lesson 3: be willing to lead

Us emerging types have difficulties with leadership. We long for things to be decided by community and we tend to hate the idea that some folks are more mature than others.

But you can’t do discipleship without a spiritual parent. This is why Stanley Hauerwas affirms priesthood, by the way. You’d think the guy would be all about communal discernment and shared leadership. But he’s not, because only disciples can adequately make decisions and read Scripture communally and whatnot. And discipleship doesn’t happen naturally. A bunch of immature people do a bad job of discipling one another. You need someone to be a spiritual parent. This doesn’t mean that affirm the role of clergy–I’m still against the distinction between clergy and laity. But I do support the role of spiritual parent / discipler. And I wish I had been more comfortable discipline others instead of letting things often fall to the lowest common denominator at Missio Dei.

lesson 2: don’t let wishful thinking deceive you

I have made the mistake of building with people who didn’t buy into the vision; I assumed they’d eventually “get it” and so I might as well make them integral now. Big mistake. I think I fell into this one because it takes so long and so much for someone to really sign onto Missio Dei. We have a somewhat steep learning curve (if you are a churched Christian). I’ve spent too much of the past two years trying to convince people who were already a part of Missio Dei that our vision was worth committing to. It is better to build with the few who really get it then it is to build with the many who somewhat get it.

lesson 1: don’t compromise your vision for finances

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen church planters soften or change their vision to “fit” the planting agencies expectations. Don’t do it. To change your vision because knowledgeable people convince you that your vision needs to change is wise. To change your vision because you can get money for doing so is prostitution. I think I did this early on with Missio Dei; it wasn’t exactly intentional, but if money weren’t involved I know for certain we would have done things differently. I think it is better to be bivocational and faithful to your vision than it is to be fully funded and a compromiser.

Missio Dei…a 2 year retrospective

Missio Dei “launched” about 2 years ago. We’ve made a lot of mistakes in the past two years. I know that church planters always say this, and say it with a bit of lightheartedness, but I say it with little lightheartedness. We’ve made some mistakes that now exist as cumbersome baggage. And just when I think we’ve moved on, I realize that the mistakes of the past still haunt us.

I feel like I’ve learned an incredible amount in the past two years. If I had it to do all over again, I would have gotten a part time job in the West Bank and we would have bought a house directly in the West Bank instead of a mile to the south. Even though the house would have been smaller, it would have made all the difference. This is one we hope to rectify in the near future, but we are in a much weaker financial situation now than we were a year or two ago.

If I had it to do all over again, I would never have started with a semi-conventional church service and I wouldn’t have tried to do church in a regular format at all. I would have set out to start a neomonastic community from the start. I would have visited Catholic worker houses. intentional communities, monastic communities, and neo-monastic communities and then set out to have a communal house of compassionate disciples. This is what we’re trying to do now. I didn’t know that’s what I wanted 2 years ago, but I know it now. The past two years has been a fun process of discovery, but for every new discovery, I realize we’ve made decisions that hold us back from pursuing the ideal. Sure, we’d probably end up having gatherings and whatnot, but only after establishing communal practices first.
If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn’t have raised church planting funds from people and other churches. I would have just found people who wanted to live a radical way of life on the West Bank. I would still have raised funds for Missio Dei, but only for specific ministry projects.

So, have we done anything right? Yep. Pursuing a relationship with InterVarsity was and is the right decision. They are totally on board with my approach to ministry and together we will accomplish more to reach out to students on the West Bank than we ever would have separately. I also think that our partnership with InterVarsity will help us reach out to non-students as well, since that will be a facet of our discipleship process.

At Missio Dei, we’ve always been willing to acknowledge our mistakes and change our course. I feel foolish for how much we’ve “evolved”–it shows how little I really know about what we’re doing. But I’m glad that we’ve created a culture that allows for mistakes.

We are right in pursuing affiliation with the Mennonite Church USA. I appreciate the BGC, but I feel like they tolerate our existence rather than celebrate it. I have no desire to break ties with them, but I recognize the added connection with the Mennonite Church will provide support and encouragement that we need.
We were right in planting on the West Bank. A strong sense of calling to a particular place has made ALL the difference for Missio Dei. It gives us a sense of divine commissioning that nobody can take away.

Tomorrow I’ll share some lessons I’ve learned that are more broadly applicable. What I shared today was largely specific to Missio Dei, but I think I’ve learned some things that may be useful to some of you, my readers.

Missio House

I love my house. We’ve got 6 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It is the perfect setup for intentional community, and we can fit 50 people in it for parties/gatherings if we are creative with our use of space. It’s ideal.

But it is over a mile too far south. We thought being close to the West Bank would be enough. It isn’t. It is hard to be incarnational in a place over a mile away.

This spring/summer we’re hoping to sell our ideal home for a smaller, less-than-ideal home. Smaller because property values are higher on the West Bank. We were hoping to get some folks to help us out with the purchase of a larger house, but the truth is folks don’t like funding ministry houses. Most folks are confused about Missio Dei and don’t feel comfortable lending us financial support to make an urban missional monastery a reality.

And so, instead of a big, big house with lots and lots of rooms where we can have a big, big table with lots and lots of food for hospitality, we’re going to make due with less.

Given our current financial situation, we may not qualify for a new mortgage (Amy quit teaching in St. Paul so she could work part time as well as volunteer in adult English education in the Riverside Towers; meanwhile I am essentially unemployed since I am still raising support with InterVarsity). Hopefully our credit history and whatever equity we pull out of our current house may help in acquiring our next home.
The cool twist with all of this is that my Regional Director with InterVarsity has investors lined up who want to buy a multiplex for InterVarsity use. It’s a great deal–they’d get stable, dependable renters and we’d get to use a big house for a student ministry house. The plan is that Amy and I (or some InterVarsity volunteers) would live in a building with up to 10 students. The students would have to commit to a year long discipleship program and commit to ministry both on the West Bank Campus of the U of M, but also in the larger West Bank neighborhood. The discipleship program will be a tweaked version of the Missio Dei Rule of Faith (still in development). And while we cannot require our InterVarsity students to be a part of Missio Dei, Missio Dei and InterVarsity will work together. I really could care less about It ultimately doesn’t matter what organization with which people are formally affiliated–I’m more interested in embodying Christ on the West Bank.

If all of this stuff unfolds as planned, then by Fall 07 we may find ourselves with a student discipleship house for the Missio Dei Campus Cooperative (which is what we call the joint campus ministry of InterVarsity and Missio Dei) as well as a Missio House. This would be a HUGE step forward for us. It will potentially mean that we’ll have two intentional community houses providing two hubs for hospitality and outreach. We’ll be more firmly rooted in the West Bank and be able to center our ministry activities around radical hospitality. Please keep Missio Dei and the Missio Dei Campus Cooperative in your thoughts and prayers.

Communities of Resistance

One of the most difficult parts of writing my book is going to be finding communities that exemplify the sort of resistance we need. Resistance is being published because is timely and few practitioner voices are calling for the sort of resistance that I’m suggesting. But this also means that exemplary communities are hard to find. Most churches, mine included, are just getting their feet wet with this stuff. Finding groups that are living the dream will be hard. Especially since such communities are usually obscure.

I’ve asked you before (my hearty thanks to those of you who have responded), but would y’all please point out communities that serve as worthy examples for these five chapters (each followed by brief a description):
Chapter 1: The Kingdom of God and the American Dream (argues for a strong fidelity to Christ that overshadows any and all political or governmental allegiance)

Chapter 2: Rugged Individuals Need a Hug (deconstructing individualism and calls for a retrieval of a robust communitarian ecclesiology…a call to interdependency, mutual accountability, and other junk like that)

Chapter 3: The Consumption of Faith and the Faith of Consumption (challenges unfettered consumer capitalism and the commodification of Christianity and calls us to a life of self-reflective simplicity and obedience to Christ)

Chapter 4: Why Pragmatism Doesn?t Work (pragmatism is over-rated. it has infected the church and has therefore destroyed our soteriology, pneumatology, and ecclesiology-in other words, the Kingdom of God doesn?t always make a lot of sense, and we?ve opted for sense over faithfulness)

Chapter 5: Going to War with Militarism (violence is bad. Our Empire is built upon the myth of redemptive violence. Christians falsely believe in the use of military power to secure freedom, peace, and the goodlife. Instead, we must pursue freedom, peace and the good life in the Way of Christ as we resist violence nonviolently).

I plan to travel to at least five communities to interview folks and experience their communities. In particular I?m looking for humble communities that aren?t big and/or well-known. This book is a sort of manifesto for Christian resistance and the examples I give should be earthy and humble. For example, I know that Greg Boyd and Woodland Hills Church could be a good community to highlight in Chapter 1, but Woodland Hills is a mega-church and Greg Boyd is a celebrity Christian. These aren?t bad things, but their example isn?t easy to follow.

Think twice before suggesting your own community. Try to be objective about how much your own community is indeed an exemplar.

If you want to know what “emergent” and “emerging” mean…

You should either read this quick lecture: Scot McKnight’s What is the Emerging Church?
Or take the time and read this relatively short book: Bolger and Gibbs’ Emerging Churches
Anyone who cares about the emerging church–either as its friend or its foe–would do well to at least read Scot McKnight’s lecture. It really is a great foundation for continued fruitful discussion and debate.

Here’s a great snippet from the lecture:

…if you are serious enough to contemplate major trends in the Church today, at an international level, and if you define emerging as many of us do - in missional, or ecclesiological terms, rather than epistemological ones - then you will learn quickly enough that there is a giant elephant in the middle of the Church?s living room. It is the emerging church movement and it is a definite threat to traditional evangelical
ecclesiology.

On Downward Mobility

There is a certain nobility to downward mobility…but only if it is intentional and you are middle class. These days, lots of us talk about voluntary poverty…me included. But voluntary simplicity is different than real poverty. Those of us who willingly lay aside our wealth for the sake of justice and righteousness have a vastly different experience than the individual who is desperately trying to get out of their low-income status. Solidarity with the poor is a nifty idea, but is very difficult in practice. And is impossible unless you spend gobs of frustrating time building relationships with people who see things differently.

Sicker.

I’ve been getting steadily sicker over the past couple days. I thought I was doing better, but last night Amy and I missed our bus and got a bit lost so I ended up being outside in the cold for a while. Today I feel like crap. This concerns me for two reasons:

1) I am uninsured. If this turns into bronchitis or pneumonia I may be in for expensive doctor visits.

2) I am scheduled to speak to the InterVarsity Chapter at Macalester College on Thursday night about the Incarnation. I’m looking forward to it, but if I don’t start getting better, I may need to bail. I sure would hate to do that. Pray for me if you are so inclined.

Why so downcast, Oh my Soul. Put your hope in politics.

It may be a token article, but it is a good one: Children of Lesser Hope. Here’s a snippet:

Recently I was brought up short by reading about an Ohio pastor who was hoofing it through his neighborhood getting the work of the church done. No, he wasn’t visiting the sick, preaching the gospel, or inviting people to church. He was registering voters. Call me old-fashioned, but somehow that doesn’t seem quite right to me. I’m glad it’s not how my own pastor invests his time.

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