Happy New Year

Well, time to get the typical New Year post out of the way. You know, the one that says we’ll post more or that we’ll get more quality content out to you. This isn’t that.

This post is just to say Happy New Year, we’ll continue to be what we be, we might add stuff, we might take stuff away, who knows?!  What I do know is this, ProjectOKC will continue to be an example of Christ to Oklahoma City. We will continue to meet several times a month just to do good. We will continue to make new friends and connect with others. Past that, who knows, we hold this thing with an open hand.

There are many opportunities before us and multiple paths to go down. I believe we’ll see some clarification of this project’s mission, but I’m not feeling any pressure to define. We’re on a journey together, we’re involved in a beautiful story, I’m glad I don’t know the ending it’s more exciting this way!

-Rex Barrett
image via ecstaticist

The Great Emergence 1

This is the third post in a series on the Great Emergence by Phyllis Tickle.

One of the first things to note is that it isn’t a book that deals much with theology, but functions more like a history lesson with a glimpse forward at what the future might hold. I found as I read that lights were coming on in my head all over the place. I began seeing how key events were connected and had much larger, far-reaching effects than I previously understood. I also was impressed with her ideas of what the future might entail, as it aligned quite well with some of the things I’ve seen happening on a micro level. I think as you read this, you will find yourself going “Wow, I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately, but I thought I was the only one, and I had no idea it had anything to do with that other thing over there.” It seems to accurately reflect many of the things I’ve heard from a lot of my friends and family: those who have theology degrees and the ones who have never been to college, those who might be considered more liberal and others who are very conservative (whatever those terms mean), and a wide range of age from my parents and some of their friends to high school kids.

One of the biggest ideas in the books is that there have been huge shake-ups in Christianity every 500 years. The most recent was the Great Reformation, where Protestantism was born and split from the Roman Catholic church. It was in 1517 that Luther pounded his famous 95 Theses into the door of the church in Wittenberg, which is almost 500 years ago. Obviously the Reformation was not born over night, and in fact the events leading to its explosion were hundreds of years in the making. To make it more interesting, Tickle explains that the Reformation was not the first cataclysmic shift in the Church. About 500 years before then, the Great Schism split the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Western, or Roman Catholic Church.

Looking even further back, we find the collapse of the mighty Roman empire (and more or less the rest of civilization). A lot of research has been done into the factors causing the fall of Rome and the chaos that resulted from it. Less noticed is that this collapse birthed great changes in Christianity. The Church had become wedded to the empire and was in danger of shattering with Rome. Gregory the Great, a pope so popular and influential that he was given his nickname immediately after his death, held the Church together and worked to clean up the mess that had come of mixing Christianity with the most powerful Empire the world had ever seen. And while much of the western world’s knowledge was lost to looting and burning, monks studiously copied the Bible, the teachings of the early church fathers, and classic literature. Without them humanity may have been set back many hundreds of years.

It was also during this time that Patrick brought the Gospel to the Irish. While much of Europe struggled through the Dark Ages, Christianity and scholarship flourished in Ireland. The Irish embrace of mysticism, nature, simplicity, and charity greatly painted their understanding of Christianity, and many today are once again finding much value from what the Irish can teach us. They would eventually re-take the teachings of Jesus back to the rest of devastated Europe, acting as missionaries to the people who had once taught them.

Of course, 500 years before this was the time of Jesus and the birth of Christianity, first as a sect within Judaism but quickly as something new on its own. It is worth noting that the 1st century was in many ways an ending to the priestly Judaism of the Old Testament. The Temple in Jerusalem was completely destroyed in 70AD, and the Jews were banned even from even entering Jerusalem a short time later and were then scattered around the world. Looking back in approximately 500 year increments you will also find core changes in the lives of the Jews, starting with the destruction of Solomon’s Temple and the exile, then back to the shift from the rule of judges to Kings (including of course David and the beginning of messianic expectations), then further back to Moses and the Exodus, and finally back to Abraham and God’s calling of a people through whom he could bring about his plans for the world.

Tickle refers to these gigantic shifts as “rummage sales”, a term which she borrowed from Anglican bishop Mark Dyer. She writes “about every five hundred years the empowered structures of institutionalized Christianity, whatever they may be at that time, become an intolerable carapace that must be shattered in order that renewal and new growth may occur (pg 16).” To use the rummage sale analogy, the Church eventually decides that it is time for a new look and feel, and decides that the best way to do that is to clean out the closet and start fresh.

History has shown that there are 3 major results of these rummage sales. The first result is that a new expression of Christianity is born as a criticism of the dominant form. It is a recognition of the ways that the institutionalized Church has lost some of the message of Jesus and more importantly it is also a desire to return to more obedient beliefs and actions (orthodoxy and orthopraxy). The goal isn’t to help Christianity “catch up” to the rest of culture or to change the message so it’s more acceptable to people. The driving force behind these shifts is an awareness that something fundamental is broken, and therefore something needs to change.

The second result is that the existing form of Christianity continues on, albeit in a diminished role, and eventually adopts some of the changes brought on by the new form. We all know that the Protestant Reformation did not kill the Roman Catholic Church, and the Catholic Church did eventually recognize that many of the points raised during the Reformation were valid and necessary. The third result is that Christianity has been spread dramatically as a result of this split, reaching new people in new areas. The new expression of Christianity is able to effectively communicate the gospel to a significant number of people the old form couldn’t, or wouldn’t.

So with these points in mind, I’d love to hear some thoughts from you. Phyllis Tickle seem to view this split as inevitable, but ultimately good. Can this be done without hatred, anger, and unnecessary division? I think much of what God wants to do will be lost if western Christianity slips into a civil war. The last 500 years is full of Protestant vs Catholic wars. That can hardly be thought of as an answer to Jesus’ prayer that his followers would be one, just as he and God are one.

Second, what new group of people do you think will be particularly influenced by a new practice of Christianity? What would you say is a bigger driving force for you: “a new practice of following Jesus” or “relationships with a new group of people”? I realize that these both drive each other and truly you need both, but I’m curious as to what brought you to this place of being open to questions and new answers. Maybe thats a good exercise for yourself, if nothing else.

- Luke Warner
image via Steve took it

The Great Emergence 0.1

View the first post in this series here.

To give you an idea of where I’m going over the next few weeks, I’ll give you a quick outline of the book. Phyllis Tickle starts with a look back at previous religious and social shifts that seem to be occurring about every 500 years, with the most recent example being the Protestant Reformation. She digs into the causes and effects of these turbulent times, and pulls out some common themes then we can then try to apply to the last 200 years of our history. A lot of time is spent on the dramatic changes caused by the Reformation which have lead to the way we all view the world today. She then looks at more recent shifts that are causing the conflict we are all becoming aware of. A good three-quarters of the book is dedicated to building the backdrop for our modern world, and only the final chapters look at where we might be headed. I particularly enjoyed how she examines the movements in American Christianity over the last century, including looking at some of the “proto-emergence” church movements. She then concludes with some guesses at where the western church is headed, which is extremely interesting and exciting.

I just want to also emphasize that the book and this discussion is not about the emergent or emerging church. It’s about a global shift that is happening, and the emerging church conversation is one community that is developing as a result of this. But the idea is not that the Emergent Church is the final expression of what God is doing or where Christianity is headed. Listen to Doug Pagitt’s thoughts on that here.

I think this is why there has been so much confusion about the emerging church. Everyone wants to finalize it and decide what’s right and wrong about it, but it is only one small expression of a much larger phenomenon. And even this small network or people is still figuring out where it is going and why- nothing is set in stone. It’s like a young child still years away from adulthood. Nobody knows how this will turn out, which is why the emerging church leaders always refer to their network as a conversation. They want everyone to be involved in what is happening, not a few powerful leaders.

This is a beautiful example of the “priesthood of all believers”. We all have an opportunity to seek God about what he wants to do and where he wants to go with his Church. If there are dreams in your heart about what the Church can be, share them so that we all can dream together. If there are ideas that look dangerous to you, speak up, but do so in gentleness and love. If you don’t love your brothers and sisters, which is the most fundamental part of being a Christian, how can you offer worthwhile thoughts on more advanced and nuanced doctrine?

Above all, we need to put aside our desire to be right and make sure everyone else knows how right we are. You can’t have a very good conversation with people if you only talk to the people who agree with you, or if you will only talk and never listen. You can’t love your enemy if you won’t associate with the people you have conflict with. How can we say we love the world, like Jesus did, if we can’t even love other believers? So please offer your ideas on here, but I ask that you do so with gentleness and respect. I want to talk this out with my friends because I value all of you and know God is speaking to you in ways that are sometimes similar and sometimes different from what he is saying to me.

Finally, I’m going to label all of the posts in this series under “The Great Emergence”, so if you get behind and want to view them all, just click the link of “The Great Emergence” from the list of labels on the right.

- Luke Warner
image via Steve took it

The Great Emergence 0

Everybody seems to be talking about the emerging church lately. I think I’ve only heard the term in the last couple years, and right from the beginning it seemed pretty confusing to me. My friend Ben introduced me and a few of my friends to Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell in fall of 2005, and I remember how much we all loved it. It wasn’t a completely revolutionary approach to Christianity for any of us, it just seemed like it was a clearer picture of what we already were about and where we deep-down wanted to go (and I think that is true, but not the way we thought). I guess we thought of it as a new paint job on the same car, or maybe a tune-up or new tires as well.

Since then I’ve read it several times and I’ve realized just how much there is underneath the surface that I didn’t get the first time. I think we’d all agree that to follow Jesus, you can’t just stick his teaching onto your previous life like an extra arm or new set of clothes. You have to be willing to let everything else go and sometimes start over completely. I think one of the underlying themes of Velvet Elvis is that sometimes Christianity itself has to start over and clear out a lot of the extra baggage it’s picked up over the many years. That, of course, is a terrifying idea, because we tend to think of Christianity as the way of following Jesus. But what if the religion that carries Jesus’ name becomes one of the biggest hindrances to following Jesus?

I first heard about the emerging (or emergent, but that’s kind of different- more later) church through reading and listening to Rob Bell. He always has lots of notes about other books to read and often had guest speakers at his church. And lots of people on the internet had interesting things to say about him and those other authors and speakers. A lot of them were angry about this thing called the emerging church, and said Rob and some of the other people who he was influenced by or was friends with presenting heretical ideas. I think that is a pretty serious accusation to make, so I decided to research this myself. I began studying the Bible more and church history and theology- things that never really interested me much before. This eventually is what lead me to Fuller to study theology.

But one thing I noticed right away is how nobody could agree on what the emerging church was. Some people said it was a Christian reaction to post-modernism, or nothing more than a more relevant wrapping on evangelicalism, or an emphasis on simple living and serving the poor. Some said emergents didn’t believe in absolute truth, or the Bible, or Jesus, and had very “liberal” views on homosexuality and abortion. Others said that it was a desire to return just to taking seriously the teachings of Jesus on loving your neighbor and being peacemakers. Is it a new denomination? Is it a movement? Is it a new religion? Is it some kind of new age spirituality that takes some of Jesus and some of Buddha and some of whatever else and mixes it together? Is there a difference between emergent and emerging? And nobody could even agree on who was part of the emerging church. Lots of people called Rob Bell emergent, but he always said he wasn’t and that he didn’t want anything to do with new labels that further divide Christians into smaller and smaller pieces. Some people said that was enough proof that he was emergent…

This last summer I have been reading a lot of books on the subject. What the so-called emergents say and believe and hope for, and what critics say about them. I’ve taken little online quizzes that that ask theology questions, and then tell you what percentage Charismatic, Wesleyan, Reformed, Liturgical, Evangelical, Catholic, Orthodox, or emergent you are. I’ve read lots and lots of blogs! And I’ve continually been struck by how consistently the things I’ve read from many emerging leaders have resonated with my heart. They seem to put words to the things I’ve believed deep down, the things that I had questions about or often blurry dreams that God has given me. That’s been really exciting, but also very unsettling? I’ve been frustrated with many things about modern American Christianity for a while, and much of what I have learned has given words and form and even theology to this frustration. Is that me wanting to rebel and do things my way, or is it God leading me to trust him more and religion less?

The pieces of this puzzle finally began coming together, and one of the biggest pieces was a book by Phyllis Tickle called The Great Emergence. She is a grandmother, Anglican lay minister, and has worked as a teacher and head of Publisher Weekly’s religion department. In this book, she looks at the current events of our world through a much wider view than most usually do and gains a lot of insight into what’s really going on. She discusses the earth-shaking changes we’ve seen over the last 150 years in science, transportation, communication, war, society, medicine, government, and religion. It becomes pretty clear that we are in the middle of something huge. I’ve heard others say that the current shifts we are experiencing are comparable to the changes of the Great Reformation, but I thought it was a pretty big exaggeration. After reading this book, I wonder if it might be an understatement.

Since this book has been so useful for giving me a bigger and fuller idea of our times, I wanted to walk through it on here so a lot of you who don’t have time to read can still get some of the benefit. All the time I talk to friends who feel unsettled and frustrated. The dreams God has given them seem incompatible with the current life they see every day, and they don’t know where to go next or why this is happening. I’m realizing it is not an isolated few that are going through this. I hope this series will help explain why they are feeling this way, and where we might be headed, so they can begin to see their circumstances through eyes opened up a little wider.

- Luke Warner
image via Steve took it

You’re Probably Not Going to Change the World… Get Over It

Guest post Andrew Hamilton’s blog, “Backyard Missionary”

I remember as a youth pastor that I had a fair swag of ‘you can change the world’ sermons in my kit bag. It was a regular theme in my own communication and in most of the talks that I heard other youth speakers give. I even got pretty good at it!The basic gist was that God wants to do extraordinary things in this world thru you. And if you were in touch with him then you would be able to be a ‘history maker’ or a ‘world changer’ or a ‘person of prominence’ or…some other equally wanky term.

You know the deal?

I remember when I was giving those talks I really believed what I was saying to be true. However today I am less inclined to believe that I or you will actually tilt the earth on its axis one way or another. In fact chances are that God doesn’t want you to be a Martin Luther King or a Nelson Mandela. Chances are you will live a life of indescribable ordinariness and apparent insignificance….

And I’d like to say ‘that’s ok’. Most of us are ordinary people, living ordinary lives in ordinary communities and it is extremely unlikely we will ever be world leaders or superheroes.

The problem with the rhetoric of ‘you can change the world’ is that if you don’t, then you can feel like a failure - like your measly suburban life really doesn’t count for much at all and you are a nobody in the scheme of things, or maybe you have missed ‘God’s best’ for you. (just to keep the jargon rolling )

“My pastor told me I was made for greatness… that I could change the world… and all I do is change people’s sprinklers…”

When we speak about people like David or Gideon or Paul, or other biblical heroes and suggest that it is our responsibility to live lives of similar consequence then - while I would agree that it is a possibility some of us will be world changers - I would also suggest we disempower people from fully living the life they have been given.

When we suggest that God has a destiny for us that is much greater than humble suburban living we inevitably finish up with people who live perpetually dissatisfied with life as it is right now and who are constantly waiting for their ‘moment’, when the planets align, when they are ‘called up’ by God and when they get to shine.

In the mean time life - real life - goes on and passes us by… and if that day never comes we wonder what all the fuss was about… all those prophetic words we were given…

My message these days is that God does want to use your life in all of it beautiful ordinariness and simplicity and while you may never be written up as a hero of faith, you will get to live a life of great meaning and significance if you can view your weekly endeavours thru a different lens.

See original post here.

-Andrew Hamilton
image via Steve took it

Election day thoughts

Well, today is the big day. Campaigning has reached a frenzied pace, the attack ads have been hitting over the weekend. Some pastors have been preaching why Obama is God’s selection and other pastors have been preaching why McCain is God’s selection. Either quite a few pastors are not hearing God correctly or God was wrong, not sure which one the wrong pastors will go with at the end of the day.

I am very excited about voter turnout, looks like records are going to be shattered. It’s about time the people of this country decided to vote. What I’m not so excited about is the rhetoric being tossed about by both sides. To demonize either party isn’t the way of Jesus. Loving your enemy seems to not apply when supporting candidates, specifically parties.

I decided to gather a few links for you all to peruse, good and bad thoughts for future elections.

James Dobson, please don’t write another piece of fiction like this. (link downloads a PDF file)

Here is the rebuttal to James Dobson’s letter.

Relevant Magazine’s fantastic site had a fansasticer (I don’t think that’s a real word) post about Shane Claiborne & Chris Haw’s journey across the USA asking Americans to think about their vote.

Happy Voting Day everyone!
-Rex Barrett
image via niznoz

A giving church

I’ve attended various churches in different formats my entire life.  In each one I’ve been a tither, meaning I give a portion of the money I earn back into the church.  I’ve always felt really good about tithing, it’s like a “get out of guilt free card”.

I’ve always felt that I just fork the money over, I’ve done my good deed, it is now the responsibility of the church.  If any moolah is misspent it really isn’t any of my business, the church will have to answer to God for it.  This way of thinking is no longer acceptable to me, I wish it was, it would make my life much easier.

Now, I’m concerned about where finances go. I want to attend a church that puts a premium on maximizing the dollar I’m giving them. A place that sees the benefit of being a beacon of light into the community around them, whether the family attends their church or not.

Francis Chan, who wrote the fantastic book Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God (buy this book now!), recently said this about his church in a recent article.

In other words, put your money where your mouth is. I came to an elder meeting one morning with this suggestion: If we “love our neighbor as ourselves,” then wouldn’t it make sense to spend on our neighbors what we spend on ourselves? What if we set up our budget so that half of our income leaves the church and goes to other ministries? To my surprise, the elders decided that morning to commit half of the budget to people and ministries outside of Cornerstone. It’s been almost a year now, and we’ve been able to give approximately 55 percent of our money away.

That mentality blows me away! “ If we “love our neighbor as ourselves,” then wouldn’t it make sense to spend on our neighbors what we spend on ourselves?”

So tithers, where is your money going?
Pastors, what are you putting money to for the community?
For example, building a “safe house / shelter” for a local community.  : )

Share in the comments friends!

-Rex Barrett
image via thriveconference

End of the Age, Part 3

I usually hear a couple of questions when I talk to people about the importance of a proper interpretation of the End Times: Why does it matter? Won’t it all pan out? Questions like these, however, undermine the need for diligent study of difficult Biblical passages. We wouldn’t ask those dismissive questions after reading about the resurrection of Christ or Paul’s conversion. I don’t believe we should ask those questions of Apocalyptic passages either. Instead, we should study!

Two crucial issues are at stake: Biblical interpretation and the duty of Christians today.

Careful study of the End Times is very important because our view of the End has a direct correlation to how we live our lives in the here and now. Any view of the End carries with it presuppositions of how we as Christians interact with the world. If we are to believe the way most evangelists teach about the End Times, the world will get progressively worse, the antichrist will take over and Christians will have to be raptured out before they all get killed. This type of teaching carries with it an air of hopelessness for Christian outreach. After all, if we know how it’s going to end, there is little incentive for outreach. Thankfully, this hopeless ending is not what Jesus taught. In fact, what we find is the Kingdom of God will continue to grow on earth.

The clear teaching of Scripture reveals that the Kingdom of God was inaugurated with Jesus’ first coming, will grow continuously and be consummated and finalized at Jesus’ final appearing at the end of history when sin and death are finally dealt with.

Jesus himself compares the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed. It starts off very small yet grows into one of the largest garden trees. He also compares it to dough with a few pieces of leaven. When those nuggets of Truth get lodged in our culture, like leaven, the culture will rise! (13) When the 70 returned to Jesus telling them of their success in spreading the Gospel, Jesus tells them “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” (14) Satan was dealt a fatal wound when Jesus came to earth the first time. Are we to believe that Christianity will progressively fizzle out until the end of history? No! In fact, as the Scriptures show, Jesus himself says his kingdom will start very small and become very large! And look, it started with 12 disciples and has grown now into billions.

This is important: If we as Christians claim to have the Truth then we should expect nothing less than the Truth to CONTINUE to be spread throughout the world! Truth, by it’s very nature, spreads and overcomes lies and darkness.

So, let’s put away the End Times pessimism that is so rampant in Christianity today. As Adam was told to be fruitful and multiply, the Christian’s responsibility is to do likewise for the Kingdom of God. Isaiah 11:9 says that the “earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea!” Colossians 1:13 says that “Christ has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins!” We are to pray “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

As the Body of Christ, we have our work cut out for us. We are not to hunker down hoping for the best, but expecting the worst in a world that needs Christ. We are to stand up and spread the Good News!

So, let’s get the Word out! When Christ does come back, he will come to an earth in which the Gospel has been progressively spreading not shrinking! While Satan still has some power, he was dealt a huge blow with Christ’s first coming. When Christ comes back at the end of history Satan will be dealt with finally and fully. Sin and death will be done away with. Christ will usher in a new heaven and a new earth! How beautiful!

13. Matthew 13:31-33
14. Luke 10:18

-Luke Barrett
image via Ozyman

Fight injustice daily

Psalm 89:14
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.

Reading this verse today was a great reminder on how much God cares about justice. He is the God who hates injustice and rewards those who will fight poverty and injustice with eternal life in the Kingdom he is building.

It also reminded me of a post Bob Roberts Jr. did a while back. He asked the question: “So, why do we refuse to obey God and serve others and come together to touch every hurting person and need?”. In effect asking why we as Christians seem to not care about injustice as much as our Leader does.

1. We’re greedy - we want all our stuff for ourselves. Can we as Americans, having been blessed so much, think we can keep hoarding and God not judge us?

2. We’re lazy - we’re forever hoping someone else will do it. We love to kick back.

3. We’re busy - our priorities generally don’t involve those outside our immediate family, friends, or co-workers.

4. We’ve been cold hearted for so long - we think we will continue to get away with it. Hopefully we will ignore it, and just not think about it.

So, when will Christians start doing it?

1. When we are broken over the sin in our life and fall in love with God. When this happens, it sets the stage for God breaking our heart for others less fortunate.

2. When we begin to not just give our money, but our time and expertise and even use our jobs to be a blessing to others.

3. When we put God and others before our own self-interest and desires, like Jesus did us.

4. When we come together to work with others that also want to make a difference. It will require the body, not a lone ranger.

This week, really pray about how you can be a person of action, then do it!

-Rex Barrett
image via christianmeichtry

Being a sticky church

We all want to see new churches succeed, we all want to see people getting reached by Jesus’ gospel of love. I want to pull back the curtain a bit though and explain to you how “mega church leaders of today” are training future church planters and why I think we need to do things differently.

I’ve had several opportunities to go to these training events now, and with our new endeavor in the Paseo of Oklahoma City, have had a bit of an opportunity to live it out.

First we might want to define church planting, it is simply the act of starting a new church in a community. Of course there are hundreds of models on how to get the church started and growing. The most popular one is pretty simple, I’ll paraphrase quite a bit to keep the post brief. One gather friends, raise tons of money, keep gathering new friends, keep raising tons of money, gather friends, do a direct mail bomb to thousands of people, and then spend all of the money on a huge launch and hope tons of people show!

There is a lot of good being done in the church planting realm, I love the gathering friends portion of growing a new church. I’m concerned though with the amount of money being blasted into these launches. Hundreds of people might show up on the launch date but then interest wanes as the church just can’t seem to match the momentum, the high bar, set at the very first service.

A new book by Larry Osborne entitled “Sticky Church” discusses this method just a bit and it really resonated with me.  (quotes below via church marketing sucks)

The answer to becoming a sticky church, suggests Osborne, is through sermon-based small groups… We’re spending way too much time on getting people in the doors of our churches.

Osborne is not apposed to marketing and advertising, but what he learned when he started at North Coast was they were acting more like the new restaurant that opened strong and closed weak. The restaurant got a packed house for their grand opening, but they forgot to train the servers or pay attention to food quality. Few came back to visit because the experience didn’t live up to the expectation.

So Osborne decided to stop trying to grow the size of North Coast and instead focused on growing the people already a part of North Coast. The result, as they learned year-after-year, and in spite of their growing size, was that more people came and more people stayed because they focused on making disciples, not filling seats.

I pray that we, as church attenders, would stick to the church God placed us in. I ask that we would all be active participants in reaching our communities for Christ.

I pray that the pastors reading this blog might see the value in building disciples more than filling seats and having huge numbers. Don’t fret, disciples will multiply, not always in the way you envisioned it though!

-Rex Barrett
image via xeeliz

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