(e)mergent Voyageurs

Culture: Deeper Than Dance – Revelation 7:9-17

I was once visiting a church where a First Nations woman began to dance to the worship. A (white) woman leaned over and said, “Isn’t it just lovely when they dance around with their feathers? The church needs to encourage that sort of thing”. While this woman was sincerely genuine in intentions, too often our desire to see culture celebrated never goes beyond external novelties, requiring nothing of ourselves as the Church. We need to go deeper.

We have seen the initial contextualization of cultural expressions such as dance, music, clothing, tools, protocol, and so much more. Redeeming these aspects of culture has truly been an obedient response to God’s call upon our lives as believers. God is unfathomably pleased with us, His presence dwelling in the truly diverse worship of His people. We have come so far in such a short time it is amazing! However, we would be losing out on far more if we didn’t push in further. These steps, while important, are only brushing the surface.

As a new generation of leaders enter into service to God, not only must we understand and embrace the value of diversity He has imparted to our mission and to larger Body of Christ, we must go deeper, exploring aspects of culture that go beyond just external forms such as dance or clothing. Like the hidden practices and understanding of justice that I experienced God work through that night beneath Mt. Baker, within every culture, God has invested something unique of Himself. I believe that He does this intentionally, so that to truly know Him, we must embrace the uniqueness of all His created peoples. Let me repeat that, because it is important: To fully embrace God, we MUST embrace the diversity He has created in the people He created in His image.

Christian Traditions: Beyond “Inter-denominational” – 1 Corinthians 12:27-31

A few years ago, I had the rare privilege to spend some one on one time with His Grace, Adam Exner, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Vancouver Archdiocese. During our time together, we were discussed the recent trend of evangelicals making decisions to become members of more traditional churches, such as the Anglican, Orthodox and Roman Catholic. My own interest was peaked as, in the past few years, such Roman Catholic writers as Henri Nouwen, Jean Vanier, Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day had been having a decidedly positive impact on my faith.

Throughout my life, I have had the opportunity to hear a lot of cutting criticism and often blatantly false teaching, aimed at discrediting the Roman Catholic Church. One of the most frequent was the assertion that the Roman Church discourages personal relationship with God, as it undermined the authoritative grip of power the Church had on the people. And while I do not agree or endorse all the Roman Catholic Church represents (in the same way that I do not agree and endorse all that the Evangelical church represents), the Archbishop’s answer proved how much misunderstanding could be cleared away through simple dialogue and relationship.

Many people are describing the current age we live in as the post-denominational era. Some of the largest growing sectors of Christianity are the non- and inter-denominational congregations. This trend reflects a positive increase in unity within the Church, where differing theology, while still important, does not divide believers. This increased unity has created opportunity for incredible effectiveness in ministry and missions outreaches, their very diversity largely responsible.

However, rather than focusing on the sticky and complex issue of denominations within Christianity, we should emphasize the larger, differing traditions. Each of these traditions finds representation and expression within most every denomination. In his outstanding book, “Streams Of Living Water” (HarperCollins, 1998), Richard J. Foster separates them into six basic traditions: the Contemplative Tradition, the Holiness Tradition, the Charismatic Tradition, the Social Justice Tradition, the Evangelical Tradition and the Incarnational Tradition. Let me briefly outline the nature of these six traditions as Foster describes them.

The Contemplative Tradition constitutes the prayer-filled life, stressing biblical meditation. Reflective in nature, this tradition protects our faith from becoming too intellectual by recognizing the transcendent mystery of God. The Holiness Tradition is what Foster calls the “virtuous life”, where purity of heart guides righteous action. From the Charismatic Tradition we explore the empowered life with the Holy Spirit. Accompanied by a celebratory joy, this tradition offers us the ability to follow God into making the impossible possible. When we talk about the Social Justice Tradition, we mean the discovery of the compassionate heart of God. Here is where the prophetic voice speaks out against the failures and compromises in the world and Church, championing the plight of the oppressed. The Evangelical Tradition is one centred fully on the Word of God, emphasizing evangelism and personal relationship with Christ. And finally, the Incarnational Tradition is where we experience the divine sacramentally through the world around us, dissolving the false lines between the sacred and secular. Each of these traditions, working in harmony and unity, reflect the fullness of the Church God has called us to be. For further development, please read Foster’s indispensable book. (Visit Renovare for more info).

Whether we are part of a Christian organization, a local church or even as an individual, we cannot be satisfied with simply being open to the diversity existing in these traditions. It is not enough to appreciate and welcome others who may see things differently. Rather, we must pursue this diversity, learning from traditions that we are not familiar with, deliberately developing a fuller view of our faith, strengthening where we are weak and being a strength were others are weak. With the guiding foundation of biblical truth, as we are intentional about allowing these traditions to invest in our lives, churches and organizations, denominational issues will begin to disappear.

Part Three will examine an aspect of diversity that I think is centrally important to the Church- Gender.

emerging church

The five of us sat in the darkness of the night on the damp grass, the tense silence weighing heavily on each of our shoulders. In the distance, the occasional flash and rumble of lightening, simmering over the edge of Mount Baker, seem to reflect the storm of emotions on the verge of erupting within this small circle of people. We hardly noticed the sound of the Discipleship Training School (DTS) students behind us, as they celebrated their last night of the school. There was little sense of joy or celebration in this small assembly.

Our impromptu gathering was made up of two of my fellow DTS staff members, the school director and one student. The situation, which had brought us together, was a serious one. While on outreach in northern British Columbia, Canada, this student had fallen in love with a woman he had just met. Unknown to the outreach leaders, he had proposed marriage within days of meeting her, to which she had accepted. Unfortunately, the news came to our attention inadvertently during the final school debrief. We were here to find out what had happened.

Unavoidably, each one of us felt somewhat deceived, even betrayed. We felt that we had built relationships of trust and respect with this student. His passion for service and devotion to Jesus was evident and unquestionable, yet his failure to share such a significant event in his life, especially one that occurred on his missions outreach, undermined the confidence we had placed in him. Had he deliberately deceived us? Did he not trust us? Was he even sorry for what he had done? Emotions were high and my heart ached with the conflict that seemed so inevitable.

I did not have to wait long.

Up until this point, I had sat quietly listening to the exchange, occasionally asking specific questions, hoping to calm the situation, but to no avail. But as I prayed, I felt God speak clearly to my heart, “Apply what you’ve recently learned about culture.” Shocked, I asked the Lord for further understanding. I had not anticipated such an answer.

Over the previous few months I had been studying the cultural worldview of the Native people of North America, the First Nations people. Specifically, I had been examining their traditional views and understanding of justice (specifically “Returning to the Teachings”). I could not have been prepared for what I found. More than any formation of justice I had ever seen, short of the Biblical record, these values I studied were powerfully consistent with the concepts of justice, mercy and grace taught by Jesus Christ. In both understanding and practice, they embraced a justice that served the betterment of the whole people, with the ultimate desire to restore the wrongdoer to the community. And yet, historically, these people had been forced into abandoning their whole way of thinking and living, in the name of “Christian conversion”.

As I prayed that night in the dark, asking God for more guidance, He challenged me to apply the practical concepts of restorative justice that I had learned. He showed me that to resolve this situation, I needed to lay down my right to use my gifts of debate and logic, as well as my contention that we, as his leaders, were in the right. He showed me, through the values and practical models He had placed in the First Nations people, that what He cherished most was the heart of each individual there and their relationship to one another and to Him.

When I was able to jump in, I quietly requested if I could ask a few questions. Up to this point, as school staff, we had been sitting on a low, stone wall, facing the student who sat on the ground. While there was no specific intention in the seating, I walked closer to the student and sat down in front of him, slightly to the side. I wanted to be on the same level as him, not to appear as though I was sitting above him in judgment in any way, intentional or not. I waited a few seconds before speaking, letting the silence calm us all.

I do not remember all that I said that night, but I remember calmly asking questions of this student, my friend. In an attempt to both understand where he was coming from and guide him to the understanding of our position on his own, I avoided making any finalized statements or judgment of the situation. Before long, he had quietly assented that not only had he been wrong in not telling us, but had honestly not intended to deliberately deceive us. In truth, he said, he was afraid. Suddenly, as these words left his mouth, his face twisted with grief.

Through out the school, this young man had shown very little external emotion. Even when he learned of the death of a beloved family member during the school, we saw little more than the straight-faced sadness of his mourning. However, in that moment, when we calmly talked our way into the heart of the issue, he began to weep. He poured out his heart and tears before both us and God. He shared for the first time of relational mistakes he had made in the past. Not wanting to have repeated those painful mistakes again, he had become defensive to our challenges.

He interpreted our questioning as a statement of disapproval of the marriage, when in fact we were simply challenging his lack of communication and openness. We interpreted his defensiveness as a stubborn refusal to accept responsibility, when in fact he was rightfully defend the integrity of intentions. We were both wrong. It was then that we understood that his reaction to our harsh inquiries was not rooted in being “caught” deceiving us, but rather out of the terrifying prospect of repeating those things he had so adamantly vowed to never do again. When we understood this, our attitude changed from anger and hurt to compassion and love. Within minutes, everyone was asking for forgiveness for wrong emotions or judgments that had surfaced, as well as the failures that brought about this situation in the first place.

There in the darkness I wept. I did not weep so much for the obvious work God was doing in this young man’s life, though it gave me great joy. I was weeping at the revelation that the beauty of this truth, that had transformed this situation- a revelation that seemed so new to me, so far outside my worldview- had been hidden, neglected and openly rejected by Christians through their treatment of the indigenous peoples. For God had hidden that aspect of His character in a unique and powerful way within the culture of the First Nations people. It was there for the entire world to discover if ONLY they were to embrace and learn from these children of God.

Diversity is an increasingly important value within the emerging church movement. This commitment to diversity, not only in EC, but also increasingly in the Body of Christ, is a positive reflection of the health and growth of Christianity in the world. God is calling us even deeper. As this emerging generation of leaders takes their place in missions and ministry, it will be our responsibility to explore the next level of the diversity that God is calling us to.

There are threer major areas that I would like to consider as we strive to enter into this fuller diversity: Culture, Christian Traditions, and Genders. While there are many factors to consider, the development of these three aspects of diversity is key to reaching the unreached world. In an increasingly small world, where change is occurring at an unprecedented rate, these areas are necessary for us to be prepared to respond to the challenges coming.

I will explore each of these factors in upcoming posts.

emerging church

When I heard that novelist Anne Rice, author of the famous Vampire Chronicles, was writing a novel about the early years of Jesus Christ, I was skeptical. When I read that it was being written in first person from Jesus own perspective, I was intrigued. I had heard that Rice had returned to the Roman Catholic faith of her youth in the late 1990′s, but had not followed her life or writing in several years. I picked up the hardcover “Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt” on my way out to YWAM Vancouver for a week of teaching, expecting an interesting, if not provocative read.

As is my habit, I stayed away from interviews and reviews until I had read the book, wanting to experience the work with as few preconceived ideas as possible. However, with an author such as Rice, it was hard not to expect, well not the worst, as Rice is an excellent writer and a phenomenal historical researcher- I expected something else. As anyone familiar with so much of the material out there that would undermine the nature, character or very historicity of Christ, you’ll understand my cynical expectations. What I found in those pages, however, was something far more beautiful. I discovered a very real Jesus, a man, a Messiah, the Son of God.

And so, echoing the ancient story of Israel emerging out of exile, we follow the young Jesus as He journeys to a home He has never seen.  Throughout these life altering events, we begin to see glimpses of the power that Jesus is only vaguely beginning to understand.  I recognized many of the stories from extra-Biblical sources, which is sure to stir some discontent from more conservative Christian readers.  I would encourage such readers to keep reading, as I do not believe that they undermine the integrity of the story or of Jesus.  Even Rice acknowledges that these including the material was based on “assumption”, but felt it was crucial to the deeper truth of the story.  And I agree.

As the family travels through the Holy Land, we are introduced to a deeply politically, spiritually and historically wounded people in the midst of civil unrest.  Simultaneously, we begin to understand what it means to be a Jew in that day.  With so much of the material on the “historical” Jesus being so ruthlessly geared to undermine Jesus divinity, purpose, being, etc., Rice accomplishes what few have- to present a fully Jewish (fully human) Jesus of His era, yet equally divine, rooted in the fullness of the Judeo-Christian story.

In the authors notes at the end of the book, Rice shares briefly of the journey she took in bringing this book to being.  It reveals the depth of study that she delved into (and continues even today) to do everything in her power to tell the truest story she could.  To her credit, she read every source she get her hands on, openly expecting to have her image of Jesus distorted.

However, it was through genuine study that she became even more deeply convinced and committed in her belief of Christ.  (As a side note, Rice credits N.T. Wright as the most positive and influential voices of these studies).  So truly has this impact changed her that Rice says she could not return to her former subject matter.  While she does not condemn her previous works, as they reflect her journey towards faith that many readers shared (myself included), she know that she could not go back.  Rice has 3 or 4 more volumes in this series that I am already eagerly anticipated.

In the end, I believe that this book represents one of the best “fictional” presentations of Jesus I have ever encountered.  I do not hesitate a moment in recommending it as a must read for all Christians who want to know Jesus in a deeper and truer way, rooted in His rich Jewish culture and history, as well as the ancient-future vision of God’s Kingdom.

Don’t wait for the paperback.  Get it today.

As I recently began to read “Emerging Churches” by Eddie Gibbs & Ryan K. Bolger (a book Andrew Jones calls “the best book on the emerging church”), I noted that, like most of the conversation, study, etc. on the emerging church, the emphasis was largely on the American (or British) context. While there is a great deal still to glean from these materials, I am continually realizing how much of the content (or perhaps the emphasis) does not always translate well to the Canadian context. This got me thinking (a dangerous pastime, I know).

One key difference between Canada & the United States that, I believe, deeply informs the emphasis of the emerging church is our ideas about national pride. Typical stereotypes would say that Americans are highly patriotic, while Canadians are not. I believe this is an inadequate view of things. In fact, what often passes for patriotism in the US is, in fact, nationalism. Here is how I am (roughly) defining the two:

emerging church