(see my earlier related post here)

I just found out that there will be a sequel to the new book Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna coming out this summer. I’m thrilled. From what I hear, it will focus on some of the topics discussed below. I’d love your feedback!

First off, Pagan Christianity is a bold book that uncovers the Greco-Roman influences of many of the origins of today’s current church practices and beliefs. The first edition of the book (2002) also called for a specific response - return to the original impulses of the early church.

The 2008 edition (as I understand from an interview with Viola here [props to Nick and Josh]) eases off the prescription, and instead asks the question, “Do these Greco-Roman influences hinder today’s church from being the Bride of Christ she truly is?” Another way to ask the question is:

“Must the church look/act exactly as it did when it first began, or does acculturation over the last 2,000 years also refine what it means to be God’s Church in the world?”

Is tradition okay? What impulses in the DNA of the Church are immutable?

Jarislov Pelikan: “Tradition is the living tradition of dead men, traditionalism is the dead religion of living men.”

The religious heritage I grew up in had a goal: ‘To restore the ancient order of the church to its original form.’ I am not naive enough to think that this is a obtainable goal. But like many in the Reformed Movement that helped seed the Restoration Movement,

“Ecclesia Reformata, Semper Reformanda: The church; reformed and always reforming.”

If I catch what Viola and Barna are tossing us in their book, it means that the church is an organic reality that has both adaptability and integrity in its structure. We are sinners that don’t truly understand God’s vision of what his people look like, and God throughout time is always revealing more of himself to us as his Church. With humility, we learn that there is a moldable, shapable quality to the church, no matter what the age. And there is also a core DNA that most purely points to God and his purposes in the world.
This is just another reminder that the Church is not the Kingdom. The Church, through the ages points to the Kingdom of God. It shapes and changes, and its influences must continually be discerned. Are we following the Spirit of God, or the spirit of the age?

I believe that Viola and Barna are asserting that there has long been dead traditionalism and pagan spirits leeching off of Christ’s Bride, and the authors are begging God’s people to open their eyes to it. Some of these influences are okay - I don’t want to “go back to the good ole days” of earliest Christianity, nor can we - but we can all agree that Easter has just as many connections with Pan as it does Christ. And that the term “laity” only keeps God’s people paralyzed. And that Church as described by Christ looked more like a family than an 2oth Century American business. And…the list goes on.

The million dollar question for Barna and Viola is this: will people change once they know the truth?

Let me give you just a peak into my childhood.

The church I grew up in was pretty dang conservative. Without going into unnecessary ruminations over things long since gone, one particular concept in this church has sparked my interest as of late. It’s the two words that struck both anger and fear into the hearts of even the most staunch and legalistic.

“CHANGE AGENT”

Beware the accursed label for, much like a pirate’s “Black Spot”, once it has been given to you, you will wear it to your grave. Because the church brotherhood I grew up in believed that the church was perfect and fully “restored” to the pristine blueprint of the New Testament (is there only one model of church in the NT?), anyone who attempted to change the model or expression of how church was done or developed was labeled with attempting to derail the entire holy experiment. For this particular group, “be-holding the pattern” was of utmost importance, and anyone to varied from this pattern was heretical.

It is ironic how God brings people to terms with their own terms. Over the last few years, “change agent” has become a life goal of mine, and I pray regularly for “change agents” all over this continent. Not just the church needs changing either. I’m praying for change agents who change the world. For scores of people who, with eyes fixed on a completely different culture, subvert the culture they’re working undercover in.

I’m hoping to partner and network with as many change agents as I can in Chicago.  I think the church is in deep need of change; maybe the supposed “pattern” of the New Testament is about change anyway!  What I mean is - wasn’t Jesus a change agent?  Weren’t his followers agents of transformation that eventually swept across an Empire stuck in its ways?  Isn’t the Kingdom of God itself an agent of change?

Where would this world be today if more of us refused to sit back and let things rot as they are?  Why is complacency revered?  Why are whole systems built on the assumption that no one will have the gumption to do something about the wrongs they see?  When will there be justice?  When will there be creative life bubbling over into the church?  Our schools?  Our homes?  Our government?  We desperately need change agents to break the pre-conceived “blueprints” and perfect ideas of our world.

Change agents were chided and run out of town in my church growing up - but I say we kick out the squatters.  This world is a changin’.

Recently there was a series of articles published in the Christian Chronicle on church planting within Churches of Christ. (here here and here) Since I have roots that go pretty deep within that heritage, I read each of them, and was really encouraged to see that while church planting is becoming more recognized in the fellowship - even if its far from being a renewal…Churches of Christ are still way behind the population’s growth curve - seen in the figure below.

Still - there is cause for hope. Churches of Christ (and across denominational lines) are beginning to add “church planting” to their vocabulary - and all sorts of things are beginning to happen. For a denomination that grew out of a heritage that pushed “the priesthood of all believers” and strong evangelistic impulse, (to speak nothing of the church planting movement in the 1830-60’s that the Churches of Christ, Christian Church and Disciples of Christ were born from), church planting is certainly in our DNA.

What remains fascinating to me is the multiplicity of expressions of what church planting looks like for Church of Christ related church planters. When “order of worship” was what split the growing Stone-Campbell Movement in 1860’s and again in 1906 (of which Churches of Christ were born), it amazes me that church planters are so willing to break out of the mold. And I mean MOLD.

The past week at ACU’s Lectureship has been really encouraging to me. I spent a good portion of the sessions with church planters, listening to presentations and sharing stories. Networking and conversation filled the room as we heard the dreams of those who had traveled across the country to Abilene, TX in order to tell them. Passion and excitement were in their eyes. Could they really be that excited about planting more churches of Christ? (little “c”)

The fact is - this is DNA from our heritage’s past that has become reactivated as we boldly move into a new understanding of church. Simple worship, lay leadership, evangelistic impulse, and autonomous governance have always been core factors to a movement that had its beginnings in the backwoods of Kentucky and spread like wildfire across the US. Now that the Stone-Campbell dynamic “movement” has become a rigid “monument”, it is refreshing for many of its adherents to hear stories of others in their fellowship who are pioneering once again. Below is just a few of the people I’m in connection with in Church of Christ circles who are engaged in church planting:

Chadd Schroeder - educated at Sunset School of Preaching and ACU, Chadd has worked as a career missionary in Mexico. He has planted several churches of different types and models, but is focused on training Mexicans to become local leaders who can plant authentically Mexican models of churches, in taquerias, bars, and homes.

Ben Cheek, Jared Looney, and “Metro Soul” - connected in the Northeast from the Bronx to Jersey City, live in the world’s most diverse city, and are developing a organic network of churches and communities that is becoming just as diverse as their city. Their focus on discipleship and missional leadership is pioneering a vision of church planting for many others.

Phil McCollum - ministering to the poorest of the poor in East Hollywood (the side that no one talks about). Because he believes that Jesus “had friends in low places” he and his family have moved into the neighborhood, and are living with love for the people of that area.

Kester Smith - planted an emergent church in the alternative communities in Austin, TX. They experience true life together and offer real conversations among skeptics and seekers. Kester works on the edgy Sixth St at Book People, a sweet bookshop and a gathering place of ideas and people of all walks of life. The church they planted is Immanuel Fellowship, and I can’t think of a better name.

Steve and Chrissy Holt - are living incarnationally among people groups in Boston, MA. They have been praying about developing an intentional Christian community (see also, The New Monasticism) and living out practices of peace and restoration among the people in their lives.

Dillon Ross - having recently graduated from Harding University, Dillon has begun working with Chicago District Evangelistic Association to plant simple churches in the Chicago area.

Greg Scott - The Blessing Place network is planting simple churches in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, Greg and his wife Sam work intentionally with native Americans (she lived on a reservation with Rich Mullins!)

Benny and Niki Nowell - work with the homeless youth and basically bless the socks off anyone that comes in their path. They provide a summer experience called “Sabbath” for urban kids, and offer mentoring love and God’s Shalom to many of the brokenhearted in Denver, CO.

Miller Talbot - is preparing the soil of Abilene, TX and the working poor with prayer and incarnational love. His “church plant” looks more like a garden, and his “mission work” looks more like digging a hole in the ground…to find water for a dry and weary land. Check out his imaginative vision here.

There are LOTS of church planting teams in formation, among which my wife and I are a part. To just get a glimpse at some of them, check out here, here and here.

Of course, this is only a slice of the pie. These are friends of mine that are (at different levels) connected to my religious heritage within Churches of Christ. I am proud to be in the family of Christ with them, and look forward to seeing how our paths cross in the future.

Yesterday we met with a man who has been on a journey to find Christ’s abundant life and has been desperate about getting this life to the poor, and socially oppressed. For decades Gary has been searching for a means of not only bringing someone to a decision to follow Christ, but to a healthy, sane lifestyle that radiates God’s shalom all the while still seeking after that life himself. He knows that’s what the Gospel looks like with skin on. He also knows how hard it is to try to introduce someone to that lifestyle by a simple weekly sermon or 6-week Bible Study.

Our conversations yesterday had nothing to do with where to go to church, or what we should do when we meet together. It focused on a dream that had been lost back in ancient Ireland, where Celtic Christianity found its wings. For the Celts in that area, life was consumed by fear, starvation, barbarian conquest, competition, and early death. People lived lives that didn’t expect rescue because that concept was simply never introduced to them. In was among these crazed people that 8-10 Christ-followers would settle, set up a shelter, community garden, simple farm life, and a general sense of peace. People in a town would soon be given the choice: live this life of madness and trepidation, or be welcomed with warmth, share veggies, and work together as a team for something that matters. The choice was simple: share in life together.

That is what it meant to become a Christian in those days. Not moral truths to be shelved next to contradicting values - it was sharing a life that didn’t happen just one hour on Sundays and Wednesdays.

Yesterday’s conversation came down to two reflections: To bring someone to not only a decision to follow Christ, but to a mature journey in the Lord, it takes at least these two things: (1) A belief in the comprehensive power of the workings of the Holy Spirit to transform lives [this is something those of us from Churches of Christ have a lot to learn] and (2) the kinds of vibrant communities that display a complete lifestyle of love before a disbelieving world.

This isn’t a complete list, but it got us thinking.

About 2 years ago I was somehow signed up to receive a lifetime’s supply of FREE Christian Chronicle newspapers.  I haven’t seen one now for about 11 months.  I guess lifetimes don’t last as long as they used to.

The Christian Chronicle is a worldwide newspaper written to encourage and unify Churches of Christ all over the English-speaking world.  In my days at the ACU Periodicals Library, I found a strange joy well up inside me each and every time I noticed the latest edition had been published.  I suppose it’s those deeply rooted CoC genes that run 4 generations on both sides of the family…

So you can imagine when I read an article on the organic church movement in the Churches of Christ from this article that my interests were raised.  A well written article that introduces the missionaries and professors sticking their necks out for so many out there who are unreached by Christ’s Church as we currently understand it.  Those interviewed all made it clear that this is not a matter of competition between “legacy” style churches (traditional congregations as we know them) and the new emerging family based churches, but rather a bold new move that God and his people are taking to reach the unreached.  As I’ve heard it said, “It will take all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people.”

I grew up about as enveloped in a Church of Christ, Restorationist tradition as you can imagine.  Like most people, I was raised completely oblivious to the fact that I held some pretty sectarian views from my Sunday School training concerning restoring the order of the original church.  Like many, I went through a stage of rebellion, where “restoration” was the furthest thing from my mind, and looking for that latest and greatest worship technique (including smoke machines, which are quite handy!).  And finally, came to a place where I saw the deep need for restoration, though not in structure (which only leads to more leaky wineskins) but for seeing the Gospel again as GOOD NEWS to me, and to everyone.  Orientation, Disorientation, Reorientation.
How long has it been since we saw Christ’s Gospel on earth as pure joy and good news to us?  When was the last time we read Psalm 16:11, ” You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand,” and actually felt butterflies in our stomach?  When did we last know for sure in the depths of our hearts that God wanted to live in intimate proximity to you and me???  This for me is the TRUE restoration that God is after among his people.  How that happens is through pure, divine, ongoing relationship with the Lord, and with his Bride the church!

How AWESOME to be a part of that bride, which is becoming more and more healthy and reflecting more and more of her companion’s character!  The definition of “organic” church means that there is no final wineskin that will wrap around this Bride, but that she will constantly be sheltered by the cocoon of transformation, and constantly be breaking free to experience new life!  This is much bigger than just the “restoration” of the original order of worship, it is about restoring the entire creation to abide in God’s great delight.  Organic church for me is the ongoing restoration from fallenness to fulfillment in Jesus Christ alone.

It was neat to see in this article some awareness raised among Churches of Christ not in what we are doing, but what we are trying to become.  I’m tired of doing church.  I want to BE the church with my family and friends 24/7.  I want to be committed in a covenant relationship with brothers and sisters that enjoy authentic worship, both in song, and in loving service to each other.  I want to be whisked away in evangelistic mission, not because I have to prove my love to my Lord, but because I have found my true rest in being his, and he has shown me exactly what he would have me do.

For more - read the Washington Post article that came out last Sunday.