I am in the process of reading an excellent book by L. Paul Jensen titled Subversive Spirituality: Transforming Mission through the Collapse of Space and Time. I hope to share more in the near future, but for now I want to take a moment and recommend Jensen’s work. Subversive Spirituality is not only a very insightful and profitable read, but I find it to be extremely timely. Among the vast array of voices in the missional church conversation, few are speaking on the importance of spiritual formation, both in informing and empowering our missional activities. Jensen does just that.

The heart of the book is a survey of the practical rhythms of spirituality and mission in (1) the life of Jesus, (2) the early church, (3) the church in recent centuries, and (4) the church today. Jensen highlights the actual spiritual disciplines and the interplay with mission/ministry activities throughout each time period. He provides compelling evidence of the vital relationship between spiritual disciplines and mission practices throughout the history of the church. He then argues that the church today must recapture such spiritual rhythms if it hopes to engage in significant, effective ministry in a Post-Christian culture.

In the introduction Jensen writes:

The book seeks to show a correlation between inward spirituality and outward mission in the historical context of space and time and the current cultural collapse of these. Findings from my cultural, Biblical/theological, historical, and field research will demonstrate this correlation. My thesis is twofold: (1) that empowered inward spirituality — expressed in creating time and space for God through solitary and communal spiritual practices — correlates with transforming outward mission — expressed in word and deed; and (2) that because of the cultural collapse of space and time, postmodern mission requires the church to subvert these temporal-spatial codes by devoting more plentiful space and time to spiritual practices in her structures of mission, church, and leadership development.

Has anyone else read this book? I would love to hear from those who have. Has it changed the way you have thought about mission/ministry? If so, what has changed? I would love to have a dialog around the key elements of the book.

As I arise today,
may the strength of God pilot me,
the power of God uphold me,
the wisdom of God guide me.
May the eye of God look before me,
the ear of God hear me,
the word of God speak for me.
May the hand of God protect me,
the way of God lie before me,
the shield of God defend me,
the host of God save me.
May Christ shield me today.
Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit,
Christ when I stand,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Amen

Here is an interesting video dialog (produced/edited by Bill Kinnon) between Alan Roxbugh and Pat Keifert. They discuss a wide range of issues, including definitions/descriptions of missional church, common views of the contemporary church, and leadership in missional congregations.

In the discussion on leadership I appreciate Keifert’s emphasis on leadership being more about time than about a position. He speaks about the leader cultivating segments of time to assist the congregation in discerning what God is doing in their local context. It is about taking the time to create environments for people to dwell in the Word. It is about having the time to be patient — to hear from God and to hear from each other.

Another topic that I found interesting dealt with Keifert’s journey towards the missional church conversation. He shares how it involved both “failure” and “discovery.” The failure involved disenchantment with his own ministry experience in a traditional church. The discovery included the reading of Newbigin’s “Foolishness to the Greeks.”

I think Keifert’s journey parallels the experience of many. There is a deep sense of  uneasiness, frustration, or even failure in a current ministry setting. Church leaders recognize something isn’t right about how they do ministry. They sense that something has changed, but they are unsure about the essence of the change, or what changes might be necessary. At some point, however, they “discover” that others have experienced the same anxiety. They “discover” authors that begin to give language to these changes. Perhaps, like Keifert its Newbigin, or Bosch; or more recently, maybe it is Guder, Van Gelder, Hirsch, or Frost. But regardless of the author, they rediscover the missionary nature of God and His church, and the reality that the church is sent into the mission field that is now North America.

This has certainly been my journey. I wonder about your experience. Has failure + discovery propelled you into the missional conversation?

Here are four quotes, two on prayer and two on confession, that really spoke to me this past week.

In order to find a person who prays, you have to look for clues: charitableness, good temper, patience, a fair ability to handle stress, resonance, openness to others. What happens to people who pray is that their inward life gradually takes over from their outward life. That is not to say that they are any less active. They may be competent lawyers, doctors, businessmen. But their hearts lie int he inner life and they are moved by that. — Emilie Griffin from Clinging

In Abraham Heschel’s A Passion for Truth, he writes, ‘He who thinks that he has finished is finished.’ How true! Those who think that they have arrived have lost their way. Those who think they have reached their goal, have missed it. Those who think they are saints, are demons. An important part of the spiritual life is to keep longing, waiting, hoping, expecting. In the long run, some voluntary penance becomes necessary to help us remember that we are not yet fulfilled. A good criticism, a frustrating day, an empty stomach, or tired eyes might help to reawaken our expectation and deepen our prayer: Come, Lord Jeses, come. — Henri Nouwen from The Genesse Diary

“Confess your faults one to another” (James 5:16) He who is alone with his sin is utterly alone. It may be that Christians, not withstanding corporate worship, common prayer, and all their fellowship in service, may still be left to their loneliness. The final break through to fellowship with one another as believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners. The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everyone must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy. The fact is that we are sinners! — Dietrich Bonhoeffer from Life Together

Confession is so difficult a Discipline for us partly because we view the believing community as a fellowship of saints before we see it as a fellowship of sinners. We come to feel that everyone else has advanced so far into holiness that we are isolated and alone in our sin. We could not bear to reveal our failures and shortcomings to others. We imagine that we are the only ones who have not stepped onto the high road to heaven. . . . But if we know that the people of God are first a fellowship of sinners we are freed to hear the unconditional call of God’s love and to confess our need openly before our brothers and sisters. We know that we are not alone in our sin. The fear and pride which cling to us like barnacles cling to others also. In acts of mutual confession we release the power that heals. Our humanity is no longer denied but transformed. — Richard Foster from Celebration of Discipline

It’s a world of confusion, Lord:
we are muddled in our thinking;
we are mixed in our emotions;
we are inconsistent in our actions.

It’s a world of lies, Lord:
we deceive ourselves about our motives and intentions;
we mislead others with double-speak and spin;
we exploit you as an agent of social control and repression.

It’s a world of greed, Lord:
we worship the idol of the market;
we honour the false prophets of profit;
we reduce people to punters and nations to debt.

It’s a world of violence, Lord:
we deploy the technology of terror to protect our own interests;
we invest our children in the business of bloodshed;
we justify war as first strike, last resort, or final solution.

It’s a world of vengeance, Lord:
we allow the wounds of history to fester;
we refuse the healing of memories;
we betray the living out of mistaken loyalty to the dead.

Oh Lord,
in this world of confusion, make us a people of clarity;
in this world of lies, make us a people of integrity;
in this world of greed, make us a people of generosity;
in this world of violence, make us a people of peace;
in this world of vengeance, make us a people of mercy:
in the name of Christ: Amen.

- Kim Fabricius

“Dear Heavenly Father, while I am on this journey through life, I pray that I may always listen for your voice, whether it is for praise or discipline. Please, please may I always know your presence, especially if I am to journey through life’s valleys. When I am weak fill me with your strength, and help me to love like you love, even when it hurts. May nothing matter to me more than becoming the person you want me to be. Amen.”

– Dianne Parsons (1949 –  )

“Lord God, fill us with your Holy Spirit, baptise us in your love and send us in your strength to minister Christ to those we meet. Give us great confidence in the message of the gospel, open doors of opportunity for us and enable us with courage and sensitivity to speak of Jesus. Heavenly Father, we long that the prayer of Jesus may be answered in our lives; ‘As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ Send us afresh with his sense of commission and his heart of compassion. Use us, even today, to bring someone to you. Amen.”

– Victor Jack (1937-  )

“O Lord, who has warned us that you will require much of those to whom much is given; grant that we whose lot is cast in so godly a heritage may strive together the more abundantly by prayer, by almsgiving, by fasting, and by every other appointed means, to extend to others what we so richly enjoy; and as we have entered into the labors of other men, so to labor that in their turn other men may enter into ours, to the fulfillment of your holy will, and our own everlasting salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

– Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

“Grant us grace, our Father, to do our work this day as workmen who need not be ashamed. Give us the spirit of diligence and honest enquiry in our quest for the truth, the spirit of charity in all of our dealings with our fellows, and the spirit of gaiety, courage, and a quiet mind in facing all tasks and responsibilities.”

– Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)

“Our heavenly Father, we commend to your mercy those for whom life does not spell freedom: prisoners of conscience, the homeless and the handicapped, the sick in body and mind, the elderly who are confined to their homes, those who are enslaved by their passions, and those who are addicted to drugs. Grant that, whatever their outward circumstances, they may find inward freedom, through him who proclaimed release to captives, Jesus Christ our Savior.”

– John Stott

Gracious and Holy Father,
give us wisdom to perceive You,
intelligence to understand You,
diligence to seek You,
patience to wait for You,
eyes to behold You,
hearts to meditate upon You,
and a life to proclaim You,
through the power of the Holy Spirit of Christ our Lord.

– Benedict of Nursia (480-547)

“Today, O Lord — let me put others before self; let me put things of the Spirit before the things of the body; let me put the attainment of noble ends before the enjoyment of present pleasures; let me put principle above reputation; and let me put you before all else.” 

– John Baillie (1886-1960)

“Father, you know and I know I can’t do anything — so show me what you are doing and draw me into that.”

– John Wimber (1934-1997)

“Grant, O God, that we may never listen to any teaching which would encourage us to think sin less serious, vice more attractive, or virtue less important; grant, O God, that we may never listen to any teaching which would dethrone Jesus Christ from the topmost place.” — William Barclay (1907-1978)

William Barclay on prayer:

“Prayer is not a way of making use of God; prayer is a way of offering ourselves to God in order that He should be able to make use of us. It may be that one of our great faults in prayer is that we talk too much and listen too little. When prayer is at its highest we wait in silence for God’s voice to us; we linger in His presence for His peace and His power to flow over us and around us; we lean back in His everlasting arms and feel the serenity of perfect security in Him.”

“Lord, may my desires change to your desires. Lord, if a desire is good and profitable, give me grace to fulfil it to your glory. But if it be hurtful and injurious to my soul’s health, then remove it from my mind.”
 

– Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471)

“Grant us, Lord, we beseech you, your grace. Pity the poor, encourage those who are sick, enlighten those whose spirits are in darkness, heal the sick, guide the confused, feed the hungry, release those who are unjustly imprisoned, support the weak, comfort the faint-hearted. Let all the nations of the world know that you are God, that Jesus Christ is your child, and that we are your people.

- Clement of Rome (c. 96)