SimpleChurch Journal

Chapter 2 Continues: Comfort Zones or Adventure

Note: This is a continuation of chapter two of my Irrelgious Follower book which I am writing here as posts in order to incorporate your comments and thoughts.  The first parts of this chapter are found here and here.

Are Rules & Comfort Zones Robbing Us of the Adventure?

I confess it openly.  I often just want someone to spell out what the rules are around here.  For example, I adore my wife.  But sometimes I long to reduce our relationship to a set of fixed routines and actions: “Just tell me what the rules are so that I can keep the peace and keep you happy,” is part of what my lazy inner-self is saying.  But, it’s a relationship.  Those things that cause us to connect at a deeper level today, will not provide the exact same result tomorrow.

Arrggg!  The unpredictability, and thus the adventure, of relationships.

Yet it is this very movement and fluidity within real relationships that make them so dynamic, alive, real, heart-filling or heart-crying, fulfilling and/or frustrating all at the same time.  Let’s get real here.  Who would exchange a relationship with a person for a robot?

Yet how often we do that very thing with God.  Part of us wants Him to be a mechanical dispensing machine, a vendor in heaven, One who hands out predictable answers in response to our specific actions or prayers.  “If I do this, I expect God to do that.”

This is precisely the problem religious people had with Jesus.  He did not fit the predictable box they wanted to keep God in.  Since God established the Sabbath as ‘law’ there is no way that this same God would tell His disciples to harvest grain to eat or heal a sick man on a Sabbath day.  No way.  It could not happen!  But it did.

I believe that God Himself is initiating a new breakout from the mores and traditions of religion today.  It’s time.  The church has become passive, sleepy, and bland while sustaining itself by keeping up the predictable routines and rules that define their Christian righteousness.

More importantly, Jesus surely longs to express Himself in new, fresh, and powerful ways as His followers are willing to actively engage in relationship with Him regardless of the cost.

A friend of mine recently showed me a book on rock climbing where he was listed as one of the first adventurers who climbed a particular difficult route on a particular mountain. “Wow,” I said.  “I had no idea that you were such an avid and accomplished rock climber.” 

“Well actually,” he replied, “I haven’t climbed now for almost thirty-five years.  When I married my wife I felt that it was not right for me to continue to risk my life in that way.”

I appreciated this and I’m sure his wife did as well.  In fact, it was probably very prudent.

But in the spiritual realm, do we give up the very adventure Jesus called us to with excuses that are not prudent, but lazy and comfort-driven?

Chapter 2 Continues on Freer Still

Note: This is a continution of chapter two of my Irreligious Followers book.  The first part of this chapter is found here.

Free From Guilt and Shame--a Starting Point

My favorite story from when I preached endless sermons to endless groups of listeners (poor things) was this one:

A little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm was given a slingshot to play with in the woods. He would aim at berries, and shoot them down. He tried aiming at the wood pigeons. However, they were too quick for him. He spent a whole morning in the woods, mastering his new-found skill.

On his way back to the cottage for lunch, he saw grandma's pet duck. On impulse, he shot it in its head and killed it. In panic, he hid the dead duck in a pile of wwood,but his sister was watching. Susan saw everything, but said nothing.

After lunch that day, grandma said, "Susan, let's wash the dishes." Susan replied, "Grandma, Jack told me he wanted to help in the kitchen. Didn't you Jack?" Then she whispered into Jack's ear, "Remember the duck?" So, Jack helped with the dishes.

Later that afternoon, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing."Oh, no. Susan has to stay back to help me clean the cottage, “Grandma intervened. "It's all right, grandma. Jack will stay to help you. I can accompany grandpa," Susan was fast to retort, and again she whispered into Jack's ear, "Remember the duck?" So Jack stayed behind to clean the cottage.

These 'remember the duck' went on for many days, until Jack could not take it any longer. Susan was always threatening, and Jack out of guilt, succumbed to her threats. He finally took courage and went to Grandma to confess to her that he had killed her pet duck.

Grandma patted Jack on the head, gave him a hug and said, "My dear boy, I know. You see, I was by the window the other day and saw the whole thing. Because I love you, I forgave you. I just wanted to see how long you would let Susan make a slave out of you.”

When we allow the voices of our past, of our mistakes, and of our own shame make a slave of us, we fail to fully embrace the power and wonder of the cross of Jesus Christ and walk in the freedom that has been purchased for us.

When we place ourselves under the dominion of institutions or religious human leadership, it is so easy to retreat back into those familiar places of guilt/shame and allow others to control us even if it’s unintended.

‘Freer still,’ is the watchword of today’s awakening, irreligious followers.  It must begin with our own heart’s freedom to walk in innocence before God and man.  There is no other foundation to follow Jesus other than one He has provided: ‘no condemnation.’

But, this freedom, starting from there, goes so much further:

• Free to depend on the living Holy Spirit rather than institutional doctrine or mediated leadership.
• Free to live the Jesus-following adventure ourselves every day, rather than waiting until we obtain the ‘qualifications’ that others prescribe.
• Free to put Jesus at the very center of our life; not our religion, and not our church affiliation.
• Free to be ourselves, even outlandish and controversial at times, not conforming to the expectations of other people, even religious ones.
• Free to not control others nor be controlled by others, but to take part in the dynamic movements of the Kingdom of God.
• Free to give up our posturing and false ego that are associated with our religious affiliations and live as a simple, childlike follower of our Magnificent God.
• Free to live out of the passion that God has put into us, rather than by the guilt or expectations of others.
• Free to find the destiny God has shaped us for, rather than the one that fits into the vision of another.

God is unleashing a freed-up Body—free to love and serve only Him with abandon and passion.  Let’s break this down and see if we can throw off all the religious ‘ligatures’ that try to keep us from the full freedom we are called to.

Chapter 2: Freer Still

I am continuing the writing of "Irreligious Followers" online so that I can get feedback and comments which I will use, when possible, in the final book.  Chapter one can be found here. 

(Note: I am, in fact, traveling in Africa but scheduled these posts in advance).

This is the introduction to Chapter 2: Freer Still.

The English word ‘religion’ has its roots from the latin root ‘lig’ which denotes ‘binds’ and ‘binding’ as in ‘ligature.’  Adding the prefix ‘re’ indicates the meaning: ‘to bind again.’

Edmond Dantes is the main character in the novel, The Count of Monte Cristo, who is imprisoned unjustly and placed on a small island sentenced to life imprisonment.  After many years, he did manage to escape by ingeniously placing himself in the coffin of a deceased prisoner in place of the body.  By imitating death, his coffin his thrown into the sea thus allowing him to find freedom from his captivity.  Sadly, however, Edmond is not ready to be truly free and he binds himself in a new prison, one of his own making.  He takes on the new identity of the Count of Monte Cristo, He wraps his new life up in the hatred of his enemies and determination to seek revenge.  He leaves one prison only to bind himself up in another.

Unfortunately, this story is repeated again and again by those who find freedom in Christ from past lives of degradation, poor choices, and internal conflict.  Yet these same people so often do what I have done and re-bind ourselves with re-ligion.  We place ourselves in another captivity, a man-made one, one of our own making.

Fortunately, this is not the end of our story.  Those whom Jesus sets free become, not just free, but ‘free indeed.’  God will not rest until we find freedom from all binds, including the religious ones.

Rise of the Jesus-Followers

Erin McCrum has written an excellent article published over at CMA Resources.  Since Erin quotes me (among others), why wouldn't I like it?  No, seriously, it's an excellent piece:

The term Jesus-follower (or follower of Jesus or follower of Christ) is on the rise in the United States.  More and more Christians are calling themselves Jesus-followers instead of or in addition to Christians.

Read more.

Irreligious Followers Beget Irreligious Followers

(Note: this is the last part of chapter 1 of the Irreligious Followers book I am working on.  You can now download all of chapter one its entirety here--though it will still go through several more edits.)

In all cases, though taking many different shapes, the living church-as-a-movement will lead to an outbreak of followers begetting followers.  Discipleship movements—disciples reproducing disciples—will become the new norm.

This will be the heart of part two of this book.

For now, I just want to say that we have viewed ‘making disciples’ as far too difficult.  It’s not.

Followers of Jesus naturally do several things that lead to more followers of Jesus:

• We tell faith stories because we are living them daily.
• We do radical, compassionate things because we are following the most radical lover of all.
• We listen attentively to His voice and walk, however unsteadily, in His footsteps.
• We invite others to join the most amazing adventure on earth by becoming followers and doing the above three things with us.

In this way, followers of Jesus naturally birthing more followers of Jesus, will create an explosion of Kingdom life more than we have yet seen.  God is awakening His church in ways we have not yet conceived.  As this continues to take place, we will be amazed at how the power and wonder of His body is expressed and reproduced on earth.  I am reminded of Eugene Peterson’s translation of Ephesians 1:15-23:

I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!

… At the center of all this, Christ rules the church...  The church is Christ's body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.

But First…

Before moving on to the amazing topic of ‘follower movements’ we will look at becoming… freer still.

Forget the Church -- Follow Jesus

Today is an unplanned post because I got an early look at Newsweek's cover (to the right) along with the cover story by Andrew Sullivan entitled, "Christianity in Crisis."

I reserve the right to be excited about this article without claiming to agree with every sentence or statement.  I know that some will discount the whole of what Sullivan has written because of not agreeing with this point or that point.  But I think that this misses the over-arching blessing of having this article written in the mainstream media.  There is so much in Sullivan's article that is good and I am therefore hoepful that it will add to the needed conversation of how Jesus is re-making His church today and stir up renewed interest among those who are seeking spiritual answers that Jesus is still the One worth pursuing.

Here are some notable quotes:

"Whether or not you believe, as I do, in Jesus’ divinity and resurrection—and in the importance of celebrating both on Easter Sunday—Jefferson’s point is crucially important. Because it was Jesus’ point. What does it matter how strictly you proclaim your belief in various doctrines if you do not live as these doctrines demand?"

"All of which is to say something so obvious it is almost taboo: Christianity itself is in crisis. It seems no accident to me that so many Christians now embrace materialist self-help rather than ascetic self-denial—or that most Catholics, even regular churchgoers, have tuned out the hierarchy in embarrassment or disgust. Given this crisis, it is no surprise that the fastest-growing segment of belief among the young is atheism, which has leapt in popularity in the new millennium. Nor is it a shock that so many have turned away from organized Christianity and toward “spirituality,” co-opting or adapting the practices of meditation or yoga, or wandering as lapsed Catholics in an inquisitive spiritual desert. The thirst for God is still there."

"I have no concrete idea how Christianity will wrestle free of its current crisis, of its distractions and temptations, and above all its enmeshment with the things of this world. But I do know it won’t happen by even more furious denunciations of others, by focusing on politics rather than prayer, by concerning ourselves with the sex lives and heretical thoughts of others rather than with the constant struggle to liberate ourselves from what keeps us from God."

"This Christianity comes not from the head or the gut, but from the soul. It is as meek as it is quietly liberating. It does not seize the moment; it lets it be. It doesn’t seek worldly recognition, or success, and it flees from power and wealth. It is the religion of unachievement. And it is not afraid. In the anxious, crammed lives of our modern twittering souls, in the materialist obsessions we cling to for security in recession, in a world where sectarian extremism threatens to unleash mass destruction, this sheer Christianity, seeking truth without the expectation of resolution, simply living each day doing what we can to fulfill God’s will, is more vital than ever. It may, in fact, be the only spiritual transformation that can in the end transcend the nagging emptiness of our late-capitalist lives, or the cult of distracting contemporaneity, or the threat of apocalyptic war where Jesus once walked. You see attempts to find this everywhere—from experimental spirituality to resurgent fundamentalism. Something inside is telling us we need radical spiritual change."

Full article here.

You can comment here.

Movements: the New Normal

(Note: this is a continuation of chapter 1 of the Irreligious Followers book I am working on.  The first part of this chapter is here, then here, then here and then here.)

The church has found new ways to express itself, down through the generations, through out-of-the box followers who listened to Jesus and did something so radical that it became a movement that changed the world.

What if movements become the new normal for the church today?  And not just one type of movement.

Today, I am involved in seeing elements of church planting movements in Africa.  These are apostolic, discipleship movements in which followers, churches, and leaders are rapidly reproducing themselves.  This type of movement is having a dynamic impact throughout the world.  But… even this specific type of movement may not be the new norm.  Instead, movements, Kingdom-movements may be the norm that God is after because His church, by definition, is a movement.

Church planting movements are interesting because they show what happens when the church takes on its natural characteristic as a living, reproducing virus.  It leads to transformation, change, and the spread of the Kingdom of God.  It happens because followers are begetting followers.  It happens because control passes out of the hands of man into the hands of God.  It happens because the church becomes decentralized and can, therefore, express its inherent, living power.   We have learned so much by seeing this type of Kingdom movement viral out of control into the world.

But let’s not clone this one type of movement as the only movement.  History shows us that Kingdom movements can take many shapes.  When the church is becoming alive and followers are boldly following outside of the rules and boxes, all kinds of movements and reproduction will take place.  Consider other movements in history:

Patrick initiated a movement in Ireland that built community and relationship first among the people and then presented the message of the Gospel to them second.  He put belonging ahead of believing and mobilized ‘lay people’ to propagate the movement.

William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, abandoned church and pulpit in order to take the message to the people including the poor, the homeless, and the destitute.  He initiated a movement that administers justice and aid along with the Gospel that is still active today in almost every part of the world.

Perhaps we have not yet begun to see or even imagine what the church, Christ’s Body, is meant to look like as it becomes a full array of Kingdom movements.

Even in the natural, decentralized movements are recognized as having the greatest potential for change in our world:

“In a world of rapid and unpredictable change, the leading social entrepreneurs and the millions of changemakers with their tentacles and sensors touching every corner of the globe represent a far better mechanism to respond to needs than we have ever had before—a decentralized and emergent force that, if properly financed, governed and wired together, remains our best hope to construct a framework of solutions that can keep pace with our problems and create a more peaceful world.” David Bornstein

The church, the expression of Jesus, was always meant to be a decentralized, emerging movement led by the Spirit of God.  “Decentralized” because no one can control it, no religion can contain it, and no organization can claim it.  “Movement” because it is an unleashed force that is designed, by its nature, to cover the earth like waters cover the sea.  “Emerging” because it continually brings forth new life in new places and, as it does, emerges in the most unlikely situations and ways.

In three and a half years Jesus initiated a movement that today continues to infuse the world with His living, powerful Spirit through over 1 billion followers!  He is alive and on the move.

Our traditional religious approaches to church and Christianity can never serve the movement that Jesus initiated and that is being renewed today.  But Jesus followers—loving Him, surrendering to Him, seeking Him, following Him radically into the world—can and will.

Comment Here!

Cloneliness is Not Next to Godliness (book continues)

(Note: this is a continuation of chapter 1 of the Irreligious Followers book I am working on.  The first part of this chapter is here, then here, and then here.)

Above all, followers of Jesus, by definition, are not clones of those around them.

Our cultures invite us to fall into lockstep and become clones of the habits, rituals, and norms of the system.

Our churches invite us to become like other church members and become good clones of their system.

Our nature is to play it safe by looking and acting like everyone else.  If we find something we admire or like, we want to become clones rather than followers of the One who created uniquely.

A few paragraphs earlier I mentioned someone who quit his job because he believed God told him to.  Don’t follow that story just because it’s easy or because you want to.  Just because someone finds God’s will by doing this or that, don’t simply do this or that.  Instead, follow Jesus.  In fact, in many developing countries where I work, the religious culture dictates that ‘ministers’ who are called to ‘preach the Gospel’ should quit their work and means of income and depend on others to support them.  This becomes the norm and it’s often a destructive one.  The fact is, in most settings, Jesus leads His people to take and make jobs to care for their families and others.  But there is still the issue of being a follower within that context.  Don’t just become part of the system, bring the Kingdom of God and the creativity of God into the systems you live within as Jesus leads.  When you take a job, expect to revolutionize that job and industry into a reflection of the Kingdom of God.  When you see a need, expect Jesus to use you to bring the Kingdom of God into the process of meeting that need.

The point is, I am hesitant to give any illustrations of what it means to be a non-clone follower of Jesus because the tendency will be to become clones around the ideas put forth by those stories.  Our tendency to fit into the norms and ideas of people around us is a strong one making it difficult to live as followers of the One.

Let’s step back and reflect on Jesus for a moment.  He stepped into a particular national culture, a specific religious culture, and typical normative expectations of how to live.  Yet He walked outside of those boxes in many ways as He expressed God’s Kingdom and rule for his earthly life.  He offended the rule-keepers, ignored the standard-bearers, and refused to conform to the clone-boxes he was expected to fit into.  In fact, He so offended the box-guards by his success outside of their boxes that their envy drove them, eventually, to a murderous rage.  But even this did not cause Jesus to back down from living the life He was meant and called to live.

Followers of Jesus will surprise people because they don’t fit into the boxes, yet the blessing of God creates success for them and for those around them.  They bring God’s rulership (Kingdom) first into their life by their singular devotion to Jesus as they walk out family life, vocation, friendships, and every other aspect of life.   And they surprise people because they find success in each area even as they walk ‘not according to this world.’

Imagine when followers of Jesus get it that we do not live for the norms or expectations of man, but the will and purposes of an amazing God.  Imagine when the followers of Jesus are willing to step out of all the expectations of our societies (including our church/religious ones) to allow Jesus alone to guide, shape, direct, mold, and inspire our lives.

“Every day I meet people who have so much to give but have been bullied enough or frightened enough to hold it back. It’s time to stop complying with the system and draw your own map. You have brilliance in you, your contribution is essential, and the art you create is precious. Only you can do it, and you must.” Seth Godin

Children & Family Are At the Heart of It

This post digresses from my book-writing to highlight an article that reminds us how important it is that we keep our own children and family at the heart of our church expressions and spiritual life.  The simple, Biblical model is that our church gatherings, as well as our whole walk with God, embrace the family naturally and experientially.

Rob Rienow writes in Mission Frontiers:

Evangelism and discipleship are in dire crisis, and it is a generational crisis. We’re losing more of our own children to the world than we are winning adult converts to faith in Christ. As a result, the percentage of Bible-believing Christians in the United States is in steady decline.

Rob backs this up with some sobering facts about the decline, generationally, of those who trust in Christ alone for salvation.  This is a sharp cry for the body of Christ in the U.S. to wake up!

But even more poignant is Rob's diagnosis of the problem:

Slowly but surely, we abandoned the biblical model of family discipleship and delegated the spiritual training of our children to “professionals” at church. I led this model at a large church for over a decade. One of the unintended consequences of my ministry approach which systematically separated children from their parents was that parents were free to remain spiritually passive at home. After all, they were making sure that their son or daughter was involved in a “great youth group.”

Just changing our church gatherings to simple/organic expressions will not solve this, but it can be a step in the direction of putting the family, as a whole, back in the center of our life with God.  I pray that we will continue to take many more steps until we see again that God is working powerfully through 'households' rather than simply individuals.

Read Rob's full article here.

Comment here!

The Predictable Way or... (Ch. 1 Continues)

(Note: this is a continuation of chapter 1 of the Irreligious Followers book I am working on.  The first part of this chapter is here and then here.)

The Predictable Way or the Jesus Way

We often love Jesus but, really, we love even more our comfortable religious boxes, our titles, our roles, and our predictable programs and routines.  It’s easier to stay in the boat of religion than to get out and follow Him.  We might fail.  We might look foolish.  We might get all wet.  We might not like the change.

But one thing is sure: if we don’t get out of the boat there is no chance that we will ever walk on water.

The life of the follower is still, and always will be, a life of faith.  Faith will always involve forsaking some comforts, even religious ones, in order to step out.

If you are going be a trapeze artist, you have to let go of one bar in order to fly through the air and catch the other bar.  In Hebrews 11 we see that people of faith acted in a way that was contrary to the comforts and sensibilities of others.  They went somewhere, built something, sacrificed, chose to suffer with others, gave something up… there was risk and action to their faith.  They let go of what they could grip to grasp hold of an experience with God.

Followers of Jesus are regaining the courage to risk when God is speaking.  We no longer want to settle for play-it-safe, cookie-cutter religion that has no life, teeth, focus, or power to it.

I know risk and faith can be used by irresponsible people to do irresponsible things.  Quitting a job, for example, because “God told me to” could be an act of the irresponsible not wanting to grow up.  But, on the other hand, let’s not write something off just because it offends our rules of comfort and sensibilities.  I have a young friend who recently did this very thing.  Honestly, I don’t know if God has spoken to him clearly or not.  But in our play-it-safe world, I’m excited to see what will happen and I’m excited that he is doing his level best, today, to follow Jesus.

It’s almost impossible to see God-things happen while we are playing it safe.

Most churches are playing it safe.  Many Christians are playing it safe.  Yes, risk can sometimes bring with it the element of danger.  But, then again, not risking when faith calls us forward could be even more dangerous!

The awakening, audacious followers of Jesus are world changers because they are compelled to act according to their faith.  And where faith is engaged, God is revealed.