly. In Spanish I feel inadequate; my reliance on the Holy Spirit increases exponentially. Through these experiences, my respect and empathy for others rises and my faith in God's power -- rather than my own -- is tested. This is a lesson that many "gringos" miss altogether.

As the face of western culture embraces pluralism and emerges as a multicultural context, one of the needs of the hour is for believers -- especially those from the dominant group but certainlly also those who have traditionally been marginalized -- to enter dialgue, to practice embrace, to learn the language of the "other." We need leaders who live think deeply of theological concerns and who will think critically of anthropological implications.

And to my 'gringo' brothers, isn't it about time we start showing some respect and learn Spanish.

Jesus, Heavy Metal, and the Journey of Re-discovery

2006-08-23T07:48:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot about Jesus lately. Does this statement seem strange to you? I hope so. But to many of you it won't, and here's why. I've been in church all my life, and while there have been many saints who have pointed me to the Lord, so much of church life has been focused on getting the rituals "right" and at times emphasizing the differences between what are, in reality, very similar churches. I went on to get training in ministry, and while I was taught and mentored by some profound saints, so much of this training is focused on how to manage church. So I enter into work as an urban missionary. Once again, the work of church organization comes very naturally.

So lately I've been thinking a lot about Jesus. I've digested writings by N.T. Wright. My wife and I have been reading Brian McClaren's new book, the Secret Message of Jesus. I've revisited the Gospels seeking to understand Jesus in His context. I've reflected on the interpretations of Jesus by movies like The Gospel of John and the Passion of the Christ. I've had an increasing number of conversations unpacking the implications of the Gospel. I've been thinking a lot about this guy, Jesus of Nazareth. And I realize that I've had some redemptive works in my life.

As I've reflected back on Jesus and on my own life, I've remembered my heavy metal days. When I began to follow Jesus, I made a switch (a clean break) from absorbing a worldview from metal lyrics over to the scene of Christian Heavy Metal. Yea, Stryper, Bloodgood, Barren Cross, and so many others. I'd be standing right up front at the stage -- fingerless leather gloves, ripped jeans, banging my head and waving my fist. Hey, it was the Eighties. Don't knock it!

I'm so thankful for those days because a burning emotion within me got turned from simmering rage into a focused passion for matters of faith, and that passion was centered on Jesus. With screeching guitars and pounding drums, communicating to teens full of anger and confusion, church differences and right rituals was seldom the emphasis. Ballads and passionate shouts pointed to the King. I wouldn't have come to live my faith without individuals who wouldn't be caught dead in these concerts showing me kindness and unconditional love and teaching me the way of the cross. However, so much of the church has sold out (yes, I said "sold out!") to a picture of a tame Jesus and therefore a tame Gospel.

We have suburbanized Jesus. He was dangerous to the ruling religious establishment. He directly confronted them. He made a public demonstration in the temple courts that could be called a one-man riot. He rose up from among the working poor. He made defiant -- though completely holy -- declarations from a Roman cross. He is a King of justice, a Warrior of love, a Fighter for freedom, a Prophet of compassion, a Poet of peace. He came to declare a revolution, not yet another controlled religious sect. But we've suburbanized Jesus. We've made Him too tame, too nice. We've made Him too democratic.

One of the gifts that the urban church can give back to church is an image of Jesus that is untamed and uncontrollable and a Gospel that is powerful. What has really disturbed me about evangelism in the city is that urban people often think of the Gospel as too weak. I think that's our fault. I think this is so because we have largely lost how to communicate the revolutionary vision of Jesus and His Good News. Jesus raises the stakes on everything, and He gives the powerless back their power and their dignity by showing them the way of the cross. The way of the cross is the way to power, but it is a different kind of power. It is not only subservisive in nature, but it is completely counter-cultual and counter-intuitive in almost every way. There is a desperate need for urban evangelists to re-discover and articulate the Gospel in such a way that communicates its power in the context of a world that is violent, oppressive, corrupt, and unjust.

I'm thankful for my Christian heavy metal days. There was something unleashed within me that still lives though many more respectable influences have tried to tame it recent years. I'm also thankful for simple/organic forms of church. Because of their minimum amount of administrative maintenance required, I can have space to realign my focus once again to Jesus. I hope that the world can know through our counter-cultural, loving, peace-making ways that Jesus is alive and is crushing darkness. I hope that we can get to know Him once again in such a way that people are bewildered by us. It's not that Jesus hasn't been at work. I wouldn't be on this journey of discovery if it wasn't for so many saints that have come before me and have come into my life over the years and decades beginning with my own family.

However, the danger of sitting still and being satisfied with where we have come from is that Jesus may say "Come, follow me" and we simply miss it.

Confession of an Organic Church Planter

2006-08-13T19:38:00.000-07:00

I must confess something. This organic, relational, simple church stuff really goes against my nature. I mean, I love people. I like the casual atmosphere and all. But here's the thing. I am a man that is known by my friends as being really driven. I am not afraid of working hard for Christ's mission. I have an agenda. I believe it's a good one, but nonetheless, I cannot seperate myself from my agenda to see communities formed, disciples made, workers raised up. I'm very intentional about it, and so I am often inclined to push hard in order to see these thinigs realized.

And so here I find myself. I hang with people in parks and we talk about spiritual things while sitting on a blanket under a tree. There's no plan. Some of the others are over playing ball but they're having good conversations about God and faith in Christ as well. I find myself learning to relax and let the Spirit do the work and simply be a vessel. At times, it's difficult. I still think that it is right and good to be intentional at forming community and becoming centered on the Gospel, but I'm learning to embody good news rather than work hard at making sure we do all the right religous acts. It's good praxis. I believe it reflects the attitude of Jesus.

But as a purpose-driven, results-minded, missional leader, this just rubs against my nature. What do they say?..... What doesn't kill you will make you stronger. I suppose so. I certainly hope that it will be said of me that I was obedient to Jesus (and that be a true statement of course) and that through that obedience I was transformed to look much more like HIM. I hope so.

But in the meantime I'm learning to work against my own flesh -- even when my flesh seems to be aligned with good motives and a pure agenda. I don't know if all this makes sense, but all you highly driven, seminary trained, church planter types out there will probably get me. At least I hope that I'm not alone.

Measuring Church "Success?"

2006-08-04T12:51:00.001-07:00

I'm not satisfied! Let me explain. I've read church growth books, taken graduate classes in the same subject, attended seminars, and have reviewed probably hundreds of statistics on growth and decline within the church both in the U.S. and worldwide. One of the common threads that runs throughout the literature and the lectures seems to be asking the question: How do we measure the "success" or "failure" of our efforts as church planters and missional church leaders? In light of the concept of stewardship, it's not at all a bad question. We should ask if what we are doing is making a difference. However, how we typically measure "success" leaves me feeling completely unsatisfied.

The main way we've measured success is by counting the number of people involved in local church, organizations, or denominations. I'm not scared of counting numbers of people. I have no negative life experiences that makes me afraid of adding up numbers of souls. Besides, I do indeed want more and more people to know Jesus. And do I want to see Bronx Fellowship increase in the number of participants? Yea, I do. But as a measurement, counting heads increasingly misses the mark. For example, numbers may just represent people that are shifting from a few dying churches to one new, more hip church rather than genuine Kingdom growth. In addition, someone showing up "at church" doesn't necessarily mean they are living a cross-shaped life. It just means that they are there and perhaps have fulfilled some basic doctrinal or organizational requirements.

Recently, there has been greater emphasis among mega churches, cell-based churches, and seeker-sensitive churches to request greater levels of commitment and institutional loyalty. Members must round 2nd & 3rd base (metaphors for training classes) or perhaps procede through _____ church classes 101, 102, & 103. Leaders should be able to quote the mission statement, be punctual to meetings, answer e-mails, and jump through all the hoops that say "I'm a committed member of this church." Now, I suppose this might be getting closer to a solid system of measurement because it's focusing more on specific behaviors than on simply showing up. However, it still seems to leave me unsettled in my spirit.

While I would certainly hope that our participants in Bronx Fellowship are committed to their faith community and to the network as well as grow more responsible as individuals, I'm not sure that generating greater institutional loyalty is an adequate measure of our church planting efforts either. It still seems to miss the mark. Being committed to a faith community may often be an expected result of faith in Christ, but I wonder if its a very good litmus test for measuring "success" overall. And while I am excited about others becoming committed to participation with our church network, that still isn't the ulitmate goal set before us.

If we desire to measure "success," there still must be something more. It seems that there are deeper, more fulfilling questions that may help us determine if what we are doing might have value. Such as: Are we beginning to resemble Jesus? Does our Christlikeness make a difference in the lives of one another and others with whom we have contact? Can we, as a group, be identified with the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5) or the Beattitudes (Mt. 5)? Does the world know that we are Christ's followers by how we love one another (John 13)? To me, the measurement question that we regularly need to ask ourselves is: Are we, as a community, becoming more and more like Jesus?

It's ironic and sad to say that it seems that this would be a significant shift away from (church) business as usual. It would require a different set of lenses. And if we are being true to the spirit of the question, it steers us away from self-righteousness influencing the evaluation process. I would think that it might begin with aligning our lives, values, and practices with those of Jesus and then to consistently live into this as a reality. I suppose it might often cause us to realign our priorities. (I'm constantly challenges by the absolute abandon with which Jesus makes decisions about how he orders his life. Taken in context, it's definitely counter-cultural for most high-acheiving Americans.) It seems that every other good thing would take a lessor role to that one central, penetrating question. Is our faith community looking more and more like Jesus?

To me, this is a worthy standard of measurement, but it will never stand complete. It's not supposed to; we are called into relationship. Relationship is ongoing, tranformational, dynamic, and liberating. Furthermore, a negative outcome to this question isn't solved by a better tweaking of the system or an improved marketing campaign as helpful as these might be in other less central areas of the church's life together. Instead, it calls for a good long look in the mirror. Transformation doesn't take place simply by outward change of behavior, but rather it takes hold through an inward working of faith, hope, and love.

Developing Culture vs. Technical Fixes

2006-07-20T17:02:00.000-07:00

I often contemplate the difference between a purely organic approach and a mechanistic approach to church organization. I'm not really talking about simple/organic church here although I think that structure is helpful, and I'm not truly addressing program-driven churches though I, personally, am happy to work outside of a purely programmatic approach.

It is more a matter of a community's ethos. Sure one structure or another may facilitate more organic expressions more naturally than others, but that's not really what I've been wrestling with. For me, here's the tension. As I understand the current religious climate, what we have largely experienced in North American church growth are what Mark Love refers to as technical fixes (Peppedine Lectures 2006). I don't think that strategic thinking is bad if it means making anthropological & theological decisions based on a cultural context. However, our tendency is to create technical fixes in order to generate numerical results and/or organizational stability. I've been thoroughly trained in this approach, but I'm trying to unlearn and relearn something different.

What's the alternative? What if we committed ourselves to nurturing a culture instead of a growth technique? First, we must understand that not only does the church interact with culture but is also a culture within itself. With this realization, we focus on developing an ecclesial culture rather than a technique. In reality, this isn't very attractive to our American microwave mentality. Nurturing an eccesial culture requires developing theology, encouraging indigeneity, celebrating creativity, re-imagining church structures. Opting for this alternative, I believe, is more difficult. But since in reality our technical fixes and growth strategies also generate church culture -- whether intentionally or unintentionally -- it may be wise for us to focus our efforts in developing ecclesial cultures that are shaped by the Gospel.

This is true for presentation-style churches, cell-based churches, organic church networks, and for any number of various church expressions. Our ethos of technical fixes is too deeply engrained in our collective psyche for any one church expression in America to be immune. May we learn to develop ecclesial cultures that are shaped by the Good News of Christ and led by the power of the Holy Spirit.

a day at the park

2006-07-02T17:02:00.000-07:00

What is missional community?

I suppose there are various ways to answer that, but at least today... it seems pretty clear. Gathering in a Bronx park, many from our Bronx/Westchester network met for a cookout. If you just walked by, you might just see a lot of people eating and having fun on a hot July day. This was the case, but it was so much more than that. There wasn't preaching or singing, but there was church and mission happening.

As participants in our house churches gathered in the park, we welcomed into our celebration a collection of people from a shelter, students from our summer conversational English initiative, and various other friends that we've met along the way. There were people that would be unlikely to ever enter a church building of any kind -- secular, muslim, buddhist, and souls deeply wounded by relationships, by religious legalism, by a fallen world.

What is missional community? It is when followers of The Way spend time, conversation, and recreation with others. As hospitality was a central tenet of the Christian faith at its beginning, we desire with all of our heart to capture that same spirit. Missional community takes place when a Bronx teenager walks up to thank one of us and says she can't believe that we would offer this to others so freely. It is when those of other faiths can come and be welcomed by followers of the Creator of the whole universe and feel safe. Outsiders will not be won to the cause of Christ by careful persuasion. We live in different (plurastic) times. They are introduced to Jesus when Christians love and embrace as Jesus did and through peaceful and hospitable dialogue.

Since arriving in the Bronx, we have probably made hundreds of blunders, and there are many things we are not so good at. But there are simply things that can't be measured quantitatively (besides, I seldom count!). The real question I am learning to ask is: When an outsider enters our midst, do they experience the body of Christ? That, my brothers & sisters, is missional community. And to know what to look for -- what that should look like -- is to ask: What was it like to be with Jesus?

There was a lot of mission happening today. It happened at picnic tables, playing volleyball, sitting on blankets, and through several conversations throughout the crowd. No one controlled it or engineered the interactions. There was no strategic planning. Just people following Jesus and opening their lives to others. That to me, is missional community.

Another Day

2006-06-30T05:19:00.000-07:00

A day in the life in the city.

Reflecting on yesterday.... After a 7AM bible study with a man in my building, I met with the summer interns for the entire morning for our weekly group session. After some e-mails and casual conversations, I continued to meet with our missionary apprentice to review many of the issues at hand. After heading home at around 6:30PM, I realized the need to recant a decision I had made about an upcoming meeting, and so after arriving home, I went to the laptop making sure to keep my time brief. Family time.... playing with Adalia, Hylma folding clothes, daddy reading, dinner late in the evening. Then, around 9PM there was a knock on the door.

A man that is being reached out to brought me out to the elevator. We went down to the basement where another brother and I met the man's friend. His friend was 'coked up' (translation = high on cocaine). As a means of 'coming down,' he put down 48 ounces of alcohol inside of 30 minutes, smoking cigarettes and a blunt (translation = marajuana), and rambling on mostly in explitives about all the hate and pain in the world, how much he'd like to become a vigilante, and how he needs to divorce his wife. He told me why he hates white people even though he has white friends, and he explained how well he can quote the Bible. I thought to myself how much he needs to KNOW Jesus.

He seemed intrigued with how we just sat and listened. He refused prayer at first, but later agreed to it. As we prayed for him and for the power of the Living God to be at work, he became strangely calm. As we ended the prayer, he sat on the edge of tears, his disposition transformed. We shook his hand and gave him a hug as we returned upstairs, and the man who called us down to meet his friend continued to tell of how God was working in his life.

Continue to pray for us. Pray for the first man whom God is reaching. Pray for his friend who lives in the 'depths of the pit.' Petition the Lord of the harvest for workers. Pray for the power of the Risen Lord to fall upon the city. The war is waging. The Lord is moving.

Another day in the life in the city.

Unchurched Consciousness

2006-06-17T10:21:00.000-07:00

I'm in Nashville for two weeks as part of a Fuller School of Intercultural Studies cohort. We've shared a lot of discussions both in and out of class concerning post-modernism, church, and misson. One of the guys in the group is a leader of one of the megachurch movements based in the South, and he said to me: "Nobody in America involved in church planting is patting themselves on the back right now." It was a humble admission that despite all the efforts at technical fixes and tweeking the programs, the unchurched/uncomitted population grows and churches continue to find themselves struggling to make a real difference in the emerging culture. 'Postmodernism' and the current cultural climate is a threat to some and a breath of fresh air to others. Either way, the Gospel remains the only answer.

Last night, I sat up praying, thinking, (and yea, I suppose this is a pretty "postmodern" thing to do) and consulting with God as I scrolled through the web. At one point I opened up Google and typed inside of quotes: "Why I don't go to church." I found 58 pages worth of why people 'don't go to church.' In some cases the sites were by Christians explaining a different way to think about church (organic/house church, or example), but many others were sincere people who've just given up. And a few were scary -- vampire sites, stuff like that.

For a moment the sensation came over me of how deeply, desperately Jesus wants these people... all of them... all of us. Below is one of the blog entries I found. It is without any of the offensive metaphors that you would find in some of the 580 (+1 now that this blog is posted) websites containing the phrase "why I don't go to church." It is one perspective of one lonely person who has 'been to church' but has yet to experience good news.

May this young man be as a prophet to us. He is another voice calling the church out of maintenance and into mission, out of audience and into community.
-jared

Lost Boy Blog Entry:
Well... today was,in
short,not one of my best days. I went to church for the first time in 5 and a half months and I ended up sitting alone. One of my friends invited me to sit with her because she knew how hard it was for me to come back after being gone so long. Then during worship she disappeared with her other friends and I was just left sitting there for about 15-20 minutes surrounded by a bunch of people I didn't know until I decided to go sit alone on the other side of the room. I don't know why I moved, either way I knew I was going to be alone. I was so annoyed. Not specifically at my friend for leaving me ,but at myself. It seems like wherever I go people either hate me or don't know I'm there. I felt so invisible to everyone,and yet still so self-conscious. I don't have a family to go to church with and I just don't feel like I belong. I dissapeared for 5 and a half months. When people ask me why I don't go to church anymore I don't know what to tell them because I don't even know. I feel like such an outsider. Everyone else practically grew up together or are just really close. I don't know why it's so hard for me to make friends,but I feel like I just don't belong. So after that I came home and I ate dinner in the kitchen alone. Today's not one of my best days but I'll just repeat my motto :"Tommorow will be different."

out of town

2006-06-11T18:10:00.000-07:00

I'm in Nashville for the next two weeks. Perhaps I will blog, or perhaps not. Just thought I'd let anyone out there know what I'm up to.

prayer and the city

2006-06-07T08:19:00.000-07:00

I've begun studying cities again. I did a lot of this kind of reading when I began working in Houston and as I prepared to migrate to NYC. Now, I sense a need for someone to look more closely at church multiplication in cities like NYC. I'm particularly drawn to a certain brand (or caliber) of city -- the global city. These cities combine a set of economic and cultural factors that make them world leaders, sort of nodes in vast urban global networks.

Urbanologists seem to group world class cities into tiers or a type of global urban hierarchy. There seems to be agreement that New York, Tokyo, London, and often Paris belong solidly in the top tier. Some place NYC solidly at the apex, and while NYC could be considered one of the most significant challenges to the North American church, each of these cities continue to remain largley unreached.

I suppose I am inclined to write about the need for the church to focus significant energy & resources on key world cities such as these. That was certainly a factor in the expansion in the early church. I do believe that we need innovation and strategic emphasis on urban centers. However, something else came to mind when I sat to write this e-mail.

When it comes to cities known for global power and influence and for millions of teeming masses of rich & poor, how does all of this impact spiritual warfare? The need for it? The intensity of it? Do we begin to understand at all the kind of prayer required of us if we really desire to see YOUR KINGDOM COME in world class cities? If we are doing more than spiritual Amway -- ie. religious multi-level marketing -- (and I believe that we are), then we are truly reliant on the power of God to push back darkness, to heal, to tranform, and to redeem. Do get it? Do we really want it? Are we actually happy with the status quo of the world?

I wonder if we understand the deep, really desperate need for God's power. His righteousness-justice is the only solution to the unspeakable pain on this planet, and while He works through the lives of His people, He moves through the prayers of His people. I don't know if I really get this. Do you? I mean in the way that our actions reveal it far more than our commentary.

Let me also offer a resource to consider as we think about prayer in the shadow of concrete & steel. As you will see, it comes from the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist denomination. It is a video about prayer and about our world. I hope that it is helpful... and at the very least inspiring.

http://www.imb.org/VideoLink/findresults.asp?name=history+belongs+to+intercessors

Kingdom Community

2006-05-28T17:22:00.000-07:00

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.

I love NY mornings

2006-05-23T07:44:00.000-07:00

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.

American Church

2006-05-19T08:28:00.000-07:00

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?

Let's Talk Politics

2006-05-18T07:10:00.000-07:00

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.

Beyond Commercialism

2006-05-13T15:13:00.000-07:00

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.

Painful Reminders

2006-04-29T16:37:00.000-07:00

We arrived home today from a two-stop (ministry-related) trip to Pennsylvania. As we came back into our building, we were hit with a horrible odor. A man (we will call him 'Pete') in the neighborhood well-known for being horribly mentally ill had spent the night between the inner & outer doors to our building lobby. As people passed through the outer door, they would make a feverish rush to pull out their keys to open the inner door, shirt collars raised up over their nose, holding their breath, complaining, and on into the building. The stench of urine, body odor, and miscellaneous other smells that could barely be called human mingled and remained as a reminder of our overnight guest. At first I was repulsed as well. I must be honest. I continue to be quite repulsed, but I am also thankful.

Thank you, Pete, for humbling me. You walk the streets of our neighborhood everyday to remind me of the fragility of human life. I am one car accident, one stray bullet, one accidental fall from being in similar circumstances. Should I pity you, or should I pity me?

Thank you, Pete, for reminding me. Your broken mind and wretched life reminds me of the brokenness of rebellious humanity. It calls me to see the sin in our life. The sin when I pass you by ignorant of what I could possibly do for you and ashamed of my desire to do nothing. The sin that we harbor within us that looks so much uglier than your stringy hair or repugnant smell.

Thank you, Pete, for calling me to see the lostness, desperation, and injustice that exists in this fallen creation. Thanks for helping my heart stay broken for human beings in need of redemption.

Thank you, Pete, for helping me see.

Many Westerners don't have a 'Pete.' They're missing out. The smell, the guilt, the repulsion. They are truly experiences of horrific redemption. In the moment that our conscience rises in the midst of horror at another human, this man becomes a momentary savior. He reminds us of our own disease of sin, calls us to compassion, reaches into our heart & holds up the mirror.

Many people don't have this tug on their sleeve, this tap on their shoulder, telling them that there is more to life and the purpose of our existence than selfish gain and comfort. Many don't have this conscience with a name not their own calling them to be the people of compassion. At times I must feel sorry for some who remain living in safety.

God, save "Pete." Redeem his life from the pit. And thank you..... Oh.... just thank you.

Following Jesus

2006-04-23T17:27:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I was coaching/mentoring one of the saints working here in the Bronx. As we were talking, we began speaking about Jesus. And then this question came up....

Do we FOLLOW Jesus or do we just ADMIRE Jesus?

I haven't been able to shake it. This question is both disturbing and somehow liberating at the same time. I think the truth is that we often spend a great deal of time admiring Jesus. He's easy to admire. Herod knew of his reputation. Nicodemus secretly appreciated him. The crowds cheered him on until it was time to judge him. Jesus said wonderful things and had courage many of us only dream of. And as a result, we, the church, too often limit our conversations to guys like Peter or Paul. We can relate to them, and we don't mind following them. Yet, they only represent courage and conviction because of their encounter with Jesus.

Jesus said, "Follow me." A disciple is an apprentice. In other words, we are learning from and imitating Jesus. He is our model in everyway. Many of us don't think that way. We think of Jesus as our savior, but not as a model for how to live. He's too radical! Too extreme!

He moved (moves) contrary to religious structures that wrap us in false security. He calls us to abundant life, and we must die to ourselves to experience it. He gives us authority, and calls us to obey. He offers true freedom, and shows us the road less traveled to possess it. It seems easier to just admire Jesus. We feel more in control; we take less risks. Yet, in doing so, we are shrinking away from the Resurrection and the Life. We are sidelining true Reality and settling for so much less.

Do I follow Jesus or just admire him? I can't stop thinking about it.

Pray for us.
JESUS is really the only hope for the city. Nothing else.

End Times

2006-04-03T18:45:00.000-07:00

This is an article printed in the April Bronx Fellowship Community Connecton newsletter....

Discussions, books, and movies about end times or last days have been very popular lately. Among Biblical scholars, the study of end times is called eschatology. There have always been periods throughout history when studies of end times get extra attention, and it does appear that we are currently living during one of those times.

The first thing that most folks do when they study end times is to immediately read the most provocative parts of the text into their current time & place in history. However, the first step actually should be to apply the passage to its immediate context first. Then we can learn what the passage is saying to us now. For example, when we read Revelation, we need to see what was being communicated to the seven churches in Asia before we’ll understand what parts are actually for us. Or in Matthew it is important to distinguish when Jesus is talking about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and the signs that go with it or when he is speaking about the second coming of Christ that will be a surprise — like a thief in the night.
To really understand end times in the Bible, one first needs to understand the relationship of end times with the Reign (Kingdom) of God. When Jesus began his public ministry, he began teaching about the Kingdom of God. There are two aspects of God’s Reign in the New Testament.

First, the Kingdom is already here. Jesus says in Luke 17 that the Kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation but rather the Kingdom is among you. When Jesus began His ministry, He healed, proclaimed Good News, called people to live in a radically different way, and demonstrated His power even over death. Those who emphasize the already here aspect of the Kingdom typically emphasize the need to work for justice, peace, and transformation here & now. They don’t emphasize enduring the world until the end but instead, as God’s people, changing the world. Jesus words: Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven has significance and reflects this point of view. For many years, this view was the more popular way of understanding end times up until half a century ago.

Also, there is the not yet view of the Kingdom. We know that though God’s Reign has had its beginning with Christ, it is not yet fulfilled. As long as there is suffering, violence, depression, poverty, and death in the world, we know that His Reign is not yet complete. Therefore, we wait patiently for the Day when Christ breaks through the clouds and says one more time: It is finished! Those who emphasize the not yet aspect of the Kingdom often see the world as getting worse and worse with little for them to do expect to wait it out. Only in the last half a century has this view become very popular as a way to understand end times.

Here’s the thing. Both points of view are mostly right and only partly wrong. God’s Reign has begun. It is already here. We are the ones who pray: Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven. As long as there is still suffering and death, God’s people are workers of justice, peace, forgiveness, love, and transformation. We never write-off tragedy as “God’s will.” His will is that His people would be agents of grace and peace. We are subversive and counter-cultural. We are members of an anti-religious movement called Christianity. Yet, it’s only a foretaste.
At the same time God’s Reign is certainly not complete. 2 Peter tells us that God is patient. He basically keeps putting off Judgment Day because He wants as many as possible to repent and to turn to Him for eternal life. As a result, we continue to live in a fallen world. There is pain, disease, injustice, and death until He returns. Although we serve His purposes, we wait for His return and for His ultimate victory over poverty, sickness, and violence. We are the ones that pray: Lord, come quickly.

To understand end times, we need to see both aspects of the Reign of God. We need to grasp the nature of God’s Kingdom as it restores justice, peace, family, & righteousness. Ultimately, we are called to have a balanced view as we embrace a thoroughly New Testament vision.

Pressing on

2006-04-02T17:47:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you about some of my irreverant sarcasm lately. I told some friends this last week that 'I think that I'm starting to believe in God.' Please don't think any less of me or pass judgment without letting me explain.

I see God working. But it's easy to miss it in the city. There are seasons where watching people falling away from their faith commitments is like watching the rain fall. Countless youth are fully equipped to be dysfunctional in nearly every aspect of their life. Spiritual warfare in the world's cultural capital is thick like smoke. Christians forgetting who they are & slipping into apathy or a purely defensive posture is too common. People are hurting, broken. Sometimes I'm one of those people.

HOWEVER, I see God moving through His people in power that I could not produce, manipulate, program, or organize if I tried. Yea, I've always believed in God, and I even believe in His power unleashed into the world today. But sometimes my rationale mind pumped full of skepticism gets the best of me. Still, I see Him moving, and I "can't believe" that I'm a part of it. Participating in God's redemptive work, I am filled with awe. God is calling is 'at such a time as this.'

I know a nominal hindu man that some of you have been praying about for months who has said recently that he believes there is one God and he believes in Jesus. He said this because Jesus answered prayers (in the context of a new Christian faith community that he frequents) that idols had never answered. He doesn't know the implications of all he is saying yet, but I recently gave him a Punjabi Bible and hope to continue and dialogue with him as a friend. Pray for him. There is a recovering addict that is asking if he can attend house church when he gets his weekend pass one day a week. Pray for him.

There is a woman that has experienced a week of inner peace following a Bible study; according to her, it is a peace unlike anything she has ever experienced. Pray that she thirsts for more, recieves, glorifies God for it, and turns her life over to Christ. I could go on. God seems to really move in power when people get desperate! As I keep participating in stories of God at work in the midst of a world in conflict, my faith grows ever stronger. It might even be almost as big as a mustard seed now. Despite the dynamic spiritual conflict, God is indeed on the move. At times I feel fear because I am willing to take risks and step out in faith in bolder and bolder ways for the sake of God's Reign in the city and the advance of His church. Someone reminded me some time ago that courage is actually courage because it accompanies fear. Without fear, why would we need courage. And I hope that you too will be courageous as we advance against the gates of hell. I'd like to think that you're in good company; I'm nervous too. I also recognize that the fighting is the fiercest where the church is advancing and taking ground. I often covet prayers. As we seek to initiate new strategic initiatives in the city, the enemy searches out whom he may devour, and it is well known in missions circles that he attacks key leaders who would prefer to remain on the offensive against evil. Pray for protection for me, my family, and those who are working with us. God, the King of kings, is victorious, and He seems to prefer to make His moves when His people pray. Prayer is the battle.

Living Out Grace

2006-04-02T17:41:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was our Healthy Relationships Seminar. Dr. Jeff & Linda Hood presented sessions on parenting, overcoming anger, and marital issues. Couples and singles attended, and while some couples were married believers, others were nonbelievers or 'unchurched,' and some are in unmarried relationships that also reflect their lost state.

I remember last year a woman who spent the following few months wrestling with her faith among us said that she brought her checkbook to the seminar because, in her experience, churches are always after your money one way or another. She was literally shocked that we never asked for anything.

This year a woman wrote in her evaluation: "I came to see what they were selling, but then I found out that they were just giving." What this woman experienced was a taste of grace. Grace is giving. It is counter-cultural. It doesn't command allegiance, but by its sheer power it demands it. Grace is one of the key factors that seperates Christianity from all other world religions. In reality if we put religions on a shelf in their various sections, Christianity really doesn't belong there. Not really. Until... we remove grace from the equation. We replace it with control, with legalism, with certainty not in what Christ has done but in what we've done through our religion. Then, we put Christianity back on the shelf as just another religion. We rob it of its power. Then, when I have conversations with people in our city, they say Christianity is the same as all the other religions, and as far as the graceless religion they have often encountered, its true. But when we open up the Scriptures and let the Word speak and take down our idols of religiosity, control, and self-justification, then we are free to live in community, participate fully in mission, and give -- give as we have been given to. Nothing kills fervor like religion, and nothing wakes up our hearts & makes us alive like Jesus.

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind....

2006-04-02T17:36:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday I sat with a woman coaching & teaching her concerning her personal contribution in the body of Christ. She is our newest Christian in the Bronx, and a group of people meet in her home. They are friends, family, and neighbors that she herself began reaching out to even previous to her own faith commitment, and she continues to tell everyone she meets about how God has changed her life. As we were talking, she suddenly began to cry. I was confused for a moment because we weren't discussing a theme at that time that I would think would evoke this response. After asking her what was on her mind, she explained that as we were talking she envisioned in her mind all the people out on the street working & going about their business just like any given day in the Bronx, but she said that she could see their emptiness just like she had been empty before Christ came into her life. With that thought, more tears. There was a deep & personal compassion for the people of her community.

I know what some of you might be thinking. It's only because she's a new believer, right? We were all once that way, weren't we? One day so long ago. I mean, eventually she'll become just as complacent as the rest of us, right?... I sure hope not.

I still remember a church elder nearly 70 years old in Houston tearing up and choking on the "lump" in his throat as he told me a story of redemption. The story he told occured some 40 years before, and this man had not given in to the MYTH of complacency as some sort of right of passage for spiritual maturity.

How did Jesus manage to maintain his campassion throughout an exhausting ministry that kept him up at night praying and ultimately led him to the cross where he would say: Father forgive them? I suppose it was because he was true to his nature. God is love. I also suppose that a stirring compassion for people who are empty and without hope would be true to our nature as the people of God. Mission is our truest self.

When this woman's tears become an experience to us that is distant and foreign -- a sentimental memory at best -- we are in desperate need of a redemptive memory. We are all in desperate need of a spiritual before & after picture: Before = object of wrath, After = raised to life and seated with Christ in the Heavenly realms (Eph 2). We need a redemptive memory, not one that resurrects guilt or shame that was already buried in a liquid grave, but a memory that stirs gratitude and a desire to share our priceless treasure. It is a memory that stimulates praise and thanksgiving that leads ultimately to becoming a witness of what God has done for us.

Evangelism

2006-04-02T17:32:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I sat in a South Bronx living room discussing the salvation found in Christ alone. We experienced much of what life together can be. We prayed and talked and laughed. At one point a woman who was attending this meeting for the second time described the change that she had seen in her friend, our host, since we began meeting together in her home a couple of months ago. She said to me: "I see her changing, and I want that too. I want what she's experiencing for me too."

A few weeks earlier our host raised a question as we studied from John 4. She read how Jesus described the 'Living Water.' She said, "What is He talking about? That sounds like something that I would want too." She put her hand to her chest, over her heart, and described how deeply this story and Jesus' description of living water made her feel. I treasure moments like these.

Evangelism is a viral activity. In other words it only needs to begin with one infecting one other with the Good News. Then another catches it and then another. But do you know how it most often happens? It's life-on-life. All the stadium crusades, conferences, and revivals don't really compare to the mustard seed, do they? Yet, we spend enormous resources on these things. As we embrace our identity as a missionary community, we step out into the lives of others. We enter their world with respect for their ways, and we embody the Gospel there in that place. Strategic, missional prayer is the same way. We don't pray for the lost with any real passion unless we actually care about the lost. It's a heart issue. All the evangelism campaigns and programs and currculum that make their way into church calendars every year don't work for a reason (or when they do work they leave many crippled). It's a heart issue, and good information is no substitute for heart surgery. If we were losing oxygen, we would do whatever it took to breathe. When we understand that, we understand the kind of missional prayer that is needed for mission in the city.

back to the blog....

2006-04-02T17:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a few months since I've blogged. I have written though. I've mostly sent out e-mails as part of a prayer list. So as a way of catching up on this site, I thought I would post some of those e-mails.

Imagine

2005-12-08T17:51:00.000-08:00

This evening a live local news cast came in from Central Park. It was crowds of people gathered well after dark remembering the anniversary of John Lennon's death. In Central Park near the Upper West Side there is a place in the sidewalk with the word in stone: IMAGINE. It is an easy reference to make. At times, decades later, one may find flowers or candles sitting on the sidewalk where the word is inscribed simply -- Imagine.

'Imagine all the people, living for today.... Imagine all the people, living life in peace.... Imagine all the people, sharing all the world.... You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one, I hope some day you'll join us, And the world will live as one.'

We know that John Lennon was part of the hippie peace movement, was a former member of the Beatles, and hung out with Hindu gurus. He asked his fans to imagine a world where peace and unity was normative and where violence no longer had a place. It was a voice of the world clearly a non-christian song by a pagan artist, but calling for a world not so distant from the prophetic vision described in the Bible where the wolf dwells with the lamb. There is a world beyond our church walls crying for a dream to be fulfilled.

Imagine. Imagine a church where the most integrated time of the week is 11:00AM on Sunday morning. Imagine a people who fulfill the role of priests everywhere they go & in everything they do. Imagine faith communities that pour their resources into Christ's mission to all the nations in the most crowded & diverse cities on the globe. Imagine leaders with a prophetic voice for justice & mercy for the most marginalized of society. Imgaine believers whose resources are radically & self-sacrifically given for the poor, mission, and societal transformation. Imagine dreamers whose lives are given to the vision of the Kingdom coming in the city as it is in Heaven. Imagine.

This is the kind of dream that is dreamed by believers in King Jesus. Our world is hungry for the church to be the body of Christ in the flesh in every corner of society bringing justice & mercy & salvation & hope. They are begging for it and call us to repent because so often they have not seen it. One can hear it in the popular lyrics of John Lennon, U2, Kanye West, Tracy Chapman, & others. However, it will only be realized when the church decides to be the church: missional, relational, compassionate, peace-makers, transformational, selfless, the very image of Christ. God is on the edge of His seat. He has shared His dream in His Word. Will His children live the dream? Imagine.

Pray for us. That we will live the dream, and that God will show us how.

Learning from My Middle Eastern Brother

2005-11-07T09:15:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to take part in a metro-wide gathering of 'simple churches' from Queens, New Jersey, the Bronx, Westchester, and Staten Island. Most of these small faith communities are less than a year old. We gathered together respresenting numerous ethnicities and interacted together in Spanish & English.

During our time of table fellowship (lunch), I took part in a conversation with a Lebanese brother. Being an older man, he remembers life in his Middle Eastern village. Because up until very recently much of Middle Eastern & African cultures have retained many of the same cultural perspectives as the Bible, I saw this as a great learning opportunity.
Our brother taught us about the hospitality customs found in the Middle Eastern villages of his boyhood, and I immediately began to reflect on Luke 10. He informed us that if a man entered a village in Lebanon, the people of the village would practically be competing with each other for the opportunity to host the man in their home. They would fix him a great feast -- at least as much as they could afford -- and take care of his needs to the best of their ability. I thought back over Jesus instructing his apprentices to find a person of peace and to stay there eating and drinking whatever was put before them. In this culture of hospitality the most aggressively hospitable person might be the one called a person of peace. Reflecting on this, I asked myself what kind of people to I need to be seeking after here in the Bronx, and I felt affirmed (due to an unusual hospitality for NYC) that I am definitely working with a person of peace on Saturday nights in the South Bronx.

He also continued to inform us that a host in a village would not ask what their guest's mission or purpose was until after 3 days had passed. If this Middle Eastern custom was true in Jesus' time, the disciples would have been simply eating & drinking, receiving hospitality, and getting to know their host for three days (approx. 36 daytime hours spent together) before sharing their message about the Kingdom of God, and this discussion would have taken place when the host was prepared to receive the message. And it was on the host's turf rather than the teacher's (the truest definition of missional).

For some reason (probably my impersonal cultural mindset) led me to think of preaching on a street corner when I first read Luke 10 and similar passages several years ago. But Jesus' plan for planting churches was to send the disciples out in a cultural context that called them to build relationships first, to receive before giving, and to proclaim the message in a very relational way. Consider the sermons in Acts, it seems to me that every single one of them was preceeded by a miracle, an arrest, a riot, or one-on-one proclamation in the market place. Each event prepared the audience for the message.

When I understand the cultural context of the Bible, it really does help me make a more responsible application to my life and ministry. I think that is why I love having friends (at least those old enough to remember life prior to Western influence) from Africa and the Middle East. I learn so much from them about the cultural world of the Bible. For example, you don't have to convince an African of the reality of spiritual warfare or an Arab the importance of hospitality. You know, EVEN Americans can be saved, but we do have a lot to learn.

Continue to pray to the Lord of the harvest for workers. May we de-throne all other kingdoms in our lives and invite Jesus' reign of peace and justice and salvation to flow like mighty river through the city.

Our Chapter in History

2005-09-29T09:34:00.000-07:00

Christendom is dying.
What is Christendom? It is a version of Christianity that is institutional, hierarchical, territorial, and central. Christendom began when Emperor Constantine made Christianity a state religion in 325 A.D. Prior to the emperor’s involvement, Christianity had been a movement, largely home-based, subversive, persecuted, mission-oriented, and apparently pacifist. 325 A.D. historically marks the dusk of what we call the historical period of the early church, and the dawn of the institution of Christendom. The church shifted from being a grassroots movement of Christ’s followers to a religious institution.

Of course, throughout history God has always raised up prophets, reformers, and evangelists to do His work — even during very dark times. Francis of Assisi radically broke with tradition and expectations in the early 1200’s to devote himself to serving the poor and the dying. John Wesley was used to spark a revival movement in the 1700’s by forming small group fellowships that met outside of the church walls. And doctrinal reforms were made by such groups as the Anabaptist movement who were the first to revive the forgotten New Testament practice of baptism immersing under water when a person believes. There have always been those who God has used to reform and to renew His body.

The 16th century marks a significant change in church history. In the 1520’s Martin Luther sparked what became known as the Protestant Reformation. Even though it resulted in the division between Catholic and Protestant, it was originally an attempt to reform the church from within. The Protestant Reformation worked to reform a number of doctrines and corruption in the church at that time. However, Protestant churches continued, for the most part, to be institutional, hierarchical, territorial, central and in partnership with the State.

Today, Christendom is dying. While God’s church is actually growing worldwide like never before, Christendom as a dominant religious institution is in decline in the West. In parts of Western Europe — once the center of Christendom — there are people that have never heard the Gospel. The Christian population of England today is less than 5%. According to research findings, during the last 5+ years attendance in traditional churches in the U.S. has been in a free-fall. The number of those not attending church in the U.S. has doubled in one decade. At the same time researcher, George Barna, claims that the current house church movement is the fastest growing expression of church in the U.S. Several missions researchers have learned that literally thousands of new believers become Christians everyday in China, India, the Middle East and other parts of the world. Christ’s church continues to expand at a pace unmatched by any other period in history.

Christendom is dying, and most people are unaware. Pictures of mega churches in the U.S. do not actually reflect the reality being realized by numerous Christian researchers, and these efforts do not seem to be effecting real change as studies on church growth indicate that much of their increase is the result of church shopping rather than outreach.

While many church planting movements are rediscovering the power of God’s Spirit in their midst, the institution of Christendom in the West is increasingly shrinking. And it is probably one of the best things that could happen to the church! It may yet force us to be a missionary people again. It raises the awareness of the need for reform. It forces church to once again be a community of faith and devotion to Christ rather than a service to go to. It calls us to recognize that the Gospel is counter-cultural. God’s people in this society are back where the Lord has always done His best work — on the margins and against the flow. You see, the Kingdom of God is counter-intuitive. In other words, it pushes against our typical ways of thinking. When it redefines our lives, it redefines our reality and restores hope.

Many Christian leaders across the country have suggested that the changes of the 21st century are as significant as those of the 4th and of the 16th centuries. May our prayer be that we have eyes to see and ears to hear what the Lord is doing in our time, and may we respond to His leading with love and with humility and with passion!

Fighting to Pray

2005-09-27T14:11:00.000-07:00

I have been doing evangelism and ministry as a church planter in NYC forabout 4 1/2 years. Not a long time really, and certainly not by thestandards of what it takes to penetrate Northeastern urban culture. ButI've been at long enough to look back on some history and learn from it. Bronx Fellowship is 2 1/2 years old, and MetroSoul (a citywide simple churchplanting cooperative) is less than a year. While continuing to do the work,I see myself having entered a season of reflection and learning --hopefully, if the funds are available, to move into a month sabbatical thiswinter. I sense my vision for ministry sharpening, and it's calling me todeeper places that I often procrastinate and fear to go.

In recent weeks, I've hosted Greenhouse training (organic churchplanting workshop) in Manhattan, attended the National House Churchconference in Denver, and participated in the Manhattan Church of Christcongregational retreat an hour upstate. I've been in crowds, focus groups,seminars, and spent time alone in my thoughts.

One phrase that I've heard before has been repeated again recently and keepsringing in my ears... A PRAYER MOVEMENT ALWAYS PRECEDES A CHURCH PLANTINGMOVEMENT.'

Such a statement begins to make sense when we get it into our minds that weare in a SPIRITUAL war. I can't get this statement out of my head. It is acall to pray. That is, it is a call to prayer if I really do care aboutthose who are lost without hope of the resurrection. It is a call to prayerif I really desire to see NYC transformed block by block. It is a call toprayer if I want to be a participant in God's missionary movement acrossthis globe. It is a call to prayer if I have an ounce of compassion for mynext door neighbor. It is a call to prayer, and at the same time adeclaration of my own lack of faith.

Why is it so challenging? My faith tradition stems from Lockeanrationalism. I'm a Post-Enlightenment Westerner. I am a do-it-myself,do-it-my-way American. By global standards, I'm rich, powerful, andsuper-educated. And what does the Bible say about such people? By alllogical standards, it's a testimony to the grace of God that I even believein the power of God working through His Spirit and through prayer. Many ofyou reading this face the same challenge. And furthermore, faith, by aBiblical definition, is about action rather than simple intellectualacknowledgement of a set of facts.

And this kind of prayer cannot be forced. It cannot be manipulated orprogrammed. It must be caught like a common cold virus passing from personto person. It must be a growing call to the deep places welling up withineach believer. It must begin with a transformation of the heart.What would happen if Christians around the world began to pray in a unitedway and in a passionate way for the 5 or 10 most powerful cities on theircontinent? What would happen if every serious follower of Jesus prayedcompassionately and with unyielding passion and daily for the handful ofpeople that they might influence? What if we took Jesus seriously andprayed "Your Kingdom come" and longed for it? What if we lived the kind ofstory -- organic, expansive, and Spirit-led -- that we find in the pages ofActs right here in the postmodern West?I'd love to see it my lifetime. Even more, I'd love to be part of it. Imagine if God gave us the way to unlock the door. Perhaps it's been here all along....

Waiting on God

2005-09-27T14:07:00.000-07:00

Recently, MetroSoul (a city-wide mission cooperative that is under development) was having a small retreat for its leaders. Places of residence and ministry were represented from Jersey City(NJ), Bayonne (NJ), Bergen County (NJ), Queens, the Bronx, & Manhattan. As we are working to develop a cooperative of 'organic church planting' from across the NY Metro area, we felt it best to have a loose agenda and spend time in relationships and in prayer. This, of course, flies in the face of our instincts to plan activities down to the minute. We spent time on the NJ shore, sharing meals, playing together, and in prayer.

We remembered that a prayer movement preceeds a church planting movement and lifted our voices before God on Monday evening. We listed areas of emphasis for prayer and attempted to pray over these areas on Tuesday morning. And on Tuesday afternoon, we left our time open for however God might lead us. We took walks, returned and sat together quietly.

Silence. One person began a song. Silence. Another person shared a personal reflection that occured to them during the song. Silence. Another person shared their personal feelings about their journey of faith. Another asked a question about it. The response came, and we then gathered around to pray. Most prayed. Some cried. Everyone hugged warmly. Something happened. God showed up. ....But He wasn't done.....

A man who had come from Guatemala only 8 days earlier was sitting nearby watching. He spoke to one of us in Spanish and requested prayer. He had just left the hospital, couldn't remember where he was staying, was missing his wife and children, was mourning the recent murder of his brother, and had been struggling with suicidal thoughts (his reason for being in the hospital). A handful of people gathered around and those who could to do so prayed in Spanish as the man wept. A couple of brothers drove him to his street where they found the house, gave him some unsoliticed financial help & a snack, and a couple of South NJ contacts were called in order to hopefully connect the man to a church. I pray that God is glorified in the repeating of the story.

I want to share what God can do when we look for Him to set the agenda. While I am an enthusiast for well-laid plans, strategies, schedules, and vision, I am reminded again to leave room for God to set the agenda. There's no magic pill, rather a God who wants us to partner with Him for His Kingdom to fill the earth. That's something I want to be a part of. Don't you?

Lord, You're Kingdom come in Metro NYC as it is in Heaven.

Finding People of Peace

2005-08-17T09:11:00.000-07:00

About three weeks ago one of our interns met a Dominican woman on the streetdoing a "prayer station" in the Bronx who expressed feelings of spiritualseeking and wanted to know more about our church. Two weeks ago Sametria and I went and met with this woman in her home. Feeling prompted by theLord in my heart and observing a few key indicators of a potential "person of peace," I suggested that we begin a gathering in her home.

Last Sunday night I sat in this Bronx apartment in a room full of people. The onlyfamiliar faces were this woman and her 17 yr. daughter. All the others were new -- about 20 adults and children. Translation flew back and forth and at least half a dozen small children moved around the room as I spoke withSpanish-only Mexicans, Dominicans, and Ecuardorians, bilingual Dominicans,an English-only African-American, and a Punjabi-Indian (who speaks Hindi,English, and Punjabi). So what do you do in such a situation? Well, Idon't know either. I just did what my wife suggested after the fact: Pray,talk about Jesus, and let God do the rest. What else? Life in ministry in the Metropolis is diverse, fluid, and alive. The variety of people's faith journeys are a spectrum of personal, spiritual narratives. All I can do is step into the messiness of it all and watch Goddo what He does. I begin to understand what Paul meant when he said that heplanted, Apollos watered, and that God brings the growth. In the sea of spiritual seeking and complex urban realities, there is a forced recognitionthat we aren't reallly in control of very much, and to be in completecontrol seems to be the perfect way to keep God from truly opening doors.Rather we speak truth, we relationally live the truth, we pray, and have thecourage to be faithful to the call. If I was "playing it safe" and only doing what I know, I would not be able to share a story like last Sunday night. As we do our part, God shows up. Pray that God advances his Kingdom through these households. Lift up inprayer the multiplication of disciples, workers, and churches among us herein the Bronx. The glory is His alone. Luke 20:2

Lives in Motion

2005-07-22T06:18:00.000-07:00

I sat down with a friend from Liberia recently. When he arrived in NYC as a war refugee, we quickly recognized his sincere heart and his integrity when he entered our fellowship of house churches in the Bronx last Fall. Among other things, we were discussing the church that meets in his 4th floor apartment. As we talked I asked him if he thought people were growing. His response was enthusiastic. He said that now that his family has been experiencing worship and the Word together and have made their home into a meeting place for church, peace has come to his house. The family gets along better, the marriage is stronger, the kids are improving. He expressed that if it wasn't for house church, he suggested that things probably would not be so good in their house. I don't know if there are any other West African house churches meeting in the United States, but this one is the story of people being touched by the Spirit of Christ in their midst. This is new territory for most people including my African brother, so we're still experimenting with what works and doesn't work for that house church. But there certainly are victories to celebrate.

Yes, when you are on the cutting edge, you do sometimes get cut. You make strategic errors. You learn as you go. However, when you're on point, out on the edge, you also see sunsets and unworn trails, and sights that few have seen before. With all my training (and I mean this as a humble admission) as I entered church planting, I knew I'd be learning, but I never dreamed that I'd be learning so much. Let's thank God for new horizons, for lessons learned, for lives being transformed, and let's ask Him for more! I feel in my bones that this is only a hint of what is to come if we are faithful to the call to pray and to go.
~Luke 10:2~

In the midst of heroes

2005-07-13T21:26:00.000-07:00

I am in the midst of heroes. I know a man in his twenties who leads one of our house churches. He has only been a Christian for a couple of years, but when he found out that his cousin was in his final weeks as a result of AIDS, he went every friday to his cousin's bedside for the last few weeks of his life. He watched in concealed horror at medical procedures being conducted. He held his hand. He listened, and stayed for hours when closer relatives who drop-in for minutes. Most importantly, he told him the Good News of Jesus and the hope of the grace of God. On his last visit with only days of life left in his cousin's body, the dying man confessed that he desired God's forgiveness, that he believed in Jesus, and wanted him to save him. As the clock ticked past the eleventh hour in this man's life, he turned his face towards Jesus. (Now, I know that some of you feel very strongly about baptism as I do also, but like the theif on the cross, baptism was not quite practical -- much less possible -- in this case. So I hope that you do not miss the beauty of this story.)

I'd like to be there. I hope that I can be in that corner of Heaven when their eyes meet. I'd like to watch as this disciple of Jesus looks across the throne room and sees the grateful glow in the face of his cousin who only knew Jesus for a few short days. I'd like to watch, and I know that it is Heaven, but I can't imagine it with dry eyes.

No one can tell me that new Christians must simply sit and our feet and absorb our great wisdom. It is pretty difficult to argue with the evidence of lives being transformed in such a way. God is Lord of the harvest, and if we will ask, seek, and knock in order to discover workers, we will find those who will lead us where we, ourselves, were afraid to go.

an evening out

2005-06-28T20:11:00.000-07:00

I've never been hugged by a waitress... until tonight.

My wife & I were trying to attend an evening workshop on grants for home ownership. I must confess... we found out about it on one of those "infomercials," but because we are committed to the city, we desperately want to explore every avenue for home ownership in the city -- a very expensive venture. We traveled down to East 45th St. from the Bronx and were rejected at the door because no children under 12 were admitted. Hylma went in for about 10 minutes to uncover what the "catch" was, and we concluded that this avenue was -- as you might expect -- not for us. However, it lead us to discover a delightful evening.

We took a casual walk from 45th up to about 52nd and over to 3rd Ave. from Madison. We stopped to look at the menu of a high priced Lebanese restaurant. As we were about to move on, a patron came walking out. We got directions from this gay Eastsider to a high rated (Zagat survey) Turkish place a couple of blocks away. This became the highlight of a spontaneous evening out. (If you're ever looking for Turkish food in East Manhattan, Taksim on 2nd Ave. near 54th St. comes highly recommended.)

We were greeted with smiles and adoration of our baby girl by the waitresses. Our waitress was more than friendly... really warm and welcoming. We love Near Eastern food, and this place was no exception. Falafel, lamb, red lintels, and baklava, and our daughter was welcome! she was more than welcome. She was held, hugged, and celebrated. Our Turkish waitress even walked us out onto the street, showed us a picture of her baby, hugged both Hylma and me, and gave us a Turkish good luck charm for Adalia.

Our kind waitress also expressed that many Americans have "no soul." She sees a lack of joy in many of her patrons and neighbors. Whether one agrees with her assessment or not, it is a sad impression that has been made by many. I suppose an adorable child and the presence of the Holy Spirit made a difference tonight. She saw us -- paying customers -- off as if we were departing from the front porch of her home.

We caught our bus home to the Bronx while making a series of calls on my cell phone, and as we walked into the front of our building, we encountered some of our neighbors. They are wonderful people with four children and a great sense of family. They are the kind of people that make a neighborhood enjoyable. We talked as we entered the building together and into the elevator until reaching the 3rd floor. One of them asked me when her birthday was and asked about her [astrological] sign. I didn't know her sign nor had I ever thought of looking it up. Neither am I appalled at the question though I recognize it's pagan orientation. It simply reflects a common worldview of many Americans.

Walking with my wife, I told her: I am loving "simple church" more & more, but I am also learning such a great deal. No churches were planted tonight and I'm not even sure why the thought came to mind connected to a friendly Turkish restaurant, except that "simple church" or "house church" approaches to Christian community emphasize relationships and people rather than sustaining an institution and its programs that may or may not be serving as mediums of transformation. As I live in the city under the banner of relational ministry, I'm learning how to simply be salt and light. I'm learning how to move about in the midst of the lost masses as a Christian. I can't really explain it, but at times I find great freedom in being a Christian in the city. Oftentimes there is a greater need to be than to do, and that is a difficult lesson for me to learn. I'm learning a great many things. I'm learning to do far more than advertize "Come as you are," but to actually mean it. I'm learning about incarnational ministry, and somehow a friendly Turkish waitress reminded me of that.

A Bicycle on the Sidewalk

2005-05-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine and rising leader in our emerging house church network told me last night that he has to appear in court. He was riding his bicycle on the sidewalk. Until last night, I had no idea that it was somehow illegal to ride one's bike on the sidewalk in NYC. You see, I've ridden my bike down sidewalk after sidewalk. I've peddled past police cars and police on foot. I've never been asked to stop. I've never been given a ticket. Perhaps, I do need to keep my bike off the sidewalk, but I've never been pulled over by police and had them smell my breath or make sure I wasn't using drugs because I had the audacity to ride my bicycle on the sidewalk. I haven't had the experience of asking for pardon and explaining I was new to this country and ignorant of many of its rules. You see there is a difference between my friend and me.

My friend is Black; I am White. He is African, a refugee from Liberia; I am American. He has been on the brink of death and put into exile, and now he gets stopped for being black on a bike on a sidewalk. Injustice -- however seemingly small -- lives on both sides of the ocean. Truthfully, it makes me angry. But I'm not sure what makes me more angry. The injustice itself, or the apathy of so many of us who live so far from the cries of injustice. I wonder if sheltering ourselves from the cries of racism, classism, sexism, genocide, and other forms of injustice, isn't a form of injustice in itself?

Globalocal

2005-04-19T16:28:00.000-07:00

In the Bronx I like catching events that impact my borough on Bronx channel 12. It is community news for the Bronx that runs repeating 30 minute segments thoughout the day in a similar fashion to Headline News of CNN. The motto of Bronx channel 12 is "As Local As Local News Gets." Yet, it is interesting to note that hardly a day goes by that included in this local broadcast are headlines from Latin America and the Caribbean. That is because we live in what some have termed a globalocal society. Everything local impacts everything global and visa versa. So what does the globalization of the local have to do with the church? In short, more than any one person could possibly realize -- including this writer.

It means that perhaps finally U.S. churches will destroy (yes, destroy) the dichotomy between domesticated U.S. Christianity and missions principles often reserved for the "foreign field." Perhaps, the Western church will finally come to terms with such truths as Samuel Escobido has written: "Mission is everyone going everywhere." It means that reaching a person in a city -- or even small town -- in the U.S. could impact someone else in London, Lebanon, or Laos. It means that resources for mission are spread across a global landscape. It means that multicultural as a congregational characteristic is no longer the exception to be featured in a pastoral magazine, but it is to become normative if we are going to have any relevance in a postmodern world, not to mention obedience to the Gospel. It means that language study among MDiv students is going to be crucial, but while I'm not lessening the importance of Greek or Hebrew, I'm referring to Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Hindi, or a number of other options. It means that networking is in and homogeneous institutions are out.

We are all living in the globalocal. Some of us just don't know it yet. As a resident of NYC, I happen to live in the future. I hope we are ready for an exciting ride because things are only going to get more interesting from here.

Kids & Households of Faith

2005-03-25T10:34:00.000-08:00

A little over a month ago my wife & I had the awesome experience of the birth of our daughter. As many of you know, such an event makes a man think, and I feel affirmed more than ever concerning how God has led us. I am so grateful that my daughter is going to grow up in house churches.

In order to make sense of a house church network, we really need to think differently. I’ve been reading research about the value of small groups, family, and relationships between adults and children when it comes to spiritual growth and outreach. For example, Dr. Holly Allen points out that many churches in the U.S. base their children’s ministry on modern education practices. While this is okay for learning facts in school, Dr. Allen’s research shows that small groups where children & adults worship together is likely more effective when it comes to a child’s spiritual development. Doesn’t it make sense that a child would best learn about faith and courage and God from being an active part of a community where they can learn from spiritual “uncles” and ‘aunts?” Besides, think about it: What do children remember more? A lecture or a story that inspires them? Of course, the best place to begin the process of rethinking anything is the Bible — God’s message of love to humanity.

In the Old Testament many of the national celebrations were feasts, and one of the most important times of worship was at a meal. That is, the Passover. Both young and old joined together. Similar to modern-day Thanksgiving in North America, it was a time of remembrance, but it was also so much more. It was a worship service around a table in a home.

In the New Testament, Jesus shared similar experiences with his earliest followers, and after His resurrection, the church continued to meet together — both young and old — in homes as extended spiritual families. It would have been possible to gather around a table for Communion because they met in homes. Biblical scholars have consensus that the church continued meeting in homes for the first three centuries until the Roman emperor began having an influence on the church in the 4th century. I’m not saying that buildings are bad for churches; however, I do think that Jesus’ followers today have a lot to gain from this emphasis on home, relationship, and family.

So many of the little moments over the last couple of years have truly impacted me. I remember a Friday night meeting. A father had brought his two year old daughter to a meeting in my home and at one point during the evening, she laughed and rushed into his arms and exclaimed, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!” I walked away from that meeting touched by what this child taught me about my relationship to God. Recently, another father told me about a time when he was sitting in his living room feeling --and probably appearing -- angry. One of the women in his house church had taught the kids the night before in their home, and his four year old son came up to his father, looked into his face, and said, “Daddy, do you know Jesus? And what about Moses, Daddy?” Needless to say, the mood began to change. I loved recently seeing two adults in another house church both dancing back & forth during worship to the sound of the song “Clap Your Hands” with a one & a half year old and two year old smiling and swaying with them. I enjoy seeing an eleven year old pick out our next song and sing with the group.

I’m excited to raise my daughter in these households of faith. They're not perfect, and I know that there are no guarantees. Someday she will choose who or what she will serve, but I know that we’re giving my little girl the best opportunity to explore who God wants her to be.

I love it... even when it hurts.

2005-03-22T18:29:00.000-08:00

I love house church. It's a funny thing too. When I was a boy, people thought that I'd make a 'good minister' because I had the ability to do public speaking. I still preach sometimes since our house church network meets together once a month, but most sundays I attend one of our 'house churches' and participate with one of the leaders that I have begun to train to lead a group of 5, 8, or 15 people in a home. I love what happens -- or at least can happen -- in a simple church. I love gathering in a circle and praying for one of our sisters in need. I love watching an 11 year old sing at the top of her lungs with the grown-ups during worship in a Bronx living room. I love walking into the lobby of a building in a less-than-perfect neighborhood and being greeted by my Christian brother with a smile and a hug. I love seeing people sit in a discussion concerning spiritual matters and see one person in the room realize a life-altering truth there in the midst of the discussion. I love children playing at our feet (and I know that they're watching) as we sing with hands raised and hearts lifted high. I love church. I love church in a living room. I love church in the city. I love church as an agent of restoration and a battering ram against darkness. I love it.

And there is just something about opening our Bibles to the book of Matthew or Acts or John while on the sidewalk outside of the window behind me someone is cursing another human being. I certainly don't love that, but it somehow makes it all so real. It is a reminder of the urgency of the task of participating in Christ's mission here and now. There is something about the risk involved in opening our lives to people that seems so much like what Jesus would want from his followers. There is really something about the way I feel when I see tears that represent healing, confession, renewal of life & commitment. There is certainly something about planting simple churches in the city that is raw. I have to admit that I love it. I love church in its raw and primitive form in a city that pushes back so much it hurts. I don't love the hurt. I just love pushing back! ...Especially when it is really Jesus doing the pushing!

Wine & Wineskins

2005-03-14T17:49:00.000-08:00

I feel like a child sometimes. And it's not because I'm currently having a psychological wrestling match with my inner-child. Rather, I feel like a child because I am entering what feels like such virgin territory as a vocational minister.

I'm planting a house church network in the Bronx. We are facing the emerging culture in an extremely diverse city. And as we do so, we are in pursuit of new wine and new wineskins. Although the concept of house church networks appears to be at least as old as the New Testament, it is still really quite new in our contemporary setting. We are seeking a new wineskin that provides the space for drinking of the new wine of Jesus Christ in all His fullness. We are seeking community, mission, authenticity. We want to know and be known. And yet like a child, we are so afraid.

Contructing new wineskins, there are questions that must be asked. What if we meet as in a new wineskin and experience church in a living room or a Starbucks or a city park, but we still "hide" from others just as if we were on the back pew waiting to escape after the final 'Amen?' What if we organize highly effective outreach programs, but fail to have passion for mission or compassion for the people we seek to reach? What if we have flexible structures, but we remain inflexible to God's movement among us?

I suppose we don't always do real well at answering those questions. At least not all the time... maybe most of the time. Still, sometimes we drink of the new wine, and when we do, we drink deeply. Sometimes we stumble onto the experience of a healthy level of transperancy in Christian community. And sometimes we have a vibrant gathering of mutual sharing and openness. Sometimes we have genuine confession and real healing. And at times a new visitor shows up and declares (in so many words): 'God is among you!' It doesn't always happen. Many of us are just so comfortable with old wine, but when we drink that new wine, we take one step closer to the essence of church as community in a society that drives us away from authentic community.

I don't feel so bad that I have to say 'sometimes' because we're new at this. We all are. We're used to experiencing presentations and programs and 'calling it a day.' And so we are like a child seeking out the experience of church in a world that is challenging and yet invigorating. We are longing for new wine in a generation that is thirsting. And through new wineskins, we are inviting Jesus, the giver of new wine, to fill us and to take us where He would want us to go.

It's kind of like being child learning how to behave in church all over again. But didn't Jesus say, 'become like?...' I suppose He did, so maybe this feeling that overwhelms me is not so bad.

*(In case you haven't heard, the wine/wineskin analogy is a reference to a very breif parable in Matthew 9.)

The Congo, Liberia, & the Bronx

2005-03-10T17:44:00.000-08:00

The recent film, Hotel Rwanda, features the genocide and injustice taking place on the beloved African continent. Soon after, Don Cheadle, the lead actor in Hotel Rwanda, hosted a Nightline episode reporting the refugee crisis and relecting on his own realization of the horror. A popular line in the film makes the statement: "People in America will see this on the evening news, say 'Oh my ---' and go back to their dinner."

Perhaps the average Western Christian sitting at his/her dining room table does not know what to do. But how easily do we chalk it all up to 'God's will' and move on with seeking as much comfort as possible for our own lives. We may not know what to do, but wanting to do something is a start.

This trama has come home to impact me in a personal way. My life in the Bronx has brought me to a crossroads with these stories. I have met new friends and associates who have traveled from Liberia, the Congo, Rwanda, and the Ivory Coast. I have sat in a worship assembly, on the train, in my home and in theirs, with those whose stories sound very much like the late night news. (The African continent is seldom given the honor of primetime attention.) The stories of lost spouses, lost parents, lost siblings are commonplace and heartbreaking. I have friends who have been shot at with machine guns and beaten until bloody. The only hope they have is escape. These, whose stories have intersected with mine, are the ones whose names have been called to board a plane and fly to JFK under the cover of refugee status.

What can the multitudes of middle and upper class churches scattered across this wealthy continent really do? What is there to do? How about this? What if a church decided to sponsor a refugee (who is working hard to provide for his family with the kind of job that many of us worked when we were a 20 year old university student) with the necessary salary and tuition in order to enroll as a full-time student at a local city university? It would be a gift beyond measure, and I happen to know a man right now that I would trust with such a gift! What about tutoring children? Teaching computer skills? Even disposable diapers are a sign of the wealth of their new land.

Or... if Evangelicals across the country can rally (whether we should or not is less the issue here) as a political niche, why not do so for the sake of the Congo? The Sudan? Will constitutional amendments or political speeches really change sexual and/or domestic practices -- much less people's hearts? How is that conservative capital being spent? Really, I don't have all that much to say about the interaction of church and state. For me, it is entirely too personal. These are my friends.

An Introduction

2005-03-10T07:41:00.001-08:00

When I was a child, I rode on a tractor, chased around chickens inside a fence, had a pet rabbit and pet a duck besides countless dogs and cats, climbed trees, and made a camp fire only steps from my back yard.

Today, I ride a bus into Manhattan, but sometimes I take the train. I live on the 3rd floor, and outside the door of my building, I can hear Russian, Albanian, Spanish, Urdu, or Vietnamese. I live by the cell phone and e-mail.

Before living in New York, I lived in Houston's 6th Ward. I moved in at the dawn of gentrification (At $375.00 a month rent for my small apartment, I was not part of this process) and watched a neighborhood change before my eyes. I spent my time driving along railroad tracks in 5th Ward, waving away drug pushers in 4th Ward, and circling through the narrow streets of housing projects picking up teens who were caught between loving their God and obeying the message of the story that had shaped their lives up until that point.

The rhythm of my life has changed since my childhood. I have undergone a cultural conversion in order to engage the world as it is. Urban. Pluralistic. Cosmopolitan. My city -- where global meets local -- is New York. My community is the Bronx. I love the people and the culture despite the stress and pressure all around me -- and at times within me.

I believe that my conversion represents the conversion that must be undergone by many Chrisitan traditions such as mine (Churches of Christ) who are largely rural. The call to conversion is from rural to urban, from culturally Southern (United States) to global citizens, from institutional to missional.

This blog is not intended to be a cyber soapbox. Rather, a space for thoughtful reflection and dialogue. We must plunge the depths for understanding this gift that God has given us called "church." This is, of course, secondary to understanding and knowing Jesus our King. If we are to be faithful to our calling, how do we today live in an individualistic, pluralistic, postmodern, multicultural, urban society? I find the best starting place to be an ancient voice (late 2nd century) in the Epistle to Diognetus:

But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.