Rodney Clapp on Green Martyrdom

Todd Hobart recently summarized Rodney Clapp’s "Green Martyrdom" talk from the conference on his blog.  I think his summary is very good and worth sharing with the world:

Green
martyrdom means suffering for deeply held Christian beliefs in a
consumer culture through various physical, material, and economic
sacrifices, instead of through the giving of one’s life or through
suffering torture or imprisonment for one’s beliefs. He laid out five
practical ways that one could approach this process:

1. Laying ourselves on the line, and our families, instead of making others suffer for our economic choices.
   This means, in part, paying attention to the hidden realities that
   producers in other parts of the world suffer from so that people in the
   United States can consume goods for a low price.
2. Not segregating the rich from the poor.
   This has to do with maintaining ties with the poor both on a personal
   and ecclesial level. Often those with means in the United States are
   physically separated by choice from the realities of the poor (i.e. the
   suburbs).
3. Commit one’s whole self to a church community and place for the long haul.
   This indentification with a certain area or location is not simply out
   of convenience, or habit, but comes from a missional commitment to a
   certain place and people.
4. Challenging idolatry and naming greed as idolatry.  Conversations among members of green martyr churches should be encouraged along these lines.
5. Name the reality of death and its eventuality.
   This is tough to do in our culture. I watched part of an Elimidate the
   other night (shame on me) where one girl said about another: "Why is
   she always talking about death? Come on, this is America, have some
   fun!"

A final quote from Clapp: "The perfect consumer is an addict - who can never rest and never has enough."

In October, we are hoping to offer up a followup to the conference.  Call it a "consultation on Christianity in a Consumer Culture."  We are tenatively planning on having a day long consultation at a local church, focusing on these five principles of Green Martyrdom.  We’ll probably ask Rodney Clapp to come back to help foster the discussion.  The reason for the consultation is that we didn’t have enough time in the conference to really hammer out some plans for action.  This will offer a way to continue the conversations started at the conference.  We will, however, open it to everyone–not just those who attended the conference. 

Windfalls for Jesus

I got some guff, both on my blog and in "real life" about my challenging of the church in Minneapolis that spent millions on a bell tower.  Instead of pointing a finger at a specific church to advance the discussion, I would like to direct your attention to a GOOD example of a church, and how it spent a windfall they received.

According to a Crosswalk.com news story, when St. Mary’s United Methodist Church received a HUGE donation of $60 million.

• They put $40 to start a foundation which will support non profit causes.
• $16 million will go towards educational efforts, a children’s home, youth programs, and mission projects.
• $500,000 will go towards a residential facility for the elderly. 
• $4 million will go towards a building campaign. 
• And $2.8 million will go into a fund that will generate $100,000 a year in income for the church.

Contrast this with a recent Facts and Trends newspoll.  The poll asked what a congregation would do if it received an "unexpected financial windfall."

• 31% of the more than 500
  Protestant pastors surveyed said they would build, expand, or update
  their church’s buildings and facilities (The number was 43% among Southern Baptists).
• 16% of the 500 Protestant pastors said they would use the money to increase evangelistic activities.
• 12% would use it to pay off debt.
• 10% would use it to add staff.
• 1% would increase salaries and/or benefits.

In
a companion survey of almost 1,200 Protestant lay people, the top priorities were different:

• 18% would pay off debt.
• 18% would increase social programs.
• 17% would use it for new, expanded, or updated church facilities. 

It isn’t bad to have church buildings.  In fact, at Missio Dei we want to have a space on the West Bank so that we can begin to do more intensive ministry on the West Bank (legal and business services to the immigrant population, arts programming for the kids, etc).  But I think St. Mary’s and 1200 Protestant lay people have got their priorities much more in line with Jesus’ concerns than the 500 protestant pastors polled. 

How would you divide up a big chunk of cash in YOUR church?

Planning ahead

Mission:Think, the collaborative effort between me and Jeff, has some new projects already in the works.  We are really interested in fostering discussions that will foster faithfulness within the church.  Here are some potential projects ahead:

• Some discussion is already begining on having a sort of consultation in about 6 months to process and discuss practical ways of following through with the conference.  Nothing is nailed down, but here are some initial thoughts:

• We’d try to make it free or very cheap.  We’d keep in the Twin Cities and try to get those who attended the conference to come be a part of the consultation.  However, we’d also want to make it accesible for those who didn’t attend the conference.
• I like the idea of having Rodney Clapp come be a part of it.  His talk on Green Martyrdom would be a great way of organizing the consultation.  Todd has a good summary of his talk here.
• We’d probably have it hosted a local church…anyone willing to host it?

• In Spring 2007 we’re thinking of having a consultation on "remonking the church." Many who came to the conference wanted to hear more on ecclesiology.  Since several of the folks there have some sort of neomonasic approach, we may try to gather neomonastic folk from all over to discuss ways of embodying our faith in our contemporary American context. 
• MacLaurin has already expressed some interest in co-sponsoring in the future.  We’ll probably do that in 2008. Our tentative topic is: Christianity in a Media Culture.  The goal will be to look at how television and internet and other new media have changed our way of living in this world, especially the way in which we "do" religion–as well as talking about how Christianity speaks into our increasingly small, yet diffuse, world.

Looking Ahead

In June, I’m taking the Mini MBA at St. Thomas
so that I can get a better handle on fund development and the business
side of running a faith based organization.  Missio Dei has very big
dreams for the West Bank neighborhood, and if we are going to be
faithful to these dreams (which we believe are from God), we need to
raise some funds.  This will go beyond asking friends and family for
money.  Besides raising money to launching a West Bank campus ministry
jointly with InterVarsity, we want to have a residential ministry
center where we can have meetings, and offer legal, business, and arts
programming for the immigrant population.  We hope to be powered with
student volunteers (this is one area that InterVarsity and Missio Dei
will significantly overlap). 

This summer, our plan is to get an idea of how this all ties together
and figure out how much it will cost as we become beggars for this
vision.  To help give people a picture of our vision, we will develop a
short (15 minute) documentary about the West Bank and how we believe
Missio Dei can transform it.

My hope is to have enough funds raised this summer so that I can be
reasonably funded in my new InterVarsity role as I continue to share
the vision with Christians around the Twin Cities. 

This is such a huge undertaking…but now that I’m almot done with
school and have the conference behind me, I am excited to get going.
I’m hoping to take a mini-vacation this month to refresh, refocus, and
receive a renewed sense of God’s abiding presence.

Pub Gathering Tomorrow

You are invited to the Pub Gathering tomorrow at the Corner Bar in Minneapolis at 7pm where we will be joined by Minnesota Atheists.  Rather than the "typical" debate, we hope to have discuss why it is they don’t believe.  Our posture won’t be one of defense, or attack, but of learning and respect.

We’re meeting in the comedy club space at the Corner Bar.  Bring your friends. 

Spent

I feel spent.  I’ve been working on the Consumerism Conference for the past year almost and now it is done.  I am generally pleased with how things went.  We should have presentations up in mp3 format in the near future…I’ll keep you posted.

I enjoyed having Kevin Rains as a guest in my home for this weekend.  My conversations with him outside of the conference were deeply encouraging.  I was a bit too busy during the conference, so I didn’t get to catch as much of the sessions as I would have hoped.  From what I caught, I have to say that I was impressed with each of our main presenters: Vincent Miller, Ron Sider, Rodney Clapp, and Sondra Wheeler.  I learned a lot from each of them.

Thanks to everyone who joined us this weekend–whether you came from the UK or from the Twin Cities (or anything in between).  I hope and pray that the conference will be used as a tool in the hands of our Lord for your growth and for the blessing of your neighbors.

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