Marc's Messages 3.0

Adam's Return: male spirituality

In the left margin of my blog you find links to some of the books I read recently. One I'd like to point out specifically is 'Adam's Return. The five promises of male initiation' by Franciscan author Richard Rohr. He touches on several issues related to shift/reformation that I raised on my blog before, like the need to 'rediscover' a male spirituality, and the role of liminality in our spiritual formation. You might want to check out Rohr's website and this excerpt of an interview with him for an Australian radio station. Some spicy quotes:

- Few transformations happen in church. The places where real transformation happens in our world are Alcoholics Anonymous, Ground Zero, the cancer ward, and of course the mountains of New Mexico.
- Church liturgies/programs are very much a confirmation of the present consciousness, the present politics, the present self-serving world view. To join the clergy is to join an establishment world view of status and security. And I think that's what my father St. Francis was trying to oppose. Churchyanity has far too often become a substitute for Christianity.
- Not secularisation is the big reason for the collapse of churchgoing, but the failure of the church and its leaders to use their imagination.

Watching the innovators

There are several business innovators and trendwatchers that I keep an eye on, because they're often ahead of the rest of us and offer keen insight in how to play on the ball in fast changing times. To name a few: Michael Katz (e-communication), Phil Cooke (faith and media), Seth Godin (marketing and ideas), Guy Kawasaki (business and innovation) and Tom Peters (leadership and strategy). And of course I should also mention Wolfgang Simson here, but some people are so forward-thinking that they don't bother to make a proper website here and now. ;-) Btw, I just found this quote from George Bernard Shaw in Lammert Vrieling's newsletter that describes this type of people quite well:

"Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world.
Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves.
All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people."

Doing or singing love songs?

Steve Hill, a simple church planter who - if he's not 'out there' - lives in the Netherlands, loves to provoke. Today he mailed me: "What if John 15 read like this - 'Jesus looked at the disciples, sighed deeply and said, 'I can hardly wait for my marriage supper when we will be united as bride and groom! I can hardly wait to behold you in your beautiful wedding dress and call you my beloved! From now on I am not calling you servants but 'My Bride' because my Father is uniting us in marriage.''

I think Peter and John would have begun to look for an exit strategy! Time to go back to fishing! Things are getting weird around here! NO! Jesus looked at his men and said to them, 'You are my friends if you do whatever I command you.' No obedience, no friendship! The dominant relational metaphor of John 15 is father/son and friends - the band of brothers. Love is demonstrated by doing, not by singing love songs!

Why does the metaphor of the bride (which we also need, but which has much more to do with the future!) have so much more air time in some parts of the church than the metaphor of a band of brothers fulfilling a mission? Why the bridal imagery so much more than that of the army on white horses? Maybe we love the bridal stuff of Jesus the lover because it is romantic, pretty and indoors rather than the messy, challenging and outdoor life of Jesus the servant? Maybe that is why worship conferences sell out, but few of us have little evidence to accuse us of being friends of sinners?

Paul (II Timothy 2) did not tell Timothy to work on his new romantic worship CD! He told him to fight like a soldier, compete like an athlete, work like a farmer and suffer like a prisoner. Nothing romantic or nice there. Nothing you can sing your way through. You either do it or you do not. Jesus did not promise to make His disciples romantic lovers. He promised to make them 'fishers of men' and promised them persecution and suffering as they did it. When does private 'seeking His face' become an obedience avoidance mechanism? He has placed His face on the least and said that to serve them is to serve Him!"

Floyd on simple church

Floyc McClung, who pioneered YWAM in Amsterdam, and currently trains simple church planters in Cape Town, South Africa, returned to the Netherlands for a seminar on 'the future of the church'. He did a pretty good job in pointing out the paradigm shifts we need to become a truly missional Kingdom movement. He quoted a lot from Hirsch and Frost's 'The Shaping of Things to Come', illustrated with stories from his own experience.

Not sure though whether the evangelical leaders who turned up got the real reformation message. Floyd is so kind and generously embracing (which is why we all love him), that he tends to just rub the surface.

The most striking example though came in reply to a question asked: "How did you turn a prophetic megachurch like Metro Christian Fellowship in Kansas City to a missional movement?" The answer was clear: in the five years that he pastored this church he wasn't able to really change the set-up or DNA, apart from impacting a few individuals. He said most Christians didn't want their kids to go into missions (too dangerous), and one lady remarked: "Are you serious about inviting non-Christians into our house and thus defiling our home that we just dedicated in prayer to the Lord?"

Painting the big picture

When pursuing a 'shift' or 'reformation' in the church and society, there are various levels at which we need a renewal of thinking. One level is that of our overall worldview, the relationship between God and men, His foundational purposes with this world. My philosopher friend Evert-Jan Ouweneel, who's part of the Shift and GIDS networks (check out this interesting radio interview with him in Dutch), has the gift of painting a large, holistic perspective of God's restoration plan. At university he's walking his students through world history in just ten hours, which is quite admirable. We talked about how to communicate some of his quite abstract theological-philosophical-reformational megaperspectives to a wider non-academic audience.

One of the concepts we covered is that of salvation, heaven and hell. The Greek and Roman influence in the church turned this into a guilt and judgement issue where based on a revelation of our sinful state we make a one-time decision with eternal consequences. In this view the earth is a temporal dwelling place that will perish, so why invest here and now, except to save souls for eternity? Heaven is a place where we hang out with Jesus and sing songs eternally, while hell is a real place where people who don't 'choose for Jesus' suffer eternally. Is this simplistic and legalistic perspective really consisent with God's character and overall redemption plan? asks Evert-Jan. He wrote an article in Dutch with 40 reasons/arguments for a different view on redemption. Those who follow Christ become here and now part of his Nehemiah-type 'restoration interim government', which is not the same as 'being a Christian' or 'going to church'. He also has good arguments why our Catholic or Evangelical concept of heaven and hell doesn't make sense. We hope to get some of his material translated into English, as I believe it's quite timely input.

The church in transition

Today I taught at a prophetic training in Gorinchem, hosted by Jefferie Lammers, on the topic 'Five marks of the Church in transition'. These are:

1. A revival of prayer, seeking God, abiding in His presence.
2. Getting detached/delivered from 'organized religion', and growing up to maturity.
3. We can be the Church/the Body of Christ anywhere, and as a result we see a myriad of so-called 'new expressions'.
4. A Spirit-led, apostolic lifestyle of breaking open new ground for the Gospel, similar to what we see in the book of Acts; and to move in this dimension God is taking us out of our comfort-zones.
5. A new reformation is taking place, God is challenging us in foundational areas; we need a revival of the heart, a renewal of thinking and a reformation of structures (one cannot do without the other).

Jesus has left the building

In Greece I read Paul Vieira's challenging book 'Jesus Has Left the Building'. Paul relates his own journey out of organized religion, and gives some excellent examples of biblical precendents where God is challenging and even destroying the organized religion of Israel (like the times of the exile). Overall it's a highly prophetic book that speaks to the heart of an emerging generation to really be the church where it matters most: right in society.

The good thing is that Paul is not bashing the existing churches, but paints a picture of how Jesus intended his Body to function, and that's a quite effective reformation message. The book will be published in Dutch by next Autumn, and I will write a little foreword or recommendation. As Paul is covering the basics of what I planned to cover in my own book on shift/reformation, I'm rethinking what would be a good angle to take. There's certainly more to say, and stories to tell from a European edge.

Paul Donders on leadership

Today Paul Donders of xpand provided pastors in Utrecht with some handles on leadership in a city-reaching context. I found his holistic and strategic approach highly refreshing after the past few "let's fellowship for the fellowship" sessions. Paul has his roots in the Jesus movement, moved to Germany after his studies to start a community, but didn't want to live in two worlds: the Christian subculture and society. So he started a company that aims to empower leaders in church, business and society with Kingdom leadership principles. Here are some of my notes:

- In the time of the Jesus People you were supposed to lead a group by the time you were 17 or 18. And people who asked difficult questions were sent out as missionaries to start new groups in other places.
- Leadership is providing hope, not exercising criticism.
- Everyone has the God-given potential to be a leader, at least to manage himself (first level). If you can manage yourself, you can grow into leading projects (second level), people (third level), and organisations (fourth level).
- A Kingdom leader is lion and lamb, king and priest, at the same time.
- Virtues are a main theme in business and science at the moment (see Harvard Business Review January 2007).
- Power is neutral, but the heart can corrupt it.
- The Netherlands still benefits from the reformation inheritance of Abraham Kuyper and the fact that (unlike surrounding nations that were more directly involved in the two world wars) we have no fatherless generation.
- There are not many effective models for 'discipling a whole nation', but Zinzendorf's approach comes very close. To really disciple a nation we need a revival of the heart, a renewal of thinking, and a reformation (or transformation) of structures. This implies a synergy of different kinds of leaders with different anointings.
- It takes 5% of the population (and 0.5% leaders in different sections of society) to start a revolution, and 20% to forge a reformation or transformation. For a city like Utrecht this means raising up 1,500 healthy leaders in the various mindmolding areas: church, business, healthcare, government, education, media, sports and family.
- Paul currently works in Rotterdam and Vienna with an experimental grid that can be applied to a city to identify the key areas of influence, the key leaders of influence, and the opportunities for leverage.
- Healthy leaders develop character and competence, and a good balance between people and results. This means we have to train people in four areas: discipline, servanthood, management and communication.
- Together with the CHE (higher education) xpand is developing a coaching program that aims to raise up Christian 'leaders of influence' in society.

Download Paul's Powerpoint slides (Dutch)

Life outside the church box

The Lord of the Church seems to be leading more and more of His followers out of the church box. As my friend Andreas describes in his post 'A prophet's dilemma', this transition phase from Church As We Know It to Church As God Wants It (Simson terminology) can be challenging. Steve Hill describes the same dillema in his latest newsletter from a more apostolic point of view. He states that our church system has become an idol and is turning more and more young people in East Europe away from Christ. Often we preach a gospel of the church instead of a gospel of the Kingdom that is truly good news to the poor. Pete Greig also gives words to this in 'The Vision', a moving prayer that speaks to the heart of a whole generation. C'mon!

Three revelation milestones

Where is the organic-reformational movement, or in my geeky friend Andreas' words 'church 2.0', heading? On his weblog he draws together three 'revelation milestones': Wolfgang Simson's (to be released) 'Apostolic Architecture', Alan Hirsch's 'The Forgotten Ways' and Simon Mason's 'The Net'. Having interacted with all three guys over a beer, I agree with Andi that these macro, meso and micro approaches make a revolutionary mix of the Kingdom.

Shift! webzine launched

This week I'm launching a new publication in Dutch called Shift! webzine, a weblog and newsletter focused on helping young people and (potential) innovators and pioneers to dream and act out-of-the-box, and start a Jesus-centered grassroots movement of prayer, community, missions and justice. There's a growing momentum in the Netherlands for organic church and reformation, and I believe an information/inspiration hub where Dutch writers contribute can help catalyze that process and create indigenous ownership.

Shift day in Rhenen

Today we had a first get-together of the various Shift groups in Rhenen. Shift is an informal relational network of people who carry a vision for reformation. More pictures here.

The Orton files

Over the past week I spent some time with Ozzies David Orton and John Clements from Melbourne, and Richard & Anna Holloway from Tasmania. They're in the Netherlands to build connections, as God has been impressing on them that the Netherlands, together with Switzerland, will fulfil a forerunner role in the coming reformation. I made some notes of their inputs:

- There will be an increasing dividing line in the Body of Christ between those who want to maintain a 'synagogue system' (man-made church boxes) and those who really seek God's presence and reach out to the 'gentiles' (those outside the church).
- Parallel to the story of the emergence of king David, God is building a new spiritual government (leadership) under the surface (in the desert or Adullam's cave) that carries His hand to replace the carnal (Saul-type) leadership that is so prevalent in today's church.
- The process God is taking many people through (death to self) is the (reformation) message.
- Reformation is more about the (pursuit of the) presence of God than about reconstructing church.
- David published a book called 'Snakes in the Temple. Unmasking idolatry in today's church and pointing the way to spiritual breakthrough', that deals with strongholds and anti-Christ elements in the church that seem to withhold God's presence.
- The Netherlands is pregnant in the Spirit, there's electricity in the air. But also discouragement and rationalism, that we need to overcome. David believes that God will use the Netherlands to bring reformation to the UK. Perhaps God might use Australia to reawaken the pioneering (exploring and resourcing) spirit in the Netherlands, and activate faith for the supernatural. He senses that there will be a swift work of God, a catalysation and a transfer of resources internationally (a bit like the swift code you need to wire money).
- There's not a resident gift of apostle. Apostles are prophets and teachers sent out.

I appreciated spending some time with David and his team. It's clear that God is establishing more connections between Europe and Australia (also the link with Alan and Donny), that could grow into more intentional teamwork. I don't have the impression that the Ozzies are much ahead of Europe, in fact Europe might be slightly ahead of Australia when it comes to reformation. David's message is likely more electrifying for pastors than it is for our Shift group that meets tomorrow.

The mixed bag of 'church'

A week ago I taught a whole day for Soul Impact, the one-year leadership development track of Soul Survivor Netherlands. I asked them: what is your first association with the word 'church'? It's always interesting to hear what young people come up with.

Most times it's a mix of divine notions like 'God, the people who follow Christ, a house of prayer and sharing life' with human notions like 'church building, traditions and rules, offerings, pastor, pulpit and wetticism'. They discern pretty well between what is God and what is man, though they struggle in real-life with the mixed bag we've come to call 'church'.

For their non-Christian friends the picture is worse. They associate 'church' with 'boring, rules, have-to's, organ, traditional dress-up, candles, Christmas, a building with a cock on top, lack of freedom, no sex before marriage, rejection, strange language, only on Sunday, hypocrisy, sectarian, old-fashioned, empty, a crucifix, and Mary.' Although this is a one-sided picture, it shows that the 'church' has a serious image problem among young people.

The big question that pops up is of course: why lead your friends into something you know is a mixed bag, and that you're not passionate about yourself? In order to see what God is doing and to move with Him, it's helpful to clearly differentiate between 'church as Jesus intended it' (the life) and 'man-made church systems' (the form). We are not called to sustain religious systems or forms, but to follow Christ. The realisation that you can follow Jesus and create 'places of life' pretty much anywhere, that church is not something you go to, but something you are (as our kids know pretty well by now), is quite liberating. Only in this way we will be able to wholeheartedly draw our not-yet-Christian friends 'into church', which is into community with Jesus followers, wherever and whenever.

Why I aim for a reformation

Over the past few weeks I've been interacting with a number of friends and fellow pioneers in the Netherlands about this question: should we take the structural reality of church as it is for granted and (within or out of that context) aim for maximum renewal and innovative missional experiments, or should we aim for a reformation that will shake the foundations of today's church, and re-defines and re-imagines church based on a deeper revelation of Christ and how He intended his Body to function?

Let me start to point out that I believe we need both, and both are valid aims to pursue. I believe it's unfruitful to polarize these two approaches. Innovators and reformers should stand side-by-side when it comes to pulling the church out of her comatic state of unfruitfulness. However, I decided (already a number of years ago) to bless the various expressions of much needed renewal, but aim for a deeper reformation of church. Yesterday, when sharing a meal with Matthijs and Martijn, I drew a picture to visualize the process we are in (click to enlarge).

Over the past few years we've seen quite a number of 'fresh expressions' emerge, that we label 'emerging church', 'missional projects', 'house church' or whatever name we prefer. Partly this was a reaction to traditionalism in the existing church, partly it was a genuine desire for the church to regain a missionary focus, partly it was a realisation that society is changing and therefore the church needs to change. All good and necessary. However, I believe that what we see so far is only the beginnings (the first 20 percent if you like) of a deeper reformation God wants to bring to the church.

Some people get nervous with that idea, because it means that some of the holy cows mentioned in my earlier post may have to die. Others, who are by nature more practically oriented (e.g. planting churches in real-life) look at reformation as highly idealistic, not really reachable, so why bother aiming at it, let's rather start where the opportunities are. As a practically oriented person I understand that hands-on approach, but as a prophet I'm also quite aware that God has a higher standard of maturity and fullness for the church than what the church (even the emerging church) functions in today.

Because of this higher standard I simply cannot aim lower. God wants us to come up to His level of seeing, understanding and acting, instead of expecting Him to descend to our level of 'doing church'. This is where I differ from my emerging comrades - I aim for a reformation (which is basically bridging the gap between where the church is now, and where God wants the church to be), while at the same time working in real-life with real people, real problems and - let's not forget that - a real God. It's quite well possible to be principled in what you aim for (and not lower that standard) and pragmatic in how to go about it (which should not be interpreted as combining the new with the old). Of course it's a tension, but it's a healthy tension, a tension we need to keep us holy dissatisfied, so that we continue to seek God for an Acts-type movement in our time.

Now practically, it looks like two initiatives are developing in the Netherlands. My friend Matthijs is forming a network for emerging/missional church planters, and I'm starting a webzine for reformation and innovation that pushes for 'more than meets the eye'. Also a relational 'Shift Network' is forming that connects the emerging reformers.

A liberating gospel

Yesterday we watched the Israeli movie 'Kadosh', the tragic story of two sisters raised and married in the orthodox quarter of Jerusalem. Every day the orthodox men pray: "Thank God I wasn't born a gentile, thank God I wasn't born a slave, thank God I wasn't born a woman." The women are predestined to have children (if possible every year), cook and clean, and earn money, so their husbands can study the Torah and Talmud. But what if you can't have kids? What if your husband rapes you because he's a fanatic and - apparently - never read the Song of Songs?

Often religion turns into an oppressive system that breeds pride in a few, and enslaves many. I can sympathize with Marx in this respect. How liberating that a Jewish man stood up to set the captives of legalistic religion free. In Him men and women, masters and slaves, Jews and gentiles are equal. What a revolutionary message, what a liberating gospel!

Holy cows in the polder

Today I had a conversation with Jefferie Lammers, who publishes a prophetic e-zine in Dutch called 'David's Tabernacle'. Realizing that Jesus is calling his people out of religion to really be his Body (his acting side) on this earth, we agreed that what is crucial in this time of change or transition is prophetic discernment, and the willingness to kill our holy cows.

Most churches and ministries would (by default) say they're 'building on the foundation Jesus', but is that really so? Could it be that we are building on a domesticated version of Jesus, a theologically narrow and safe interpretation of who He really is, a kind of 'Jesus-in-a-(church)box'? Could it be that we are partly building on human control and Mammon, or another form of false allegiance? And how about the various less-than-optimal (or even counterfeit) expressions of 'prophetic' and 'apostolic' ministry we see today?

I have a simple (some might say 'simplistic') insight: if it is true that Jesus called us (the Church) to proclaim and manifest the Kingdom of God in the earth, so that the gates of hell cannot prevail, then from a strategic point of view it is likely that satan assigned his strongest demons (those of religion, money, control, deception, etc.) to the church. All these demonic spirits have to do is what they also do in other religions - inspire human beings to create and maintain religious (church) systems and mindsets that breed unhealthy codependence, keep people occupied with all kinds of side-matters, and therefore render them relatively unfruitful and harmless. Therefore, any true reformation inevitably has to address things that are foundationally wrong in the way the church operates.

On Koole's Queeste I'm involved in an evaluation of the 'youth church phenomenon'. Youth churches are trendy versions of church-as-we-know-it, or more precise: church-services-as-we-know-them. They hyped quickly, and now are in decline. Some young people claimed youth church was the way forward for their generation, and although it was at least one or two steps forward, I would say it was a compromise right from the start. In order not to create too much of a stir, and out of an inherited incapacity to think out of the churchy box, they went for the wide and predictable road of upgraded celebrations. I call that a holy cow. Young people have permission to be creative, as long as they don't touch the play we've been performing since the time of Constantine. Real grassroots Jesus movements cannot be contained in church boxes, so why not start outside straight away?

It's not appreciated to say these things in public. It sounds so negative. Lots of good intentions, time and money was invested, so therefore it must be evaluated positively. But the emperor is naked, or at least looks funny, and a kid can see. When we visited a church service sometime ago (yes, it was a baptist church, but it could have been any other label), our youngest Peter (5) whispered: "Mum, when is this play over?"

It links in to the results of a 'city reaching' research among pastors that Joel News published five years ago. The conclusion was: "Yes, we want revival and see our communities transformed, but don't touch our churches!" As long as we see the church as 'our church' (which we shape the way we want) instead of 'Jesus' church', revival will only come to Utopia.

Looking around in the Dutch polder landscape, I see thousands of holy cows, providing daily milk for spiritual infants that could have been mature, multiplying adults/families in Christ. If we want to eat 'solid meat', as Paul suggests, we might first have to kill our holy cows. How about throwing a BBQ?