We are two days from Christmas, a holiday meant to remind us of the birth of Jesus Christ. For four weeks now we have journeyed through Advent, anticipating the coming of the Lord. The beginning of the gospel is that the Lord does come but in this season of Advent, I am reminded that the Lord comes in humility.

Jesus is not born to an aristocratic family, rather he’s born to parents, Joseph and Mary, who must then must leave their homeland in order to protect Jesus from the murderous rage of King Herod.

The Gospel of John begins by telling us that the Word of God became flesh and made his dwelling among us, in the person of Jesus. This is the coming of the Lord. God chose to dwell among us, to live with us, and in doing so, endure all of the struggles of life that is our life. This choice took Jesus to the cross where he laid down his own life in humility so that we may receive life.

This is the real story of Christmas, the story that reimagines for us what life truly is and what it means to live with hope, peace, joy, and love.

As this Christmas comes, may this story form our lives and inspire us as a church to embody this story among our neighbors. On behalf of Mission Alive, have a Merry Christmas.

Earlier this year in April, former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted for the murder of George Floyd, who died due to Chauvin kneeling on the neck of Floyd for nearly nine minutes. More recently, Gregory and Travis McMichael as well as William Bryan were convicted for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, who was shot by his assailants as he was jogging through a neighborhood.

Sadly, there are other names and cases in recent years that could be mentioned, all reflecting the underlying issue of white racism. Although we celebrate the measures of justice reached by the state of Georgia and Minnesota, we should not think for a minute that the underlying issue of white racism is resolved. Until we address this issue true justice and reconciliation remain beyond our reach.

If you’re wondering why I am naming the issue specifically as white racism, I’ll explain. I don’t deny the fact that people of all races and ethnicities are capable of prejudice and racially discriminatory actions. However, America has never had to ratify an amendment to the Constitution and pass legislation in response to bigotry and prejudices among any people except white people.

The issue is white racism and not merely racial discrimination, though the two are related. White racism is rooted in white supremacy, the systematic policies such as slavery, Jim Crow laws, and even more recently the practice of mass incarceration which Michelle Alexander has documented in her book The New Jim Crow. Systemically, white racism was apparent when convicted murderer Susan Smith originally blamed the abduction of her children, whom she murdered, on a fictitious black man. That same goes for the miscarriage of justice that landed Walter McMillian, a black man, on Alabama’s death row from 1988 to 1993, which was chronicled in attorney Byron Stevenson’s book Just Mercy that was adapted into a film of the same name last year. Most recently though, we saw the systemic white racism not just in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery but in the inexcusable failure of law enforcement to make an arrest on the McMichaels, justifying their actions until the footage of the incident went viral which caused enough public pressure to make the arrest.

“Until we address the issue of white racism, true justice and reconciliation remain beyond our reach.” Click To Tweet

The systemic culture of white racism that pervades America also means people can unknowingly be complicit without harboring any racial discrimination towards others. All we have to do is refuse to speak up like I sadly once did when I witnessed an employer discriminating against black applicants in the hiring process. Or like the different ways in which we might respond to a white man jogging through the neighborhood versus a black man. That said, with reports of Asians being targeted during the current Covid-19 pandemic, we must remember that white racism doesn’t just affect blacks and whites. Although many Asians have assimilated into the white culture of America, it only takes a virus originating in China for Asians to be singled out again in our racist culture. Likewise, it only takes a couple of high-profile crimes committed by undocumented Latinos to begin singling out immigrants and refugees.

The point is that moral outrage over the deaths of people like George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, or over the unjust disproportion of prison sentences for black people, is not enough. We must fix the deeper problem. Until we address the issue of white racism, true justice and reconciliation remain beyond our reach. Justice requires truth and until we are honest with the truth, justice will elude our cries for such.

I remember a conversation once with a pastor who was leading a church to pursue economic justice among an impoverished Hispanic community. During the conversation, he offered a simple illustration to denote an important difference between justice and mercy that has always stuck with me. He spoke about the hypothetical scene of coming upon someone drowning in a creek. Out of compassion, most people would attempt to safely pull the individual from the creek. That’s showing mercy. But imagine every day seeing another person drowning in a creek and every day showing mercy by pulling the person drowning to safety. At some point, people might decide to go up the creek and find out why people are falling into this creek. As they do, they might then be able to address the actual issue so that people will no longer fall into the creek. Addressing that issue is the pursuit of justice in that matter.

When it comes to racial matters, if there is ever to be justice, and subsequently reconciliation, then we must address the issue of white racism. Before working for justice we must be honest with the truth. As Frederich Buechner once wrote, “after the silence that is truth comes the news that is bad before it is good, the word, that is tragedy before it is a comedy because it strips us bare in order ultimately to cloth us” (Telling the Truth, 1977, 33). The only path to justice is first facing the honest truth about this culture of white racism, no matter how tragic and terrifying the truth is. Facing the truth is also an invitation to repentance on the part of the offenders, particularly white people—White Evangelical Christians included. Honesty with this culture of evil we have cultivated opens space for us to listen with humility and learn from our neighbors of color how we might help cultivate a culture of racial justice and reconciliation in America.

As followers of Jesus, this should be a welcomed endeavor. That’s because the pursuit of justice and reconciliation are the result of the gospel, the good news about Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God he proclaimed. In fact, the gospel reimagines for us a life in which we are formed for the pursuit of justice and reconciliation among other pursuits. As we follow Jesus, we learn to embody the very beliefs, values, and behaviors that make the pursuit of justice and reconciliation possible.

Now I’m not so presumptuous to know practically what practicing racial justice might entirely look like. Ideally, local churches are communities where both justice and reconciliation are practiced as part of the embodied gospel and so local churches are the catalyst. However, the difference between the ideal and reality may differ significantly. Nevertheless, we must realize that embodying the gospel among local churches is more than just worshiping together on Sundays. Overcoming racism means that believers of different races and ethnicities must learn how to serve with each other and practice hospitality with one another. That becomes possible when the beliefs, values, and behaviors we learn from following Jesus are put into practice.

“As we follow Jesus, we learn to embody the very beliefs, values, and behaviors that make the pursuit of justice and reconciliation possible.” Click To Tweet

To say this another way, it is in following Jesus that we learn how to humble ourselves, listen to each other and repent as necessary. Then we might not just worship together, sharing a pinch of matzah bread and a sip of wine. Instead, we’ll share in true communion with one another, as brothers and sisters in Christ who stand in solidarity with each other. That’s if we will let Jesus have his way.

Now, if I may, as a pastor who happens to be white, let me specifically address my fellow white Christians. In America, we have never had to worry about being denied a job because of our whiteness. We sure don’t have to worry about anyone assaulting and killing us when we are jogging through a neighborhood because of our whiteness. Why? Because we are the majority race in America and occupy most of the leadership positions in church and society. So as followers of Jesus, the burden begins with us. It’s upon us to give up that privilege by becoming humble enough to listen to our neighbors of color. Let’s take our cues from following Jesus but doing so as we listen to those who have been oppressed by racism.

Lastly, we know that the pursuit of justice is always a noble cause. But let’s be honest and not tell ourselves that murder convictions in two high-profile cases are the sum of justice. We have much more work to do and the gospel, for those with eyes and ears to see and hear, makes that work both possible and noble. 

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K. Rex Butts, D.Min, serves as the lead minister/pastor with the Newark Church of Christ in Newark, DE. He holds a Doctor of Ministry in Contextual Theology from Northern Seminary in Lisle, IL, and a Master of Divinity from Harding School of Theology in Memphis, TN. He is married to Laura and together they have three children.

I’ve begun reading through the new book by Mark Lau Branson and Alan J. Roxburgh, Leadership, God’s Agency, and Disruptions: Confronting Modernity’s Wager, Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2021. Having read other books by both authors and having had Roxburgh as a Professor for a doctoral seminar, I value what both have to say. Their book comes at a critical time in history for many churches and so as I read, I have thoughts ruminating through my head about churches across North America.

By all accounts and metrics, churches are struggling across North America. The COVID-19 pandemic has only made the struggles more apparent and more difficult. Furthermore, there isn’t any quick-fix solution that is going to reverse the course. So I neither want to play the game of heaping blame and shame on churches nor do I want to pretend I have the definitive way forward all figured out.

Let me point out that there are a number of factors that have helped create the current malaise and not all are within the control of churches. The age of secularization we are living among began taking shape long before most current churches even came into existence and so a renewed participation in the mission of God will require more than just a tweak here or there. Similarly, it is delusional to believe the idea that we can just wipe the slate clean and start over.

I say this in response to some of the sentiments I read on social media from time to time, that always seem hyper-critical of what churches are doing while suggesting a simplistic solution.

“If churches will just get rid of Sunday worship and get into the neighborhood…” “If churches would just recapture the simplicity of the early church…” “If churches would just be less building-centric…”Blah, blah, blah…

Yes, churches can focus on Sunday too much and forget the neighborhood, and sometimes churches make things more complex than necessary or get too wrapped up in their building. However, such suggestions are full of assumptions and sometimes such assumptions are so far removed from the contextual reality of most churches that they are useless. Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m well aware of the problems that can hinder a church’s participation in the mission of God. However, it’s easy to see the problems but it’s very short-sighted to see only the problems. There are plenty of churches of all sizes and social locations still faithfully serving King Jesus. The ministry of these churches may not be sexy enough to make a big splash but their impact on people’s lives is still significant. If you doubt me, I’ll start by telling you about a man from Liberia who came to the US and, having been baptized two months ago, is already teaching an online Bible class to about 30 other Liberians living throughout North America. And I’ve got more stories.

That said, there are real challenges facing many churches that leave us wondering what can be done. Well, I’m not sure and I have yet to find in the scriptures any explicit instructions on how to plant innovative churches or how to lead a church towards missional renewal. However, when it comes to the scriptures, I call to mind the fact that the only instruction Jesus gave to his disciples after his resurrection was essentially to wait. The disciples wanted to know when Jesus would restore the kingdom of God and Jesus responded by telling them about receiving power from the promised Holy Spirit.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” – Acts 1:8

So after Jesus ascended into heaven, the disciples returned to Jerusalem to wait for the reception of the Holy Spirit. But as they did so, they were “constantly devoting themselves to prayer” (Acts 1:14, NRSV).

If this passage offers us any answer to what can be done about the challenges we face in North America, it’s that we should look first to what God can do rather than what we can do. I can’t speak for Canadians but beginning with ourselves as a solution is very American and evidence of how much modernism has formed our thinking. The strength of the church for living as participants in the mission of God comes from the Spirit of God, the same power who raised Christ from the dead. That’s why prayer matters.

By praying, we acknowledge our dependence upon God with faith in what God can do. When praying, we become receptive to what God is doing and is calling us to do as his missional partners. As Alan Mark Lau Branson and Alan J. Roxburgh remind us, “God is the initiator, prayer is a practice that places us in a listening posture, and those who are faithful in prayer will begin to improvise based on what have heard” (Leadership, God’s Agency, and Disruptions, p. 25). So instead of asking what can we do regarding the challenges of our day, ask what God can do. Ask God, in prayer, what he can do and ask him to do it.

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K. Rex Butts, D.Min, serves as the lead minister/pastor with the Newark Church of Christ in Newark, DE. He holds a Doctor of Ministry in Contextual Theology from Northern Seminary in Lisle, IL, and a Master of Divinity from Harding School of Theology in Memphis, TN. He is married to Laura and together they have three children.

By K. Rex Butts

“Don’t touch politics with a ten-foot pole” was the advice I once was told as a young minister. That seemed like wise advice at the time but apparently, it was advice only for ministers and not for other Christians, which may have contributed to the morass evangelical Christianity finds itself in today. Now I’ve learned, sometimes the hard way, to stay away from partisan politics but I do believe that Jesus is Lord, a claim that is very political and my interest is with the Kingdom of God. But I am concerned that too much of Christianity in America is being formed by partisan politics rather than the good news of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God.

This article in The Atlantic by Peter Wehner, The Evangelical Church is Breaking Apart, has received a lot of attention. Wehner describes the partisan political climate of America and the impact it is having among evangelical churches. You don’t have to agree with every little thing said in the article to know the negative impact of partisan politics on Christianity. If you’re a pastor, in a new church plant or established church, you’ll likely find that the article describes what you’ve seen taking place and may even have concerns for in your own church.

There are two quotes from the article I want to share. First, James Ernest is quoted as saying, “What we’re seeing is massive discipleship failure caused by massive catechesis failure.”

That we have a problem with discipleship among Christianity in America is not a new revelation. For the last twenty years, the missional church movement has renewed the focus on discipleship and there are numerous books, articles, and blogs that have contributed to this conversation. Here at Mission Alive, we recognize the importance of making disciples. One thing we have learned about making disciples is that it requires more than just the traditional preaching/teaching. In other words, the formation of disciples requires more than just didactic instruction and I agree. Yet, if the failure of discipleship is, even in part, a catechesis failure then we must give more attention to the importance of preaching/teaching.

A second quote in the article comes from Alan Jacobs, who says, “People come to believe what they are most thoroughly and intensively catechized to believe, and that catechesis comes not from the churches but from the media they consume, or rather the media that consume them. The churches have barely better than a snowball’s chance in hell of shaping most people’s lives.”

My own observations suspect what Jacobs sees. It appears that there are plenty of Christians who mass consume social-critic commentators on podcasts, YouTube, etc… and cable news on both the right and left because that’s all they seem to talk about. If this phenomenon hasn’t already reached the level of idolatry, then it’s on the verge of doing so as many people seem to regard these commentators as having the knowledge and wisdom for life. And of the many consequences, one may be that the Bible and Christian faith is now being filtered through the views of these commentators rather than through the indwelling Spirit who makes Christ known to every believer.

I have nothing against news, listening to podcasts and YouTube videos. But there’s a big difference between listening to people whose aim (telos) is the good news of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God versus someone whose aim identifies with the American left or right.

What can we do as church leaders? What concerns you most when you think of the way that partisan politics is shaping the Christian landscape in America? How has partisan politics impacted your ministry context and how are you responding?

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with powerthrough his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rootedand established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

~ Ephesians 3:14-21

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K. Rex Butts, D.Min, serves as the lead minister/pastor with the Newark Church of Christ in Newark, DE. He holds a Doctor of Ministry in Contextual Theology from Northern Seminary in Lisle, IL, and a Master of Divinity from Harding School of Theology in Memphis, TN. He is married to Laura and together they have three children.

By Chris Flanders

My assigned topic for this blog was the presence of honor and shame dynamics among various subcultures in the US and how the church needs to be aware of those dynamics if they want to be effective. But I’m going to change that up just a bit by making a bold claim- if you are ministering, particularly church planting, among any population in North America today, attention to honor and shame dynamics is essential. I want to argue this is so for two reasons- so we can be faithful to the gospel and so we can be effective in our contemporary contexts.

By honor I mean an expression of approval, based on a positive evaluation of some standard of excellence (the standard of excellence used to evaluate something as honorable can be almost anything- athletic, academic, moral, physical appearance, etc.). This can be both public and private (self-esteem and one’s personal sense of honor). One often feels pride (“I’m so proud of my son for all he has accomplished”) as the proper emotional response to honor. 

Shame is the negative emotional experience that comes from being defective or failing to live up to a certain standard. It is about falling short. Face is that social phenomenon that occurs when we project any kind of social identity into our communication, which results in the possibility of us having that identity confirmed (honored, accepted, affirmed) or rejected (dissed, embarrassed, humiliated, shamed). 

Guilt has two dimensions. First, guilt can be simply a synonym for culpability. In this sense, to be guilty means one has done something, whether they are aware or feel any personal responsibility. Second, guilt can be the negative emotional response to a personal experience of wrongdoing. It is possible to be guilty without feeling guilty.

Faithful to the Gospel

Recent writings have highlighted the significant role that issues of honor and shame play in Scripture. These include Reading Romans with Eastern Eyes, Defending Shame: Its Formative Power in Paul’s Letters, Honor, Shame, and the Gospel: Reframing Our Message and Ministry, and The Hope of Glory: Honor Discourse and New Testament Interpretation. These have helped us see how much Western biblical interpretation has misunderstood and sometimes even ignored these important ancient categories of honor, shame, and face. Any reader of scripture would know that there is much more “said in the Bible about shame and honor than there is about guilt and innocence” (Chan, 2014, 83).*

Indeed, the prevalence of the notion of shame is even greater than the actual occurrences of the term shame as many biblical terms and stories carry strong shame connotations. For example, the Greek term elengcheo, which we often translate as “convict” or “show someone their guilt” actually means to make someone aware of their fault or failure through shame (see my recent article “Bringing Shame upon an Honored Missiological Paradigm: A Study of Conviction and Elenctics”). Even human sin, which many from the Western world simply assume relates to God’s law and guiltiness, is related to shame. The first reaction to sin when it entered human history was the embarrassment of nakedness, hiding, and scapegoating, all typical reactions of shame (Gen 3:6-13). Paul frames sin in terms of failing to live up to the standards of God’s honor (Rom 3:23). That is, our sin has left humankind in a state of shame before God’s incomparable honor (glory). The good news of course is that through Jesus we will never be put to shame (Rom 10:11). Like the younger son of Luke 15, the shame we deserve because of our shameful treatment of our Father and his good gifts has been erased because we have been (undeservedly!) re-honored by divine goodness.

Effective in our Contemporary Contexts

Nearly all anthropologists, social psychologists, philosophers, political theorists, and missiologists now accept that experiences of honor, shame, and face are fundamental to all human cultures, and not just those we might label “honor cultures” or “shame cultures” (Flanders, 2019, 145-65). These experiences differ across cultures and in the culturally diverse ways these dynamics get expressed in language, social values, and rituals, but all remain integral parts of all human cultures.

Yet, even the most casual cultural observer cannot miss the growing prevalence of overt public shame issues in contemporary Western cultures. Former Christianity Today executive editor Andy Crouch notes in his powerful article The Return of Shame how shame is growing as a dynamic of popular culture, aided by the power of social media and the internet. He summarizes: “From online bullying to twitter [sic] takedowns, shame is becoming a dominant force in the west.” 

This phenomenon has fueled a massive surge of writings addressing the impact of shame on affective disorders and relationships (think, for example, of the tremendous popularity of the work of Brené Brown who writes about how to address toxic shame). In parts of the world that have for centuries been thought of as decidedly non-honor or non-shame cultures, many acknowledge an increasing relevance of these issues. As Crouch notes, “Some of the most powerful artifacts of contemporary culture—especially youth culture—are preoccupied with the dynamics of fame and shame.”

Several examples illustrate this shame “comeback”. One is the new phenomenon of doxing or doxxing. This is when people publicly reveal private personal information about an individual or organization, often through social media or the internet. “Doxing can be a drive-by prank on most anyone who draws attention. But more often its targets are singled out for humiliation.” This is particularly present among those who are accused of some wrong but for whom it is perceived there is little accountability or justice. So, for example, the doxing of certain Catholic priests when some Catholic bishops released names lists of priests who were “credibly accused of abuse”

Such can be serious business and have profound effects. Take the case of Andrew Dodson, who marched in a far right-wing rally and was doxed. He was eventually fired from his job and died soon after, some suggest by suicide. This type of public shaming can result in “brutal harassment campaigns, threats, ‘swatting,’ loss of employment, even, at its most extreme, death” (The Ethics of Doxing and the Politics of Public Shaming ).

THE ETHICS OF DOXING AND THE POLITICS OF PUBLIC SHAMING

The use of Twitter to praise and shame is also a growing tool for public motivator and effective punishment. Former President Donald Trump as a communicator was highly effective in his use of social media to praise and blame, to honor and shame. Trump even uses shame-laden language to reference his recent ban from these forms of social media- “Trump slams Facebook, Twitter and Google as ‘disgrace and embarrassment’ to US”.

There is also a renewed and increasing use of public shaming as a form of punishment, either reducing other forms of punishment (e.g., jail time) or even substituting for those punishments. 

Other contemporary forms of degradation ceremonies or shaming rituals include the perp walk, which involves the humiliation of the suspects and victory congratulations to law enforcement (Boudana, 2014, 55-57). For many other powerful examples of this in contemporary American culture, see the recent book So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed. The rise of social media and other forms of online communication have without a doubt made public forms of shaming more prominent and potentially more motivating.

But here is a critical point and why this conversation is critical for today’s church -planter or evangelist. The solution to guilt is forgiveness, pardon, or absolution. The solution to shame, however, is not forgiveness. The solution to shame is a transformation of the shamed self, often including a status change from one that was shameful to one that is honorable.**

This is why people often report understanding that they know they are forgiven but still feel bad. This is the classic condition of a self that is still living in some type of shame state. Forgiveness is important but it alone cannot solve the shamed self. If more contemporary North Americans are living with shame issues, the traditional modes of forgiveness, often framed in highly legal terms, may not be able to deal effectively with issues of personal struggle, discipleship, and evangelism.

What to do?

Since effective gospel work always pays attention to the culture of those to whom the message is being communicated (we often call this contextualization), I suggest digging into these resources to address effectively the honor, shame, and face issues in contemporary North America:

Missio Dei Journal (recent issue on honor and shame issues. In particular, read my introduction). Honorshame.com (the best single place to go for free honor-shame resources). See also Ministering in Honor-Shame Cultures and Honor, Shame, and the Gospel.

Church planters should educate themselves well in both the biblical issues of honor, shame, and face as well as the contemporary manifestations of these universal human experiences. To do so is to be biblically faithful and culturally relevant. The good news of God’s love demands new attention to honor, shame, and face!

* Guilt 145 times in the OT and 10 in the NT; shame 300 times in the OT and 45 in the NT.

**Note this is exactly what Paul says about the new person in Christ- Eph 4:20-24 and Col 1:21-22.

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Chris Flanders was born and raised in the midwest, ultimately finding himself in Minnesota. He came to ACU and did an undergraduate degree in Biblical Studies, an MA in Missions, and an MDiv. He met Cara while she was doing her graduate work at ACU in Marriage and Family Therapy. Together they moved to Thailand where they lived and served for 8 years. They have two children, Autumn and Ethan, who were both born in Thailand. Currently, Chris’ research interests are in Stone-Campbell missions history and the theology and anthropology of honor, face, and shame. He is the assistant editor of Missio Dei Journal (missiodeijournal.com) and also serves on the executive leadership team of the Honor-Shame Network. He is an avid baseball fan and pays close attention to all University of Minnesota Gophers and ACU Wildcats sports teams. He also loves to cook (especially Thai food!), listens to jazz, and run.

By Jeremy Hoover

“Angie”  was frustrated one day. She asked, “Why can’t we get more people to come to the church?”

I looked around at our event and felt pretty good about it. We had around twenty people at a children’s event. I considered it an outreach event for Love First, our fledgling faith community in Sarnia, Ontario, yet Angie, our longest-standing member, considered it a “church” event. 

As I thought about this, I realized that I was discouraged because our attendance was down from when we had tried to organize a Sunday worship service in the field on Kathleen Avenue (a neighborhood we have tried to engage with). Here I was, trying to build up numbers through outreach so we could “re-launch” something that would resemble “church,” but Angie already considered us to be the church. 

I began to ask, “When does a group of believers become a ‘church’?”

I’ve been pondering this question quite a bit lately. The answer might be obvious to you. It used to feel obvious to me. And, objectively, I guess the answer is obvious: a group of believers gathering together is, in fact, a church.

However, when I’m brutally honest with myself, I recognize that the slower pace of outreach in secular culture, along with the small number of folks who gather with Love First, is discouraging. I’ve also had to battle the perception from others that what we’re doing with Love First isn’t a “real” church because we don’t have a place to meet, don’t have an every-week Sunday gathering, and don’t have “enough” people.

Much of church planting theory still revolves around the Christendom model of gathering people for the purpose of a Sunday gathering. Whatever happens in addition to that is extra. But mission, in that paradigm, is subjugated beneath the Sunday service. The Sunday service is what counts, along with its ABCs–attendance, buildings, and cash. 

This isn’t to say that the Christendom model undervalues (or de-values) mission. Mission is still important. But mission serves the service, so to speak. The end result of mission is people being transformed into the image of Jesus, but Christendom models express this in terms of the above ABCs.

My experience in secular culture has shown me the truth of Charles Taylor’s words (in A Secular Age) that belief is one option among many, and all beliefs are contestable. Canadian culture has long since moved past and even dismissed, Christendom as a model. Many evangelical churches are seeing decline and are struggling to understand why, when the reality is that many Canadians just don’t care about the Christian faith.

I don’t mean that they are opposed to or hostile towards Christian faith. Rather, they are “apatheistic.” That is, they have apathy towards the entire concept of God (or gods). They have left it behind and have moved on. 

I see this way of thinking and being in my neighborhood and city. We moved here with high hopes of making bold changes in an impoverished community by bringing many people to Christ. What we found was a lot of apathy toward betterment and apatheism toward faith. We felt like we hit a roadblock early, and then further challenges came when late fall/winter hit and folks generally stayed indoors, and then, of course, with the entire Covid-19 scenario.

What, then, is a missionary to do? 

I was thankful when I ran across a book late last year. The book was written by Stefan Paas, a missiologist in Denmark as well as a church planter. The book, Pilgrims & Priests (see my review here), advocates for a theology of church planting in a secular culture where the church sees itself as a community of pilgrims (travelers banded together in an unfamiliar land) and priests (our purpose is to be God’s blessing to the world around us). Paas noted that, in secularism, where choices abound and following the Christian faith is simply one choice among many, the church will always be small. The church will always be a small band of believers who see themselves as priests, offering God’s blessings to the community around them.

I found this description very helpful. It helped me refocus away from discouragement that was rooted in the Christendom model of church and helped me focus on the church that we actually had. Angie had not read Paas’ book, but she reflected his message: the church is the gathered people of God who offer priestly blessings to those around them. I had been focusing on Christendom metrics while Angie was focusing on kingdom metrics.

I’m thankful for people like Angie. The life of a church planter can be filled with discouragement and disappointment. People of hope help to push me forward when I’m weary, and our small band of pilgrims and priests will continue to be a blessing in our neighborhood and city. Our church is growing, not necessarily as we add more people to it, but as we bless our neighborhood and see the kingdom of God experienced within.

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Jeremy Hoover is a missionary in southwestern Ontario. He writes a weekly email newsletter for pastors, Pastoral Care for Pastors, and has published a book, Soul-Care for Shepherds.

Last week I was in Abilene, Texas for several days meeting with some ministers to discuss faith amongst a secular society and the implications for preaching and teaching. We were blessed to have with us both Richard Beck, a psychology professor at Abilene Christian University, and Randy Harris, who just recently retired from teaching Bible and theology classes at Abilene Christian University.

This conversation was really about  Recovering an Enchanted Faith in a Skeptical Age, which is the subtitle to Beck’s latest book Hunting Magic Eels (read my review here) but it also has to do with the monumental book by Charles Taylor called A Secular Age. Taylor’s book is a tome and I’m only halfway through the book but it is good and I highly recommend that those serving in ministry read the book. Of course, if you read my review of Beck’s book, you know that I highly recommend it too.

As a minister myself, I’m more interested in the formation of a faith that is formed by Christ. While understanding the nature of the secular age we live in is necessary, it is secondary to the formation of faith whether we are planting churches or pastoring in already established churches. So there are four other resources that I believe are worth mentioning here.

1. Ruth Haley Barton, Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation, Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006. Barton addresses some of the practices or disciplines that are necessary for our faith formation as followers of Jesus. What is important to remember is that we can’t transform ourselves but we can cultivate our lives towards a posture that is receptive to the transformation God desires to bring about through his Spirit. Frankly, just about any of Barton’s books are helpful for learning more about faith formation.
2. Scot McKnight, Pastor Paul: Nurturing A Culture of Christoformity in the Church, Brazos Press, 2019. This is really required reading for anyone serving in a pastoral role, as the book addresses the particular culture the apostle Paul sought to cultivate among the churches he served. Of particular importance here is McKnight attention not just to the cruciform aspect of Jesus’s life but his entire life, death and resurrection, and ascension that is to form our faith. Hence, the term “Chrisoformity.”
3. James K.A. Smith, How (Not) To Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014. In some ways, this book is sort of like a Cliff Notes to Charles Taylor’s massive book mentioned above and for that matter alone, it’s a necessary read for any Christian engagement of faith and secularism. Smith goes further though and touches on how this conversation shapes our theology and leadership.
4. A.J. Swoboda, After Doubt: How to Question Your Faith without Losing It, Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2021. Still hot off the press, this book addresses the deconstruction of faith, which is a phase that many Christians go through. What the book offers is a way forward for the reconstruction or reformation of faith that is squarely centered on Jesus Christ but without the reductionist move that ignores the complexities of the culture we live among.

Beyond the reformation of our faith, one of the challenges that Christianity in North America faces is stepping into the future with a missional posture. In our secular society (postmodern and post-Christendom), the influence of Christians has rapidly diminished and that evokes a loss. The reactionary temptation is preservation, trying to hold on to the past as much as that is possible. Interestingly, Charles Taylor makes this observation: