If I could wave a magic wand and get rid of voices like civic religion and click-happy media here’s what I would like to hear us talk about:

10. Context

It’s not enough to ask “what kind of church should we be?” We need to ask “what does it mean to follow Jesus together in this time and place?” The church often passively accepted the bulk of culture, while occasionally trying to “manage” a few key sins. It’s just not that simple. Every culture, city and neighborhood have virtues to be extolled and vices to be addressed.

We need to stop talking about what we do as a church and talk about whom God wants us to be in our context.

9. Minimalism

Most westerners are rich by global standards. Many are rich by western standards. When so many are dying of basic treatable diseases and living in filth, we often try to explain away Jesus words “blessed are the poor.” The church should be ashamed at its opulence, and protestants should be embarrassed that it took the Pope to bring economic discussions into the church.

But it’s more basic than macroeconomics. When we have a lot of stuff, we tend to rely on it instead of God. We need to start talking about how to trust God more and live with less. Maybe if we did we’d be better at #3.

8. Friendship

It feels like our increasingly digitized culture makes us increasingly lonely. It makes me wonder if this is why cities, such as my home of Austin, Texas are becoming increasingly event obsessed. We’re lonely, so we try to do more cool stuff.

Friendship isn’t innate. It isn’t simple. I have an unsubstantiated theory that our difficulty at having friends puts an undue relational pressure on marriages and is a part of our rising divorce rate.

I once heard AJ Swoboda say “Jesus said that we should be willing to die for our friends. I’m not sure I feel that way and I’m afraid it’s a sin.” This is important and complex. We should talk about it.

7. Science

It’s past time for Christians to become scientifically literate. This doesn’t mean acquiescing to everything that claims to be “science.” It also doesn’t mean allowing a single group like young earth creationists to dominate the discussion.

We need a hermeneutic for scientific ideas and advancements. We need spaces for well-informed conversations about the moral, ethical and religious consequences of scientific practices. We need to talk about evidence. Then, when we are finished talking, we need the humility to agree to disagree.

6. Sabbath

When we began to dream about a new church for our time and place called Austin Mustard Seed, my co-conspirator John Chandler joked that the most countercultural thing we can do in Austin is learn to take a Sabbath.

The Sabbath is the chief of spiritual disciplines because it says “I trust God provides, so I will regularly wait for him to do so.” Devoting an entire day to rest will require living disciplined lives the other six days. It will mean turning our screens off for a day. It will require relying on others to help us when we feel overwhelmed.

We’re going to have to talk about how to do this.

5. Neighboring

Do you know how to be a neighbor? I don’t. I’ve moved around a lot and created a string of relationships with people with whom I share hobbies or occupations. I ignore and sometimes avoid the people right next to me.

What made the Good Samaritan good was that he saw his neighbor, and then he cared for him. The church needs to b a place where we learn to look at what is all around us.

We need to talk with our neighbors.

4. Narrative Theology

Some churches put a lot of emphases on learning ideas, such as a “Christian worldview” or “systematic theology” or “principles of scripture.” These are useful, but they’re not really how we are wired.

Human beings are obsessed with cause and effect. We see the universe in terms of story. Knowing who Jesus is is a matter of knowing his story, within the grand narrative of God and his creation. Moreover, we need to be able to articulate how we each have our own narratives and what God has to do with them.

We need to become very good at talking about the story of God.

3. Hearing God

A few years back I became very unsettled by the vast difference between my strict cessastionist worldview and the interactive relationships God has in scripture. Our situation is different from that of Elijah or Paul, so we should expect God to interact differently with us.

But we should expect him to interact with us.

We should talk about discernment. Churches should be communities obsessed with discernment. We should constantly be asking “what has God already told us to do?” and “who is God asking us to be today?”

2. Individiualism

The basic gospel taught by the evangelical church is that God wants individuals to repent so individuals can go to heaven when they die. This is good and true. It’s not that this gospel is wrong, but that it limited to a formula for an individual. Moreover, it’s a formula for life after death, and says little about life.

Scripture talks about a God who empowers his people. It talks about how his people are the embodiment reconciliation between societal groupings. It talks about how his people are to carry each others burdens.

We need to talk about how to be a “we.”

1. Systems of Discipleship

What did Jesus talk about? Mostly, how to live.

What if we took this seriously: it is possible to be more like Jesus.

What if we talked about the means needed to become the kind of people that naturally wanted to do the things Jesus said to do.

What if that was all we talked about?

This post is part of a special synchroblog event. You can learn more on the Boots on the Ground Facebook page.

If you appreciate it, please click the links to share on Facebook or Twitter.

The post Top Ten Things the Church SHOULD Be Talking About appeared first on Chris Morton.

In the immortal words of Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, I’m tired of sex.

For those of us trying to live as missionaries in the post-Christendom West, it’s easy to feel like we’re constantly cleaning up other people’s messes.

All countries, in particular the U.S., have a tradition of “Civil Religion” that wants to talk about what it means to “be a good Christian.”

Politicians manipulate well-meaning religious people to talk about what they want to talk about.

The media focuses on flash points, diverting the conversation to what they want to talk about.

Publishers produce new books and micro-celebrities to take advantage of every trend that comes and goes.

The results tend to focus on topics related to violence, moral failures and often seem to lead back to sex.

At the same time, there is a growing number of people who are committed to reimagining the church for the unique time and place that is the 21st century. This group believes that the gospel has not changed, but the role of the Church must constantly shift for its particular time and place. This group is deconstructing what came before and prayerfully seeking ways to make disciples that work today.

Unfortunately, the monumental mission of this group often gets thrown off course by other conversations.

Boots on the Ground is a growing cohort of in-the-field missionaries dealing with the real life challenges of being the church right now. On Tuesday, May 13, we’ll host our second Synchroblog. All are welcome to participate by writing a blog post to answer the question:

As a missionary, what should we be talking about?

This could be anything. What social issues are being ignored? What are the practical realities of discipleship, finances or even event planning you deal with? What is the most exciting thing happening in the church that never gets press?

Where have we seen God move? Where are we desperately waiting for his help?

To participate, simply publish a post on this topic and share it in the Facebook group on Tuesday, May 13. Please RSVP here or by leaving a comment below.

Please check out the previous synchroblog The Day it Felt Like Church.

The post Bloggers Needed: What should we REALLY be talking about? appeared first on Chris Morton.

Here’s a quick recap:

My own contribution:

Two friends had been sitting on the street drinking. They got into an argument. One friend stabbed the other in the heart. The wounded man died on the spot.

A few nights later, dozens of street kids lined up holding candles, walked in a single file line, and through their tears occasionally shouted the punk rock cry “oi! oi!” Our team stood there along in silent observance. We had no right to join the procession, but our faith gave us the responsibility to observe it.

One kid, a pot-smoking, philosophizing skateboarder with a warm bed in the suburbs rolled up next to me and said. “This is really f*%ked up man. What do you believe in a world where sh*t like this happens?”

With a lifetime of churchy language restrictions suddenly seeming useless I looked away and agreed “Yeah man. Pretty f#%ked up.”

Mennonerd Tyler Tully

Together, we shared an “aha” moment at the end of the day as we discussed all that had previously transpired. Community is messy. When people get together, especially in the midst of poverty, things often heat up. Even in the midst of a Kingdom community, tensions flare; so instead of pretending like conflict doesn’t happen and instead of looking the other way (which we so easily do), we all came to embrace our roles as prophetic peace-makers in action. Ours is not a passive Kingdom.

Life on the Vine’s Ty Grigg
Angela stood up to the podium and pulled out a piece of paper. At this point in our liturgy we usually watch an “icon,” that is, a short video or projected artwork that reveals something about the way the world is and the ways God reveals his glory in our world. This Sunday, we would not watch a video or see a piece of art; we would see Angela and listen to her lament.

The Abnormal Anabaptist Robert Anthony Martin
There was the family that came one time to pick up their laundry and we could not find it. This happened on occasion if the tags came off the bag or the laundry was collected outside of our little system and, therefore, not tagged. This was devastating for this family because, as I mentioned above, this was all they had left in the world. I spent an hour sorting through the unclaimed, untagged bags, looking for a bag with a black dress with white polka dots. When I found it, they wept. They wept over found clothing. And I found myself weeping, too.

Austin’s own Sarah Dinka
I think church for me has become a “place” defined more by my experience than the external factors. I think we enjoy the external factors: the coffee, the food, the music, the conversation. But I think church happens when we are able to care for one another–whatever that looks like.

The Always Heartfelt Kevin Bell
Back in the mid 1970s I ran across a group of Christ followers who took living in community to a higher level by choosing to live together in one large house. They themselves were devoted to learning the deeper things of God, to being close disciples of Christ and living in His kingdom. They ate meals together, played together, and worshiped together. The named their home Dileram House which in the Farsi language means peaceful heart.

Church Planter of the Antioch Movement Daniel M. Rose
The day it felt like church? For a while now the best answer to that question is: “Today”. Being the Church is simply living in relationship with and under the authority of Jesus with others who are seeking to do the same.

The post Synchroblog Recap appeared first on Chris Morton.