Integrating Missionally

I found this link from my friend Steve Addison to an article by David Watson. A really interesting article to consider. Here are some excerpts.

1. What distinguishes a denomination or denomination-like church is the insistence that all related churches and any churches they start adhere to a particular and peculiar perspective and associated practices related to the Bible, as well as their particular church history.

2. All denominations and denomination-like churches exclude or minimize certain passages in the Bible and highlight other passages that support their views.

3. In almost all cases denominations and denominational-like churches will raise their historical extra-Biblical beliefs and church practices to the level of Scripture.

When we look at the attendance records of any given denomination, even in state church countries, we find that a small percentage of the population even attend any particular church.  In most cases this number is only 2 to 5 percent, even in countries with state churches.  Everyone who wants to go to a particular church is already attending.  Everyone else knows something about that church and chooses not to attend and not to be a part of organized and religious Christianity.

So, no matter what denominational stance is comfortable to you, it will only appeal to about 5% of the population, at most.  And everyone who is interested is already a member, most of whom only attend on special occasions.

So, what makes us think that any one denomination or even all denominations working for the Great Commission can succeed in reaching the world for Christ?  We have had 1600 years of denominational Christianity, and best case numbers of those who call themselves Christian put us roughly at 1/6^th of the world’s population.  And we know that only about 20% of so-called Christians ever participate in any kind of church on a regular basis.

Another barrier that results from denominationalism is that leaders must go through extensive educational and indoctrinational processes before they are qualified to lead.  This bottleneck precludes any hope of completing the Great Commission before another generation dies.  All the seminaries, theological schools and Bible schools combined cannot produce enough leaders to finish the task.  The denominational education and indoctrination processes make it impossible to fulfill the Great Commission.

When denominations forget their differences and get back to planting the Gospel instead of their doctrines, we may have a chance to complete the Great Commission.  When we turn to making Disciples of Christ instead of converts for our denominations, we may have a chance to complete the Great Commission.  Until then we will be doomed to repeat the mistakes of our forefathers.

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My friends at the Upstream Collective posted a note about their visit to a Taiwanese church on Sunday. The entire entry was interesting, but I found myself drawn to this particular thought:

We met Jerry, who introduced himself as a pastor. “What church are you the pastor of?” we asked. “Oh, I’m not the pastor of any church yet,” Jerry answered. “I’m the security guard of a large apartment building not far from here. I’m the pastor of all the people who live in that building.” Later, we learned that Jerry had only come to faith five months ago, and his wife, a former Buddhist who saw a radical change in her now-believing husband, decided to follow Christ as well.

For some reason we think that being a pastor means being on the staff of a church. Some people are also enamored with the title of pastor. It makes them feel important. But Jerry, well Jerry truly understands what “pastoring” is. He sees his “church” as all those who live where he works. He sees his job as a ministry. I suspect he sees his life as a ministry as well.

If only we could all adopt this mindset, what a difference the church could make in our world. Great job Jerry. We, in USAmerica, need more people like you.

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Taiwan. My wife and I considered going there in 1997 for a two year stint to help the missionary work there. While I haven’t been able to go, I have some friends who arrived there last Friday and will be there for about 10 days. They are getting the lay of the land and trying to connect churches in the States with mission opportunities in Taiwan.

Why would they do this? Well, there is a belief among many, and I am one of them, that the church is to be the primary missionary and the primary missions sending group. We do not need a missions board sending professionals to be missionaries. They can facilitate missions, but the church needs to be the primary sending agency. We Southern Baptist have gotten that all wrong, unfortunately.

So a group of friends are trying to help churches in the States connect with churches and people groups across the world so that they can take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. And they are doing a great job doing this.

My friends will be blogging about their journey over the coming days and I hope to provide thoughts on their journey.

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Talk a great game. Don’t play a great game. Don’t hate the game, hate the player.

Money and mouth go together. Game and player go together. Walking and talking go together.

I have wanted to be an enabler of entrepreneurs and do direct support of ministries overseas and at home. Now in a very tough economic situation, personally, I have decided to stop talking and start walking. And I want you to join me.

I have started a team on Kiva. Maybe you have heard of Kiva. Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe and their mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. Yesterday, I lent $25 to George Maiko Onyancha, a clothing salesmen in Kenya. He was asking for $675 to buy an embroidery machine and add to his stock of embroidery materials through Kenya Agency for Development of Enterprise and Technology (KADET), a partner of World Vision International. As of yesterday, he received the entirety of his loan and has a repayment schedule already in place. When I get paid back, I will re-invest that money in another entrepreneur, possibly with some additional funds.

I am asking you to join my team and make a loan to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses and get out of poverty.

But, wait, there’s more. I want to invite you to be part of our 2009-2010 Water Challenge.

Here is how it works:

Give it Up: Make water your only beverage…for 2 weeks.

Collect Your Savings: Take the money you would have spent on soda, juice, sports drinks, bottled water etc., and put it aside to give clean water. Collect your savings in a any container you wish.

Continue your sacrifice for 2 weeks: If you are heading toward the soda machine, head for the water fountain instead. If your family goes out to dinner and you usually order iced tea, ask for water. It’s free. You’ll be amazed at how the savings add up. Encourage your whole family to participate.

Give it Away: After 2 weeks, calculate the amount of money saved by your sacrifice and give water through The Water Project, Inc. It will be used to drill new water wells in Kenya or India…you choose!

I would like to start this on Monday, September 14, 2009 and have it go for two weeks, with money sent by September 30, 2009. It can be mailed as a check or sent via paypal. I would love to be able to send at least $100 to help provide clean water for people whose water we would refuse to drink. I actually think we do better than $100, but I’m being realistic. I’ll have more details on this soon.

In addition, every other month, 10% of my profits from Missional Press, my publishing company, will go to help support entrepreneurs at Kiva or projects like the Water Project. I ask you to join me.

Let’s let our mouth and money come together for a Christ-focused, missional impact of our world.

If you would like to join my Kiva team, please click here. If you would like to be part of the Water Challenge, leave a comment or contact me.

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We are the World! Today!

Three years ago, I started my doctoral work at George Fox Seminary. At the time, I told my wife that when I finishd my degree she could go next. I meant it, and now that I’m done, we are trying to figure out how to finance a PhD in Education through an accredited program that she can participate in from anywhere.

When people ask me what’s next, I always mention that and then say, “If and when Brenna is done, I want to go back and get a degree in global business.” I believe that the church in USAmerica needs people with a global perspective because the world is coming here and they are not melting into the pot but congregating in their own communities. We need people in the church that understand GLOBAL leadership, not Western church culture.

I found out today that the school where I got my doctorate is starting a Doctorate in Global Missional Leadership. The Global Missional Leadership DMin program “focuses on equipping Christian leaders in church, non-governmental organizations, and mission communities to confidently, to constructively, and to effectively carry out the mission of the gospel of Jesus Christ in an increasingly connected world.”

“Students engage in theological/biblical, historical, and sociological analysis of the emerging global culture to gain cultural and theological self-awareness. They do specialized research in topics such as consumerism, colonialism, the enviroment, and social justice. They gain skills in the use of online and mobil social media tools and they develop an international network of scholarly relationships through real-world experiences in Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia.”

The lead mentor in this cohort-based program is Jason Clark. Jason Clark serves as a full-time pastor of Vineyard Church Sutton in Sutton, London (UK), which he and his wife planted in 1997 while he was an investment broker in London. That church has grown to around 300 adults and 120 children, in an area of London where 1 percent of the population are connected to a church.

Dr. Clark also coordinates the Emergent UK online resource network. This network serves alongside Emergent in the United States and several other countries. He also directs the deepchurch.org.uk project and writes a blog that has a 2,500-member mailing list and has over 250,000 visits per year, that arises from his research area, teaching, and church experience.

He is a council member of the Evangelical Alliance UK.

Dr. Clark is an adjunct professor at George Fox Evangelical Seminary for the MA/MDiv modules on “Missional Ecclesiology.” He also lectures and teaches in other countries on a regular basis in the areas of church and culture. He is currently working on several book- writing projects and articles. These include two chapters in a book titled, “Christ and Postmodern Culture” for Baker Academic’s Church and Post-Modern Culture Series and a book coauthored with Dr. Andrew Walker on ‘Deep Church’ for Paternoster UK’s Faith in an Emerging Culture Series.

Jason completed his DMin at George Fox, and is now a PhD candidate at Kings College London, researching theological assessments of consumerism and secularism and the implications for ecclesiology.

The degree starts in January 2010, with the first advance (not retreats, we advance) to be held in Nairobi. Other advances will be held in Malaysia and Europe.

There is no other school in the country, maybe even the world, that is pursuing this kind of vision.

I have nothing but great things to say about George Fox and their leadership. Truth be known I would love to teach there! I would suggest that if you really want to get a handle on global ministry, you consider this option. I believe it will be well worth your investment, and that the kingdom may be impacted greatly by this endeaver.

For more information, go here: http://www.georgefox.edu/seminary/dmin/gml/index.html. It will be the begining of a journey that will change your life!

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