I have always been a huge U2 fan.  I own every cd they ever produced (although I did sell “POP” to a used cd store a few days after I purchased it) and at times have traveled several states to see them in concert. I say that to admit that I have a bias in regards to U2 being the best band of all times and producing the best album of all times – The Joshua Tree. I still find the lyrics and music of U2 to be challenging, inspiring, and many times worshipful, not to mention the humanitarian issues that Bono has championed the past several years. I found this video be a good summary of all the above. Be sure to watch it through as there is a short portion from Bono’s talk at the national prayer breakfast.

I have been reading an excellent book by Dr. Francis DuBose titled “God Who Sends: A Fresh Quest for Biblical Mission.” The book was published in 1983 when Dr. DuBose was professor and director of World Missions Center at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. In the preface of the book DuBose writes:

“This work is a comprehensive and systematic study of the biblical concept of the sending aimed at a better understanding of biblical mission. . . . The title “God Who Sends” was chosen because God as Sender is the basis of all the Bible has to say on the subject. The subtitle, “A Fresh Quest for Biblical Mission,” reflects both my desire for a more satisfying theological understanding and my realization that this can only be a quest, not a final word on the subject.”

In chapter 3 DuBose presents a survey of the theological sending passages within 7 Scriptural categories: the Pentateuch, the Historical Books, the Poetical Books, the Prophets, the Gospels, the Book of Acts, and the Epistles and Revelation. In coming days we will discuss the key passages that DuBose surveys and consider how they ought to inform our own “quest for biblical mission.”

I found chapter 5 of Alan Hirsch’s “The Forgotten Ways“ to be an excellent presentation of the basics of missional issues. Hirsch provides a thorough description of what he calls the “missional-incarnational impulse” as the biblical alternative to the attractional mode of Christendom.

Early in the chapter Hirsch recognizes the need to present the theological foundation of the missional-incarnational impulse because it runs so contrary to the way the western church has operated for so long.

On page 129 Hirsch states: “Because it goes against the grain of our inherited and ingrained practices, it is important to grasp the theological dynamics of the missional-incarnational impulse and the ways in which these two intertwined foundations of essential Christian theology inform our practices and behaviors.” Read the rest of this entry

“O Lord Jesus Christ, I long to live in your presence, to see your human form and to watch you walking on earth. I do not want to see you through the darkened glass of tradition, nor through the eyes of today’s values and prejudices. I want to see you as you were, as you are, and as you always will be. I want to see you as an offense to human pride, as a man of humililty, walking among the lowliest of men, and yet as the savior and redeemer of the human race.” 

-  Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

In the opening of chapter 4 Hirsch reminds the reader that “all six elements of mDNA must be present for authentic Apostolic Genius to activate and permeate the life of the Christian communities and movements.” Having said that he goes on to contend that this element (disciple making) is perhaps the most critical element in the mDNA mix.

While there are several themes running through this chapter the one that struck a cord with me was how the biblical emphasis on disciple making runs in stark contrast to the current attractional consumeristic norm of the western church. On page 104 Hirsch quotes Neil Cole as an example of how our emphasis needs to be refocused towards discipleship when Cole, speaking about the focus of CMA, says: “We want to lower the bar of how church is done and raise the bar of what it means to be a disciple.”

Isn’t this just the opposite of how we do things in the West? Think about our attractional/seeker models and ask, have we not raised the bar of how to do church and at the same time lowered the bar in regards to what it means to be a disciple? Read the rest of this entry

Hirsch offers (p. 75) a short introduction to the second section, in which he presents the core piece for the rest of the book – mDNA (missional DNA). He states on p. 76:

“With this concept/metaphor I hope to explain why the presence of a simple, intrinsic, reproducible, central guiding mechanism is necessary for the reproduction and sustainability of genuine missional movements. As an organism holds together, and each cell understands its function in relation to its DNA, so the church finds its reference point in its built-in mDNA. As DNA carries the genetic coding, and therefore the life, of a particualr organism, so too mDNA codes Apostolic Genius (the life force that pulsated through the New Testament church and in other expressions of apostolic Jesus movements throughout history).”

So what are the key elements of Apostolic Genius? The six distinctives identified by Hirsch (and illustrated more extensively in the diagram above which you can click on for a larger view) are:

1. Jesus is Lord
2. Disciple Making
3. Missional-incarnational Impulse
4. Apostolic Environment
5. Organic Systems
6. Communitas, Not Community Read the rest of this entry

More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time to practice this simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not as simple as it seems. My own desire to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings, conferences, study groups, and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause, and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress. But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them. 

-  Henri Nouwen

A reminder of the dates and times for the Missional Network gatherings coming up this Friday and next Thursday. Remember the next two times we meet we will be examining Alan Hirsch’s “The Forgotten Ways.” We plan to discuss the first five chapters in March and finish the book in April. If you haven’t had the chance to read the book you may be able to get up to speed with the chapter reviews here on this blog. Also remember you can download the introduction and chapter one of the book from “The Forgotten Ways” website. Looking forward to the discussion. Read the rest of this entry

In chapter two of “The Forgotten Ways” author Alan Hirsch proposes that the decline of the church in Western culture can be attributed to defaulting to a Christendom mode of thinking. Moreover, because of our Christendom default mode we don’t even know that there is a better alternative.

Quoting Bono from U2, “we are stuck in a moment and now we can’t get out of it.” Or from one with few more academic credentials; David Bosch in Transforming Mission states: “Strictly speaking one ought to say that the Church is always in a state of crisis and that its greatest shortcoming is that it is only occasionally aware of it.” Read the rest of this entry

The last in our series on key characteristics of missional leaders is:

They believe the Kingdom of God is bigger than the church.

Missional leaders understand that the activities of God can and do take place outside the realm of the church. Therefore, they move out in ministry expecting that God is already at work in the lives of people. Morgan states “when the community of faith reaches out into their community, they find people prepared by him [the Holy Spirit] to believe. They find opportunities for service and witness. They find a door of ministry opened by him.” Read the rest of this entry

The sixth characteristic in our series on what missional leaders look like from notes of Dr. Dan Morgan, Nehemiah Church Planting Professor at Southwestern seminary is:

They disciple with a view to deployment on mission, not servicing the organization.

Morgan stated that as the institutional church ages an increasing percentage of its workers and leaders are deployed to service existing members and maintain the organization. However, a missional leader is committed to raising up leaders primarily for kingdom involvement, not maintenance. Read the rest of this entry

We continue our discussion of “The Forgotten Ways” by Alan Hirsch by looking at chapter one. Remember chapter one can be downloaded from Hirsch’s website, however after that you will have to purchase a copy, but I think you will discovery that it is clearly worth the buy.

In chapter one, titled “Setting the Scene” and subtitled “Confessions of a Frustrated Missionary” Hirsch tells a bit of his own story as leader of South Melbourne Restoration Community. Hirsch shares how he and his wife were brought to the church as a kind of last ditch effort to revive a church that had experienced birth, growth and decline in its 140 year history. Through the process the Hirschs came to the conclusion that they wanted to be involved in a church that was highly participatory (much more than the 20:80 rule) and missional.

Hirsch provides a good contrast between the typical church growth principles that are used today to grow a contemporary church and the essential components that best describes the nature of the church. Hirsch states “if you wish to grow a contemporary church following good church growth principles, there are several things you must do and constantly improve upon:

1. Expand the building for growth.
2. Ensure excellent preaching that relates to the life of the hearers.
3. Develop an inspiring worship service with an excellent band.
4. Make certain you have excellent parking facilities.
5. Ensure excellent programs for children and youth.
6. Develop a program of cell groups rooted in a Christian ed model.
7. Make sure that next week is better than last week. Read the rest of this entry

During the next two network gathering times we will be examining Alan Hirsch’s “The Forgotten Ways.” We plan to discuss the first two chapters in March and finish the book in April. I hope everyone has secured a copy of the book, if not remember you can still download the introduction and chapter one of the book from “The Forgotten Ways” website. 

I hope other friends who are unable to join one of the network gatherings and readers of this blog from other areas will join our discussion via this blog as we work our way through the book each week. There has been a good bit of discussion of the book taking place the past month over at Jesus Creed. Additionally, there is a helpful interview with Hirsch at Rodney Olsen’s site.

To begin our discussion I want to share a bit from the introduction. Under a section entitled “A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Question”:

Using studies by Rodney Stark, Hirsch calculates that the early church grew from 25,000 in AD 100 to about 20,000,000 in AD 310. How did this happen? What was going on in early Christianity to experience this type of growth? To illustrate that this phenomena was not just an early church experience Hirsch shares the example of the church in China. When Mao Tse-tung took control of China there were approximately 2 million Christians. However, when the Bamboo Curtain was lifted some estimated the Christian population in China to be near 60 million. Moreover, the number of Christians in China today are around 80 million. Once again, how did this kind of growth happen? Read the rest of this entry

The fifth characteristic in our list of what missional leaders look like is:

They foster relational structures rather than institutional structures.

At this point Morgan shared some great insights on relational networks. He stated that in comparison to institutional structures there is no doubt that highly relational structures appear to be more chaotic. In fact, one of the reasons organization/structure emerges is to reduce and control the chaos of relational networks. Morgan’s point however is that while missional leaders still use organization and structures in this way, they allow the growing edge of the church to remain purely relational and learn to live with the chaos that exists.

The fourth of the seven distinctives of missional leaders as observed by Dr. Morgan is:

Their focus is on the Kingdom, not preservation of an institution.

With this characteristic Dr. Morgan’s primary focus was on the missional leader’s caution toward the entanglements of buildings and formal organizations. They recognize that owning a building and developing a large organization is problematic in light of the contexts in which they work. Read the rest of this entry

The third of the seven characteristics or distinctives of missional leaders as observed by Dr. Morgan is:

They work opportunistically rather than routinely.

In other words, misisonal leaders focus their efforts in places where they see God working. They understand that God is already active in the world therefore the missional emphasis is on entering into His activities rather than creating activities that we hope are used or blessed by Him. As I heard Dr. Henry Blackaby say this week in a meeting in Atlanta, “God is already on mission, we just need to ask Him where He wants us to join in.”