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  • Mark 10:58 am on May 28, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

    Theology: The language of “Shut up and DO Something!” 

    I’ve met my fair share of religious types here in Chicago.  There are certain spiritual gurus that make their religion about words.  Rastafaris say that “isms are for schisms,” (I LOVE that!) but much of their religious convictions revolve around their commitments to their vocabulary, which they believe can actually heal disease and end war.  A friend of mine is considering baptism and beginning a relationship with God, and is confused because he heard a friend (who happens to be a priest) tell him that saying the right words at the event of the baptism is what makes it “count” or not.  Say the wrong words, and there is no magic.

    Christians are not without this entrappment of words.  More books are printed today on Christianity and the Christian Life than any other subject.  We have televangelists, Christian radio, and a whole industry built around the language of our faith.

    What sort of Christian are you? What church do you go to?  What do you call it?  What about your church model?  Mega?  Cell?  Micro?  Missional?  Emergent?  Organic?  What word do you place before the Body of Christ?

    What do your creeds say?  How are they different from what mine say?  Demarkate, delineate, and separate with your words the Body of Christ.  Even the word Christian holds with it assumptions that can weigh down or set free.

    The Teacher seems to think that there is no end to the making and studying of words (Ecc 12:12).  And admittedly, we must use language to participate in the world.  But can words really solve the problems of this world?  No!  Ya gotta get out there and do something!

    I just met my neighbor at the nearby coffeeshop and we chatted some about this.  We laughed about the nature of our society, where its easier for us to meet at a Starbucks 2 blocks away for a real conversation than to hang out at each other’s homes.  Our fences are much like the words we keep up to protect us from being together.  We had a great conversation about tacit and direct relationship.  We talked about how doctors use tacit touch (scalpals) while people of faith use direct touch (laying on of hands).  We talked about Twitter (tacit) or face to face dialogue (direct), about watches on our wrist, or sun in the sky, about engaging a drive thru or engaging a backyard garden.

    When we reach the end of words – its not to be a scary thing.  When we can’t live with the labels of “White” “Black” “Christian” “Muslim” “Protestant” “Catholic” “Missional”… maybe we can step outside of our silos and get to know the enemy – and offer some neighborly peace, a hug, some tomatos from your garden, and the assurance of a that friendship that is willing to cross over the fence we put up in the past.  Tired of the chatter?  So shut up and go do something!

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    • miller 5:43 pm on May 28, 2009 Permalink

      great thoughts bro!

      love is a verb…

      as is trust!

    • Joey Elliott 12:45 pm on June 8, 2009 Permalink

      I was linked to your blog from a mutual friend from high school.

      Great thoughts. One thing to consider in response to your comment:

      “The Teacher seems to think that there is no end to the making and studying of words (Ecc 12:12). And admittedly, we must use language to participate in the world. But can words really solve the problems of this world? No! Ya gotta get out there and do something!”

      I think words can solve the problems of this world, if you consider “words” to be the Gospel of Jesus Christ as presented in the Bible, and if you consider “problems” to be our separation from God. Of course, these words are only going to be seen biblically if they are proclaimed faithfully in the context of authentic gospel community, which to your point is the context of “doing something”. Words, as in the Word of God, is different from words, as in our own. We shouldn’t throw away the former just because we don’t like the latter. Actions without words (the gospel word) is as damaging as words without actions. I’m sure you agree, I just have felt the need to articulate that to people a lot recently.

      Now that I’ve read only one of your blog posts and taken one sentence directly out of context (which is my pet peeve) I’ll try to keep up on your blog more often. Because it is great stuff! God Bless.

    • Mark 2:55 pm on June 8, 2009 Permalink

      Joey,

      Thanks for your thoughts. I agree that the Word of God is something that is verbal and essential to the substance of our faith. Proclaiming the Word in season and out of season is crucial! My main drag on this post was on our many tags we all put on Christianity that seem to only slow us down and divide us. Even the term “Christianity” is becoming more of a hassle than helpful for sharing the Word of God in my context here in Chicago. When I find myself putting adjectives infront of my discipleship (missional, emergent, organic, incarnational) I realize they are helpful to a certain extent, but then I just need to put those tags aside, and just DO! :) Thanks for your thoughts and I look forward to hearing from you again.

  • Mark 10:28 am on May 22, 2009 Permalink | Reply
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    Tribes: The New Way to Change the World 

    Ever wondered how to change the world with the thing you’re most passionate about?  Watch this video to find out:

    I read Godin’s book Tribes earlier this year, and found it enlightening.  This video is a quick summary of the book by the author, plus his theory on a process for those interested in changing the world.  He looks over countless organizations, and through history at movement leaders and then draws some conclusions.  Why is it that Ghandi was successful in bringing about liberation and true change in India?  How did Martin Luther King rally a battered and bitter people into a movement of civil rights?

    tribes-process

    It begins by telling a story.  Frederick Buechner is quoted saying,

    To truly tell the story of anything well is to tell the story of everything.
    And while I’ll need your help in the comments section below to help me on the author of this quote, another tribal storyteller said,
    If you want to change the world, tell an alternative story.
    The story will enlighten some, and enrage others.  Don’t spend all your time coddling those who you are upsetting – focus on those who are ready to dive headlong into the story you both believe in.
    Next, you must connect your tribe.  Most people are most interested in the connection anyway!  Find fresh and exciting ways for those passionate about similar values to meet and engage one another to see spontaneous connections made.
    Ask yourself: “Who am I already leading?”  Focusing on leading is where change comes from.  In fact, people are waiting on you to lead them.  That is what it means to lead a movement for change – to ask questions, to build consensus, to peak curiosity, to develop a new tribal language…but its ultimately about your willingness to be committed to the cause.  That is what separates the tribes that matter from those that don’t.  Your willingness to lead a tribe through any circumstance is essentially the tribe’s best chance at meaningful change in the world.
    Tribes are where change comes from.  From the ballot box, to the grocery store (check out the new WikiChoice), to the church – committed tribes of regular people making extraordinary decisions and seeing dramatic change.  So get out there and lead your tribe – we need you to.
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    • miller 7:18 am on May 24, 2009 Permalink

      good stuff Mark! i’m not sure i’m with you all the way on this but i love how you stress connection to those who want to be connected. we need to cut loose from those who just want to argue or resist. focus on those who are in!

      i like the visual of a tribe… i also love the visual of a caravan. there’s an old saying “the dogs bark, but the caravan moves on!”

      we gotta keep rolling because there’ll be some in each place we pass through who’ll climb aboard and come along.

      peace

  • Mark 6:13 am on May 19, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

    The Church in the Field 

    wheatfield

    How does a community of faith begin?  What is the motivation?  Who are the people involved?  Some of the people we’re in connection with here in Chicago are looking for a community, and some know they’re supposed to help form one, but don’t know where to begin.

    We usually sit down for a cup of coffee, and pretty early on I make sure to say, “Church begins in the fields, not in the barn.” What do I mean by that?

    At one level, I mean that churches are healthiest when their minds and hearts are honed in on the harvest field from Day One.  If they form around another idea (being a place for contemporary worship, or being an intimate community for each other,) they will never get around to mission as a primary raison d’être, and usually fold in on itself as it continues to center inward rather than outward.

    At a second level however, I mean that God designed the church to begin in the harvest field, meaning among the harvest.  The first churches were made up entirely of non-Christians, who became Christians in the process through participating in common life with the church family.  Paul went to town after town, finding just one person or one family that was passionate enough for God that they invited their friends and relatives over for dinner to hear about him, and before long, they were ready to sign up for the Revolution of Love.

    Most church planting today starts “in the barn,” meaning they go for a large group of churched Christians and ask them to parachute into a new context and be the “launch group” for a new community of faith.  New believers may come to faith at this church plant, but individually, and not usually as whole people groups or families.  The launch group from the barn influence the culture, worship, and leadership of the new church so much that there is little wiggle room for new unreached population segments.  All of this is fine, and has worked in amazing ways in the past, but we are beginning to see that starting in the fields allows God to take his gospel across wide cultural chasms, soften hearts and develop radically organic churches.

    Give it a try!  The church begins in the harvest field.

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    • Phil 9:32 am on May 20, 2009 Permalink

      So true!

    • Tim C 2:56 am on May 31, 2009 Permalink

      Thanks for unpacking that metaphor bro. Very insightful.

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