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  • Mark 10:41 am on February 18, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    A Brief Briefing on Christian History 

    Most Protestants approach church history and spiritual formation as though nothing of significance occurred between the closing of the New Testament canon in the first century and the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century!

    As we are considering what a rich spirituality looks like in the twenty-first century, let’s make this the moment when the Church reintroduces itself into the powerful, expansive history filled with resources and insights to propel us forward.

    If we want to know how to connect with God in a deep way, if we want to avoid the common pitfalls that Christian communities make on their way to spiritual maturity, (there are at least 12 I’ve counted, but that’s for another day) and if we are interested in changing our lives and the lives of the people in our faith communities – we’ve got to make this a crucial part of our faith journey.

    3 Parts – the Ancient, Medieval and Modern Spiritualities

    Think of these three eras as shaped like an hourglass.  The ancient church (Pentecost to 600CE) was characterized by rapid exampsion to the continents of Asia, Africa, and Europe.  The medieval church (c.600-1500) was marked by withdrawal as internal divisions and the rise of Islam greatly diminished the Christian influence in Asia and Africa.  The modern church (c.1500-present) saw a new expansion beyond the boundaries of Europe, and in the past few decades the churches of the third world have shown the greatest vitality, expansion and missionary fervor.

    The ancient church – after it became the official religion of the Roman Empire, was rapidly transformed from a network of periodically persecuted believers into a geo-political bishop-states.  While some bishops used their power to fight off doctrinal heresies – (Montanism, Gnosticism, and Neo-Platonism) – others left the Christian empire to pursue desert spirituality, creating monastic orders.

    Christianity became a largely European phenomenon throughout the Middle Ages.  The Western and Eastern branches of the Church (Edessa, and Constantinople) formerly separated during this period.  The Eastern church became increasingly apophatic (mystical in their theology, and their spiritual disciplines – like listening prayer and stillness).  Monasticism flourished in the West, with Benedictine, Carthusian and Cistercian orders continued to develop contemplative and ascetic approaches to spirituality.

    Modern Spirituality begins with the impact of the four branches of the Protestant Reformation (Lutheran, Reformed, Anabaptist, and Anglican Spirituality).  Each of these understood their relationship to the state in a different light, as well as HOW the church in the West needed to transform.  In the Catholic Church, fantastic spiritual thinkers emerged in Spain and France during this time.  As Christianity found new territory in the far West Americas, new post-Reformation Protestant movements (Puritans, Quakers, Pietists, Evangelicals, revivalism, Methodists, holiness groups, and Pentecostals).  Most recently in our time, we’re seeing the Catholic Church fundamentally reformed in Vatican II, as well as other movements (ecumenical, charismatic, twelve-step spirituality, psychological approaches, and creation-centered spirituality).  Finally – the seeds of Eastern Orthodoxy and Christian developments in Latin America, Africa and Asia are finally making a real impact on the Church of the West after years of isolation.

    This is about as brief as one could span through the movements of 2000 years of Christian Spirituality.  If you’re truly interested in learning more, I recommend a few books to get you started!

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  • Mark 9:44 am on February 13, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Perfectly Designed 

    “Our system is perfectly designed for the results we are receiving.”

    This was the repeated phrase at a lunch I recently attended where author Alan Hirsch was presenting.  The room was full of Chicago-area church leaders, and the room quickly fell silent as Hirsch began critiquing the current state of affairs in the Western Church.  While he had some apt critique, he wasn’t all sour – he was just as ready to point to fresh perspectives and examples of the church engaging and subverting the culture in America.

    He made it clear that only the American Church, unlike the church in Europe or Australia, stood a real chance at re-interpreting the Gospel for the West in a way that could thrive in the post-Christendom era in which we now live.

    But his strongest words were the line  he dropped half a dozen times throughout his talk: “Our system is perfectly designed for the results we are receiving.”

    Think on that for a moment – how much weight can you bench press?  Only as much as your body’s system allows - and the way things are in your body are perfectly arranged for you to lift exactly what you’re capable of lifting.  Want to up your max weight?  Change your system! Try adding more protein to your diet, and less sugar.  Head to the gym 2 extra times a week.  Read about lifting techniques.  If you want to change the results, change the system.  Its amazing how we constrain our imaginations when it comes to the systems in our lives.

    “Oh, that’s the way things have always been, and always will be…”  Give me a break.  You’re talking “equilibrium,” and to biologists, equilibrium is another way of saying, “you’re stone dead.”  Change = life!

    The Church in the West today is spending 3 times as much on facilities as it was 10 years ago. 3 TIMES AS MUCH AS A DECADE AGO!  And numbers are in decline.  Leaders are getting harder to come by, as congregations are expecting more and more from their church leaders.  Sure, there are more and more mega-churches dotting the American landscape, but for every mega-church that breaks 1000 attendees, how many congregations had to shut their doors?

    It has been said of the American Church, “The front of the parade is becoming more and more impressive, and no one is noticing that the line is getting shorter and shorter.”

    The question is – can the church…your church…change its system? It is interesting how quickly we have come to expect the inevitability of the mega-church as the ONLY form of ecclesiological success.  Like the industrialized food system in America, the mega-church has only emerged in the last generation or so; and yet we see it as the only box God can work in.  I for one simply refuse to go along with that.  What ways can we keep the Gospel close to our chest, and yet experiment wildly with the form?  Let’s change the system – let’s take ourselves a little less seriously, and let imagination become our modus operandi!

    Don’t do it out of fear that “God’s Church is depending on you,”  Do it because prophetic imagination is central to the story of God.  Do it because the Gospel is ALWAYS changing its clothes – the “word” is always “becoming flesh” and “moving into the neighborhood.” (John 1:14)

    We’re perfectly designed to get the results we’re seeing across America today.  If we want more of the same – keep doing the same thing you’ve always done.  Otherwise, get out there and break the mold!

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  • Mark 9:10 pm on January 10, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Christianity Today, Mark Galli,   

    Long Live… 

    Mark Galli recently posted an article over at Christianity Today entitled Long Live Organic Church! Which speaks to the nature and inevitability of Christian movements.  He lauded the hopes and dreams of many of the organic church authors and leaders like Neil Cole, Alan Hirsch, Frank Viola and more.  However, he cautioned that this is not the first time a movement of God has come along, and while not using these words exactly, reminded me of this essential fact.

    There is no one size-fits-all solution for the church, and there is no way that a movement based on men, will bring about the absolute transformation and revolution that some in the “organic movement” are hoping for.  Movements turn to Monuments which turn to Memorials faster than you can think.  And sometimes the movement can establish unintended consequences that only further reveal human brokenness.

    I agree that there is MUCH good that is being (re)-introduced by this crazy influx of “organic church” books, conferences, workshops, and more.  Its heading in a great direction.  At the same time – remember that a wave only brings you back to the shore – and riding it too long will leave you dry.  Continue to seek out the next Thing God is up to – carefully discerning the good, bad, and ugly in ALL parts of a movement.  But remember that his Holy Spirit can guide you into all truth.

    Watching out for things that tempt us to “rest on our laurels,” or to distrust other movements of God, or to establish programs and institutions that repeat the success of the past are big red flags that our movement is looking backward, not forward.

    So maybe we should be ready at any moment to see “this movement” die.  If we will it to live on (as his article’s title implies) then we’ll find ways to protect it – which seems to be counter-intuitive to the goal of what the organic movement is all about (reproduce life, don’t hoard life).  Jesus himself did not see life as something to be grasped for, but gave up his life so that his life could begin to multiply.

    How does a movement let itself multiply?  To spend all its resources on the NEXT thing coming – to continue to treat itself with little attention – even as the fruit it produces is evident to the entire world.  Invisible only to itself.  That’s a good rule of thumb to live by, and a good way to avoid self-righteousness.

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