DownshoreDrift

The Effects of the Big Sort: The Polarization of America and the Breakup of the Church

One of the most groundbreaking books that I have read in some time has been Bill Bishop's The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America Is Tearing Us Apart. As someone involved in church leadership and community development approaches, this book is very enlightening.  The main premise of this book, is that primarily since 1965, and especially since 1990, Americans have become increasingly mobile and have been sorting themselves geographically according to their personal preferences and lifestyle choices - not just because of economic necessity. The book is full of statistics to back it up and I have no intention of reprinting them all here. But, what I would like to do is to think through the implications of Bishop's thesis on the Christian life and church leadership over the next several posts.

While this is not a religious book, Bishop devotes chapter 7 (Religion: The Missionary and the Megachurch) to the emergence of the Homogenous Unit Principle in the rise of the megachurch.  The idea presented in this book is that affluence has allowed Americans to do what they want, and what they want to do is to be with people like themselves - even in church.  The more that people are educated and the more resources that they have, the more that they segregate themselves according to their personal preferences. So, you have the rise of cities like San Francisco that has become full of cultural creatives. In 1976, 44 percent of San Franciscans voted for the Republican candidate for president, Gerald Ford. In 2004, only 15 percent voted for George W. Bush. As time has gone by, liberal creatives have pushed out conservative value-oriented voters and those groups have moved to areas where they are able to live with people more like themselves.  These groupings have happened all over the country. People have done this in every walk of life, even in churches, as megachurches have arisen to cater to the desires of people who have similar socio-economic and value orientations.  Just like the denziens of San Francisco move their because of the cultural values, people choose churches based not on theological or denominational distinctives, but because of cultural values.

The more that people gather together with people like themselves in larger groups, the more safety that they can secure, or so the thought goes.  A reviewer on Amazon was nice enough to relay Bishop's interview with Republican strategist Matthew Dowd, who explained the thinking behind the 2004 re-election strategy of George W. Bush:

Dowd understood that "American communities were 'becoming very homogeneous'. He believed that to a large degree, this clustering was defensive, the general reaction to a society, a country, and a world that were largely beyond an individual's control or understanding. For generations, people had used their clubs, their trust in a national government, and long-established religious denominations to make sense of the world. But those old institutions no longer provided a safe harbor. 'What I think has happened,' Dowd told me (Bishop) early in 2005, 'is the general anxiety the country feels is building. We're no longer anchored'." Bishop decodes this further, saying "Unsurpassed prosperity had enriched Americans---and it had loosened long established social moorings. Americans were scrambling to find a secure place, to make a secure place...Most Americans have done that by seeking out(or perhaps gravitating toward) those who share their lifeworlds---made up of old, fundamental differences such as race, class, gender, and age, but also, now more than ever, personal tastes, beliefs, styles, opinions, and values."

So, we are no longer necessarily experiencing "White Flight." Rather, we are experiencing "Middle-Class flight," "Liberal Flight," "Conservative Flight," "Religious Flight," "Educated Flight," etc., etc. People want to be with people like themselves. So, they are moving en masse to communities where they can share the same lifestyle as their neighbors. As Bishop says, "Americans joined communities, churches, and political parties in a manner that was almost tribal."

What are the implications of this for the church?  Is this thesis even true?  As Bishop states in Chapter 7, many used this to appeal to people on the basis of their preferences or lifestyles when it came to the discipline of church growth. The church itself is becoming more tribal as churches form around personal preferences and the place that congregants are in their life. So, you have "niche" churches based on lifestyle choices begin to emerge. Is this a good thing?  Personally, I don't think so. The Body of Christ is not to be divided based on economics, interests, race, or personal preference. We are to be one in Christ, not in our hobbies or political persuasions. But, this clustering is happening faster now than ever. Smaller, community based churches are giving way to larger churches based on the preferences of people.

Bishop's research is also showing that people are not being shaped by their beliefs as much as they are being shaped by their geography, at least eventually. The more that like-minded people cluster together, the more that their beliefs harden and keep them from interacting with others who are different from them.  People are finding their safety and security in an ever-changing world by grouping together with people that they share common lifestyles with and America is becoming ever more polarized.

But, what if there was a community where people different in many ways could come together and exhibit a unity that would be shocking to a world that was breaking apart?  Could it be that Jesus' command for His followers to love one another in a way that the world would know that they were His (John 13:34-35) - could it be that this is exactly what America needs right now?  I think so, and I am going to be exploring this thought more throughout the week. 

Why It Hard for the World to Listen to Christians

I am a firm believer that we must contextualize the gospel to our current culture. That is the work of a missionary. Every culture speaks a certain language and thinks a certain way. The Missionary Christian must exegete his/her culture and find ways to declare who God is so that people can understand. Every culture also has built in barriers and bridges to the gospel and the wise missionary (I use this term to refer to every Christian) understands this and travels over those bridges that are present.

However . . .

No matter how much to seek to contextualize the gospel and explain it in ways that people understand and seek to meet felt needs and minister to people on their own turf, you are still in a situation where people who do not know God are actually incapable of knowing Him unless the Lord enlightens them. That is humbling for those of us who seek to spread abroad the knowledge of God.  It causes us to depend upon the power of the Holy Spirit to convict people and draw people to Christ. This is a spiritual work and no matter how much we seek to relate to people, we have no ability whatsoever to cause people to come too faith in Christ. Yes, we are responsible to preach the gospel, love people, build friendships, serve people, and represent Christ everywhere we go. But, we cannot convert anyone.  Only God can do that.

When we were in India back in April, I had a conversation with a woman in the holy city of Rishikesh on the Ganges River. She said that all roads led to heaven and that Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not the only way to God.  I kept talking with her about this and at one point, she asked if I was trying to convert her. I told her that I was not and that I could not.  Relieved, we kept talking about God, Jesus, and salvation. I told her that not to mislead her, but because it is impossible for me to convert anyone. All that I can do is give witness to who God is and to the power of His gospel revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. We can tell people what we have seen and what the Bible says, but we cannot save anyone. Only God can.  Yes, He does it through the foolishness of preaching the gospel, but He is still the one who does it.

No matter how much we try to relate to non-Christians (and we should try as we are neighbors together with all people on this planet), at some point we have to recognize that their relationship with God, or lack of one, is something that God must work in. Hopefully, He will work through us, but recognizing that it is His work should not make us passive. Rather, it should remove the pressure of having to perform and should enable us to freely love people who cannot know God unless God draws them.

Should it be a surprise to us when they do not listen to Christians or when they reject our witness?  No. 1 John 4:4-6 says,

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them (spirits who deny Christ), because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. 

This is interesting. It is saying that there are Christ-denying spirits who engage in falsehood and they are rampant throughout the world. The "world" represents the domain that is set up against the knowledge of God. It consists of the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does (1 John 2:16).  The things that belong to the world are perpetuated by demonic spirits that also deceive people through an unending array of messages that contradict who God is and how He wants us to live. Then, it says that the world listens to these spirits and it buys in to these messages. Since people who do not know God are from the world and belong to the world, they listen to the voices that follow the viewpoint of the world. They are not from God and do not belong to God and therefore do not listen to God's words or viewpoint or to His people. Whenever we speak from God's perspective, those who are from the world will not listen to us because it comes into conflict with the world's perspective, the view that they belong to. So, we really are talking about a form of spiritual warfare here.

No matter how much we try to appeal to the world, the only way that the world will listen to us (in the natural) is when we begin to speak from their viewpoint - according to the wisdom of the world. Unfortunately, many Christians care more about drawing a crowd than they do about true life transformation in Christ and they are ignorant of what it means to operate in the spiritual power that only comes from God. Because they think that they are called to be successful (the world's view), they partake in the ways of the world to appeal to the people of the world. They speak the world's language and take on the ways of the world so that they can draw adherents to their cause. Then, they call it Christianity when it is actually just a baptized form of the world with some Jesus sprinkled in. Most don't see the problem because they are so focused on numbers and size as a sign of God's blessing. If people are coming, then it must be pleasing to God.

This has nothing to do with styles of dress, music, church forms, etc. I am not saying that. I am saying that there is a way that seems right to the world, and you can find it in our most traditional churches as well as in contemporary churches. It is not about forms and styles. It is about dependence upon God and an understanding that He must work in our lives for us to be born again. We must see life transformation. We cannot just reform the flesh and try and live a better life. We must come to know God. This requires the work of God in our life through the drawing and regeneration of the Spirit that accompanies the preaching of the gospel. Our response must be faith in Christ and repentance from trusting in our own way to make a life for ourselves. We must trust in God. 

Only when we look to God first do we have a real message for the world. Many in the world will reject us. There will be conflict. But, when the gospel is spoken and lived with love and power, God will use that to draw many people to Himself.

Still Grieving Over Haiti - What Do We Do Now?

Someone asked me today if I had recovered from my trip to Haiti yet. I told them that I had recovered physically, but emotionally and spiritually, I was still very affected. I cannot get the vision of the Haitian people out of my minds. The children, the men and women, the injured, the sick, the hungry, the scared. So many have lost family members and loved ones. Homes destroyed. Futures wrecked. They were a poor people to begin with, but they are a beautiful people. The worth of a person or a nation is not found in how much money they have, but rather in what God thinks of them. God loves them, I know that to be true. Do we love them, or have we moved on?

I am trying to figure out what I am supposed to do next. What are any of us supposed to do? The big organizations and the media tell us to give money. But, then you find out that what has been given has not made it to Haiti yet. It is on its way, but there is so much that has to be done to move the massive amounts of supplies that are needed in an organized way. There are so many obstacles in the way. I get that. But, it does not change the fact that people are suffering right now. Rainy season starts in March. Do you realize how many people are sleeping outside? How many children? No, just giving more money is not the answer. That is the easy thing to do. Cut a check for $100 and send it to one of the big disaster relief organizations and then go on with your life. That soothes the conscience, but the reality is that it is not filling the bellies of the children who are going to bed hungry again tonight - a bed that consists of some blankets piled on concrete in the open, or maybe under a sheet that is stretched out like a tent. The truth is that we do need to give money - but we also need teams of people to go and distribute the food and medicine and help with providing supplies to put up some temporary structures to keep people out of the rain and sun. We can't just feel good about giving some money. We also need people to go in teams and do the work of helping people and proclaiming Jesus.

I got to be on a team like that at the end of last month when I went to Haiti. They are Helping Hands Foreign Missions. They are not very large, but they are being the hands and feet of Jesus. They are bringing the Kingdom of God and Jesus said that the Kingdom was like a mustard seed, or yeast, or a treasure hidden in a field. Little children find it. I am finding that bigger is not always better in this type of thing. We just need to help people. Helping Hands is doing exactly that. If you want to invest in an organization that is truly impacting people in Haiti right now, I highly encourage you to support what they are doing. They are going back on March 8 and need people to join them either then or in the subsequent weeks. If you can go to Haiti, you should, and you should do it through this group.

Here is their blog from the weeks that they spent in Haiti. Read about how they ministered Christ and stepped into places of suffering. The blog is really full of some incredible stories of God working by putting this team exactly where they needed to be to minister to and feed and care for hundreds and hundreds of people. Watch this video that aired on CBS News in Atlanta about the work of Helping Hands in Haiti. Pray about what you can do and be the hands and feet of Jesus in a country that is suffering greatly.

  

White Christians, MLK, and the End of Racism in the Church

Things are definitely changing. We celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday today in an America that is moving beyond its racist past. Sure, racism and prejudice still exists, sometimes disgustingly so. But, it is obvious that things are changing.  I am primarily talking about the Church. I don't know exactly where America is headed in regard to racial prejudice. I have a suspicion that things will always be difficult in that area and perhaps increasingly so as America becomes more diverse. But, in the Church, I am seeing real progress, and for that I am very glad.

In the church that I pastor in Montgomery, AL, we continue to see blacks, whites, and people from other countries worship together. The racial diversity in our church is growing. I praise God for that. Dr. Martin Luther King asked us to imagine a day when people would be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. That is happening in our church, as it should, and I am grateful. The Church of Jesus Christ is the only place where we have a real chance of seeing racism end, in my opinion, because it is the only place where grace can truly be experienced and proclaimed. We are all sinners and we have nothing within us to merit the merit of Christ. How can any real church separate on the basis of race, skin tones, culture, economics, or class? How can there be elitism of any kind in the church? How can we ever think that we are better than anyone else on any basis?  We are all alike in desperate need of the grace of God. If not for Christ, we would all be lost. How can we separate from others?

Dr. King was a prophet and a great leader who pointed to a better way of living that was based on the equality that can be found in the midst of the beloved community. Neither he nor his theology were perfect, as has been documented by his adversaries repeatedly over the years. Still, he had the courage and vision to call us to a way of life that was very biblical when it came to racial justice and equality. The gospel does not allow there to be divisions based on race or people groups. Christ died for all.  Ephesians 2:11-22 tells us that Christ Himself is our peace.  The Civil Rights Movement in America was a movement that was born in the church and was victorious because it was on the right side of history and on the right side of God's will. Dr. Russell Moore from Southern Seminary eloquently made a case for the righteousness of the Civil Rights movement and why it ultimately prevailed over white racism today. I urge you to read it.

I have become quite a student of the role of both the white and the black church in segregation and the Civil Rights movement. I am convinced that there are valuable lessons for us today that we must learn or we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past in different forms. Here are some of the questions that haunt me:

• Why was the white evangelical church so blind to the evil of its racism?
• Why was the true gospel subverted under a false gospel that caused people to look down on and separate from others because of the color of their skin?
• What would have happened if the Evangelical Church would have righted itself and led the Civil Rights Movement against a Southern culture that was steeped in deplorable practices?
• How would America have been different from the 1960's onward if the Southern church would have led the way on the issue of racial equality?
• In what area are we now being affected by a blindspot prophetically? What are we missing today that could affect future generations?
• How can we be more aware prophetically so that we can throw off the trappings of cultural Christianity, not subvert the gospel to false concepts, and boldly proclaim the biblical Jesus?

I have been trying to answer these questions for some time now and I believe that they are very important in developing a missiology for the American South and for America as a whole. People like Dr. King, Nelson Mandela, Fannie Lou Hamer, Phule in India, and others have had the vision to see what was wrong and what needed to happen to make things right. God has been working through people like this since the time of John the Baptist and earlier in the lives of the prophets of Israel. How can we recover their voice and apply it to our own times? What would that look like? 

If we are to truly celebrate the birth of Dr. King, let us praise God for the progress made in the area of race while also asking Him to show us how we can continue to proclaim truth from the rooftops in a world groping in darkness.  I am looking forward to the day when the Church leads the way in restoring the world to God's intentions. I think that I am seeing that beginning to happen and for that I am very glad.

Post-Secularism and the Role of Christianity in the Fall of Communism and the Remaking of Europe (and America)

Communism fell in Eastern Europe 20 years ago and the church in America is largely unaware of the role that Christians played in its demise. I wrote about the role of Christianity in the fall of the Berlin Wall on Tuesday and today I ran across another article on this subject. Adrian Pabst in his article for The Guardian (UK) entitled Christianity Ended the Cold War Peacefully writes,

The Velvet Revolutions of 1989 are commonly associated with the uprising of secular liberal dissents against atheist Communist regimes. But the extraordinary events that brought down the Iron Curtain are perhaps best described in terms of the victory of religious resistance which foreshadowed the emergence of a post-secular Europe. As such, the resurgence of religion has more to do with 9/11/89 than 9/11/01.

Without Christianity the cold war would not have ended peacefully. Across the East, churches and religious organisations brought together workers, students and intellectuals. Under totalitarian rule, church services and religious festivals often provided the last bastion of freedom and resistance.

In Poland, the opposition frequently gathered during Catholic liturgies and celebrations. They were inspired by Pope John Paul II's rallying cry to all Christians in the Soviet bloc at Gniezo on 3 June 1979 – exactly 10 years and one day before Solidarnosc won semi-democratic elections that ended Communist rule in Warsaw.

Similarly, the famous Monday demonstrations (Montagsdemonstrationen) in the former GDR took place after prayers for peace at the Nikolai Church in Leipzig. Both dissidents and ordinary citizens enjoyed the crucial support of both Protestant and Catholic churches which, according to Markus Meckel, the GDR's foreign minister in 1990, were "the only free space for free communication and thinking".

Even in the Soviet Union, the Orthodox church – benefitting from Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika – constituted a core pole of resistance against the official state ideology of "scientific atheism". In 1988, the millennial anniversary of Russia's Christianisation saw an upsurge in popular celebrations of Christian traditions and the re-opening of ancient churches and monasteries. In turn, Patriarch Alexy II and the church were decisive in defeating the attempted putsch in August 1991 by KGB hardliners against Gorbachev.

Crucially, 1989 saw the triumph of civil society over totalitarian states. And behind civil society stood the churches and religious organisations which defended and promoted workers' associations, professional guilds, intermediary associations, educational establishments and communal welfare. As such, 1989 marked an unprecedented opportunity to overcome the bipolar order of the communist east and the capitalist west, building a genuine "third way" beyond centralised bureaucratic statism and unbridled free market capitalism.

Add to this the peaceful Christmas resistance led by Christians in Romania in 1989 in defense of the pastor Laszlo Tokes in Timisoara and you can make a strong case for the essential role that Christianity played in bringing freedom to millions of oppressed people throughout Eastern Europe and the former Soviet bloc. Prayer, dependence upon God, a heartfelt desire for peace, freedom, and justice, and a righteous stand for the freedom of the gospel were the sparks that ignited the populace to revolt against the oppressive Communist regimes in Eastern Europe. The fact that these movements were ignited by men like Christian Fuhrer and Laszlo Tokes is not an historical accident, but rather indicative of the hand of God in their personal lives and in the shaping of nations. We give too little credance to the power of prayer and peaceful, non-violent resistance to the powers and principalities that have set themselves up against the knowledge of God. 

Pabst goes on to say,

However, the post-1989 secular consensus is already unravelling. The ongoing economic crisis once again highlights that the primacy of individual freedom over communal justice is undesirable and unsustainable. Similarly, value-pluralism alone can neither secure the integration of religious minorities nor solve ethical questions like assisted suicide because it negates universal principles such as cultural cohesion around religion or the sanctity of life.

We are entering a time of post-secularism because the secular ideals of individualism and unending prosperity and advancement continue to unravel on every front with the economic collapse of 2008-09 being the latest example. The stories of the Fall of 1989 and the role of Christians in remaking Europe should be told again and again. While the influence of cultural Christianity in America wanes, similar movements of change can begin by handfuls of Christians living out their faith in the midst of opposition from a culture that is steeped in opposing values.

Pabst concludes by saying,

Twenty years after the collapse of atheist communism, 2009 has seen the failure of secular capitalism. There is now a unique opportunity to enact a new socio-economic settlement centred on human relationships, families and communities rather than the binary, secular logic of the individual and the collective. Together with other faiths, Christianity in Europe will be a formidable intellectual, cultural and social force in arguing for alternatives to the post-1989 secular consensus.

Is Christianity capable of the same "intellectual, cultural, and social force" in defining the future of a multicultural America? Most definitely. But, we will only take part in this when we stop trying to reclaim an America that has passed, if it ever actually existed in the first place, and start working to create an America that is not yet, but could one day be.

What Really Brought Down the Berlin Wall

Prayer.

On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall separating East from West fell, as East Germany allowed its citizens to travel to West Germany unfettered. A great deal of unrest had preceded this decision. I was 15 at the time and followed the story closely, but I had no idea about what led up to the dramatic events surrounding the sudden collapse of the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe and the end of the Cold War that had paralyzed the world for 40 years.

Starting September 20, 1982, East German pastor Christian Fuhrer began "Peace Prayers" that were held every Monday in the Nikolai Church in Leipzig. The prayers focused against the Cold War. This went on for seven years and was seen as sedition by the East German government, while the Lutheran Church approved. By 1989, more and more people were joining the "Peace Prayers" and peaceful, candlelight marches began to flow out of the church in September. These prayer meetings turned to peaceful marchers were called the Monday Demonstrations and the world was forever changed. Alan Nothnagle explains what happened:

Why Leipzig?

Before the Revolution of 1989, Leipzig was best known as the city of Bach and Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. But in 1982, Pastor Christian Führer of Leipzig’s historic St. Nicholas' Church had begun conducting “Monday prayers for peace” at five p.m. in the spirit of Gandhi and Martin Luther King. He conceived this event as a non-violent protest against the nuclear rearmament programs of both the Warsaw Pact and NATO, which  had been planning for decades to unleash full-scale thermonuclear war on German territory if the status quo in Central Europe were disturbed. Non-church members (along with a generous sprinkling of Stasi informants) also used to take part in this peaceful protest, where concerned citizens met to discuss matters of current interest. After all, the church was the only remaining institution that was largely free of direct government supervision and interference.

Führer had scheduled his prayer service carefully. By five o'clock, most ordinary people were already off work and could thus spend their leisure time as they wished. Monday evening was ideal, since nearly all communist party members were busy attending their weekly meetings at the factoryor office. Moreover, downtown shops were still open, which meant that groups of people congregating in the streets outside the church did not stand out to the police and the Stasi. This would later prove to be a convenient time for West German TV journalists to smuggle footage of the demonstrations across the border and broadcast it on their evening news programs.

"We are the people!"

On September 4, 1989, the traditional Monday prayers for peace swelled into a demonstration by several hundred participants for freedom of travel and political reform. Two other Leipzig churches joined in, and the authorities did nothing to stop them. 10,000 assembled on October 2.² Then, on October 9, following the debacle in Prague and the departure of the first "Freedom Trains" to West Germany, the event exploded into a demonstration by 70,000 citizens in this city of half a million. And these demonstrators were armed, too, but not with knives or guns. No, these counterrevolutionaries (as Honecker called them) came equipped with the most dangerous weapon of all: a brilliant slogan.

“Wir sind das Volk!” (“We are the people!”³), the demonstrators chanted. They passed out lighted candles and began parading through the streets. They sang protest songs, including the communists' own Internationale, and marched right past Stasi headquarters itself shouting “No violence!” These “enemies” certainly didn't look very violent. As Pastor Führer pointed out in an interview for Deutsche Welle earlier this year, when you carry a candle, you need two hands – one to hold it, and one to protect the flame from the wind. You have no hand left in which to carry a weapon.

The next Monday, 120,000 demonstrators met in Leipzig. The next Monday? Over 300,000. The peaceful demonstrators put so much pressure on the East German government that by November 9, the Berlin Wall came down and Communism was effectively dead in Eastern Europe. It all happened without the firing of a shot. After the West spent billions of dollars on armament and military defense, the Iron Curtain came down as a result of the rising tide of peaceful demonstrations of people who met under the threat of violence and death. It all began with a prayer meeting to the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.

This story is rarely told. Today, on the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, it needs to be told again and again.  It all began with prayer. Who would have thought it? Who would think it now?

All things are possible with God. 

3, er, 5, no, 7 or Whatever, Steps that Guarantee Successful Missional Church Leadership!

The other day, Andrew, a friend of mine, called me and asked me a question about strategies for missional church leadership (being missional simply means that you live as a "sent" representative of God in the world - a missional church is a church that does not depend on attractional programs to reach people, but rather, it sees its people live dynamic, "sent" lives for Christ in the world as His ambassadors). He is a student in seminary doing a paper on this for a class, and he had to interview a pastor that was seeing his church step out missionally and engage their community and their world. He asked me about strategies and vision and plans. He reads this blog, so let me first of all say that his questions were very fair and I completely understood his assignment. This isn't about the questions. It is about my answers.

My answers were pretty pathetic if you were looking for coherent strategies in the way that most "church" experts talk about strategy.  But, I think that God is showing us some things and while my answers may seem kind of Sunday School-ish, I think that that they are right. Maybe we need some simplicity in this type of discussion.

Book Review: Church Turned Inside Out By Linda Bergquist and Allan Karr

In 1997, my wife and I had just arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area for me to attend Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. We moved onto campus in Mill Valley (North Bay) and I quickly got a job and started attending classes. I was pretty busy, but knew that I wanted to do ministry in the City during my time in seminary. In March, I was invited to a church planting party at a home near Golden Gate Park. It was a really interesting night where Erika and I met people that would challenge us and shape us for the years to come. One of those people was Andrew Jones (TallSkinnyKiwi) whose storefront church on Haight Street we would start attending a few months later. But, the party was hosted by Linda Bergquist and her husband Eric.  Linda was the church planter strategist for Baptists in the Bay Area and Eric ran the Page Street Baptist Center near the Haight-Ashbury District. This couple would eventually have a profound influence on the way that I thought about church and people who were far away from God.

I worked with Linda and Eric on many different occasions while I was in SF and have continued to keep in touch with them over the years.  My daughter, Ashtyn, and I even stayed in their home for 5 days this past March while we enjoyed a Daddy-Daughter visit to the city of her birth. They are wonderful people. So, I am really excited to begin reviewing Linda's first book that she has co-authored with Allan Karr, the associate professor of missional/church planting at Golden Gate. The book is entitled The Church Turned Inside Out. I am still reading it and plan to start reviewing it in full next week, but until then, here is the description from the back cover to get started:

There are no sacred models of church, no specific molds into which God pours blessings, and no special leadership styles that are holier than others. Too often, though, church leaders attempt to pattern their ministries after either tradition or the successes of a few prominent trendsetting congregations.

In Church Turned Inside Out, Linda Bergquist and Allan Karr push back on the one-size-fits-all approach. They invite leaders of all kinds of churches—new and existing, megachurches and microchurches—to walk through an inside-out design process. Instead of starting with models and methods, they insist that every sphere of church life resonates with and communicates what you really believe.

As the book unfolds, it moves from abstract concepts toward concrete suggestions. It considers the uniqueness of individual leaders, their teams, and their particular communities, cultures, and contexts while taking seriously both spiritual and practical dimensions. This process results in more potent and effectively organized churches. Perhaps more important, it helps church leaders discover ways to live and work more wholly and faithfully, according to how God created them. It really is possible for a church to be so beautifully designed that every structure, program, and relationship reflects what it intends. Sometimes this requires a whole new design, and other times it only takes re-aligning or refining what already exists. This thoughtful and systemic approach opens a wider array of possible church paradigms than most people ever imagine, but the real goal is not innovation but transformation.

Using a blend of theology, biblical imagery, and metaphors from culture and creation, Church Turned Inside Out provides respectful ways to consider adaptation and change. It offers a hopeful vision of what the church can and must become. It not only positions the church for its future mission to the twenty-first century but offers timeless principles for the church of today.

Linda is absolutely brilliant, by the way, and thinks on more levels than I can keep up with. One of my favorite parts about my trip to SF back in the Spring was sitting at Linda and Eric's kitchen table at night and talking with them until we could not keep our eyes open anymore. Like a fascinating kitchen table conversation, this book is opening me up to her (and Allan's) experiences and insight. It is especially helpful for church leaders in the South who have not yet experienced the full weight of the cultural change that is coming, but will very soon. More on that later . . .

Full review coming next week.

What the Health Care Debate Says About Post-Christian America

This is a spiritual conversation that everyone is having without the Church.

Death panels. Town hall meetings. Grandma dying because she can't get the hip replacement. Socialized medicine. Communism. Nancy Pelosi's swastika meltdown. Chuck Grassley's whatever that was. So-called mobs protesting the whole thing and wanting to keep their privatized insurance. The public option now being removed. Obama's presidency sinking. Life, death, choice, autonomy, personal freedom, and the role of government all rolled into one big yelling match. Taxes, deficits, the slumping economy, and fear for the future. The media going nuts over all of it.

Getting To See Community Transformation

I got a call last night from the president of the Brighton Homeowner's Association, the neighborhood of over 800 homes right behind our church. She asked me to come speak at their night out against crime event tonight. She told me that since we got involved in their neighborhood last year, crime has gone down and the neighbors are very happy. She said that she was speaking with a young man who was considering joining a gang last year. He said that after he started coming to the church and playing basketball and being around positive people, he didn't want to do that anymore. He wanted to join the military now and make something out of his life. I don't even know who the boy is. We might never know. He might just be one of the guys that comes and plays and prays with us when we get a chance. We have no idea what God is doing in answer to prayer and with just a little sacrifice on our part.

Marty Duren, Todd & Paul Littleton, Art Rogers, David Phillips and . . .

Me.  What do all of us have in common? Apart from being friends, we have blogged on ministry and missional living over the past few years as pastors and leaders. We also found common ground in some of our views on the SBC and found ourselves blogging together on the now defunct SBCOutpost. Perhaps you remember it. It created something of a stir.

Well, we are giving it another go at Missioscapes.com and plan to begin by giving our views on the Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) that is being proposed in the SBC. We are going to be bringing in other writers as well from a wide array of backgrounds. From there, we will engage in an ongoing missional conversation that will sometimes touch on ministry in an SBC context and will sometimes go beyond that. It promises to be quite provocative and it starts today.  Check it out and pass it along. 

Middle Class Flight Instead of White Flight?

On Saturday night, I wrote a post about the city of Montgomery, AL (my city) and the white flight that the newspaper says is happening here. I got a few responses on my Facebook page (http://facebook.com/alcross)  that said that what was happening was not white flight, but rather, it was middle class flight. In other words, both white and black middle class people do not want to be in living situations with lower class people and the issues that are connected to poverty, such as crime, family breakdown, drug abuse, poor schools, gangs, etc. I understand the desire to say that leaving a city with problems is not a racial response, but rather, it is a lifestyle and safety response that all people are making no matter their race. Maybe that is true. I'm not saying that it is not. A big problem in the black community for many years has been that when people make it out of urban areas, they tend not to come back or give back to the communities that they came from. Black leaders have been bemoaning this fact for some time. So, whether people are white, black, or other, the issue of people leaving the city has more to do with socio-economic issues than it has to do with race. Culture and economics trumps race, in other words. Okay, I'll give you that and I don't deny it.

Can the Christian Church Help Montgomery, Alabama?

I live in Montgomery, Alabama. I have lived and ministered here for almost 10 years. This past week, a horrible division occurred on Montgomery's school board along racial lines. Today, an article comes out confirming what everyone knows: White flight has completely taken hold in Montgomery County.  In just 8 years, whites have gone from 50% of the population of the county to 45% and the number is declining fast.  What will it be in 10 more years? Blacks have gone from 49% to 54% approximately. Of course, whether the city is primarily white or black does not really matter - it is the stigma that is attached to racial differences here that is so devastating. Racial division increases here as whites move to northern

Consumer Christianity and Its Discontents

Over the past year or so, I have become convinced that the greatest enemy to the Christian faith and biblical Christianity in the West, and especially America, is the philosophy of consumerism, which basically states that personal happiness can be attained through the acquisition of goods, experiences, or a particular lifestyle.  Bombarded by goods, services, brands, commercials, and incessant advertising, we believe ignorance like "you are what you wear," "clothes make the man," that there is a "right" side of the tracks, and that our identity can be purchased by acquiring items of status based on a particular brand name or celebrity endorsement. This philosophy has crept into every area of life as we have succumbed to the idea of commodification of relationships and even religious experiences in that we use people and even God to satisfy our personal desires. When we no longer find immediate gratification, we move on to something else that promises to satisfy. Everything in our life (even God) becomes a means to an end of our own personal pursuit of happiness and self-fulfillment). Of course, these views have always been present in the human condition (i.e., selfishness and sin), but only recently have we built an entire economy and way of life on the proliferation of consumption. Only recently have Evangelical churches grown based on the whims of the consumer class and their preference and choice for religious goods and services that meet their "felt needs."

Gateway's 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament Is a Huge Success!

About 9 months ago, we had a big breakthrough in our church when we began to reach teenagers in our community for the first time.  Our youth group went on a mission trip to Houston and came back wanting to reach out to their neighbors. We started a Kid's Club on Sunday afternoons thinking that we would begin to minister to little kids, but instead, teenagers showed up. Hordes of teenage boys. They wanted to hang out and they wanted to play basketball. Previously, we had put up a couple of basketball goals in our church parking lot. The interesting thing is, in the whole eastern half of Montgomery, there are no public courts to play basketball. So, kids started showing up from all over the city. They started coming every day. On an average night, we'd have 40-50 guys hanging out and playing basketball. We had guys coming to church and several got saved. Their lives began to turn around as they encountered the love of Christ and a body of believers who loved them and accepted them. It has been amazing to watch.

A few weeks ago, a LIFE Group in our church had the idea of scheduling a 3-on-3 basketball tournament to give the guys something to do and to develop a platform to minister to them. It was a huge success. We had around 40 people participate and several responded positively to the gospel being presented. A bunch of people from the church volunteered to put the event together and we plan to do it again in the future. Actually, we are starting a summer basketball league on Monday nights in the church parking lot from all of this. The cool thing is that we are building relationships with these guys and they are becoming our family. God is working. (pic taken by my friend, Chris McCorkle)

Our local newspaper, the Montgomery Advertiser wrote an article about the event that appeared in the paper today.   A short video is included. It was very positive and really showed the heart of our church in reaching out to our community. Something amazing is happening at our church where we are reaching a tipping point. No longer are we trying to cast a vision for reaching out and loving others outside of our church family. It is just happening. God is moving in our hearts and it leading us to open our arms to all that we come in contact with. This basketball tournament was a great example of how a simple thing like a few basketball goals can change a church and a neighborhood.

We finished up the tournament today.  I am really excited about what God is doing and can't wait to see what He has in store for us for the future!

Southern Baptist Myopia Reflected in Our Response to the Great Commission Resurgence?

A myopia is a condition of nearsightedness where you can see clearly the things that are right in front of you, but things at a distance are blurry. Southern Baptists struggle with this in regard to our spiritual future and I believe that some of this could be reflected in the response to the new document, the Great Commission Resurgence (GCR).

We tend to look backwards well enough, and we also find ways to look at the present critically, but looking forward seems to be a struggle. While the GCR is good and I signed it as a supporter, it seems that Southern Baptists are failing to address the cultural realities that we find ourselves entering and how those realities are presently affecting us now and in the future.

Majority of America's Most Dangerous Cities Are in the South - Where the Majority of America's Evangelical Christians Live

I saw this today. Forbes Magazine ranked the most dangerous cities in America according to a number of factors related to violent crime. 

It struck me that of the 15 cities, 11 of them were in states that were or have been considered Southern states. If you take out Maryland and Florida, then 7 of the 15 cities were in Southern states. At any rate, Evangelical Christianity, especially of the Baptist variety, is most prevalent in the South. Yet, the South traditionally has the most crime, divorce, alcoholism, and the worst education and social factors in the nation. The states of Lousiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas vie for which state can be last in just about every important social indicator. Here are the cities from the Forbes list:

1. Detroit, Michigan
2. Memphis, Tennessee
3. Miami, Florida
4. Las Vegas, Nevada
5. Stockton, California
6. Orlando, Florida
7. Little Rock, Arkansas
8. Charleston, South Carolina
9. Nashville, Tennessee
10. Baltimore, Maryland
11. New Orleans, Louisiana
12. Baton Rouge, Louisiana
13. West Palm Beach, Florida
14. Charlotte, North Carolina
15. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Christianity has been present in the South for 200 years in a very strong way. Why has it not changed things in a more concrete way? You can say that the legacy of slavery and racism continue to have an effect. You can say that the devastation caused by the Civil War affected the South for a long time (although when you consider how Germany and Japan were destroyed during WWII, that argument falls apart).  But, doesn't it make sense that if we lived out our faith, things would be more positive, especially among the African American community? What role do white Southern evangelicals have in this?

Recently, I had a conversation with a white man who bemoaned the state of the schools in Montgomery. He blamed integration and said that things started falling apart because of the blacks. Then, a moment later, he talked about how his Baptist church was dying. I told him that the problems in the schools had nothing to do with skin color and had everything to do with parental involvement, family breakdown, and cultural problems that existed among both poor whites and blacks. He didn't seem to understand what I was talking about.  It struck me as interesting that his disparaging remarks about black people would show up in the same conversation that he said that his church was struggling. He did not notice a connection between the two.

Why hasn't our Christianity addressed these things? Do we have nothing to say to our cities? Why don't Christians effectively address crime issues? Why don't we go into neighborhoods that are falling apart and raise up a standard? Why don't we restore schools and rescue young people? Why do we move away to the suburbs or outlying towns whenever things aren't wonderful? Why does racism still exist in our hearts and our churches?

I am not trying to be utopian here. I know that sin exists and that we cannot control people. I am not saying that we can make things perfect. But, if the South cannot become a better place to live for all people because of the Christians who live here and the churches on every corner, then please tell me how we can possibly evangelize anyone? Could it be that the SBC is declining because we have so inoculated people against the gospel by talking the talk but not walking the walk? Why would anyone believe us? Where is our power? Where is the change?

Sometimes, I think that we give in to fear too much. We try to hold on to our own life and we try and make sure that we take care of ourselves. But, God called us to trust Him and engage people. I really struggle to see how we can talk about missions to the world when we won't even engage our own cities effectively. For those that do, keep going. Praise God! You are making a huge impact! But, I am talking about the retreat of the collective whole and the abdication of our responsibility.  If we are the light, then why do we complain about the darkness? Why don't we just shine? 

Praise God that several churches are addressing this in Montgomery through prayer and action, including a stop the violence campaign and 24/7 prayer. But, so much more is needed.  65% of the 30,000 children in Montgomery's public schools live below the poverty line. That's 19,500 children! Is this not a mission field and a place to live out the implications of the gospel? If we can't do it in our own cities, then why should anyone believe us when we say that Jesus is the answer?  If we can do it in our own cities, imagine what the impact would be!  What stops us but ourselves?

I am glad that the gospel has power in spite of us. Praise God for grace! But, imagine if we truly lived it out!

What I Love About Montgomery, Alabama

Joe Thorn got me thinking about loving my own city.  I am not originally from Montgomery. I was born in New Orleans, LA and grew up in South Mississippi. I went to college at Mississippi State University and seminary at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Marin County of the San Francisco Bay Area. I have traveled all over the United States and all over the world. But, I live in Montgomery, Alabama and have done so for almost ten years. Let me tell you what I love about this place:

• God sent me here when I was 25 years old - almost a decade ago. I was a fresh seminary graduate, married with one 7 month old daughter. I know that God sent me here and even though I have often wondered if it was time to go, He has reconfirmed that He has me here for a reason again and again. I know that God loves these people because He created them and has a plan for them.  I now have 4 children and can say that this has been a good place to raise them.
• I love the church I serve, Gateway Baptist. It is made up of people from all over the country who have served with the military (Maxwell/Gunter AFB) and it has a lot of young families and singles. When you think of a Southern Baptist church in Montgomery, AL, you might think of a certain stereotype, but Gateway is really more like the churches that I visited in California than it is like a traditional Southern Baptist church. That has helped us in that we have been able to adapt readily to a changing culture, but it has also hurt us in that we have never quite fit the native culture. That is changing as the culture changes, though, and we are pretty well positioned to reach a lot more people, especially cross-culturally.
• Montgomery places a high value on family and children. There are children everywhere. Many parents seem to want to do a good job raising their kids. That is a good thing and it is something that God approves of.
• God desires reconiciliation between people in Christ. There are a lot of people in this city who want that. Historically, Montgomery has been a city of racial and socio-economic division. That still exists here, but what better place to bring the Kingdom of God by addressing those divisions? What better place for God to be glorified in that way? This is a place where a problem can become a praise if we don't run away from it.
• There are a lot of churches and a lot of Christians in Montgomery. There is a lot of religion here. While a traditional churched culture has drawbacks, it also has a lot of positives. When people really get to know Christ and churches really begin to honor God, much fruit can be produced.
• Meat and Three:  If there was a dish or cuisine that was featured in this area, it would be the traditional Southern Meat and Three, which consists of a meat and three vegetables, usually with cornbread or a roll. Restaurant's like Martin's, The Farmer's Market, Eastside Grille, and many others feature this type of food and it is pretty tasty. It is an example of how the farm and the rural South is never more than a generation or two removed from this city.
• Montgomery is a big, small town. With a population of over 200,000 people and a metro population of over 300,000, Montgomery still has a small town feel to it. It actually feels like one big sprawling suburb. There are lots of things that I don't like about that, but it has its positives too in that housing is affordable and there are lots of great neighborhoods to raise a family in.
• Montgomery is becoming more and more diverse. It is the state capitol, has a major military base where every member of the Air Force comes for school through Air University - including many international students, has four universities, and has a major Hyundai plant.  People come in and out of this city all the time and more and more ethnic minorities are moving here. This is a great city to reach the nations from and it is also a great city to model a multicultural church in the Deep South. 

There are other things, I know, but I will stop there. While there are challenges, there are also many opportunities for God to prove Himself strong and to right some generational wrongs. 

What do you love about your city? 

Defending the Cause of the Fatherless, the Poor, the Widow, and the Oppressed

"Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." Psalm 82:3-4                          

"Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatheless, plead the case of the widow." Isaiah 1:17       

"He (the Lord) defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing." Deuteronomy 10:18                       

"Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless." Isaiah 10:2                             

Those are just a few of the verses that tell us how God sees the weak, poor, and fatherless. How do we see them? There is an epidemic of fatherlessness in America. 40 percent of children were born to unwed mothers last year in America. Holiness requires that our hearts turn to the fatherless because that is where God's heart is turned. How can we do less?

We have lost two generations since the Great Evangelical Retreat began 50 years ago. It is time for us to turn and face the wreckage that we have left behind and begin to bring healing though sacrificial love. How can our hearts be different from God's and we still claim to walk with Him?

Questions that I am pondering today in prayer. God help us to join you in your work of redemption.

Inoculated Against the Gospel: Toward a Southern (Bible Belt) Missiology, Pt. 4

One of the major issues in faithfully proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ in the South is that so many people think that they know all about it when the really don't have a clue. They've prayed the prayer and gotten the T-shirt.  Last year, I was volunteering at a big ministry event in our city that was giving out food, health care, and other types of services. I was working in the prayer tent and was asking people if I could pray with them before they got their groceries and went home. There was one lady that I started speaking with and she immediately began to show me disdain. She was looking away, rolling her eyes, and making it obvious that she didn't want to talk with me. I was trying to talk with her some about Christ and she would have none of it. Then, I asked her if I could pray for her and she did not want to. I said, "Well, it is obvious that you do not believe in Jesus, but I will be praying for you."  At that point, she perked up, looked at me, and said, "Oh no, I'm a Christian. I go to so-and-so church."  Excuse me?  She had no interest whatsoever in the things of God, thought praying with me was ridiculous, and wanted to get away from me as fast as possible. I would think that it was me, but I had bathed and was being pretty nice to her. Other people had responded much better throughout the day.

It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to me. I didn't have a problem with that. I do not expect unbelievers to always want to engage in discussion about God. But, what shocked me was that she was fine with her behavior until I assumed that she was not a Christian. Of course she was a Christian, she told me!  She attended church. She prayed a prayer. She believed in Jesus (what she believed, I don't know). Isn't that what being a Christian was all about?  Why does behavior need to change? Why do I need to love Jesus? Why do I need to obey God?  If I am forgiven and all is well, then what difference does anything that I think or do make?

I would submit that instead of really giving people Jesus for who He is, we have actually inoculated people against the power of the gospel. We have given them a little of Jesus - just enough to make them think that they have the real thing, but not enough to bring them to repentance. The gospel that we preach is often a means to the end of our personal happiness and a trip to heaven. Jesus is more than that, but we have reduced Him to a religious afterthought. 

The conversation with that woman frightens me. She wasn't just having a bad day. She actually had disdain for any talk about Christ until it appeared to me that she was not a Christian. Being a Christian and going to heaven was far more important to her than following Christ and loving Him. There is something wrong when that happens again and again. What gospel are we preaching? Are we just inoculating people against the real thing?  How do we break through this in people's lives? 

Matt Chandler, a pastor from Dallas, TX speaks about this at this years Desiring God conference. He makes some great points about the need to separate the gospel from the religion that we so often proclaim and believe. Check it out.