In the introduction of “The Jesus of Suburbia” author Mike Erre asks a series of challenging questions relating to modern American Christianity:

We preach Christianity, but do we really preach Christ?

We call people to serve the church, but do we call them to serve the poor?

We teach them to know sound doctrine, but do we teach people to center their whole lives on him?

Do we teach people to have a commitment to the Bible or to a relationship with its author?

Do we as Western Christians reflect Jesus or obscure him?

Can we say that we, his church, teach what he taught, love what (and whom) he loved, and hate what he hated? Are his priorities really ours?

Why is it that: Study after study shows no statistical difference between the behaviors of those inside the church and those outside it?

Why is it that: So many Christians have adopted a “victim mentality” with an attitude of helplessness and have put much of our hope and trust in the political process and court system, implying that God’s work on earth depends upon who sits in the White House?

Why is it: We currently see very little of the power, vitality, and growth today in our hearts and churches that once characterized the explosive movement of God?

Is it because we have substituted human traditions for the teachings of God? Have we made our Jesus the Jesus of Christianity, not the Jesus of the Gospels? We may think we worship the Jesus of Nazareth, but in reality we worship the Jesus of Suburbia.

Mike Erre in “The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?”

The advent of the emerging culture is causing a reformation — perhaps even a revolution — in the church’s understanding of spiritual formation. Instead of a compartmentalized spirituality that focuses on personal choices, we are seeing the growth of a new approach to spiritual formation that emphasizes a rule of life and rhythms of spiritual practices drawing from a vast array of Christian traditions.

Thankfully, there is a widening pool of resources to aid churches, Christians, and spiritual sojourners in the exploration of spiritual practices that support this transformation of orientation. It’s truly exciting to see churches making use of a wide range of historic and experiential spiritual practices, such as labyrinths, body prayers, praying the hours, meditation using the repetition of historical prayers and liturgies like the Jesus Prayer, lectio divina, the integration of art and physical practices into prayer, fasting, the use of contemporary and historical symbols and icons, and the restoration and veneration of the Eucharist and baptism in traditions that once minimized these rites.

The Church in Transition: The Journey of Existing Churches into the Emerging Cultureby Tim Conder

For the past year and a half two good friends of mine (Georges Boujakly and Paul Hill) and I have been working on a “Missional Order.”

In the beginning our hope was to create a network to challenge and encourage the church planters that we work with to focus significant and meaningful energy on spiritual formation in their lives and the lives of their core groups.

Over time the network idea evolved into more of an “order” that we believe speaks into the lives of many others beyond our initial focus. We have recognized the desire on the part of many within the existing church, as well as those that have for some reason “checked out” of the church, to rediscover an alternative story to the Christian life.

All of the conversations over the past year have lead us to create a missional order blog that is organized around three common commitments: sacred rhythm, continuous formation, and participation in the Missio Dei. We believe these commitments will assist us toward daily rhythms that push us toward God, aid our sanctification, and empower us participate in God’s kingdom.

While we are just getting the site off the ground this week I hope you will check out the site and give us critical feedback. I also hope you will decide to participate and join the conversation.

Here is a piece from the “Why A Missional Order” page to get you started:

This site exists for two big-picture reasons. On the one hand, we want to counteract some negative trends that are prevalent in society today. Call that our combative side. More important, we think that the missional approach will help us capture the positive dynamics that Jesus wants to be part of every life.

First, the things that we want to fight against:

The consumer lifestyle. We can’t consume our way into godliness, because the gospel is about a focused, stripped-down life, not an accessorized, materialistic life.

Programmatic spirituality. Jesus didn’t give the disciples 12-step or 40-day approaches to God. Instead, he told them to let their entire lives be molded by the Father, daily, for as long as they lived.

Business as usual. When church becomes corporate, and reflects the politics and bottom-line practices of the business world, the heart of the gospel has already been lost, no matter how good the church slogan sounds.

On the positive side, we think that Missional Order can help us:

Take active steps toward renewal. Christianity is always a do-or-die proposition, and that’s especially true today, when so many people are disenchanted with the church. But rather than grow cynical, we can work to recapture the impulses that animate a healthy, Jesus-shaped spirituality.

Live like Jesus together. We’re called to live out our faith in community, reflecting the heart of Jesus, acting as his sent disciples. Mutual encouragement and a sense of direction help us do this, whatever our location or station in life.

Adopt habits and disciplines that will help us create order—a focused spiritual equilibrium—that is imitative of Christ. What if we adjusted the very shape of our days around fellowship with God?

Wondering if this idea of Missional Order can be of any benefit to you?

Yesterday I filled in for a friend of mine in one of our new church plants and at the conclusion of the gathering time we recited this Franciscan Benediction.

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain in to joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

First is David Dunbar’s latest missional journal article. David shares a great story that clearly illustrates how a missional reading of Scripture encourages a missional perspective of the communities in which we live.

Ed Stetzer begins to summarize a new Bible study series he has written titled Sent: Living the Missional Nature of the Church. So far the study looks very promising!

Over the past couple of weeks I have enjoyed Pat Loughery’s five part series on Incorporating Benedict’s Rule in a Suburban Missional Church.

Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Part VI

Doug Resler over at Christ Seeker has added much to the discussion on developing new ways to evaluate ministry effectiveness through a series on Missional Metrics:

Missional Metrics I
Missional Metrics II
Missional Metrics III
Missional Metrics IV
Missional Metrics V
Missional Metrics VI
Missional Metrics VII
Missional Metrics VIII
Missional Metrics IX
Missional Metrics X
Missional Metrics XI
Missional Metrics XII
Missional Metrics XIII
Missional Metrics XIV

A few days ago I recieved the latest Neue weekly email newsletter which included an excellent article by Ashley Wolpert on Missional Living. The article is primarily an interview with Ed Stetzer. For the entire article check out Ed’s site. Here is a small portion of the interview:

What keeps people from missional living? Would you say there are any unique barriers for twenty- and thirtysomethings?

Believers do not live missionally for two primary reasons: a) because they believe someone else is doing it; or worse, b) they are selfish.

Too many Christians assume or deceive themselves into believing that someone else has explained the Gospel to our neighbors, co-workers and friends. Beyond that, believers choose their traditions over the mission. Entire congregations have decided that “the way we do things” is superior to the mission to go, be and tell the Gospel in understandable ways to the culture surrounding them.

The unique barriers for twenty- and thirtysomethings are also twofold. First, many are trying to await the renewal of the Church. Their hope is to show up one Sunday and it will suddenly be different—more missional, more externally focused, more compassionate. The problem: It won’t, unless they are willing to lead the way by serving in the church to which they are committed.

The second barrier is that the culture they face is farther from the Gospel than any other in American history. The young adults and families today have grown up without a mooring to biblical truth, and young Christians now have to begin at the beginning. They were raised to present five-point Gospel outlines, and it is not working very often. Instead, they must describe God in Genesis 1 and then Colossians 1. They will need to share about the freedom God offers first from Ecclesiastes and then Galatians. What I am trying to say is that twenty- and thirtysomethings must recognize the distance their culture is away from the cross and be prepared to work in soil that is dry and parched.