Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
I think this is the last post in this series. Thanks for all the comments and discussion.
In summing up the significance of the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15), New Testament scholar Richard Longenecker writes:
“The decision reached by the council must be considered one of the boldest and magnanimous in the annals of church history. While attempting to minister exclusively to Jews themselves, Jewish Christians in Jerusalem refused to impede the progress of that other branch of the Christian mission whose every success inevitably meant only further difficulty and oppression for them.”
I doubt the Jerusalem Community had much grasp on the long-term implications of their decision. For just a moment, let’s pretend that they did and see where this pleasant fiction leads.
Could those of us in established Churches of Christ imitate our Jewish brothers and sisters in Acts 15 and give our blessing to those who are called to reach people in our emerging culture that most of our congregations aren’t currently positioned to reach? By give a blessing, I don’t just mean a prayer and a pat on the back. I mean blessing in The Big-hair Network (TBN) sense of the word.
Can we hand them a wad of cash and tell them to go out and plant the church of God’s dreams? Actually, they’ll need more than cash. To pull it off, they’ll need our coaching, our prayers, some of our people–who are probably frustrated with what we are presently doing–and a whole bunch of other stuff I can’t think of. What if we told them the only strings attached to the money and everything else we’ll commit is that they must take the best our heritage has to offer and re-articulate it in the language of our emerging culture, while at the same time doing their best not to make the same mistakes we have?
Limiting myself to just a sentence: The “best” from our heritage that I want to see carried forward is a desire to understand and restore the spirit of New Testament Christianity, which is really only worth doing if we believe that the energizing power of the Risen Christ is just as available to us as it was to the earliest Christians.
On whatever documentation we draw up to formalize the deal, we should include in bold print a statement saying something like: It is our expectation that the church resulting from this partnership will not look like ours and that is AOK with us.
If we do this, here is what I predict. Sacrificially planting churches that are free to shuck and jive in our culture in ways our existing congregations can’t, will induce more change in our congregations than a thousand consecutive “our church must change or die” sermons could ever hope to. Nothing changes parents more than having kids. So, let’s get busy making babies.
From time to time, we’ll need to invite our offspring back home and find ways to interact. Rather than reducing interaction to a joint worship service, maybe we could find ways to partner with each other in missional efforts. We could build a Habitat house together. I’m pretty sure both moderns and post-moderns will agree on the appropriate use of a hammer and saw. Even if we don’t, the cross-pollination will do both of us some good.
If we decide to spend some time worshiping together, then it seems appropriate to me that we ask our kids to come into our house and worship by our rules. When they see what a stretch it was for some of us to give them the freedom to do what they’re doing and when they acknowledge it, then we can say that we expect them to do the same for those who will someday come to them asking for some breathing room.
In fact, we might go back and revise the contract mentioned above to say the following: We expect the church resulting from this partnership, which will not look like our church, to make its resources available to those who will someday be called by God to plant a church that looks nothing like either one of our congregations!
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons
Wade,
As one currently engaged in church planting, thank you for your reflections, challenges, ideas, and honesty.
Chris
Wade,
This series has been great. I hope God is not done with it yet and you write more. Either way, you might think about publishing this in some format. Lots of us need to reread this many times and share it with other leaders in the church.
Joe
Here am I. Send me!
bart
Sometimes its hard to move forward until we have a concept of where we could go. This kind of vision you’ve shared is the sort that inspires people. I, too, would like to see it published and maybe it will inspire churches.
Thank you for this excellent series… God has been using them in many people’s lives.
I’m so glad that guys like you are at the forefront of this movement right now, and I want you to know that I am praying for you in your ministry at Garnett.
Beneath His Mercy,
Brian
You know, Wade, the big problem with what you are proposing is that no one will know what the church of Christ as a whole stands for. It’s already obvious that the Chronicle is having a tough time covering all quarters as it is. Now you’ll have all of these spawns out doing their own thing and no one will be able to associate with one another. Our travelers will not know where to stop for worship, and if they do – what kind of worship service they will find. And then all those funny names that do not have COC in them … I mean … Wade … this could be really wild and unpredictable.
Yeah. 🙂
Thank you for this series. I have enjoyed every segment and will probably share them with our leadership when I get brave enough.
Finally. Someone with a vision for the future, an answer…instead of criticisms. If I’m honest with myself, sometimes criticizing is what I’m really good at…and right now I’m searching for something more positive, more inspiring, more godly than what I’ve offered up until now.
Wade,
Thank you for exploring realms and asking the questions, or at least vocing the questions that many of us are asking, or to afraid to ask.
I appreciate this series, and really can’t add on what’s been offered in way of comments by the many others.
It seems though something you have said has sparked some thought. In Philippians 3, you know when Paul boasts about his life in the flesh to make the point that all that was rubbish, it seems that he really isn’t dissing his heritage, he just found a better way. A better way prompted by the gospel’s call and challenge to be about Jesus. It may seem in some congregational waters that things are turbulent, but as we enter this discussion may we do so with a spirit of unity, and a joint recognition that Jesus is our standard, our bench-mark, that as disciples we are to be conformed more and more into his likeness. Let the conversation continue…
You have said what I have been saying to different church of Christers for years…amen brother!
I am amazed when I see photos of new churches in third-world countries in which members are sitting in lined-up make-shift pews in white shirts with black ties listening to a preacher behind a make-shift pulpit. They certainly have captured the form of many CofCs (and many denominations, for that matter).
We guard the “truth” sometimes (read “control the message”) as if we do not believe that just anyone can read and comprehend the Bible, in strict contridiction to our claims. I recently heard a CofC preacher tell the congregation from the pulpit that he understands how busy they are and that they don’t have time to study the Bible. Therefore, he is glad to be their “Bible Man” (Rabbi??) since studying is part of his job description. He would be there to answer all of their Bible questions. It seems that he might as well chain the Bible to the pulpit.
The church would be transformed in short order if we all committed to struggle with the scriptures and to be accountable for “figuring it out” for ourselves (realizing that we could never reach that level of perfection – it is the journey that counts). Of course, we would need each other for help and encouragement, but the work would be ours to do. How rich our fellowship would be.
Wade, thanks again for the provocative postings. I am sure that many, like me, have been encouraged by your open-mindedness to God’s word. He can do great things with those who will open their minds and lives to his will.
Great reflections and writing. Your love for the heritage and the way it has nourished you and others is obvious. There have been some shifts and struggles in the Churches of Christ that have had some interesting effects as of late. It is in the margins – where people have been pushed to their edges that repentance, renewal, rethinking, and restoration really happen.
There are some sharp thinkers (such as yourself) who are doing important theological thinking, grabbing the courage and passion of the Restoration heritage and paying attention to God’s movement among us.
Wade: The Lord will certainly bless you for what you are doing. This is what we are doing here in this small community. We are now trying to locate property to build a building. Fred
Thank you so much for your words of wisdom and insight. I was reading the articles to my husband, (an elder) and we were both smiling, saying haven’t we heard this before, even said these very things? Wow! It was refreshing to know others out there are thinking the same things.
We are in the restoration movement full force. We left a typical COC about five years ago with half our congregation and tried to do “church” different. It has been a long hard struggle and many went back to the old ways and the old church. But the few that have stuck this out, just merged with an independent Christian church. We have a new name, Christ Covenant Church and we are working hard to see God moving and working and allowing Him to do His Good Works in all of us.
When we focus on the goal, Jesus, He can do amazing things through us without compromising the truth. He has to do the work, though. We only have to allow Him and let go. God bless you in your work and words!
Peggy in Texas
What an ‘on-topic’ series. I wonder what the next step is. Private converstaions with elders? Public dialogue with respected leaders (online, the Chronicle)? The first gathering of emerging church minded of our brand (my only stipulation is that it has to have a cool name. I’m shallow that way). A series at the Tulsa Workshop or lectureships? Coordinating chapter authors for the first book. One more post asking for models that people are actually doing, even if it’s early. I’m sure the next step is more prayer and waiting. But after that?
Maybe there’s a lingering part of our CofC DNA that we’re in denial of. The strand that doesn’t let us ‘do’ anything until we are 100% sure that we’re ‘right.’ We don’t have to be world-class runners to start running around the track. If we’re not careful (or maybe because we’re too careful)we’ll get lapped in this race, too. The nice thing about running in circles is that each time someone laps you, you look like your winning for little while. I have plenty more ideas of what ‘someone’ should do, but I’ve only listed the ones that I’m willing to help make happen.
So start talking with staff and elders of your church families. Send me the names of possible public representatives and people who should have space in the book. Share what you’re doing or actively planning. If you know anyone who plans Tulsa, send them an email. Don’t forget cool names. Oh…and someone please pray.
I’ll be at Pepperdine this week. Just look for the “Vote for Pedro” shirt. Hope to connect with some of you there. Maybe we can do something, or at least talk about it.
(I’m posting from a 10th story loft in downtown LA, one block from ‘skid row’ wondering why they won’t post on this blog. Don’t they care about important things? Tomorrow I’ll drive down skid row on the way to Malibu. That’s the story of our lives, isn’t it. Let’s pick up some people on the way.)
Wade, thank you prophet for calling us into the future.
i’m in the middle of planting a church in alabama (where only 30% of adults attend church). i’ve asked Churches of Christ and Christian Churches for financial support. i’ve received absolutely nothing from them. i’m seeking churches or individuals who can help.
Wade, excellent thoughts on the emerging church movement and Churches of Christ. My wife and I left the CoC four years ago and are now in the midst of planting an independent Christian Church through Stadia. I would love to see an expanded dialogue between open-minded Church of Christers and those of us in the Christian Church, especially within the church plants. You’ll find many of us wrestling with the same issues. BTW, Dave Altizer was the involvement minister at my last Church of Christ in the Bay Area!
Of all the phrases you could have used for a subtitle to your blog you picked “…without disasgreement nothing can be learned”. That is sad…..
I will pray for you and your church as it has gone and moved away from the church that Christ built from the beginning…since it has not changed and you can’t change it since you are not the head of it.