Month: October 2018

Getting from Here to There: what to do, what to do? #1

 wandiligong_mazeIn many ways this EMPulse is what you’re really looking for in this series.  For those interested in the shift from a Modern worldview to a postModern/postChristian worldview you are well aware that we have analyzed this shift to death. Between George Barna and George Gallup we have compiled enough statistics to fill a barn. But understanding is not the issue. It’s what to DO about the shift that is the real issue. That is what this section will address. What follows are some simple things you can do to change, adjust, adapt, cope, whatever— first, on an individual level, and then, [Part 2] corporately as a Body of Christ. On the one hand, “There is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) and on the other hand, we have entered into a new phase in history. An entire generation has been born in the West with no Christian history, no Christian memory or experience whatsoever. Any semblance of “Western Christian culture” is fading into oblivion as a forgotten archeological relic. Let’s begin… .

 Paradigm Pioneers Get Shot First: ~don’t be too quick to sign up!

            First, a warning! You need to understand that as someone who is concerned, frustrated, or even angry at Christianity’s seeming inabilities to adjust to a new set of cultural rules, you will not be a popular person, especially with the powers that be. True Christian leadership within this postModern mentality is what is desperately needed. We’ve all seen those SUCCESS sections in Flight magazines—  you know, the ones with motivational posters to put up in your office. [You can find another series at the website www.despair.com that offers a truly different slant on motivational posters.] The one I find most germane to being a paradigm pioneer depicts an eye-level bright green lawn, with one blade of grass standing taller than all the rest. The caption reads— Remember…, it’s the tallest blade of grass that gets cut first. Get the picture? Ask yourself— “Are you more interested in a position of authority, where you are respected within the Christian matrix, or are you convinced that you want to lead the way in reshaping our faith in this emerging postmodern/postChristian world?”

If you find yourself in the latter position, then you must adjust your self-perception to a new reality— YOU are a target. To be sure, ALL Christians are targets…, it’s just that some are more selected targets than others; they are the tallest blades of grass. If you are sure, then rest assured you will take the first shots. The sad thing is that the shot is more likely to come from the back— not from enemy lines. Christians across North America have long valued their own comfort and safety over frontline battle. If you do find any comrades-in-arms you will probably find them on the fringes of faith. Outfielders, without whom the ball game would be lost.

            But every new wave of the Spirit of God always starts with committed, called, set-apart men and women of vision, courage, and risk. In short, any changes or ideas to be implemented in the Christian community must be initiated by people like you. It’s up to you. Are you up for it? If so, you will not find yourself alone, but you will find yourself scarce. Such are the postmodern/postchristian prophets—  you, a Christian paradigm-pioneer. You will be the first to take the shot. If this sounds like fun to you, keep reading.

            Another preemptive move must be addressed before we tackle the practical stuff. Your spiritual health and your spiritual perception are the primary armor you will need to do battle in a postChristian context. Do not even attempt to pioneer anything without a firm grounding in personal cleanness and righteousness before the Lord God. Leadership in postChristian times is always a matter of sticking your neck out. This has been true throughout the history of the church. So…, let’s go.

  1. Express your faith through life experiences. Realign your faith to balance experiencing God with understanding God. Western Christianity in the Modern era has swung the pendulum of understanding to the extreme. Faith is about belief and theology more than it was about life. But faith is really more akin to trust and risk than it is related to understanding. Remember, TRUTH is first personal, in the person of Jesus Christ; then propositional, explaining the life of faith. Like Jesus, we need to learn to think of our faith as stories, metaphors, and experiences ofah-ha! Faith is a journey, not an outline. Make sure your beliefs are in line with the teachings of Scripture; then spend more time in solitude, in prayer, and immersed in a world that doesn’t have a clue.
  2. Learn to speak the language of YOUR culture. Every subculture has its own language pattern. Football has its nickel defense, fullbacks and wishbones; computer geeks talk about Clouds, TCPIPs, i9s, i10s, and now interdependent devices. We Christians have our pre-mills, post-tribs, and supralapsarians. Notwithstanding, we need to learn the nuances and innuendos in the language of our surrounding culture. We need to learn to express our faith in a language pattern that they can understand.  They may not agree with it, but we need to express it so they can comprehend it. Remember too, that Christian expressions of faith are generationally delimited with little crossover to younger generations. Ask your Christian teen to translate “the Lordship of Christ” into their generational mindset. You’ll see.
  3. Let go of your sin. The greatest roadblock to Christians living out our faith is our own sinfulness. Until Christ comes back our sin will be ever with us. On one hand we are forgiven through the work of Christ; on the other hand, we still find ourselves wallowing in the guilt of confessed, even forgiven sin. This is in no way a healthy dilemma. We need a genuine trust in Christ, sins forgiven, new beginning in progress, a done deal! Then we need to get on with life as if our sins are actually forgiven. The reality is they actually ARE!
  4. Learn to love. If letting go of sin frees the Christian for living in a postChristian era as if those sins were actually forgiven, then learning to love makes that life come alive. This may sound quite simple for virtually any Christian, but it is not. All of us have become more cautious and guarded in our love lives; so much so, that we generally withhold love because it’s simply safer that way. And so the greatest of Christian virtues becomes our greatest matter of concern and risk. But isn’t that what the Christian life is about anyway? Risk! I cannot imagine any other model for Christ’s love for the world than for it to be exhibited through us. Because love is a definitive corollary of safety. More than anything else, postChristians crave safety— safe places, safe people, safe activities.
  5. Lose the intensity [you don’t need to win]. A lot of western Christianity in the modern era has become pretty intense. Intense about theology, intense about denominationalism, intense about appearances, intense about proper relationships, etc. People who aren’t Christians see it and conclude that Christianity isn’t for them— too intense, too judgmental, and too narrow. We Christians seem to feel safest when we have as much as possible nailed down, quantifiable and definable. I wonder if God intended us to spend more effort defining our faith than in living it out among those who truly need to see Him in us? We don’t need to win. He has.
  6. Don’t do everything, give God some room to work. If any attribute characterizes everybody in these early years of the twenty-first century it is busyness. Most of us are over-worked, over-booked, over-committed, out-of-time, frantic fanatics about squeezing as much into life each. You are probably reading this EMPulse as you fall asleep. And, you are t-i-r-e-d! One foot in front of the other… .

   Or, is there another way? Try not doing so much. Breathe more. Slow down, cut some commitments (even for your kids), and take a hike. Throughout all life there are growth-plateaus where our bodies and minds must come to rest.  Are you moving so fast that you must slow down to even hear God? Please, for Jesus’ sake, STOP! Let your spirit catch up to your body. Pressurized postmoderns need to see that kind of tranquility, that kind of s-l-o-w-n-e-s-s, and that kind of trust in our God.

  1. Open a conduit to Christ—  keep it open. This sounds so simple, yet, in a compartmentalized society we tend to pigeonhole even our relationship with God. We go to church, rather than being the church. We have times of prayer, but then manage our life as if God has little to do with it.  Instead, let me propose to you that we learn to pray without ceasing, in a sense. Our Lord is always ON, always THERE. Why not merely shift the direction of your conversation from horizontal, with whomever, to triangular, with whomever, and with God? This pre-positioning of God in our midst makes much more sense than getting ready to come into His presence. I admit that coming into His presence is nothing to be taken lightly. Nonetheless, we are, in actuality, never out of His presence. Ever!

I actually wonder if God didn’t create prayer solely for our benefit, for our sense of connection, communication, and closeness to Him?

NEXT TIME~ Reinventing Church:  

 Gary

UPGRADING OUR FAITH #9, implications of upgrading our faith # 2

green-update-button-hiImplications of upgrading our faith Part 2

 Whenever you change something, there are ramifications not foreseen, especially in the Church of Jesus Christ. What follows are some of the implications of upgrading our faith to become more concurrent with the situation in which we live.

  1. Any new construct of theology must be visibly reflected in real LIFE. Taking a saying from the modern-era church , if correct belief produces correct action, then all the more so in a reformatted theology. “Faith without works is dead.” says James.  Or, as we say around our office—Talk’s cheap: action’s everything. Theological belief as a foundation, per se, will have to be reflected in the lives of people changed by the power of God. It cannot stand alone. A systematic or Biblical theology will never become irrelevant to forming the Christian life, but it will acquiesce to the demonstrated work of Christwithin the believer. LIFE will replicate Truth. We truly ARE forgiven.
  2. Building on the previous platform, living with forgiveness will require that we learn to grasp guiltless living. So many of my friends, who are far from Christian, comment that “You Christians may claim to be freed by the power of Christ, but you still come across as motivated, even driven, by guilt. At least I don’t live my life riddled with guilt.”  Therefore, they don’t see any advantage to becoming a Christian. They have a point. Unless we shift our “encouragement” from constantly reminding each other that we can never be good enough for God to one of being truly FREE in Christ, then we can never even begin to believe that our guilt is taken away. (Nor can they.) It’s time we started to live like God intends us—  guiltless before Him, truly forgiven, new creations, through the work of Christ on the cross.
  3. Once God has cleaned out your soul, cleared your spirit of so much stuff, a funny thing happens—  you can see things more clearly. In other words, having a clear view to God, and allowing Him to have a go at cleaning out your life, opens a window for you to gain a clear perception of things around you; like people, problems, life’s normal situations, and the effects of sin on life. When our spirits are clean before God, if we have accepted the forgiveness and freedom Jesus purchased for us on the cross, we can see His point of view and understand His way more clearly.  Living the Christian life then ceases to be a chore or a duty and becomes more like a great challenge or an adventure. In John 8, a woman caught in the act of adultery is thrown at Jesus feet.  The law said she should be stoned. Jesus takes the situation in hand by admonishing those calling for her stoning: “Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone.” After everyone has faded away, Jesus asked the woman where her accusers are. “There are none, Lord.” she replies. Jesus simply says “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” He saw the forgiveness he would purchase on the cross and bestowed some of it on her… early. Do we see people who don’t understand, whose lives are driven by guilt, who think they can never measure up to the standards of God; do we see them like Jesus did? I wonder. We need to develop that same clear perception our Lord manifested if we are to live in the new realities of North America’spostModern, postChristian culture.
  4. A fourth characteristic of this new reality for the Christian is the need to be immersed in the surrounding society. But first a warning. To genuinely immerse yourself in your surrounding society, you need first to be a committed member of a Christian community. You need the emotional and spiritual support of like-minded believers who know the importance of being a clean, genuine Christian.  It is imperative if you are going to be immersed in a hostile (though somewhat passive-aggressive) society. Make no mistake, North America is adapting a more contrarian position to the Christian one on almost everything. There are so many preconceived assumptions about Christianity (judgmental, bigoted, racist, anti-environment, anti-abortion, pro-war, to name a few) that, at least in the area where we used to live, to answer the question Are you a Christian? in the positive could bring an extremely negative reaction. Before I answer it, I ask “Well, what do you mean by ‘Christian?’ That can be a somewhat pejorative word.” In your community, what would be an appropriate answer to the question—  Are you a Christian? What would the reaction most likely be? Most of us never find out. Why? Because for many of us, our lives come across as so marginally Christian that no one would think to ask. Still other Christians are so weird, out of it, dork-like even, that normal people in our society don’t want to know. We’ve already confirmed their suspicions.
  5. Oddly the last ingredient of faith in this new reality brings us full circle.  If people will not believe in a Truth they cannot see, then there must be some explanation provided for what they do see. In short, we need Christian explanations for the behavior of people who claim the name of Christ. This returns the Christian to become once again the student of the Bible and of the world. For any Christian explanation of a Biblical principle must be set forth in a manner which can be understood by Normal, everyday people. I said earlier that Talk’s cheap: action’s everything. That’s where belief hits reality. But action needs both context and explanation. We do not want postModerns thinking Christians are good people just to be good. The motivation to act must also be understood as well. It’s the why of life that gives our actions meaning and context. And for anyone who has had an experience with God (and many I have met have) it is absolutely tantamount that they understand their experience through the filter of Christian faith and Christian Truth. Their experience can only be validated through filtration and reflection in the Bible. To validate it through any other source would be to invalidate it as a genuine experience of God.

    Truly, it is time for an upgrade to our faith. It is time for a reformatting of how we believe. Postmodernism’s myths have forced us into it. BUT, and this is a BIG BUT, how do we do it? How do we express our faith in the language, idioms, and formats of our culture and still present our faith in Christ as the only legitimate way to God? Well, that’s the next chapter. Read on if you dare. I mean that. For the next chapter will stretch you about how you perceive and present your life of faith to others. And it all starts inside your soul. Is all this feeling a little unnerving for you yet? Good.

NEXT— Tune in two weeks from now for—

Getting from Here to There: what to do, what to do…?

  Gary

Clueless Christianity, #8- UPgrading Your Faith- #1

fish-upgradeUPGRADING OUR FAITH— reformatting the expressions of faith…, probably part 1.

     Innovations in inventions & language are changing at a rate that has accelerated beyond being measurable. Ever notice that within a month (or week) of purchasing a new App for your laptop or smartphone, you receive notification that it has an update.

            The same is true in the exchange between the church and the world. When James Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) went to China in 1854, he had much to learn. As with most foreign missionaries of that era he first had to learn the language. Through careful observation he continued to learn about cultural mores, kinship relationships, and the subtleties of cultural protocol and nuance. He learned how to dress appropriately so he would be more approachable, in the clothing of his host culture. He had to learn how to communicate the Christian faith to the Chinese culture within a Chinese framework. But the biggest shift Taylor had to make was that of expressing his own faith in a Chinese format. Western formats of faith would have been inappropriate here.

    Though cultural changes and shifts have accelerated at increased velocity Western cultural expressions of faith are just now catching up. This International evangelistic program known as ALPHA is highly successful in communicating the basics of the Christian faith worldwide. It’s a great experience, where great food and growing friendships abound. But…! I spoke with a youth worker who was also attending, and was not surprised when he told me, “This is great, but I cannot use it with my kids.” Why? I asked. “Because it answers questions that are totally foreign to their thinking.”

     This early 21st century finds us in a time where Christian leaders need to reexamine the premises of our faith. This is not a challenge to the Bible or questioning its authority:  it is reassessing, a repositioning, if you will, of how we approach the Bible as our founding source. The theological constructs of the past had no need to deal with the new definitions of life prevalent in North American today. Former approaches to the Bible were couched in concerns for the issues of their day. The Church in North America needs to address our present culture’s felt needs, pluralities, diversities, and philosophical fancies, and then implement a new kind of Christianity appropriate to the expressions and approaches to life of our time.

     What are the foundational premises we need to establish for a vibrant Christian faith to flourish in our generation?  These are the non-negotiables in the next wave of Christian life and expression in western society.

  1. The nature, purpose, and rubric of Christian theology need to be reformatted to fit this present cultural, generational, western society. I am sure you are aware that in any era, ALL theology happens through the interplay between the church, the culture, and the Bible. [Of course, individual personalities, personal positioning and church power politics are also a great part of the mix.]

     The last major theological construct in western society was Reformed Theology, circa 1517/1520. This theology grew out of a sense of injustice in the way clergy represented the faith to the people of Western Europe. Martin Luther’s cry was “The just shall live by faith!” and nothing else. Though that is still very true, the issues of North America in this 21st century are much more multifaceted. Time for an upgrade?

  1. The Christian community and individual believers alike need to start living their lives as if they were truly forgiven by God. One winter, NEED’s CHINA Consultant, attended an Emergent Convention in San Diego. Upon her return I asked her opinion of the conference. To my surprise she said she was confronted with her own reticence to accept Christ’s forgiveness for her sins and to stop feeding her guilt. She never believed that she was truly forgiven. Today, she is a different person with far more freedom in her life, and a freedom to fail before God, again…, and to be forgiven, again.

     For whatever reason, so much of the Christian faith is about doing more to assuage your guilt and/or to prove yourself to God as worthy [i.e., being moral]. Please, people, it’s time we trust in God and stop this nonsense. “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ is coming again.” Is this true? Isn’t this enough!? Isn’t this what is proclaimed every time we celebrate Holy Communion? CELEBRATION!? Everything that is necessary for us to be reinstated into a relationship with the God who made us has been accomplished by Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. We are forgiven. This is foundational to the Christian life; without forgiveness there is only fruitless.

  1. Building on a new sense of genuine forgiveness, we must move to the holiness granted us by God. God declares us to be HOLY. Therefore, holiness too, becomes for the genuine Christian, foundational.  I’ve often wondered if holiness isn’t more of a platform for launching the Christian life than a goal to be striven toward. In my own life I have carried on a conversation with God that runs something like this—

“Now come on God, how can you declare me holy. You know my life. I know my life. There is just no way I am a holy person. So how can you declare that I am holy?” And the Lord God of the Universe would reply, “Listen to me, my son. Through Jesus I have declared you holy. Now live like it.” End of scenario.

     He has declared us holy…, live with it. We are still to seek after God and personal holiness; but we must always remember that He has already declared us holy…, as odd as that may sound. Therefore, living as if we hold within us a clean spirit is essential to any new foundation of the Christian life.

  1. The Body of Christ must truly become the Body of Christ. Commitment to Christian community is foundational to twenty-first century faith. Yet so many of us live in isolation, with little commitment to a church or even to a small group of believers. We need to be more a part of each other’s lives in a society where there is so much pain and fragmentation. Any profile of the Millennial/Mosaic generation reinforces the need for genuine Christian community. And that community might not be defined in terms of your immediate geography. Thanks to the marvels of our postmodern, technological society, our “community” can be pin-boarded on a worldwide map. My personal community also extends to places around the world. Our world has shrunk!

You know the mantra think globally, act locally? Well, it’s changed—think locally, think globally now act locally, act globally too. We are all part of something bigger than we could ever have imagined 35 years ago. The answer to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” has grown exponentially.

  1. The last foundational premise is the power of God, which is able to draw unbelievers into relationship with their Creator. He alone is the author and designer of life: he alone has the power to bring people into a relationship with himself. Remember, God’s Word, though foundational for all we believe, is still purely a historical recounting of the descriptions of the works of God on earth. It is not simply that Truth brings people to life— it is the Author of Truth Himself who does. Any new foundation for emerging generations of believers must be founded, not on Truth alone, but on real life encounters with God, on the God of the Bible who stands behind the Bible. We all must learn to trust in our experiences of God as much as we do in our beliefs about God (the Bible); one is validated by the other. This past year a local teenager came to me with a question. “What is a Christian?” A somewhat odd question from a liberal-based youth culture. So I responded with questions— What is your interest in Christian faith? Why do you want to know? What happened to you?  It was then that he launched into monologue about dreams and experiences he had gone through recently. He called them encounters— encounters with God. I described the context for Christian faith in creation, the context for Christ’s death to fulfill the requirements of Jewish law, the mark of His deity verified in His resurrection, His call to repentance and trust. [Not using those words, of course.] In essence I was explaining the Christian faith as the context for his experiences. He responded, “Oh, that’s it…, that’s what happened to me! This is great! I’m a Christian aren’t I!?” And so he was.  For postmodern, experience-based individuals will not believe in Truth alone.  This istheir way to come to faith; until they see it working its way out in people’s lives, Truth is no more than descriptive words. But when they see Christian life lived, and the power of God demonstrated in other peoples’ lives, and subsequently experience it in their own lives, then, our Biblical explanations have a context—  they make sense. Frankly, I find this amazingly wholistic.

     These Foundational Premises lay the groundwork for a new kind of freedom wherein Christians can grow and flourish with less spiritual baggage, less ecclesiastical classification, and less theological fuss. If implemented, these premises create a framework for us to explore new and different avenues of Christian life and thought. Each Foundational Premise, in turn, evokes an ensuing response that must be joined with its principle, and implemented. Do you think you’ve got that? Sorry to be so obtuse; this form of thinking doesn’t exactly proceed along linear/sequential lines.

NEXT— Implications of UPgrading

  Gary