Jesus informs the mission and the mission informs the church.
In an effort to illustrate this, consider the spontaneous expansion of the New Testament Church and the expansion of the Church in China. In 100AD, in a Roman Culture of nearly 40 million people, there were approx. 20K followers of Christ. In 300AD, in a Roman Culture of nearly 60 million people, there were approx. 20 million followers of Christ.
What happened? How did they do it?
In China, there were several Jesus-movements that were virtually exterminated throughout the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Under the Mao regime, Christianity was obliterated, professional clergy were killed, Bibles were burned, buildings were converted for use by the state. Today, there are 130 million followers of Christ and rapidly growing.
What happened? How did they do it?
My response this morning: "Well naturally, when there is persecution, the church grows." That is true to a point, but it wasn't what enabled the spontaneous expansion.
What enabled the spontaneous expansion is that everything was refined and simplified. For both ages, Jesus was placed in the center of what it meant to be Christian. Who Jesus was informed what it meant to be the church. All of the structures and systems were eliminated. People had to begin taking the initiative for their own spiritual formation, in community (never alone: they risked their lives to do this together). Community (people expressing common thoughts, feelings, etc) changed to Communitas (friendship that readily adapts when necessary). Theology was simplified to "Jesus is Lord." Everything else was fringe and took a new shape/direction. "Jesus is Lord" in turn informed the mission of the church. Their mission (informed by Jesus is Lord) was no longer to create or sort out the best system; their mission (informed by Jesus is Lord) became the redemption of the world. The mission, informed by "Jesus is Lord" then informed what it meant to be the Church. This changed the way they lived and the Church became known as a force through which God began redeeming the world--no matter what it cost. I wonder what the Jesus they worshipped, who was redefining everything, looked like...
If it is true that Jesus informs the mission, which, in turn, informs the church, then what does the Jesus that informs the American church look like? Perhaps we need to start by assessing what the American church looks like (what is central to us? we can tell based on our expectations of the experience of "church"). The face of our iconic Jesus might be revealed and it might scare us.
Thoughts?
6 comments:
Unconventional,
I think we need to focus on helping people to experience Jesus rather than experiencing church. We need move way beyond right doctrine. We need to underscore the importance of experiencing the love of Jesus and unreservedly desiring to love and trust Jesus in everything and for everything. We need to move way beyond excellence of church programs. We need to underscore the importance of experiencing the love of Jesus and unreservedly desiring to share that love with one another and the lost. We may not fully experience this response at first. But God wants "the church" to expect that as believers who are in Christ, it is normal for people to experience Jesus and respond by loving him and others "like crazy." ["like crazy" - this biblical term comes from a guy who often teaches at Open Door]
I think we need to be very up front about what it means for Jesus to be our Lord. As Thomas Kelly said, "It is a life lived out from an all-embracing center of motivation, which in glad readiness wills to do the will of the Father, SO FAR AS THAT WILL CAN BE DISCERNED [emphasis mine]...It is of the essence of Christianity to be totalitarian in its claims." "The Eternal Promise", p. 4 I believe that every leader, every teacher in the church needs to be up front about what it means for Jesus to be Lord of our lives, Lord of our church. They need to have more than great leadership abilities. They need to be more than nice people. They need to demonstrate both in their teaching and by their example, that Jesus Christ is Lord of their lives and Lord of the church.
Wasabi,
I like everything you say here a lot - I would add that I think experiencing Jesus and experiencing church, in an ideal world, are inextricably intertwined... as the "body of Christ", we're put here to be one of the main vessels by which people encounter Jesus. So the question is how do we strip away enough of the "church" to really get down to church as the body of Christ, as Jesus-is-Lord proclaimers.
"Jesus informs mission and the mission informs the church."
Is it possible for Jesus to inform both mission and the church? What if in allowing "the mission" to inform church, we have slowly taken our eyes and our hearts off of Jesus and who He is and turned church into what WE do? By our nature we desire for power and control and by slowly taking matters into our hands, we incrementally decrease our need for and our dependency upon Jesus. "The mission" implies action; "Jesus" implies being and knowing. Isn't it easier and more convenient to "do?"
Corr--
That's just the point. Jesus does inform the church because informs mission. If you consider the way we currently do it:
We establish some model of church--usually attractional, talk a lot about Jesus (hopefully) and then do mission as a program or addition to what we "do."
What if we started with Jesus who is God's best expression of Mission--sentedness for the sake of redemption. As we grow in Jesus--we discover what it means to live with mission. As we begin living, in community and with mission, we have church. Jesus and who He is defines exactly what church should be.
Put another way--if you want to see what the church should be--look at Jesus.
I question if we have let "mission" define our existance as the American Church. If we were serious about mission--I bet the way we experience church would be incredilby different. It would be less about an experience where we all gather together for an "up" spiritual encounter and more about "losing your life" for the sake of the Gospel.
I would also agree that mission implies action. Jesus' implication of "being" as you wrote involves action too, as does knowing. Question--how do we know? American mindset tells us we sit and learn. Hebrew mindset tells us we live. Look at Jesus and the way He leads. He certainly does some teaching, but mostly, he lives alongside the people. They never understood what He said--but they learned to live in His Way by doing life with Him--by living with Him as He lived.
I love what you say about power! That, I would argue is one of THE biggest problems!
Let's talk more about that later. Perhaps what the church needs in order to become a true movement in American is decentralized leadership. Check out Ephesians 4:11. What could that leadership matrix look like?
Consider what is happening in China. No buildings, no Bibles, no pro-clergy, no centralized leaderhsip. It is a viral movement (with leadership--don't get me wrong). What they have going for them is DNA and no desire to control it. One network has more than 3 million believers.
How many churches do you know of in America that has 3 million "members?" What's more--take out their "leaders" and a new one instantly steps up. Amazing!
More on this to come.
Wasabi--
Isn't it interesting that the American Church is more concerned with indoctrinating people with church than leading them to Jesus? Isn't it interesting that most people, when they think church, think religion and not Jesus.
We need to get to the point that when people see or hear of Open Door, they see and are drawn to Jesus. That starts with us and the way that we live--now--today.
Unconventional,
You said:
"We need to get to the point that when people see or hear of Open Door, they see and are drawn to Jesus. That starts with us and the way that we live--now--today."
I agree. However, it needs to go much beyond today at an Open Door service for example. Just as you cannot tell a lot about an artist by seeing only one example of his or her work. Just as a good job interviewer asks a prospective employee to demonstrate good past performance in a variety of situations over an extended period of time. So people need to see Jesus in us in a variety of situations over an extended period of time. This is why attracting people to a church service alone just doesn't cut it.
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