Embarking

There is really no way to capture the passion we just heard from Christine Caine in notes on a blog.  This is a woman who, as she said, is still “old-school enough” to truly believe that that Jesus is the hope of the world.  She challenged us to live into this moment – our moment in which there are great needs in the world and to step up and be the church that God longs for.

I was moved when Christine was telling a story in which she was challenged by a woman who was just being rescued from sex trafficking slavery who said, “If what you’re saying about your God is true, why didn’t you come earlier?”  She said this amazing statement, and one we should all reflect deeply on:

It is not that God did not hear your cry; but I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to hear it.  I honestly cannot think of anything in my life that was so important that I shouldn’t have come earlier.

There is a great challenge – not only in terms of human sex trafficking – but in all the ways that God’s heart breaks for his world.  Isn’t it true that we are so often so busy with so many things that are merely much ado about nothing and are neglecting the very deep things that moved the Father to send Jesus into the world in the first place?

Towards the end of her talk, Christine talked about hope.  She talked about how courageous her little 4 year old becomes in the middle of darkness with a simple flashlight in her hand – with that little light, she’ll go in darker.  While they were in Walmart buying a flashlight, her daughter said, “Mommy, can we please go find some darkness?”  It doesn’t take much light to dispel the darkness, it simply takes the courage to step in for “Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.”

One of the interesting things that Dr. Tim Keller said at the North American Network gathering for City to City was something like the following:

“The reason secularists are afraid of Christians is their belief that if we get in power, we will take everyone else’s freedoms away.”

I found this to be an interesting and enlightening comment.  I’m not sure the word “afraid” hits it quite right, but what Keller is getting at is that Christians are often not great “citizens” in the secular society because of our propensity towards creating a government which takes things away from people – rights, civil liberties, freedom of belief, etc.  I’m not sure this has happened in recent history in any way of significance, but the threat is certainly there from the Christian Right.  The sense that, if Christians would be placed into major political positions of power, we would use our power to estrange others of different beliefs is palpable in at least the rhetoric.  The interesting thing about this is that certainly, any political group lobbying for power hopes in someway to use that power to leverage their beliefs for their version of the good of the country.  I’m not so sure that Christians are all that different in this political sense than any other idealogical group.  However, my deeper question (and possibly Keller’s) is whether there is another way to approach cities, politics, and the social sphere in general from a Christian perspective or from Christian values and beliefs.

There are lots of questions wrapped in whether and how Christians should be involved in politics.  And historically, there are any number of ways in which Christians have approached the public realm, from ruling and reigning to fomenting revolution to isolation.  Today, Christians can be found on the left, on the right, in the middle, and on the outskirts.   What I appreciated, though, about Keller’s comments was that it is disturbing that our neighbors and fellow citizens would be worried about persecution and oppression under a Christian lead government.  That’s enlightening when we think about it deeply.  I realized that I’m afraid of many of the Christians I know getting into the political realm for the same reasons.  So, Keller asks, why don’t our neighbors think we love them?  Why don’t people in the city think we love their city?  If we are truly loving our neighbors as ourselves and seeking the welfare of the city (and country), why would that be threatening?  Is it the confusion in their hearts and minds, or is it in something we have done? (my bias is that it’s something we are responsible for more than anything… cf. the wonderful book UnChristian by Gabe Lyons and David Kinnaman).

I’ve been reading the book To Change the World by James Davison Hunter, which is a fascinating book on culture, history, power, Christianity, and change.  In that book, I think it’s chapter 5, Hunter shares some history of the relationship between Christians and political movements.  One of his arguments (to be really simplistic) is that when the cultural elites are truly converted and lead with humanity in mind through true care for the poor, estranged, and powerless that Christianity has been the most effective in cultural change.  Though I haven’t heard enough on Keller, I think this is where he’s pointing.  How do you impact the cultures of power and ideas while maintaining a heart for true justice and care for all humanity?

Jesus said this in his inauguration into ministry in Luke 4, quoting from the Isaiah 61 vision:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

One of the questions here is how this message and mission of Jesus – the good news – is being missed by our culture when Christians try to enter into the public realm?

I think Keller’s right.  We don’t know how to enter the public discourse, and often aren’t allowed into the public discourse as Christians because of our reputation.  We do need a new apologetic that arises out of the message and mission of Jesus for a new humanity, rooted in love and redeemed by love, for all people.

Again, we return to love, the gospel of love, the message of love, the heart of love, the approach of love, the words of love, the power of love, the conviction of love, the character of love, the way forward through love.  Love.  Jesus.  Simple.

What would a politics or public discourse of love look like, feel like, and sound like?  What if the world looked to Christians and said instead, “We would love to have you at the table because we know if you were in power, more people would experience the true freedom that love brings.”

I’ve had about 10 books going for awhile, and I’m trying of focus on finishing one at a time. I just finished reading The New Monasticism: What it has to say to the church, “an insider’s perspective” by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove. I’ve mentioned the new monasticism before, and I have a lot of respect for what they’re trying to do. The New Monasticism movement reminds me a little bit of the way George Hunger III described St. Patrick’s monastic project in the Celtic Way of Evangelism (a fabulous book, and a must read as far as I’m concerned.)  He talked about how the early missionary monks to the Celts moved into their cities and rural sprawl and created a kind of monastic island in the middle of these people.  These monastic communities had a strict rule of life, served the people in their community, offered hospitality to strangers, and sought to transform a culture from the inside out.

I really appreciate the 12 Marks of the New Monasticism.  Hartgrove gives a good basic understanding of how monastics have been a part of renewal in the church throughout various centuries.  He writes about how monastics seek not to separate from the church or become an alternative, but to bring renewal and reformation to the church by returning to some key roots such as hospitality, sharing all things in common, prayer, and serving others.  This is how Hartgrove begins, by sounding the call, “the church in America isn’t living up to what it’s supposed to be.  Somehow we’ve lost our way.”  The point of monastic movements is to remind the church of its true identity, and that’s true for the New Monastics as well.

I had a fabulous conversation with a gentleman from my church recently who’s feeling the same way.  He loves the church, and yet he feels like the church in America missing the point of the mission at so many levels by putting money and energy into too many things that are not the heart of the reasons for the church in the world on God’s mission.  In his words, “We’ve so boughten into the American dream, that we’ve forgotten what the church is supposed to be.”  Hartgrove writes about this very thing.

What’s unique about this movement is that it takes seriously the renewal of the church and the ancient practices of monasticism in a way that is both inclusive of married couples and families and is also deeply embedded within the cultures of this world, particularly urban settings.  These settings are often referred these days by many of us as “abandoned places of the empire,” referring to those places, particularly urban, that have been deeply affected by the contemporary empire’s of consumerism and progress.  I’ve appreciated everything I’ve read and heard from the many in this movement and am already seeing how they are affecting the church in dramatic ways, Shane Claiborne being one of the key players here.

The New Monastics have also, like many people I respect, been deeply influenced by John Perkins.  Years ago, I sent some students to learn from Perkins and his community, and it was a life-changing experience for many of them.  Particularly, his 3 R’s are foundational (Relocation, Redistribution, and Reconciliation) for only only the New Monastic movement, but for other renewal thinkers in the urban settings as well (ie. Christian Community Development Association).  The other thing I deeply value is people like this who are able to speak intelligently and passionately about justice issues, poverty, and concern for the least of these while also maintaining some of the evangelical commitments of the Scripture.  More and more voices are emerging that are neither conservative nor liberal, fundamentalist nor mainline, republican nor democrat but hold together the biblical truths which cross such narrow, dualistic, and truncated views of the Scripture.

Good read for anyone who is thinking about the emerging church, renewal of the church and culture, poverty, urban ministry, community, and what some consider a more “radical” Christianity, which I think is probably closer to the identity of the early church than many of the churches in America today.

These are some of my notes from the third part of the fifth session of the Willow Creek Leadership Summit.

“The very people who should have been protecting us were our attackers.”

These are some of my notes from the second part of the fifth session of the Willow Creek Leadership Summit.

These are some of my notes from the first part of the fifth session of the Willow Creek Leadership Summit.  Thanks to Louis who helped me with this session while I answered a pager call.

Third culture is about adaptation.  Third culture is pain and discomfort because we interact with those who are different.  The Great Commandments are about third culture.

Third culture leaders go after the misfits more than the masses.

• FAILURE IS SUCCESS to God
• Your failure, your pain, is your platform to humanity, it is what the World connects to you on it is what gives quality to your voice for the generation to connect to you
• Most of the world doesn’t understand America’s success, but they will understand suffering, maybe suffering is success
• Do we set aside time to listen to people’s story?
• Gifts are important and skills, but our narrative is key
• Walk slowly, see the people
• Do I see them?  Do I have the eyes of a follower?
• Weakness will guide us more than our strengths
• We often worry about how to quantify a vision… DON’T we already have a vision?  LOVE GOD LOVE NEIGHBOR
• RELATIONSHIPS TRUMP VISION!
• You can’t have great vision without a great relationship with God
• Jesus only did what he saw his father doing (JOHN 5)
• We need more relationaries not visionaries
• People to walk for a while people to talk for a while, where you feel the vibe
• Best discipleship happens with life on life not a process or program

Third culture leaders have a different set of metrics.

• CHANGE PRIORITIES
• Hang out with people different than us
• Read people different than us

Third culture leaders know that obedience is more important than passion.

4 Acts of Obedience of a Third Culture Leader

1. Deeper Collaboration
2. Communal LIving
3. Prayer
4. Radical sacrifice for the outsider

Had a little time to read tonight the draft of the final call of the IV Summit of Religious Leaders in Rome on June 16 – 17 , 2009 on the occasion of the G8 Summit in L’Aquila, Italy.  Here are some of the highlights of the call to the world’s most powerful and richest nations, including of course, the US.

• We, leaders of the worlds religions and spiritual traditions gathered in Rome on the eve of the G8 Summit of 2009, are united in our common commitment to justice and the protection of human life, the building of the common good and the belief on the divinely established and inviolable dignity of all people from conception to death.
• In a time of economic crisis when many securities are crumbling, we feel even more acutely the need for spiritual orientation.
• We are using the term “security” in a new way… the wellbeing of each is related to the wellbeing of others and to our environment.
• The current financial and economic crisis weighs most heavily upon the poor.
• In continuity with previous world religious summits we continue to call for the fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals.
• …we call for nations to resist making war a means of international politics and to make every effort to establish a just peace for all.
• We request the G8 Summit to pursue rigorous implementation of nuclear reduction and nonproliferation policies leading to the goal of total nuclear disarmament.

It is good to see some cooperation between religious leaders, including Christian leaders, continuing to make the call for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, commitment to justice, care for the world’s poor, resistance of materialism, a call to seek spiritual answers and orientation, the call for peace and nonviolence, commitment to the Millenium Development Goals, and the value of human life and dignity.  I found it interesting in light of my last post the focus once again upon an understanding of security in terms of “global” security and interdependence rather than merely the security of particular groups and/ or countries.

Instead of making progress on hunger globally, indicators show that the hunger crisis around the world is increasing – one out of every 6 people.  Take a look at these statistics (for more information, read this article or this one:

• World hunger is projected to reach a historic high in 2009 with 1,020 million people going hungry every day.
• “A dangerous mix of the global economic slowdown combined with stubbornly high food prices in many countries has pushed some 100 million more people than last year into chronic hunger and poverty,” said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf.
• The number of hungry people increased between 1995-97 and 2004-06 in all regions except Latin America and the Caribbean. But even in this region, gains in hunger reduction have been reversed as a result of high food prices and the current global economic downturn.
• The urban poor will probably face the most severe problems in coping with the global recession, because lower export demand and reduced foreign direct investment are more likely to hit urban jobs harder. But rural areas will not be spared. Millions of urban migrants will have to return to the countryside, forcing the rural poor to share the burden in many cases.
• While food prices in world markets declined over the past months, domestic prices in developing countries came down more slowly. They remained on average 24 percent higher in real terms by the end of 2008 compared to 2006. For poor consumers, who spend up to 60 percent of their incomes on staple foods, this means a strong reduction in their effective purchasing power. It should also be noted that while they declined, international food commodity prices are still 24 percent higher than in 2006 and 33 percent higher than in 2005.
• The number of hungry has increased from 825 million people in 1995-97, to 857 million in 2000-02 and 873 million in 2004-06.

I’m saddened that in a world with such forward thinking, progress, innovation, resources, and abilities that hunger worldwide continues to be on the increase.  What’s interesting to me (among a lot of things) is the interaction between poverty, globalism, trade, and their relationship to security.  Often we seem so concerned about security, and yet we miss the potential problem with such glaring numbers of people in poverty.  I don’t want, though, to regress to merely caring for the poor and hungry because we’re afraid they might revolt against global consumerism (and hence global consumerists), and I would hope that we could find it in our hearts to actually care for the poor and hungry who are our fellow human beings – our brothers and sisters.

A good and challenging Christian book that looks at issues of poverty, greed, globalism, and security  and asks some great questions (not so sure about the answers) is Brian McLaren’s Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crisis, and a Revolution of Hope.

If you don’t know about One, it’s a global advocacy and campaigning organization backed by more than 2 million people from around the world dedicated to fighting extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa.  I recently read the One Data Report, which is an accountability report following the progress (or lack thereof) of countries seeking to go after the United Nations’ Millienium Development Goals for Africa.  I want to encourage you to read both the Millenium Development goals if you never have, to encourage and follow their progress, and to follow One as well.  Here are some of the MDG’s and some measureable targets:

Goal 1: To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

• Target:  Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day)
• Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people
• Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

Goal 2: To achieve universal primary education

• Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling

Gaol 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

• Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality

• Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate

Goal 5: Improve maternal health

• Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio
• Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria & other diseases

• Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
• Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

• Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources
• Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss
• Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation
• By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

• Address the special needs of the least developed countries, landlocked countries and small island developing states
• Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system
• Deal comprehensively with developing countries’ debt
• In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries
• In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications

The One Data Report focuses primarily on the progress that the G8 (and other) countries are making on their promises to financial commitments for aid, particularly to Africa, in pursuit of the MDG’s.  This report is particularly focused on the Gleneagle’s Summit of the G8 in Scotland in 2005 where leaders focused on Africa and climate change. They agreed to double aid to Africa and to eliminate outstanding debts of the poorest countries. As outlined in the Gleneagles communiqué the G8 nations agreed together to increase aid to developing countries by around $50 billion a year by 2010. Of this, at least $25 billion would go to Africa.  The One Data Report looks particularly at these commitments.  Here are some highlights from One’s Data Report 2009:

• “It is unfortunately true that when the rich become less rich, the poor become even poorer.”  One of the important things noted in the report is that the global economic crisis, while hurting the rich and middle class of the world, hurts the impoverished and hungry in an even more alarming way.
• “As capital inflows dwindle and access to credit becomes more difficult, we not only have a shared responsibility to ensure that the poorest are protected from the devastating impact of the crisis, but also that this opportunity to move towards a more sustainable economic development model is seized.”  There are some powerful thoughts here that I agree with.  The first is that we are all dealing with the financial pinch and with being out of control.  Our tendency might be to immdediately become self-protecting, without thinking of those who are more vulnerable than we are.  Secondly, there is an opportunity in this crisis to face our penchant for greed and the riches of this world, to confess it, and to creatively imagine a more sustainable, biblical world of justice, peace, and sharing of resources.  The bible certainly makes the case for both the care of the vulnerable and poor as well as the radical redistribution of wealth.  Maybe this global crisis is the wake-up call we need.  There is certainly a danger in recovery that we will forget and miss the opportunity to see what God may be saying to us about our interdependence and our responsibility to our brothers and sisters around the world.
• “The evidence is that aid, used accountably by governments acting in the interests of their people and in an open manner, can make a measureable, positive difference, contributing to better educated, healthy and employed men and women.”  Though I’m generally skeptical of what government can accomplish, and I’ve had reservations about the effectiveness of global aid (maybe later we can talk about that…) I was surprised to see the measurable positive effect that aid to Africa has been making.  Government cannot solve our problems.  God is our King, our Providor, and our salvation.  It is true, though, that God uses governments and blesses the nations whose hearts follow his.  Read the goals above again.  Do any of them reflect the heart of God?  Might he bless the UN if it’s heart beat is his?
• “African citizens have used the ODA (Official Devlepment Assistance) flows that have been delivered to provide AIDS treatment to nearly 3 million people, to dramatically reduce deaths from malaria and to help put 34 million more children in school.  Sub-Saharan Africa’s economies on average expanded by 5.4% in 2008; for the first time in more than 45 years, the continent’s growth has exceeded 5% for five consecutive years.”
• I was pleased and suprised to see that the US has not only met its commitments at Gleneagle’s, but has surpassed them and will likely meet the goals sometime in 2009 ahead of schedule.  It was interesting to learn that France and Italy were the countries that are far behind their goals and commitments.  Now, having said that, the US commitments were much more modest in terms of actual percentage of Gross National Income.  One of the things I realized in reading this was the way that the G8 countries can a) challenge another accountable to high commitments, and b) hold one another accountable.  I loved the tenor of the report in its sense that even if some countries meet their goals, if the whole fail, then they all fail together.  There is a real sense of mutual responsibility that I like.  It’s also important to look at such things as global trade percentages as well.  (Some will advocate for “Trade not Aid,” but I would advocate for both until a more balanced global economy emerges, if that’s possible.  The reason some advocate for Trade not Aid is because a 1% increase in trade for Sub-Saharan Africa in 2007 was worth $119 billion, which was more than 3 times the total amount of ODA.  Trade can be more powerful, but again, that may be only for the rich and middle class in Africa as well.)

That’s probably enough to chew on for now.  If (like me) you’re really interested in this stuff, you can read a more indepth analysis of the full UN Millenium Development Goals in The Millenium Development Goals Report 2008.

I just finished reading A Magna Carta for Restoring the Supremacy of Jesus Christ aka A Jesus Manifesto for the 21st Century Church by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola.  I enjoyed reading it, and many things resonated with me.  Apart from potentially being a marketing tool to sell more books possibly suggested by the publishers (my cynic is always present), the manifesto essentially highlights the importance of Jesus the Christ over and above anything in his name – be it justice, being missional, good works, laws or any other thing.  It is a reminder that Jesus it the one important thing, not anything else.  True.  I think what stood out for me were a couple of phrases:

Christianity is the “good news” that Beauty, Truth, and Goodness are found in a person.

This connects to what I’ve always said that truth is relational rather than (or superceding) being objective.  Jesus – as a member of the Trinity – is truth, and truth is personal.

We believe that the major disease of the church today is JDD: Jesus Deficit Disorder.  The person of Jesus is increasingly politically incorrect, and is being replaced by the language of “justice,” “the kingdom of God,” “values,” and “leadership principles.”

I agree with this in principle, but also want to make the point that much of the [evangelical] church has for far too long ignored issues of justice and particularly the gospel focus on kingdom.  Some of the strong language in these directions is to recapture the biblical messages of Jesus in a more holistic fashion.  Agreed that Jesus himself is the point, but because he is the point, his kingdom and justice are important.  I’m not as big a defender of “values” and “leadership principles,” although I certainly do have both, and the bible speaks to both as well.

The center and circumference of the Christian life is none other than the person of Christ.

Those of you who know my story of conversion to Christ know that Paul’s statement in Colossians that “in Christ all things hold together” means a great deal to me both existentially and philosophically.

Christians don’t follow a book.  Christians follow a person, and this library of divinely inspired books we call “The Holy Bible” best help us follow that person.

Well said.  Many people never get through the book to Jesus the Christ.

Christians don’t follow Christianity; Christians follow Christ.