The air still seems thick with grief and overwhelm after the recent attacks in Paris and Beirut. The response by approximately 30 governors in the United States to refuse Syrian refugees immediately took the thick air out of the room.

I like to stay out of politics in general, and especially on social media. But I couldn’t help myself when Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas, and a literal neighbor here in Austin, was one of the first to try to shut the door.

While I stand behind my post, I need to add that it’s a lot more complicated than just accepting or not accepting refugees. And, I don’t necessarily blame the politicians. To explain that, I’ll have to go back a bit.

Osama Bin Ladin Changed My Life

When I try to make sense of my personal history, I like to say that Osama Bin Laden made me an Anabaptist. In short, I lost my stomach, when, after 9/11, so many Christians were quick to rush to war. I’ll never forget the two story tall American flag that took over the back wall of the stage where my small Christian University conducted daily chapel. I knew something was wrong.

I found some theological and political coherence as I began to read Stanley Hauerwas, J.H. Yoder and their mainstream theological children, Greg Boyd and Brian Zahnd. They introduced me to the countercultural peace tradition of the Mennonites, Amish and much of the pre-Constintinian Church.

As Hauerwas and Willimon say in Resident Aliens:

“The most creative social strategy we have to offer is the church. Here we show the world a manner of life the world can never achieve through social coercion or governmental action. We serve the world by showing it something that it is not, namely, a place where God is forming a family out of strangers.”

About a year or so ago, I saw David Fitch claim on Facebook that he was expecting the majority of the church to increasingly embrace the Peace Tradition in the coming years. I want it to be so, but I had trouble sharing Fitch’s optimism.

It’s easy to embrace the idea of a non-violent church. There’s a lot of us who responded to the Bush wars by saying “I’m a pacifist.”

That was before ISIS.

Before the greatest migrant crisis of all time.

Give Peace a Chance?

On social media it seems easy. “How dare those governor’s deny refugees because of a few bad apples!” But we know it’s not that simple. Another Paris or 9/11 seems imminent. I pity the governor who will have to say to their constituents “They came in on my watch.”

With ISIS seemingly so far away from our everyday life, it’s easy to hum the old hippy song “Give peace a chance.” At least, it was easy before Paris.

What the church needs is a well articulated Missional-Neo-Anabaptist response—not just to the current crisis but to power structures in general—that answers our current crises with tangible hope for the future. How can we get there?

Hopefully, four questions will help.

Four Questions

Who is my neighbor?

The first question is Jesus’s question. It’s easy, on the internet, to say “Refugees are my neighbor!” And it’s true.

Don’t forget though: “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Or how about Paul? “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority.”

Who is my neighbor? The Syrian children, Jihadi John and the 30 governors.

“You don’t get to pick your neighbors,” Jesus might say.

Have we already cared for the widow and orphan in our midst?

Here’s the thing: If a Syrian refugee family got dropped off at your church, would you know what to do with them? Would you be ready to find them a place to live, a job, ESL classes, daycare and a car?

Now, how many refugees already live in your city? How many people in your church community could use some help…but maybe you’ve never asked?

This is where Christians need to be careful. It’s easy to get mad at the Governors refusing refugees, when, honestly, we might not know what to do with them if they came.

What methods does the church use to stand offer a contrast to the state, violent organizations and overpowering corporations?

According to Shane Blackshear, complaining about Governors who won’t accept refugees has something in common with complaining about the cups at Starbucks.

It’s not the job of corporations to promotes the values we like. It’s not the job of the State care for widow and orphan.

The job of the Church is to offer a tangible alternative that critiques their inability to solve the problems of the world—thereby, pointing people to Jesus. Or, as Hauerwas says:

“The way for the world to know that it needs redeeming, that it is broken and fallen, is for the church to enable the world to strike hard against an alternative to what the world offers.”

Who will go?

So how, then, do we help refugees? How do we defeat ISIS?

Brian Zahnd is fond of saying:

“As Christians we persuade by love, witness, Spirit, reason, rhetoric, and if need be, martyrdom, but never by force.”

The answer is, in the Jesus-like-posture Zahnd is describing to announce:

“Here am I, send me.”

What we as Christians believe, more than anything else, is that Jesus’ way is better. We believe there is new life in Jesus. We believe that anyone, no matter what they’ve done, can claim that new life.

We also believe that Jesus, seeing our plight, came to us.

The Jesus way to care for refugees? To have be a local church community that can truly welcome them.

The Jesus way to defeat ISIS? Convert them.

The post Four Questions to Ask Before Condemning Refugees (or Governors) appeared first on Chris Morton.

God’s Missionary People: Rethinking the Purpose of the Local Church

by Charles Van Engen | Available Here

Charles Van Engen’s God’s Missionary People helped launch today’s missional discussion, and still has much to tell our local church. Before coming to Fuller, Van Engen was a missionary and theological teacher in Mexico. He has taught at other seminaries and served as president of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America. He continues his work in Mexico through his organization Latin American Christian Ministries. At Fuller, he teaches various classes in the school of Intercultural Studies and provides mentoring from Doctoral students.

The thesis of the book is captured in this introduction:

“Local Congregations the world over will gain new life and vitality only as they understand the missiological purpose for which they alone exist, the unique culture, people and needs of their context, and the missionary action through which they alone will discover their own nature as God’s people in the world” (20).

Summary

Part 1-Local Churches: God’s Missionary People

The book begins with Van Engen’s explanation for the need for the Church to revisit its ecclesiology in the light of missiology. He bases this on the historical self-understanding of the church (drawing from both the Apostle’s Creed and the marks of the Church), as well as developments in globalism and ecumenicism. His argument is that the church should restate its self-understanding in terms of being a missionary people.

Part 2 Local Churches: A New Vision of God’s Missionary People

In seeking to identify the purpose of the church, Van Engen focuses on four tasks: “koinonia,” “kerygma,” “diakonia,” and “martyria.” The result of such a group of people is the Covenant Community of the King.

Part 3 Local Churches: Becoming God’s Missionary People

The final section of the book deals with the practical side of structuring a missional Church. It wrestles with the understanding of laity and leadership. It also deals with the practical aspects of managing an organization.

Reactions

This is a book that I wish I had come across years ago. One idea I found invaluable was placing the missional church in historical perspective. By dealing with the historical self-understanding of the church, as well as the tasks early church, the idea of being missional is taken out of its current trendiness and placed well within scripture and tradition.

Some of the most valuable takeaways for me were the four tasks of the church from Part 2. What would it look like if my church and my life, were judged by these four tasks?

• Koinonia is probably what we do best. We love to eat together and play together. But we still have a ways to go when it comes to simply doing life together.
• Kerygma is something that my church is learning. We could benefit from a deep study of the question “what does it look like to make Jesus “Lord”?
• Diakonia has always been a strength of our community. We have many who are social workers and counselors. But maintaining and growing it to non-professionals will take some concentrated effort to maintain.
• Martyria is another growth area. For some of us, the idea of clearly articulating our faith, and maybe even suffer for doing so, is something that may feel too “churchy.”

As much as I like this book, my only complaint is that it may already be dated. I would love to see Van Engen update this book, and reflect on how the developments in the missional movements have embraced his ideas, and how he might have missed the mark.

The post God’s Missionary People: A Book Review appeared first on Chris Morton.

Part One: The Context and Challenge of Missional Leadership

Part One opens with an overview of the issues at hand and a description of how Missional Leadership compares to pastoral leadership. They argue that God is not finished with the church, it his means of reaching the world. They explain the different phases of transition that a church will go through as it navigates from the models that served it well in the past to a missional model. The authors also describe what makes a missional congregation different, and why leading it is a unique task.

Part Two: The Missional Leader

Part Two focuses on descriptions of what makes a good leader including features like maturity and self-awareness. It also discusses how to create a coalition that will help build momentum in a missional direction. This requires creating a culture where the leadership listens to the church and the church listens to the surrounding community.

Quotes

“Missional leadership is about creating and environment within which the people of God in a particular location may thrive.”

“Today, in discussion about the nature of church leadership, there is little theological wrestling with the questions of how to form or socialize a people into an alternative community. On the contrary, there is growing emphasis on how to help seekers feel they belong in a congregation without any expectations or demands on their lives.”

“A missional church is a community of God’s people who live into the imagination that they are, by their very nature, God’s missionary people living as a demonstration of what God plans to do in and for all of creation in Jesus Christ.”

“We have forgotten that God’s future often emerges in the most inauspicious places. If we let our imagination be informed by this realization, it will be obvious that we need to lead in ways that are different from those of a CEO, an entrepreneur, a super leader with a wonderful plan for the congregation’s life. Instead, we need leaders with the capacity to cultivate an environment that releases the missional imagination of the people of God.”

“We are in a period that makes it impossible to have much clarity about the future and how it is going to be shaped. Therefore those leaders who believe they can address the kind of change we are facing by simply defining a future that people want, and then setting plans to achieve it, are not innovating a missional congregation. They are only finding new ways of preventing a congregation from facing the discontinuous change it confronts.”

Two Takeaways

One great takeaway is the “Three Zone Model of Missional Leadership.” It is a great tool for helping leaders of established churches comprehend the changes that must be made for a church to envision and carry out any new endeavor (not just “missional” ones.) Reading this, I began to see where various churches I have been a part of fit on the spectrum. It also helped me understand the difficulties many church leaders I interact with are having. Most importantly, it gave me a vision of what pitfalls to watch out for as my church matures.

Another valuable takeaway from the book is the interplay between the personality and the strengths of the leader and the nature of the congregation. The book seems clearly written to the average dwindling mainline church, whose leadership has been chosen for their ability to maintain the status quo. This is why the author’s discussion of “imagination” is valuable. It seems there are two ways to move forward: either start over with new leadership and a new endeavor or cultivate imagination. They rightly point the leaders toward remembering what God wants to do in the world, and who their neighbor is.

This to me is the most important lesson from the book: Missional Leadership must be relentlessly focused on the context of their congregation and personally entrenched in lives of those they are hoping to reach.

A church or a leader will never be missional if they haven’t met those to whom they are sent.

The post The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World – A Review appeared first on Chris Morton.

“The course of urban development in America is pushing the individual toward that line separating proud independence from pitiable isolation.”

This isolation has led to our need for a “third place.” If the home is your first place and work is your second place, then the third place is the place where socializing can authentically take place. For many, the need for such places was immediately recognizable. It resulted in a number of social experiments, most notably, the explosion of Starbucks.

It didn’t take long for thought leaders in churchworld to grab on to this. Churches started building in coffee kiosks and books about how churches can be more like Starbucks started showing up.

Sunday afternoons… are so relaxing. – Long exhale – Photo cred @stengy

A photo posted by Houndstooth Coffee (@houndstoothcoffee) on Aug 17, 2014 at 2:43pm PDT

Three Problems with Trying to Be a Third Place

The idea of the “third place” is vital to understanding the broader American culture, but it makes a lousy model for a church community for theological, practical and missional reasons.

Theology: Don’t Try to be a Place

The primary, yet subtle problem with thinking of your church as a “third place” is that the Church is never meant to be a place!

We Christians have struggled with this idea at least since Constantine. We want temples where holy activities take place. While there may be some value to this, it shares little in common with the church as the living, breathing body of Christ described in the New Testament.

By focusing our energy on trying to monkey the atmosphere created by a third place, we are distracted from the work of building a community of Jesus-followers. We are perpetuating ideas like “church is a building” or “church takes place on Sundays.”

We need safe, hospitable places to gather. But those places aren’t “church.”

Practical: Drop in Hours

One primary element that makes a third place work is that it has “drop in hours.” It’s both a time and place where you can assume you always find like-minded people, welcoming people. You come to a third place in your free time to relax.

It’s hard to envision a church operating in this way. What would such a church do? Have a cafe of bread and wine? Confession booths? Worship stations?

If a space offers such amenities, is it a church?

We need spaces that we can drop in and feel welcomed. But those places aren’t “church.”

Missional: Imitation or Incarnation?

The story of Jesus, and therefore his people, is primarily a story of incarnation. God is not a cosmic vacuum cleaner, sucking people up to live in an alternative world. God comes and lives among man.

Rather than trying to imitate third place environment, churches should incarnate within third places. Pubs, coffee shops, gyms, and salons are where people spend their unstructured time. Jesus followers need to be in those places.

The best way interact with a culture of third places is to become a supporter. We should know the business owner, the menu and the regulars. We should be there enough to be known by them as well.

We need to be the regulars at a specific “third place.” We don’t need our own.

Five Simple Ways Your Church Can Support a Local “Third Place”

1. Show up without an agenda. Go to a coffee shop with a book or hang out at the pub. Don’t go if you feel stressed out and have a lot of work to do. Pray for opportunities, and be ready to be interrupted.

2. Get to know the staff. Learn the name of the bartender or barista. Ask about their family. Ask them for recommendations. After all, they are the people you are most likely to see on a regular basis.

3. Have meetings at third places. Church offices have their purposes, but most meetings can (and maybe should) take place in public. Meetings give you one more chance to be in your third place. It gives you a chance to introduce church friends to third place friends. It’s also got great beverages.

4. Learn a few good questions. In some ways, third places aren’t that different than cocktail parties. People are there because they want to engage. Have a few go-to conversation starters on hand, if the moment arises.

5. Be your third place’s biggest fan. You need the third place, and they need you. Go regularly. Tip well—really well. Tell your friends about it. Attend official functions. Help make the place fun.

How do third places fit into your life and ministry?

The post Why Your Church Will Never Be a Good “Third Place” appeared first on Chris Morton.

All death is tragic. Suicide especially.

The death of Robin casts a particular shadow on those of my generation. Aladdin and Hook are the stories of our childhood. Patch Adams, Dead Poets Society and Good Will Hunting taught us how to grow up.

Depression is tragic. When it affects someone like Robin, we are all hurt.

Depression is also normal, natural and must be responded to within the church.

We can’t eliminate depression or suicide. But we can, and we must, become a refuge for those who experience it.

Let’s admit we have a problem

Depression has been a lifelong companion for me. It makes up some of my earliest and strongest memories. It hovers on the horizon of my future.

The first time I remember something akin to depression was an intense loneliness I experienced around age eight. Like many High Schoolers, I struggled with a sense of hopelessness and self-hatred. I lost all motivation and moved lethargically for most of my junior year.

In college, depression got in the way of my relationships. When I was down, others felt the need to withdraw. I was cynical, angry and very, very dark. Who could blame them?

When I get depressed, it’s incredibly obvious. I start wearing dark clothes. I stop caring for my body. I duck around corners to avoid friends. I stay awake all night and sleep all day.

When I was 23, a mentor of mine told me “Chris, we like you. You are very broken right now. We want to find you some help.” They made some calls and helped me find a counselor.

It was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Which is why it strikes me as complete and utter insanity that so many churches have no idea what to do with the depressed.

The “D” Word

Why was I 23 years old before someone helped me get help?

I cannot tell you the level of frustration that this question holds for me.

Depression is woven throughout the story of scripture. David wrote about depression. Jesus prayed through depression.

Depression is common. Depression is physiological. It can begin as a natural response to difficult circumstances. Unaddressed, it can become a lifestyle. In time, it can rearrange your brain and become your new normal.

Depression is not, by definition, demonic. (Although I’m sure they don’t help.)

Depression is not cured by just reading your Bible and praying.

Depression is also not a bad thing.

The (other) reality that the church can no longer ignore

There’s a lot of talk about what the changes in culture that the church can no longer ignore. Much effort (my own included) has been put into helping the church think missionally. Such teaching has been mostly theological (explaining the Missio Dei or mission of God) and somewhat ecclesiological (forming missional communities.)

There is another more functional reality that the church can no longer ignore: Our society is moving towards greater emotional openness.

People want to know and be known. This is why Louis C.K.’s disturbingly authentic brand of humor rings true. This is why Tina Fey can be open about all the awkwardness of her life as a woman. This is why Brené Brown can talk about shame and vulnerability and get millions of Youtube views.

The internet allows for both anonymity and broadcasting. Our world now has endless safe havens for people to share fears and air grievances.

The culture is revising its expectations for “putting on a good face.” We’re rethinking what it means to make a good impression.

We are becoming collectively aware that life is hard. We are championing those who know how to articulate that.

Or to put it more coarsely:

We’re tired of the bullshit.

We need places to tell it like it is.

Five Features of a Safe Church

1. A Theology of Darkness

Scriptures are full of a theology of darkness, although it seems vague or completely absent in many churches. God created out of darkness. The psalmist claimed that the darkness was his closest friend. Jesus’ ministry often led him to places of darkness.

God is light, and in Him there is no darkness.

We are not God.

Therefore, in us, there is darkness.

Many churches try to avoid darkness. We sing happy songs. We tell stories of victory. We hide our fears and shortcomings.

Accepting the darkness inside of us is not the same as sinning. Being tempted is not a crime. Feeling depressed is not a sign of failure.

Why does David call the darkness his only friend? Why did Paul describe the agony of this thorn in the flesh? Because ignorance of our darkness is how we become captive to it.

We need to name our darkness. We need to feel its prickly coldness. We need to surf along its edges.

Knowing our darkness is key to knowing who we are. It is crucial to knowing what to pray for. It is often the place we meet God.

2. Vulnerable Leadership

It’s hard these days to be a charismatic leader. You just have to look to Seattle.

It’s often said that if you want something to be found at the core of your church, it has to be championed by the senior leadership. If you want church to feel safe, your pastors, elders and ministers have to set the standard for vulnerable openness.

This doesn’t mean telling everyone everything. Some struggles should be private. However, it does mean that you must discuss your own growth trajectory.

Rather than telling the congregation “This is what the Bible says,” you say “Here’s what I have learned/am learning/need to change because of the teaching of Jesus.” Knowing the church is safe means leadership demonstrating a willingness to risk vulnerability.

3. Emotional Intelligence

Remember how Jesus said, “let your yes be yes, and your no be no?” This is pretty hard to do. Some of us are bad at saying no. Some of us are afraid of saying yes.

One step to improving this ability is improving our overall emotional intelligence. While there is a lot to this process, it begins with knowing and articulating your emotional state.

A safe church community must include those who have matured past the point of being ruled by their emotions. They know how to respond appropriately to explosive moments, overwhelming tragedy or pure joy. They also model this for others.

If you want to be a safe church, display emotional intelligence and disciple others to do so as well.

4. Storytelling

One key to knowing that you are in a safe place is knowing you can tell your story.

It’s not as easy as it sounds. We’re conditioned to describing ourselves as our jobs, our families or our conversion experience. We are full of unwanted insecurities.

Telling stories requires both bravery, forethought, and believe it or not, structure.

Bravery is institutional, not individual. It comes from seeing others tell their story and knowing that people will respond with appreciation and love. Bravery is developed by seeing this modeled by leaders and friends.

A little (but not too much) forethought is necessary. Good stories have a beginning, middle and end. Preparing is also a sign of respect for the listener.

Structure is a time and place set aside for storytelling. This could be a formal prayer request time at the end of a small group meeting. It could be an invite to lunch with the expectation that “we will share stories.” At Austin Mustard Seed, we spent this summer telling stories and asking discipleship related questions in gender specific groups. Our hope is to instill a desire for storytelling.

5. Safe Spaces

If our churches are to become safe, we’ll have to create safe spaces intentionally.

A safe space is a time and place that welcomes. It avoids putting people on alert and is relationally appropriate.

For insiders, already accustom to a church’s ways, a small group can be a safe space. For outsiders, having deep conversations in a stranger’s home is likely unnatural and unsettling. Since so many in the west have preconceived notions or even toxic baggage about the church, it can be very hard to make traditional church buildings a safe space.

Vox Veniae, a church in East Austin, intentionally set out to create a safe space. They took over a small boarded up building. Later they found out it had been the location of a deadly shooting.

Instead of moving right in, they took a year to clean the place up, and offer open houses for the community to discuss how the space would be used. On Sundays now, the space features dark ceilings, low lighting, both chairs and couches and calm music. It still feels like a club, but now, it’s a safe one.

They’ve also helped plant two churches in the last year, in order to stay small. It’s hard to feel safe in a crowd.

Robin Williams death should remind the church that if we do not learn how to respond to depression, we will all suffer the consequences.

How is your church becoming a safe place?

Get the word out! Please 

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The post What Will It Take to Become a Church for the Depressed? appeared first on Chris Morton.