Exploring The Community Coming To Be Known As Missional - 3rd & Final
In an attempt to further develop the ideas I articulated in my article, "The Community Coming To Be Known As Missional", I have been exploring it in more detail what I did and did not mean. I am examining each section, trying to share the heart of what I hoped to communicate, where I think it should go or how it should look and why it is important to me. Here is Part 3:
"We are the Community Coming To Be Known As Missional. Each among us is our leader, each among us is led. We honour the diversity of our community by leading from along side or beneath, not from above. Every gifting, perspective, experience and individual is valued equally, not according to position or power. Each among us is our teacher, each among us a student. We honour the wisdom of every individual, especially those on the margins, as Christ Himself identified with their trials."
I am not advocating anarchy or anti-establishmentism, but rather challenging how worldy models of power and hierarchy based authority have usurped God's intended community of mutuality, service and humility. Not surprisingly, the world is beginning to see the wisdom in this, impacting science, business, government, etc. embracing truly Biblical values with stunning positive impact. Recognizing that there are times people need leadership, the nature and excerise of the leadership can be very different than what we are used to.
We recognize that when one leads it does not reflect on their value nor on the value of those who follow. While we would give lip service to such beliefs, (again) in practice it doesn't always seem to happen. Language of "roles","giftings" and "equal but different" can be used to subtly determine who can and cannot lead based on a positional power-based model. We then see language like "anointing" and "chosen" to defend position or silence protest. "Submission" can be robbed of its beauty when used as a weapon to control in worst cases.
Finally, while not creating an equal opposite to this problem by elevating them to sacrosanct level, we acknowledge that those on the margins have much to teach us. By this I am not suggesting that they are better suit to teach or lead (though in some cases that is true), but rather that in relating with them in love and service, the challenges it raises teaches more deeply than any sermon ever could. Those challenges will stem from their sin and brokenness- trust me, many of the poor would not think twice about accepting a gift with one hand, while stealing with the other (sounds like some businesses I know...) and/or they will stem from our own sin and brokenness- such as our complicity with consumerism and individualism or our abandonment of our vocation of missional justice to the state.
"We celebrate the differences amongs, even that which we cannot reconcile, not in denial of the absolute, but in the gift of humility that those differences require of us. Without denying our differences, we no longer allow them to categorize us or divide us. It is in the diversity that the image of God is most fully reflected in and through us."
This is not the uncritical tolerance that denies absolutes, but the unconditional love that is absolute. It recognizes that, as important as issues of doctrine and theology are, if we define our relationships and missional commitment upon that exchange, we miss the heart of the Gospel. Jesus said He IS the Truth and that Truth will be found (not exclusively) in our missional engagement with the world and service to the other.
We do not embrace uncertainty with the pride of enlightened postmoderns, but humbly in our acknowledgement that Scripture, history and our lives demonstrate time and again that God's people get it wrong. Yes, this is a dangerous tension to live with, but the false safety of taking refuge in the extreme- be it easy relativism or unmovable fundamentalism- will only kill the seeds of hope that we are called sow. Again, our differences and how we respond to them in loving and godly ways is a reflection of the Trinitarian nature of the God in whose image we are created.
"We are the Community Coming To Be Known As Missional, but we are not there yet. We acknowledge our weakness and foolishness, as it is the weakness and foolishness of God. We are flawed, broken, proud and afraid. While we are committed to becoming this community without apology, we acknowledge that our becoming is dependant on the whole Body of Christ. While we believe we have something to offer the whole Church- something critical and prophetic- we also acknowledge that we need them equally as much. Above all, we need God- Father, Son and Spirit- to complete in us what we are created to be."
Finally, and most importantly, we end where we began. We are moving towards something on a path that is somewhat unfamiliar to us. We are not masters of our domain, but travellers in a journey towards God (voyageurs, in other words). We are daring, bold and commited on the one hand, but often pushy, cocky and stubborn on the other, for which there is no excuse. Sometimes, however, our foolishness and weakness are the keys to truly being missional- like the shared brokenness of a 12-step program, we don't have to have it all together before God loves us or we love each other. What a hope for the world to see!
Some may not feel as strongly as me on this point, but I deeply believe that the best future for this community will emerging alongside the traditional church, seeing both sides informed and guided by the other. Most of us would not be where we are without the traditional church, sometime for worse, but more often for better I think. We need each other.
In the end, though, no model, theology, value system or manifesto will truly change anything. Only by the grace of God, through the power of the Holy Spirit will any lasting good be birthed from this shared journey towards becoming the community known as missional.
Anything to add? Fire away!
Emerging Church, Missional
I think you are right in this. I think this is particularly important and challenging in the US given the polarization, both theologically and politically, that is rooted in the nations history. This is not a criticism of the US, but a reality that must be acknowledge if the church is going to be intention in both its emerging and traditional forms to move forward together. Thanks!
Peace,
Jamie (Comment this)
So much can, and has been said about living together in community. And so many people that are broken are mostly looking for value and identity. Even those claiming Christ are messed up and confused. The body has a responsibility to all the members of that body. If even one digit is neglected the whole body suffers.
The idea of servanthood and leadership is a complicated one, it seems. But my thought is that each person must be accountable and being discipled by someone; all the while, discipling and holding someone else accountable. It is this chain of many links. I have found that when we are together in community, the need for a "master-leader" is not necessary. Our culture, and our world in general, has created a mode of operation that says you must have a "head-honcho". And the pecking order begins there. I am saying that in true community, we are all of great value.
This leads to your point of diversity. While I recognize that not all people are in a position to lead or make serious decisions, their being matters. My life would be incomplete without the tragedy and junk that I have faced. I would not be able to relate to people as a shepherd if did not have those experiences in my life. A group of people who do not value diversity is a social club. And when I say diversity, I don't simply mean skin color. I mean the socially outcast, the poor in spirit, the wealthy, and whoever else. I'm talking about the stinking alcoholic sitting next to the bank president; and that not being an issue. I am sorry for the length...maybe I should break it up...but you have struck a cord of passion for me. I hope to continue this dialogue. Thanks Jamie (Comment this)
LOL! Feel free to comment as many times as you like. This space is designed for it and I welcome it.
I agree that there needs to discipleship structures in place, as long as they are relationally driven, not hierarchically structured. There will be times when the disciplers will need to be discipled, even by those not "above" them. Reading your thoughts on this, I think you would like the excellent book "The Starfish & The Spider"- a must read.
I really appreciate your passion about all this and look forward to further dialogue.
Peace,
Jamie (Comment this)
What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make and end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from.
and
With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this
Calling
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time. (Comment this)
Well said. Thanks!
Peace,
Jamie (Comment this)
So much is said about "the priesthood of all believers" but it is difficult to find this in reality. The depth of your further development of this first point is incredible stuff. Even in our attempts at leveling the ground in leadership & ministry, we can subconsciously reinforce a hierarchy (e.g., "Well, conveniently, my gifts just happen to be better suited to putting me in charge.").
What is extraordinarily difficult for those of us in full-time vocational ministry is figuring out our place in all of this. My wife and I have really wrestled with these questions: If we want to be a part of this kind of community, what will be our place (if any), as vocational pastors, in it? Certainly, we are all called to shepherd, care for, guide, encourage and counsel one another. Will these kind of "flattened" communities eliminate the need for vocational pastors, or just radically change the concept of pastoring (as if that were a small thing)? This gets at the core of not only our calling, but how we are to support our family (if we step out of the role of paid staff).
As someone who is in a very traditional Presbyterian setting (for better and for worse), I am encouraged by your openness to work side-by-side. Indeed, the only way forward for all of us is to continue listening to one another with humility and generosity. (Comment this)
As my wife & I do this as a vocational ministry as well, the same question faces us. I am becoming more hopeful, however, that there is still room for those us with this calling. The dynamics of those roles will change and perhaps there might be fewer of us in the end, but I truly believe that some are called to it. Even the conviction that it is a "vocation" in the Catholic sense of the word suggests this possibility.
It will mean a reshaping of our roles, our concepts and practice of authority, etc. Further, as we do community differently (radically so, in fact), many of the challenges that would make vocational ministry costly (both financially and otherwise) will significantly diminish. So much of the expense of life comes as a result of living in the individualistic and materialistic culture of the West.
I am glad you brought this up as it is something I am going to have to develop further in the weeks to come. In the end, I believe that there needs to be mutual shaping by those ideas of what could be with the reality of what has been and currently is. Evolution is as powerful as revolution, often with fewer casualties.
Peace,
Jamie (Comment this)
Let's do it!
Peace,
Jamie (Comment this)
I am so glad that my posts both encouraged and challenged you. It was my intention to do so without offending. I understand your feelings towards some of the other posts in the series, but sometimes, out of wounded honesty, we can see through the words to the heart of those who have been hurt. I pray that is the fruit that is born from this series.
Peace,
Jamie (Comment this)