What would you invest in?
Would you invest time, resources, money, etc… into someone who might become a church planter?
What if we helped identify peoples gifts, trained them to use them in a local context, mentored them, gave them a laptop full of resources and ideas… all before they they were ready to “launch” a new church plant? Like years before. Like so far in advance, they may not even be sure they want to be a missional Church planter…
What if we (prayerfully, as local communities, with the support of a larger network of congregations) chose to invest in every way in the gifting/calling/work of God in someone’s life, rather than a single project (Church plant).
On the Verge: Review
Full disclosure: I received a free copy of On the Verge in exchange for writing a post reviewing the book. All the opinions contained in this post are mine alone. I was not given the book in exchange to positive words about it. I don’t roll like that.
This post is part of a larger blog tour happening all this week for the book On the Verge. While I am rather late with this post (it is still the 15th), this book has given me a ton to think about and wrestle with in my own thinking about the church, the Church, and how we Christians go about engaging mission. I am hoping to pump out a couple more posts interacting with specific parts of this book. But for now, a review:
Buy and read this book.
The primary focus of On the Verge is about a paradigm shift. Alan Hirsch and Dave Ferguson assert that the true core of Christianity is understanding that it is a people movement, not an institution. We have been doing and thinking about Church the same way since the days of Constantine. It isn’t working any more. It’s not true to our core identity, our DNA, as people following Jesus.
Please don’t think this is simply about moving towards a more grassroots or “international” method of practicing/patronizing. On the Verge isn’t another anti mega-church, pro simple church book. It’s a call for the western church to embrace the beauty of and. Shifting our paradigm is moving away from the battle that some of us feel between church growth methods and more organic styles of church.
Sorry this review isn’t more in-depth, but as I said I’m still working through the concepts, applications, and ideas presented. There is tons to think about and interact with in these pages. This book is full of large ideas, practical steps, and over all a heart that beats for the church in the west to rediscover it’s identity, it’s DNA, and to become a movement that alters the world for the glory of God.
First words of a larger missional conversation
So here is a concept I’m thinking about (I blame Jason Blair, Alastair Roberts, and Alan Hirsch for pushing me to think this way):
What if we stopped looking for support for our Church movements from within the existing frameworks (denominations, existing congregations, etc…). What if instead we identified the “tribe” we are already a part of and garnered support from those whom we carried the gospel to.
I think the first thing in this discussion is breaking from the traditional language of support as money. Instead, what if support was about talent, resources, goods, services, locations, etc… What if support was about people (both believers and not-yet believers) using what they had to cultivate and grow a gathering of people who wanted to walk with God (a Church) and be about what he is about for their location (neighborhood, city, people group, etc…).
What would this do to our idea of Church as an attractional event? What would this do to our peridime of Church planting and “missional”? Is this faithful to the story of the sent/sending God as he is revealed in scripture?
Thoughts?
Father, Husband, Theological Dreamer, Web Designer, Photographer, Coffee Chugger... It's kind of like listening to a cross between guerrilla radio and a street corner prophet with a bad case of tourettes.
