My Former Underlying Beliefs

This is written to give you a little background about my post Underlying Issues. If you have not read the Underlying Issues post yet, it might be helpful in understanding this post. I hope that I can convey that deconstruction does not have to be reactionary, negative, or destructive.

There have now been quite a few posts in the TPFKATC meme and quite diverse reactions to those posts. My writing about the issues was not to place blame on pastors or on institutional churches. I wanted to point out the issues and topics that influence the way I view church today.

I am fully responsible for what I believed and how I behaved as a participant in my former church. A key element of change is dissatisfaction with the current system of beliefs. Unlike many people, I was not sitting silently in a system I no longer agreed with.

I was fully invested, overly involved, and wholeheartedly promoting a system that I believed in and trusted to be an accurate expression of the body of Christ. I knew that things were not perfect, but that was never my expectation, and honestly, my willingness to adapt was pretty high.

I do not know why God in His grace yanked us out of there, but I am incredibly grateful that he did. My beliefs may not have changed if we were still involved in our CLB. In order to give you a glimpse at what the process of detox and deconstruction has done regarding my beliefs about the underlying issues, let me explain in comparison my take on the issues 5 years ago:

Passivity
This referred to the people who tended to sit in the back rows, who didn’t sign up for our latest class, program, or conference. They weren’t on board, they didn’t get it, they weren’t really with us.

Clergy/Laity
Participation was important, but it hinged on everyone coming in line with the vision of the senior leader. This was the most effective method for us to move forward in unity as a body of believers.

Tithing
God’s blessing and provision in our life depended on our obedience in this area. The only legitimate place for the tithe was the local congregation where you were being fed. Other giving to missionaries and ministries would be considered offerings above the tithe.

Buildings
Since the prophetic words to our church were that we would be an equipping center, God would provide the resources necessary for an adequate campus.

Attractional methods
We considered ourselves more of an advanced church and accepted that our teaching and flavor were not necessarily for the masses. In fact, being misunderstood by the public was just part of the price of being a cutting-edge ministry. As for the lost, the evangelists were supposed to be reaching them.

Programs
I fully believed and taught that involvement in the programs and ministry of the church was the path to spiritual maturity and advancement in the kingdom. Zealous pursuit of these activities was a reflection of commitment and service to God.

Dualism
The ministry that we did at the church was our calling. Our secular work was viewed as a means to support our involvement in ministry.

Incarnational living
What is that? I had blinders on to everyone and everything outside of the ultra-important sphere of church life.

Following the spirit
We were all about following the spirit. But in following, it was always about deeper, not wider – not beyond our worship services, intercessors meetings, and revival conferences.

Servant leadership
This was probably the first crack in the structure that would eventually break apart for me. While I had been a willing and trusting follower for years, I could not seem to go along with the teachings on rank and position.

Is detox and deconstruction negative? I don’t think so, especially when it is the Holy Spirit showing you the error of your ways. For me, detox has not been an angry reaction toward them. It has been a repentant process of recognizing the weakness and falseness of things that I bought into without question. It has been an honest search to understand God’s heart and intention for the church in our world today.

These issues matter to me. They represent areas of personal growth and change in my thoughts and beliefs. While they are not meant to be attacks against the institutional church, they are intentional movements toward a way of being church that is different.

Change in its very nature is a rejection of the way things have been. We can be careful to not be inflammatory or polarizing, but the desire for change will always be a challenge to those who do not share that desire.

Just the Facts, No Snark

Since I apparently have too much time on my hands today to stay out of trouble, I will update you on the latest controversy surrounding Mark Driscoll and his video at the National Church Planting Conference.

The video can be seen in it’s entirety at Mark’s blog. It speaks for itself.

The main source of controversy from both sides seems to be the comment made by Bill Hybels after the video. I am not going to argue whether Bill Hybels should have said what he did or not.

For the record, this is what Bill Hybels said:

“There are women in this world, and many of them are used by God in church building, and they have spiritual gifts useful in church planting too, just to set the record straight.”

From Mark’s blog:
“Apparently the video was shown at the event, was well received by the attendees, and then criticized by Bill Hybels from the stage because it did not speak of women church planters.”

There is a difference between acknowledging the women in the room and criticizing Mark. I do not see in Bill’s comment that he criticized Mark. Bill’s alleged criticism of Mark is the story that is being repeated by Mark’s defenders.

For the record, Mark’s video has not been banned.

From Mark’s blog:
“I thought we should at least post the banned video online.”

Choosing not to distribute the video is not the same as banning it as Mark claims. I do not know why Mark would choose to use incendiary language in describing this. This is the tone now being repeated by others in inflammatory posts about the incident.

For the record, we know that Mark loves the ladies.

“Sixty percent of all Christians today are female. I’m glad that the ladies love Jesus.” – Mark Driscoll, from the video

I don’t know why Mark is always so misunderstood.

Moose Slippers, Tattoos, and Traditional Church

A few miscellaneous thoughts from last weekend spent with my family:

My sister told a story about an accident she witnessed. Actually she heard the accident and came out of her office to see what happened. Standing in the parking lot, she watched as the driver of one of the vehicles crawled up out of the window of his car which had landed turned on its side.

Apparently he was having difficulty crawling out due to an inability to keep his sweatpants on. Several people were mooned during his exit of the vehicle. Once free, he took off running, still struggling to keep his pants up. In addition to the pants issue, his running was also hindered by the fact that he was wearing MOOSE SLIPPERS!

It just so happened that he ended up running right past my sister in the parking lot, and it just so happened that he lost his moose slippers right in front of her. Hesitating momentarily, he quickly decided to abandon the moose slippers where they had landed.

It was at this moment, that my sister realized (duh!) that this man was fleeing the scene of the accident. Her sense of law-abiding justice triggered, she took off in pursuit of the “criminal.”

That is just funny because none of us sisters are especially known for our athletic abilities. And even if she were able to catch him, she had no idea what she would have done next, probably use her angry voice to scold him.

So the slipperless criminal eluded her, and she returned to the parking lot to hand over the evidence (moose slippers) to the investigators. My sister, the hero.

………………………………..

My dad took the whole family bowling on Saturday afternoon, there were about 20 of us including son-in-laws and grandkids. While we were there, I saw that my BFF from high school was there too, so I went over to say hi.

Surprised to see me, she said, “What the hell are you doing here?!”

Just a reminder of how sanitized my life is. I need more tattooed friends that swear at me.

……………………………….

It was nice attending my parents’ church on Sunday morning. I appreciate the sense of belonging and history in a church like theirs. Many of the people there have known me my whole life, and many of them have known my parents most of their life, even from their childhood.

I also appreciate the sincerity of their pastor. It is obvious that he loves the Lord and that he loves the people that he has chosen to serve. He nurtures and encourages them. In their fellowship, I see a group of people who are deeply connected to one another. It is good; there is life and love there.

I see the relevance and validity of small, local congregations like this one.

A Little Behind

We have been out of town for a few days. I will do my best to get caught up soon with reading and replies.

It might be a day or two before I am ready to post again. It seems my thoughts didn’t arrive at home yet with my body.

Hopefully I will find my groove soon,
or maybe I will find a new groove.

Average Jane Misfit

I would like to point you to my friend Cindy’s post, Place and Time, where she brilliantly voices some thoughts about the emerging conversation and about the awkwardness toward church that it creates.

It seems that if we embark on the journey of discovery about emerging church and challenge the traditions we have known, we find ourselves stuck in an inbetween place – no longer in synch with the old, but often not part of something new.

Perhaps there should be a warning on emerging/missional blogs – “Beware! Reading this blog will seriously hinder your ability to fit in traditional church settings!”

I really resonated (smile) with Cindy’s post because I feel like the poster child for misfits.

When I sit in church, all of the underlying issues, the beliefs that don’t fit in at normal church, sit beside me like an unruly child that occasionally needs shushing.

As Cindy said, “I don’t fit at church (any that I know of) anymore. Neither do I fit out of church.”

Those who don’t fit the church still carry a deep passion for the church. Heidi Daniels describes it like this in her post “The Girl Formerly Known as a Normal Christian”:

“I am the girl who slowly but surely moved away from being an attendee at a church and being to realize that the passion God had given me for his church wasn’t about buildings, or programs, or budgets, or attendance.”

I think that many, after a time of reactionary thinking, learn to harness thoughts and energies, to contain them with socially-acceptable restraint. We learn to be more comfortable with the tension of being a misfit, no longer biting on the bridle that holds our tongue from accidentally spilling these thoughts.

We can learn to behave, right Randy?

“But I’m not a prophet. I shouldn’t have to be without friends. I guess I should just dumb myself down, overlook the stuff I see, stop worrying about it, be another evangelical robo-Christian, get some bumper stickers, put a fish on my car, and get with the program. I can be a fun guy.”

Fr’nklin, who eventually succeeded (kind of) in adapting, describes it like this, “I was still going in the opposite direction, but I was a pleasant rebel…a likable revolutionary.”

And what about the conversation?

Occasionally I read concerns about the diversity of the conversation, questioning whether it is strictly for educated, white males. I have often felt that it is mostly a conversation among theologians, pastors, and professionals.

In spite of my blog name, I don’t have much invested in the emerging part of the conversation. The only aspect of emerging that is significant to me is the willingness to consider changes to the structures and models of church we have known. In that regard, I am not interested in stylistic changes, but rather in changes that affect the fruitfulness and redemptive ministry of the church in the world.

If this is truly a grass-roots movement of the Spirit, there has to be a place in the conversation for the Average Jane and Joe. For many of us, simply stepping out of the church bubble and shifting the focus of our relationships to people in our community is a radical change in our Christian walk. It doesn’t have the glamor of overseas or urban ministry. The missional things that we accomplish have an air of ordinariness about them.

I plan to keep blogging as an Average Jane in the conversation. For now, blogging is my remedy for the dilemma of not fitting in.

Do you remember in Forrest Gump when he started running and had this need to keep running for “three years, two months, fourteen days, and sixteen hours”, and then suddenly one day, he was done? That’s how I see blogging. I started, and for now, I just keep blogging and blogging, but I think that some day, I’ll just be done.

“That’s all I have to say about that.”

Classic TallSkinnyKiwi

In response to John MacArthur’s book:

“The Emerging Church is NOT the new skid on the jock.”

Andrew Jones

Emerging from the Wilderness

“The material that will give birth
to the mission of Jesus in this nation
ought to be identified by spiritual muscle,
by the fact that we are the ones
who went to the wilderness
where the wild beasts are,
and we have returned from that place
to serve the poor,
the marginalized,
the unchurched,
the postmodern.

We have returned
to minister among them,
alongside them,
in partnership with them,
as people with enough muscle
to model what it is like
to be free from human appetite and need.”

Michael Frost

If you would like to hear it with an Aussie accent, listen here.

Already Missional?

Earlier this week, I read this excerpt from Geoff Surrat in a post by Bob Hyatt entitled Attractional with a Side of Missional. I’ve been thinking about it ever since then:

“Every church I’ve been around is missional; they all see their members as missionaries in their communities.”

Would you say that this is a lived-out reality for most of the church people that you know?

In my experience, I would rephrase that to say,

“Every church believes in evangelism and missions; they would like their members to be missionaries in their communities.”

It seems to me that there is a disconnect between what we believe and what we do. Mental assent does not equal action.

Sure we all care about the lost. But when did the lost become a nebulous group? Statistics show that if we’ve been in the church bubble for any length of time, we no longer have relationships with them.

“The Spirit is moving in marvelous ways again. Movements are being sparked and the established church is just beginning to wake up to itself and its missional calling. But shedding Christendom is no easy task. The transition from Christendom modes to genuinely missional ones will not necessarily be an easy one for most churches and church leaders.” — Alan Hirsch

It seems to me that the realization that we are not already missional would be the first necessary step in waking up to our missional calling.

Thinking Bloggers

Okay, I’ve been trying to get this posted all week, but the people in life keep expecting me to do all this other stuff!

Many thanks to my friends Robin (4-time winner of the thinking-blogger award!) at Pensieve and John Smulo at Smulospace for including me in their lists and saying nice things about me.

Lest any of you fear that I’ll get the big head, let me assure you that the people I live with keep me humble. My kids are getting a lot of mileage out of the fact that I fell out of my chair at the dinner table the other night. (No, alcohol was not involved!)

Anyway, back on topic, I don’t do memes that often, but I wanted to take this opportunity to point to a few of the blogs that really make me think.

Since I recently linked to 5 other blogs in the under-appreciated blogger scheme initiated by Brother Maynard, I will not include them here, although they all would have definitely fallen into this category also. John Smulo and several other great blogs have already been listed, so I will not repeat them.

1. Scott Berkhimier at Theopraxis
Scott’s posts consistently challenge me, not only intellectually but also spiritually. I often find myself revisiting his posts for further consideration.

2. Rob McAlpine at Robbymac
Robby stretches my imagination toward that which I cannot yet see. His emphasis on the life and power of the Spirit is a vital aspect in conversations about church.

3. Larry Chouinard at Spiritual Conversations
Although he doesn’t post very often, Larry’s reflections on Scripture never fail to inspire me.

4. Wayne Jacobsen at Lifestream
Wayne’s writing carries an element of wisdom that I find helpful in keeping my focus and perspective on my relationship with the Father.

5. Kester Brewin at Signs of Emergence
I am especially interested in Kester’s thoughts on leadership and the use of power in kingdom relationships. I am still pondering his latest posts on game theory and strategy.

Since my blogroll contains 30 of the best thinking blogs around, be sure to check there for more stimulating and interesting blogs to visit.

If you choose to post your own list of 5 blogs that make you think, please link to the original post.

TPFKATC – The Underlying Issues

There is a path of detox and deconstruction that leads to an understanding of the underlying problems in the system of church that Christianity has functioned in for many years. Most who follow this path still have an appreciation for the traditional church although they can no longer wholeheartedly embrace the packaged religious experience.

To be honest, I tire of the assumption that those who come to this place are simply bitter and critical. The reason that Bill’s post, The People Formerly Known as the Congregation, hit the blogosphere with such a splash is because there are so many people who sense the validity of the issues he addresses in his post.

There are many who find themselves in agreement with Bill’s post, not out of a critical attitude, but because of a deep conviction that God’s Spirit is moving within the hearts of his people to bring about the transformation and reformation required for the church – His Church, which we love deeply – to become the vehicle of redemption that will impact the world in our generation.

This is not a simple case of “for or against.” There are specific issues that we are convinced have been a hindrance to growth in the maturity of the church and the advancement of the kingdom of God.

Do we have a better way? Oftentimes not. However, we have placed ourselves in a position of learning and experimenting. We will boldly or perhaps foolishly go against the status quo in our attempts to follow the direction of God’s movement.

If you read through the list of issues covered in Bill’s post, you will see traditions that are being deconstructed. You will also see values presented that we hope to express in our lives in a positive effort to re-imagine who we are as the people of God.

Passivity
We are convinced that a church system which allows believers to fulfill their weekly spiritual obligation by listening to a sermon creates a consumerist audience who have not been encouraged to step into the responsibility of being a disciple and discipling others.

Clergy/Laity
We have seen that the false distinction between clergy and laity has led to a professionalization of ministry which contributes to the passivity of congregants.

Tithing
We believe that tithing has been taught as a method of obligatory giving in order to create a permanent source of funding for institutions. We believe that we are to develop a relationship of obedience to the Holy Spirit concerning our giving rather than simply paying our dues to a religious system.

Buildings
We are convicted that the millions of dollars spent on buildings for churches has not been wise stewardship of the resources that have been entrusted to church leaders.

Attractional methods
We understand from Scripture that it is our duty and mission to go to the lost rather than to expect them to come to us.

Programs
We are convinced that becoming busy with programs within the church removes us from developing relationships with those who aren’t involved in church. We no longer equate service in church programs with faithful commitment and service to God.

Dualism
We no longer see a Sunday morning service as the complete expression of our sacred lives. We have developed an understanding of our role as the people of God that requires being the church in all that we do.

Incarnational living
We purpose to minister in the opportunities that our daily lives present, and we are intentional about involving ourselves in the lives of others in deeper ways than a Sunday service allows or requires.

Following the spirit
We are convicted that dependence on the Holy Spirit is required to move forward into becoming the people we were created to be. We are also convinced that the Holy Spirit is leading us away from the systems and structures that provide a comfortable complacency rather than the challenging mission we are called to.

Servant leadership
Lastly, we see clearly that the hierarchical structures of leadership that have been taught through tradition are not scriptural. We know that the methods of leadership that are so often defended as biblical are at odds with the type of relationships that Jesus intended for us to have with one another.

We have not come to these convictions carelessly or casually. They will shape and inform our spiritual journey whether we continue in the traditional system or find another expression of church. Whether or not we ourselves are written off as reactionary, the church will eventually have to address the validity of these issues.