ReJesus...a re-boot to missional practice

                                             

Living in the age we live, we're all familiar with the term " re-boot ". Over time we download, upload, delete and edit things on our computers. Files get fragmented and corrupted and the original operating system ceases to function properly. In a nut shell, that would be the overall premise of Michael Frost's and Alan Hirsch's most recent book, " reJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church. We need to re-boot our operating systems to it's original formulation to the centrality of Jesus.

First glance of the catchy title left me a little apprehensive. In the back of my mind I mused the thought of a quick fix for all post-Christendom's's and the church's problems. Perhaps, like pushing a button, a clever program you cut and paste into your church's context and your fixed, " mission-al accomplished.

Far more than any program, this book will and should the spark the synapses in the mind of your church to see the redemptive imagination of Jesus and His Kingdom.

The book is broken down into seven chapters;

1. How Jesus Changes Everything
2. ReJesus and Personal ReNewal
3. ReJesus fro the Church and Organization
4. I've got a Picture of Jesus
5. The Shema Schema
6. Three, Two, One ...Engage
7. The Church that Jesus Built

Recently, I heard Len Sweet comment that the church suffers from JDD ( Jesus Deficit Disorder ). I believe Frost and Hirsch have done a superb job of tackling the deficit in this book.

It was interesting in that when I was sent the book to review a friend of mine attending seminary over on the mainland was reading ReJesus at the same time. So we enjoyed some great conversation from different perspectives, he from a more academic/ theological view, and me from a more practitioner/ street level view. If your reading this book for a theological grounding into the missional conversation you might find it a little thin. The most theological chapter in the book is chapter five, " The Shema Schema ", which focuses on Christology being the center and starting point into mission. It's only from here ReJesus reveals that we know the Christ-likeness of God. It's only in Jesus, we see God and what His mission is.

This is where my friend complains of the books theological thinness, we've squeezed Jesus ut the context of the bigger story. But Frost and Hirsch have made it clear that part of their motivation is to move away from complex theological propositions and formulas. I like this. I'm growing weary of books on the theology of mission. I's like throwing gasoline on a fire, it rages for awhile with great theological musings and eventually dies down until the fire is fed again. A friend who works the inner city streets, mused recently, " when all is said and done...will we have done anything more than just talk."

Again, I'm talking from a street level perspective, there is a real urgency out side the walls of your local faith communities, especially among the marginalized, the fringe in the inner cities. Jesus made the comment, " the harvest is huge and the workers few." We can wait until all our theology is lined up, and have the scholars affirm its soundness and then move. All I can say is take a walk down to your inner cities, if you listen closely you can here blind Bartimeaus calling from dark, garbage strewn alley. I believe Frost and Hirsch recognize the urgency and have opted for a practitioners approach to mission rather than theological.

In William Cavanaugh's book, The Church as God's Body Language, he says, " People are usually converted into a new way of living by getting to know the people that live that way, and thus see themselves as being able to live that way too. This is the way God's revolution works. The church is meant to be that community of people who make salvation ( Jesus ) visible for the rest of the world. Salvation is not a property of isolated individuals, but is only made visible in mutual love.

ReJesus, is the best book I have read in a long time. If you've been walking along the side lines of the playing field of what missional really is. Maybe be you're a little anxious, a little apprehensive, a little unsure that you don't know the game plan but, you feel Jesus calling you out on to the field. This book is for you.

It is a book for faith communities trying to under stand mission, but more than that, it's for communities courageous enough to put mission into practice. I can not recommend this book enough.

One last thing I loved about the book was the vignettes ( little Jesus' ), stories of people through out history who engaged in Jesus' mission. If your looking for something theological, this might not be it...but, if your interested in the " practice " of faith, Jesus and God's mission, this book will inspire and encourage you. 

From Frost and Hirsch, " As should be obvious by now, we believe that the Christian faith must look to Jesus and must be well founded on him if it is to be authentic. If NASA was even .05 degress off in luanching a rocket to the moon, they would miss the moon by thousands of miles. And in many ways this is the same as it applies to the gospel. Because of the fundamental role Jesus plays in Christian identity, ministry, and mission, we believe it is critical to geth this right and to constantly keep checking. Church history makes it clear that such shifts take place. But these shifts are usually in advertent and take place incrementally as other issues press in and traditions create their own overlay obscuring the core of the faith. Wahtever the process, it results in an insidious change in the resulting religion."

" Therefore we propose that the church should be recalibrated around it's founder, Jesus. But, what would this look like?

" Here is a curious question that will highlite the issue for us: If the church only had the four gospels to go by, what would it look like? Certainly discipleship would be emphasized, as would the prominence on living in and under the Kingdom of God. There would likely be a strong emphasis on uncluttered lifestyle and adventuresome community with lots of love, faithfulness, mercy and justice going around. Would this be an adequate expression of Christianity"

" The renewal of the church in our time is dependent on the renewal of the gospel. And the renewal of the gospel requires the recovery of the centrality of Jesus for faith and thought. We must reJesus our theology as well as our churches."

D. Ritschl in a quote from the book says, " The ultimate problem, which has caused our theological helplessness, lies in the separation between Jesus Christ and the Church."

I think if we're all honest in that separation we will find the " Wild Messiah for a missional church " that Frost and Hirsch write about. We have over time downloaded, uploaded, and deleted this from the original operating system of the church and it's mission. The operating system is corrupt, fragmented and ceases to function properly. Frost and Hirsch have not got a clever program to install into the context of your church. They ask you to re-boot everything back to Jesus. They offer everything Jesus, not quick fix solutions or answers. You might even find you have more questions. But the answer is in the total focus on Jesus. The question is are we courageous enough to reJesus.

Comments

[Micky]

Dear Ron,
"Make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understood Him. (Step #11. - Alcoholics Anonymous)"

The last part of this statement - "as we understood Him" - is enough to damn your soul! God says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5).

This is the exact opposite of "God as we understood Him."

All men, according to Romans 1:18-32, are condemned before God, because they rely upon their own understanding (Romans 1:21; Ephesians 4:18), "having their understanding darkened" - and they create - in their own darkened minds - a god of their own making (Romans 1:23).

To encourage people to turn their "lives over to the care of God as we understood Him” is to encourage people to "turn their lives over to a god of their own making" - i.e. according to their own understanding.

This promotes nothing more than spiritual death (Revelation 22:15).

In addition, these twelve steps are a deceitful attack against the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ - i.e. they are against Christ, ANTI - CHRIST, (2 John 7; Colossians 2:8-10).

Love
Micky