GlocalNet

We are redefining missional—like churches did being “contemporary”—just throw in a chorus and you’re there! Everybody wants the title—few get what it’s really about. The most missional models we have of churches today in the West runs something like this:

Cletus started a church and communicated in understandable ways.
The church grew and was built around his preachin’ and Earl’s singin’.
Now the church does some community projects.
The church started a church with plans of starting more—one day.
They now take an annual mission trip to a different nation each year.

The best stories we have of missional churches still come back to the preacher and the Sunday event.

What would it be like if the stories were beyond that Sunday event? What if our stories were how we had transformed society and communities that extended beyond our pulpits? What if the church was not a holding tank with scheduled release valves, but what if it was a traffic light only managing the flow of traffic that passed through it for people to go and get things done for the kingdom of God.

We know who we are by the stories we tell. What churches and pastors are telling stories of radical transformation?

Missional stories run something like this:

Joe Bob worked at Tyler Pipe and found Jesus after a divorce.
It changed him so much others saw it and wanted what he had.
They started a Bible study and accountability group.
It grew so much they started several of them.
They decided to gather on Sundays and rent a hall—which they did.
They served in the community where they worked and suffered.
Ed had been in Iraq and knew the water needs, so they met with people who knew how to get in and began to dig water wells.
This led to many other projects.
Their church grew so much that they had to start another for all
the people driving in from 30 miles away.
Joe Bob had just moved to the new area, so he began a Bible study that grew so fast that they started several studies . . . .

1 Cor 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. (NIV)

So, Rick Warren is headed to North Korea and the pundits, the preacher-politicians, and diplomats are all concerned about him being “used” or being a “pawn.” Wow, I’m so glad they’re concerned—not that journalists, government cuddling preachers, and diplomats have ever been used! Let’s be clear about one thing, Rick has stated on numerous occasions, and backed it up by his life and ministry, that he is a pastor trying to do God’s work and help people and churches find their purpose. His message and his practice is, and has been, consistent.

Rick’s more than a mega-church pastor.  And, man, how we need that! He doesn’t look at his local church as his primary theatre of operation, but as his base of operation to bring hope to the world—this is as it should be. Would to God every church in America got that—if they did, this world would be a radically different place.

We live in a global world where faith is only getting stronger and growing faster. With the seas of change in globalization, people are looking for roots and anchors. Faith has a bright future.

The worse that could happen is Rick would be “used” like the countless other people who have been there and in the process share the good news that might impact some lives with hope. Or, perhaps he would be arrested as an agent of the West and write a powerful book in prison that would radically impact the world—maybe on his favorite topic of purpose! Or, perhaps get martyred (he once took that spiritual gifts test that said he had that gift which can be used only once!) and the result would lead to a nation-wide revival that …

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As with anything in the Western church, after something has died we prop it up for a long time, stuff it if it’s dead and even try to ride it a while longer. We even try to get other people to get on our horse with us, even though its beautiful, glassy eyes don’t seem to move! We put lipstick on our dead horses, give them mechanical nahyyy’s, and even have someone vacuum their coats daily—no real horse was ever that clean! It’s the idea—that’s what we love. It’s the nostalgia of a past day when something really was good and worked.

It’s not about missions—it’s about the kingdom. Missions focused on us getting them converted and churched. It was the industrial model that Cary pioneered. Cary, however, was far more concerned about the Kingdom and society than most missionaries that followed him. It is the model on which most denominations and mission agencies still focus. It builds the apparatus to get the converts, and them get them in church. That isn’t bad, just a super short runway for people getting on their feet spiritually.

It’s not about missions—it’s about globalization. My tribe, a couple of decades ago, had this focus to get everyone engaging the world and all the goals fell way short, except the one to mobilize volunteers. That one went way over the top. It continues to go way over the top. Some in the “missions industry” think the church has become more “missions” minded. Not true. The world has become smaller and we are thinking more global, more from business and economics than anything. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are proof of this, and dozens of other philanthropist. We are going to see more of this and it’s good. The question is going to become what differentiates a Christian’s philanthropy and work?

It’s not about missions—and it’s beyond missional. Ed Stetzer has rightly concluded there is probably going to be another word. I agree. Everyone is using that word missional, but it’s defined too, too, too western. It’s also being redefined because everyone wants to be considered “missional” so, to be so, it’s redefined in their image. It must be beyond itself, outside itself, and, yet, incarnated within itself. It has to go beyond relevant communication and church planting. It, of necessity, must emerge out of a deep walk with Jesus or discipleship that leads to …

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God is sufficient in and of Himself. He lacks nothing. Therefore, He is complete and not needy. He creates man for His glory and He has fellowship with man. Does God create man because He’s lonely? If He’s lonely, then doesn’t that mean He’s not sufficient in and of Himself? The Bible says God is love. Love has no power if it’s not shared. Love is an action focused toward someone else. Therefore, if God is love and He is complete and love is an active entity—what if man is the response to God’s nature—namely love? Just thinking and musing on this . . .

It is good to be with you here today. I love Vietnam. I sometimes think I am Vietnamese. I am one of the minority tribes—you just have never seen me before. You are God’s special people. You care for those that are least.

A society is characterized by how it cares for its least. A society’s future is determined by its vision. Your motto is “Vision with action changes the world.” All of us have the same goal—to get farther down the road than where we started.

As a Christian, I believe we have been given the responsibility for life on earth to be as it is in heaven. The method by which we do that is the life of Christ living in us. Vision is always about things being better.

For a vision to work, there must be a sense of call to do something. There must be an attitude of determination that won’t give up. There must be a lifestyle of discipline. A vision is more than a dream—it will require a life and a life-time.

Habakkuk 1:2-5
2 How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. 4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. 5 “Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. 2:2 “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. (NIV)

Things seem to take forever. But, then, when they start to happen, they happen too fast, it seems. Raising two children—and now, in a month, they’ll both be gone. Building on our land—in a year our first 2000-seat auditorium. Getting to write a book—and now, narrowing a list of growing books that need to be written. Working in Vietnam and going to slow—but now, things speeding up in realms I could have never dreamed.

We spend our lives waiting and working, dreaming and hoping—but, regardless, faithful. When all is said and done, it is really God’s show and His call and His discretion. Some of the least gifted become the most successful and the most gifted the least successful. God truly is sovereign—and thank God He is! But, when He lets us see some of those dreams come true, how do we contain ourselves?

It’s been a good trip. I’m ready to pack, get on the jet and head home. I feel refreshed and ready to rock and roll. NO WAY I experienced this because I was so gifted or did it on my own. What an incredible church that doesn’t talk—but acts. What an exceptional staff—if not rare. What an awesome God—He lets us get to be a part.

I was up at 5am this morning, running around Lake Hoa Kiem, and it was nice. I didn’t go as far as I wanted, but got in at least 3 miles and was sweating like crazy. Many of the faces I see there, I’ve seen for years. One face is that of a young boy 15 to 18. He’s a special needs young man. He can’t talk. He is somewhat paralyzed on his left side—he can’t look at you straight on, but from an angle and when he does he smiles. So, for years he’s smiled at me and waved. He runs—unsteady as I see it, but steady in his own sort of gait. He usually goes the opposite direction that I run so we pass one another and he waves. This morning as I was running I sensed someone coming up behind me and then running along beside me. It was him. I grinned at him and he grinned back—made some grunts trying to make me laugh and imitate my running style. I admire him so much. As we ran, everyone waved at him—everyone. Everyone smiled at him and thereby smiled at me, as well. At times, he’d get distracted and be looking somewhere but would then catch up. Other times, he’d go way ahead and realize I was near and slow down to run with me. Once he tried to get me to run in the middle of the road with the cars to avoid all the people on the sidewalk. I shook my head “no.” He did it anyhow. Broken, smiling, warm, running, enduring, endearing—he was all these things to me and everyone else on the lake. Such a broken person. Such a beautiful person.

I thought of the Holy Spirit as I was running. I’m just like that broken young man. Yet, I’m not alone. The Spirit is with me. Sometimes I run off, but I always come back. Sometimes I get distracted, but I always come back. Sometimes I look for a short cut, and it winds up being dangerous, but the Spirit protects me even in my “risky business” and I always come back. The Holy Spirit doesn’t mind that I run weird or have flaws. He sees them all, and He actually winds up using them to His advantage.

If the Spirit is with us, then the Spirit is with us and if …

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I just read a remarkable book by Steve Chalke, The Lost Message of Jesus. It’s a powerful book, especially if you love reading about, and living, the Kingdom.  In the last part of the book, Steve talks about the cross—was it an act of love or the act of a vengeful Father showing wrath on His son for something His son didn’t do. Steve opts for a loving God caught in the throes of sinful man.

Having heard so many people who preach with anger and enthusiasm on such subjects as Hell and God’s wrath, I understand why he opts for the loving Father. It seems to contradict all that Christ talked about. Those men who preach with such enthusiasm on such subjects, I believe, are objects of wrath!

I went to the famous verse in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” Propitiation was the act of a sacrifice paying with its life for the sin of someone else.

Can’t deny it’s not there. The old discussion about the potential of Paul creating a different, more legal, version of Christianity doesn’t hold up here because the disciple who knew and loved Jesus wrote:

-1 John 2:2:1 “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world . . . 1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

-8He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

-11Beloved, if God so loved us, we …

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It isn’t that hard to understand why the Vietnamese government is nervous about Christianity—specifically. They really don’t have that many challenges with Buddhism or animism—because it’s in their culture. I’ve been told by people who know the General Secretary that even he has an altar to his ancestors in his home. The first large-scale introduction of Christianity came with the French Catholics. It was a typical religious Colonial response. Vietnam represented a vast economic opportunity for the French, thus, the Vietnamese must be conquered and their resources captured. Sadly, as the French came with colonialism, the church came, as well, and they were viewed as the same.

I sit typing this in a hotel Americans know as the “Hanoi Hilton.” Most of the Hanoi Hilton is gone, only a part of it for tourist. But, in Vietnamese culture, it’s known as a place where, for decades, Vietnamese who challenged the French would go to a famous court across the street from me, then be sentenced and marched across the street to stay in the prison where many American POWs would ultimately stay.

Then, of course, there was our own conflict with the Vietnamese. And, often the Vietnamese that allied with Americans were also Christians—often Protestant Christians. That meant God and politics all got mixed in together.

Why would they call him Savior? This is the faith of the men who drove them to produce for a foreign land. This is the faith of people who used faith for less than noble purposes.

Will they ever call him Savior?
-Only if those of us who know Christ live the radical life of Christ as servants to them instead of making servants out of them.

-Only if they are able to separate the history of the church here from the person of Christ here.

-Only if when we speak of religious freedom—they see we are concerned not just about what concerns us, but what concerns them.

There is not a place in the world where the church has more of an opportunity to be the church than here. But, for that to happen, it will have to be a radically different kind of church.

My purpose in life is simple—not just in Keller, Texas where I live, but here in Hanoi, as well. “To see the whole Kingdom of Jesus engage the whole of society through the whole church,” This is …

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My view of missional may almost be, as they would say here in Asia, a Christian view of yen and yang where opposites are necessary. I learned a long time ago that the global defines the local. The local rarely leads to the global, but when we engage globally, the local most often wind up coming, which was the case with us. In thinking about that and all the meetings and relationships I’ve been in the past week, I am struck by all the people and situations totally opposite of me and my context, yet, I’m here trying to engage them at the point of their context, not mine. It takes me out of my culture, but when I’m back in my culture I see things I never would have seen had I not gotten out of my box.

Missional is exemplified by Christ who left His home, His security, His everything to identify with us—so far from Him. It’s Him crossing a massive expanse for us. I’ve had to do a lot of spanning the past few days, and, though, at times being made somewhat uneasy—at all times recognizing God with us guiding us and pushing us to think differently.

Here are some of the ironies:
-Praying in Dak Lak for the leadership of Vietnam with a group of Vietnamese pastors and diplomats, with our pastors and diplomats, that God would guide the General Secretary and the Prime Minister as they lead the nation. A nation that is officially atheist.
-Listening to officials and others talk about how they all have family altars in their homes. I’ve concluded that Vietnam is an incredibly spiritual nation.
-Being asked to partner with Buddhist to help them engage society.

I could go on. I will only say that when I’m spanning far enough that I have to let go of my grip and hold on to Him to keep from falling. Only then do great things truly happen.

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