Category Archives: Missionary Thinking

The Time Has Come… surely…

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At a recent Forge National directors meeting one of our crew shared this insight from American church leader Erwin McManus. During his time in Australia, McManus urged Aussies to be more diligent about responding to their own context and doing their own missiology. He insisted that we have to stop following what is happening in the US.

To do this he showed where we are in relation to Christendom.

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The Australian culture is much more secular and further removed from a Christendom mindset than the American one (by and large). No surprises there hey? But the problem comes in that while the American church is responding to its own culture (de-churched / nominally Christian) the Australian church by and large has chosen to follow the American church.

For some reason we have chosen to imitate US models and practices rather than seeking to develop our own home grown approaches to church. In a highly secular context where church just isn’t on the radar for most people we must radically re-think what we are doing as our context is vastly different to the USA!

Back in 1981 when John Smith wrote Advance Australia Where he argued strongly that we have never had a truly Australian church. We have imported British forms and Americans models, but we just haven’t done the work of thinking thru what an indigenous expression of church would look like.

(And yes – I realise its ironic & amusing that I am quoting an American telling us not to follow Americans!)

Questions of Truth and Condescending Crap

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I have heard some condescending crap in my time, and this is right up there with the best with of it.

I don’t often bother with these kinds of shows, but I had some time today, so thought I’d listen in.

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I feel for Tony Jones, who got to express some of his views, but was belittled and mocked by Russell Moore, all in the name of ‘TRUTH’. (Is it just me or is there something very ironic there?…)

This was not a genuine debate/discussion but rather an orchestrated stoush, where the views of the host (Moore) were clearly ‘correct’ and where Jones and those like him were clearly defined as heretics. If only life were so simple…

Moore used the title of an old Campolo book to describe how he saw the landscape ‘we have met the enemy and they are partly right’. When did other Christians ever become the enemy?!

I actually think Campolo would retitle that book if he had the chance because it was about how we engage with other religions – also not the enemy.

I haven’t read all of what Jones thinks on issues, but whether he’s right or wrong he certainly sounded like the better man on the day.

Treasure!

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When you send your kids to Grandma’s house you never know what treasure they will find hidden away…

This time though it wasn’t the kids – it was me that found the treasure!

Pete just happened to mention that they had the complete two volume set (1200 pages) of Hudson Taylor’s biography written by his son Howard back in the early 1900’s.

‘You have what?!’ I responded…

‘Would you like to borrow them?’

‘Would I ever!’

Part 1 is entitled ‘the growth of a soul’ and part 2 ‘the development of a work of God’. Part 1 actually begins with Taylor’s great grandparent’s story and we eventually start to hear about him by page 200.

There are many journal/diary quotes that give a great insight into the character of this man. I am almost finished part 1 and looking forward to the story of the development of the mission work.

What is most amazing is that when he left England on a 5 month boat ride to Shanghai he was 21. Yes 21!…

Is he a rare breed or are there other Hudson Taylors out there today? I find myself constantly challenged and confronted by the old missionaries who lived lives of great sacrifice and risk at times when it was so much harder to do so.

Pure treasure!

Missionary Position

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Here at Upstream we are always open to people joining us either as part of our community, or for those who seek a higher level of commitment as part of the mission team.

If you would like to take up the challenge of mission in the burbs then give us a call to discuss what it would mean to join the team.

If you considering overseas mission and would like to flex your ‘mission’ muscles locally first then it would be worth spending a year with our team to observe and learn how a mission team functions.

At the moment there are 5 families in the core team and I am praying for several more to assist us as we serve the local community and connect with people.

If you are overseas and would like to spend a year in Oz intentionally serving in a mission capacity (and you are able to self fund) then give us a call to discuss the options!

Hamo the Centrefold…

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Today NCLS‘s Novus magazine came to our place full of stories of innovation and experimentation in church life.

Our story was in it as was Geoff’s at Banksia Grove, Gareth’s and Steve’s at Lockridge.

Danelle was particularly chuffed that her photo (the one of me at the top of this blog) was used and I was even more wrapt that the magazine staples went right thru it making me the centrefold!

Woohoo! At 42…

Small things…

It looks like a fantastic publication and there are many stories in there that are new to me, so if you would like a copy then email Ruth Powell at NCLS and let her know.

You can read the Upstream story here courtesy of NCLS

Those Old Mishos!

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I have just spent the last two days in Moore River hanging out with Danelle and the kids and doing some reading. (Moore River is a tiny beachside town of 80 people where Danelle’s folks have just built a their retirement home)

Danelle’s mum Val has a stash of books about missionaries of all sorts, but the one I picked up yesterday grabbed me because it was a little unusual. It was entitled Reluctant Missionary and was written by Edith Buxton, the daughter of the much better known CT Studd who was an English cricketer (not that you want to admit to that!) and early pioneer missionary to the Belgian Congo and later Ethiopia.

It was her story of how she reluctantly followed the call of God to Africa, struggled most of the way and for much of the time resented what God had called her to. While she shared some of the victories they experienced she was also very honest (especially for her era) with regard to the difficulties of being pioneers in a tough land.

Her father, while something of a hero, also sounded like quite a difficult man to get on with and missionaries were regulalry shooting off to join other mission societies because he was so hardline.

She made some incredible sacrifices to do what she did and her story is inspiring in its raw honesty. If you get a chance then you should dig it up somewhere and have a read!

Some (final) thoughts on missionary work in suburbia

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As I looked back over the last few posts I found myself wondering ‘what is it that makes these building blocks unique to suburbia?’ I wasn’t satisfied with what I had written.

In some ways they are not that unique – they may apply across the board to a large degree, but if these are essential building blocks in mission then suburbia does present some unique challenges. I want to take a few moments to reflect on these some more and make it a bit more specific. If 90% of Aussies live in suburbia then this is where the vast bulk of our mission will occur, so its important we understand it. WARNING – I am going to write this in one fell swoop so it could be a looong post!

1. Proximity – With blocks of land decreasing in size all the time no one could say we don’t live closely together! But proximity is about so much more than physical distance. We can live in each other’s pockets and somehow still be miles apart. Proximity relates to the choice to be close rather than simply live nearby. Its a whole different deal.

I have quoted Hugh Mackay’s Winter Close novel several times on this blog, but I will do it again because I believe his observations are profound. As you read these quotes bear in mind that Dante’s definition of hell is ‘proximity without intimacy’… Mackay is writing a novel about the lives of residents in a Sydney suburban street:

Rich is fond of saying that the thing about Winter Close is that it fosters a real sense of community. That’s a big claim and I wish I could share Rich’s confidence in making it. Now that Sydney has grown to four million, communities are hard to come by: a common complaint among Sydneysiders is that ‘we don’t know our neighbours’ – as if that’s the neighbours fault. I’ve given up saying ‘why don’t you knock on their door and introduce yourself?’ The puzzled looks I receive make it clear I have missed the point: plenty of people like not knowing their neighbours and only pretend to complain about it. Suburbia offers the wonderful cloak of anonymity for those who want the security of proximity without any of the demands of intimacy P.10

The contract between neighbours is based on resistance to intimacy, so a quite different kind of closeness becomes possible: easy open, comfortable, but devoid of any ultimate responsibility or any glimpses into each other’s souls. These are adjacent lives – sometimes even parallel lives – rather than shared lives. We compensate for our physical proximity by keeping our emotional distance. These are not like relationships between friends, or even between people who work closely together – I know Maddy better than I know Rich, Abel, or Mrs Spenser, or Joe Riley. Perhaps the thing suburban life offers us is the possibility of living the life of a herd without the bonds of a tribe: proximity, familiarity, trust, support… but not intimacy. When we cross that line we cease to be neighbours and become something else P.156

We have made the choice to be present in our community in a way that allows for relationships to develop and I believe that choice is absolutely vital if we are to go beyond the ‘smile and wave’. By that I mean we have chosen for Danelle not to work and I have chosen to only work 3 1/2 days a week out of the suburb. It simply means we are able to be around and have time for people rather than having to squeeze people into the butt ends of our days.

Of course not everyone wants ‘proximity’. Many people want to be able to live in peace and quiet and not have anything to do with neighbours and local community. Some just want the ‘contract’ Mackay writes of. And that’s fine if that’s what they choose, but as I see it there are plenty of people who really do want to connect, but aren’t sure how to start. We don’t live in a communal society any more and therein lies much of the issue.

I think Mackay is right on the money when he observes that suburbia conditions us to be physically close but emotionally distant. As such I believe real emotional proximity is perhaps one of the greatest challenges in the burbs and is no longer in the DNA of those growing up in these areas.

2. Regularity:

Question – What is it that drives much of suburban life?

Answer – economics

Truth is that the suburban dream is to live in a really nice house, drive nice cars, have nice holidays, send the kids to good schools and so on… You get the idea. There is a certain lifestyle that is supposed to accompany suburban living and somehow we have grown to feel we are entitled to it.

However to maintain that lifestyle (or even to ‘buy into it’) requires a truckload of cash. Therefore… it means often families have two parents working, or husbands do the ‘fly in fly out’ mining jobs where you can easily earn 6 figures just by showing up. The end result of all this working is that people are often ridiculously busy!

Many people I know are flat out simply trying to pay for the life they believe they are entitled to. Its kind of ironic to hear people say they moved to the suburbs for the ‘lifestyle’… Because to be frank many of the ‘lifestyles’ I observe do not entice me at all.

But because there is a standard of living to maintain people must continue to work and the end result it very little time for relationships.

And… Christians are as guilty of this as anyone else. By and large we do not model a different way of living and I believe we ought to own that and say it is shameful – confess it as sin. We have bought the ‘you need more stuff’ lie also and we work our butts off too, (as someone once said) ‘to buy stuff we don’t need to impress people we don’t like’.

If we are to have time for people then it will require us to choose to live at a different pace and to choose to forego some of the things we may believe we are entitled to or we may feel it ‘neceesary’ to own. (Repeat after me ‘I do really do not need a flat screen TV’) I accept that there is a certain level of economic reality we must live with – it costs money to live – but I believe we are continually sucked into a life we can’t afford unless we have credit cards and high paying jobs.

In a world driven by economics, where suburbia is the hub, regular time with people is hard to come by. Which means suburban mission will be a very slow process among the groups who work long hours. Almost everyone is busy – Christians included – so relationships are not about to catalyse easily. (This is where youth and young adult work is different because young people and students have so much more control over their time)

In our own community the ‘fly in fly outs’ (FIFO’s) make up around 20% of the community – not because the guys want to be away – but because they earn such huge money in such a short space of time. The cost on family and friendships is enormous because these guys never really get to settle anywhere and be ‘locals’.

If we are going to engage regularly with people it will happen partially as we choose not to allow the bottom line to be our prime motivation. We can’t control what anyone else does but we can choose to walk a different path.

3. Depth xxx dvd I’m not sure suburbanites are shallow people, but I do think its hard for relationships to go deep without those first two criteria being in place.

Most of the folks I know do think deeply from time to time and we have had some serious conversations about life with most of our friends, but depth only comes with time spent.

4. Conflict download pink panther 2 online – now this is one of those things we all keep away from, but I do think it has a higher avoidance factor in the burbs.

In ‘pleasantville’ people don’t fight so when things get icky they just avoid each other.

One of the problems of our suburban life is that as much as I have a number of friends, if we had a bit of biffo we could live in the same suburb for the next 5 years and possibly never bump into each other. My observation is that tension in the burbs is often left undealt with. Rather than sit down and sort out differences people will simply drift off into different social circles.

As we speak of Jesus in the suburbs we will make some people uncomfortable and they may choose to ‘move away from us’. They may never tell us, but instead may just drift out of our world and avoid us.

That can be quite soul destroying to have it happen.

5. Message

And this is where the brown stuff hits the fan…

The gospel of suburbia is ‘just a little bit more (and then I’ll be content)’ but the Christian message is absolutely, totally contrary to the me centred, safe, comfortable, affluent suburban life we are supposed to desire.

Yes, of course Jesus came to give us ‘life to the full’ but he also spoke of self denial, of taking up a cross, of suffering. They killed him for his message! These are not words suburbanites like to hear. It is a hard gospel to sell. There is nothing in suburbia that really lends itself to suffering and downward mobility.

It much more palatable to preach ‘middle class values with a little dab of Jesus on top’, but as we have done that we seen the ultimate syncretism where in many places we now equate middle class morality with Christianity.

I actually believe the radical Jesus is the most attractive Jesus by far, but it is increasingly difficult for us to speak of him because we are part of the system. We live in the burbs and are conditioned by them. We know that Jesus less and less and we find it hard to speak of him with any integrity.

How do we reclaim our message and speak it with integrity and passion because let’s face it, if we are to have a message then we must first live it.

All the relationship building in the world counts for nothing if we are not able to live and speak of the radical Jesus who calls us to die to ourselves and come follow him – and there find life.

I believe this is a message suburbanites need to hear and desperately want to hear, because something inside will never be satisfied by consumptive practices. There is something wild, inviting and liberating about the real gospel message and I hope we are able to live it and speak it.

Danelle and I find ourselves continually grappling with how we live and why. We find ourselves constantly wondering what our ‘lifetstyle’ says about the Jesus we follow, because it says something….

6. The Supernatural The beauty of this element is that God can show up wherever he like! So here I don’t think we can make any case for the burbs having unique characteristics.

Anyway, I feel better for having digested my own thoughts more. I was aware that my first few posts were quite (unintentionally) generic, but I think I have been able to grapple with the issues a bit more here.

I know there are other suburbanites out there reading. Would you agree with my assessments or is there stuff you would challenge?

Some thoughts on missionary work in suburbia Part III

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Ok so I’ve suggested several building blocks for effective missionary work here the burbs.

1. Proximity – being near people

2. Regularity – spending significant time together

3. Depth – going beyond the fluff in relationships

4. Conflict – being prepared to disagree and realise that’s ok and necessary

So here are my final two ‘building blocks’ if people are to become Jesus followers.

Building Block 5. The Message – This is where I believe some ability to articulate the gospel is essential. At some point we need to be able to share with people who we are and why we have chosen to orient our lives around Jesus Christ.

At the moment I see some interesting things happening. There is the typical conservative evangelical position that sees the gospel very much as ‘God loves, you sinned, Jesus died, you repent, all good’. I oversimplify but you get the gist. Then there is the more ’emerging’ position (for want of a better term) that says ‘hang on – there’s more to the gospel that Jesus dying for your sins’ – and gets into ecology, justice, environmentalism etc.

While one may seem a bit narrow my observation of the holistic approach to the gospel is that at times it can err on the side of being too fuzzy. It can neglect to mention the central aspect of Christ’s atonement and in that misses the mark. So while we speak of being ‘Jesus followers’ there is a requirement to understand what he calls us to and what he calls us from.

At the risk of making this sound like a specialist business, I do think it takes a bit of skill to articulate the gospel in a way that is both holistic and personal as well inviting and simultaneously repellant. By that I mean any gospel that only delivers the ‘goodies’ of eternal life and forgiveness, but doesn’t tell the whole story of ‘taking up your cross’ is ultimately doomed. There is a ‘repellant’ aspect to the gospel because it calls for self denial and that is not natural to us folks.

I do think its about here that the gift of evangelist comes into its own. That is not said to negate all of our responsibilities, but to affirm that some are created by God to do this work more specifically. For me one of the most envigorating things I ever do is talk with people about Jesus and the hope he gives to life. I could talk about Jesus, answer objections, lead people towards him all day every day and feel as happy as a pig in mud. This is where my own sense of being comes alive.

I also have a standard policy that with people who enquire respectfully and gently I respond accordingly. However if someone wants to be argumentative and difficult I will often respond to them in kind. Different people communicate in different ways and knowing what works when speaking with a person is critical.

All that said, at the end of the day we just need to be able to speak about who we are – and why. Its that simple. And if we can’t then I’d suggest we need to do some work to develop in that area.

Building Block 6 The Supernatural – I do realise the ‘supernatural’ is at work the whole time, but what I mean is simply that I cannot open anyone’s heart to the Holy Spirit.

Even after I have done ‘my bit’ it may not result in a person choosing to follow Jesus. As much as I would like my friends to share the journey with me its like trying to make someone ‘fall in love’. You just can’t force it.

So while we can do our bit ultimately it still comes down to a work of God in someone’s life that causes them to want to change the way their life is focused.

This is the bit I find hard.

The rest I can control to some degree, but this bit is totally beyond my control. But that’s a reality we need to deal with also. Does prayer influence this? Absolutely! I would hope so! So I pray for those who don’t Jesus, but it seems that sometimes God hears and responds… and sometimes well…

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So – there you have it!

Hamo’s thoughts on how mission develops in suburbia.

I’d be interested to hear people’s reflections on their own experiences of trying to mission with both passion and integrity.

Forge WA Survey Summary

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Ok here are the summarised results from our Forge WA online survey after 100 respondents. Thanks to all who responded and helped us review where we sit.

I haven’t included any interpretation yet, but I would be interested to hear what others would see these results saying. Feel free to leave a comment.

Demographics:

• The largest group of responses came from males 25-35 (27%) and 36-45 (28%)

• 23% of the responses were from women with the 25-35 age range the largest (9%)

Church Connections:

• 56% of responses were from people who are part of an existing church

• 19% were part of a new missional community

• 13% didn’t fit the categories or were ‘between churches’

Involvement With Forge:

• Interesting that the largest group are those who are ‘interested but haven’t got around to anything yet’ (19%)

• The second largest was both the ‘intensive attenders’ (17%) and those who would just like to stay in the loop of the conversation (17%)

What People Perceive Forge to be About:

• Provoking new thinking about mission and church was way up high with 79%

• Training missionaries for the west had 59%

• Being a prophetic voice to the churches had 34%

The Greatest Need for Forge to be Addressing:

• Simple training in missional living was the top response here with 43%

• The development of young adults into disciples was high with 16% but was the third preference behinng ‘other’ (22%) and there was a huge diversity of thoughts here.

Some of those responses include:

1. training and mentoring misional leaders

2. Re-definition of what the christian faith can look like

3. to actually do the evangelism it criticies others for not doing

4. How to inculcate Kantian courage

5. Seeking the new “traditions”and “rituals” that enhance emerging church

6. How to encourage existing churches (not just dying ones) to re-assess their paradigm of mission and re-form themselves as local counter-cultural movements

7. how to develop anyone into disciples of Christ

8. what is the gospel of the ‘kingdom of God’ mean to everything

9. hurts

10. Challenging non-gospel beliefs held by Christians

11. I cant choose between re-igniting dying churches and developing young adults into disciples.. dont they go hand in hand?

12. Build real churches

13. Stimulating thinking around growing the kingdom

14. How to live and share the gospel in our communities

15. It has to be about more than the above

Our Profile:

• 78% of people said we need groups like Forge to keep us thinking and developing.

• 56% said they see Forge as a healthy addition to the church scene here in Perth.

• There were a number of other responses, some of which were quite critical. See below:

1. From 5, above: To get off of their high horse and to admit, whether they like it or not, that they are just another church, and no better than the rest of us, no matter how much they try to put the rest of us down with their “spirituality”. I usually find their condescension offensive and tasteless. Question 6: My perceptions, based on my own experience, is that Forge and the “emerging church” is to self righteous, and arrogant.

2. Complaining about the existing church is like shooting fish in a barrel, too easy. They are arm chair critics who seek to teach others their ideas without much success themselves. They are negative people who do not lead by example. Charasmatics, evangelicals and liberals are nicer people who lead by example. Forge people like to see themselves as ‘revolutionaries’ without showing us what the revolution is leading to.

3. I think there is a lot of talking, and not a lot of action. (wow, that sounds judgemental, prove me wrong 🙂 ) I also wonder about the negative effect Forge is having on young leaders

4. I feel like I’ve finally found a place where I’m not misunderstood. Intensives stoke up the fire in my soul.

5. I have found it is helpful in changing thinking but would like to see more of this moving into separate denominations.

6. Helping people to push the boundaries on how they think about church and mission is very good. All I wonder is when Forge turns from being on the frontier to becoming what it is trying to influence or just another version of church. I see great value in forge from my limited experience. Hopefully it will continue to stay fresh and keep people on their toes.

7. Another ‘church’

8. Courageous, on the mark, disciples of Jesus.

9. Unfortunately I see some of the members of Forge building their lifestyles and notoriety(quite noticeably) at the expense of or in conjunction with serving the Kingdom of God .

10. It thinks it’s more different to the established church than it really is.

11. In the past I’ll admit my perception of Forge was lots of complaining about how church is all bad and we should be different, but not much action. I don’t know if it’s my shift in thinking towards the emerging church or just having heard more about stuff that people within Forge are actually doing, but I think my perception is healthier now 🙂 But I think that perception still exists “out there”.

12. I am concerned that majority of christians haven’t heard of forge, and are scared when they hear about it

13. Still sussing Forge out. Positive about innovation, cautious about theology.

How do we go about assessing the impact of Forge in WA?:

• 47% said ‘the degree to which Forge ideas have spread’

• 27% said ‘the degree to which the established church embraces Forge concepts’

• 18% said ‘the number of new churches planted’

The ‘other’ category had 36% of respondents so here is a sample of what was said:

1. The lives that are transformed into the image of Christ. “Opposition” = impact? Oh the martyr complex of some groups!!

2. The number of people who feel impacted by the ministry

3. Forge will only ever appeal to a certain group of people so I don’t think Forge should assess the impact it has on WA it is awesome and you will soon start to see the fruits of your labour.

4. Number of healthy communities that form without needing to complain about other expressions of faith

5. How can you possibly assess the degree to which lives are changed? If only one new disciple makes it, surely it is an impact. Everything that is made from gold takes generations to build.

6. Nnot the number of people attending intensives but maybe the number of different people attending intensives???

7. Focus on obedience not on fruit…

8. Don’t…God will let you know how it’s all going. all the rest is for man who is temperamental. trust me, i’m a man…

9. Faithfullness in fostering communities that love God and neighbour

10. Whether you feel you’ve stuck to God’s original vision for you

11. If itb helps one person it is worthwhile.

12. A growing movement of transformed people introducing others to the Life Changer, no matter what environment these people can be found in.

13. The number of people becoming community (outwardly) oriented rather than church (inwardly) oriented.

14. Will be hard to measure. Numbers of “church-plants” would be significant- but so is the number of participants challenged to “change/fix/refocus” a church the currently lead/attend

15. Souls saved

So there you have it!

Do those results sound like what you would have expected or do they sound significantly different?

I was actually surprised that we were able to generate 100 responses so quickly!