GlocalNet

There are a handful of concepts that really have the ability to change and engage the church in the world and her mission today like nothing else.  I would list them as: 

  1.  An active, comprehensive, living, transformative, and reconciling understanding of the Kingdom of God both personally and globally.  Why?  This is our mission - not industrial missions or even “missional” activity.  E. Stanley Jones, Dallas Willard, & Dietrich Bonhoeffer are my teachers here.

  2.  An understanding of the grid of society in domains and how all cities, nations, tribes, and cultures operate.  Why this is our context and opportunity.  Our challenge is that we think church and religion are our context. They are not. Church is the instrument.  Sadly, we connect globally with other churches, in one way its good, in another we remain insulated and isolated from the world with all our “religious” work.  Personal accidental stumbling on this understanding from working globally in “hard” places is how I learned it - later aided by Kuyper, Loren Cunningham & lots of urban studies books.

  3.  The definition of disciple and how that impacts how we make disciples.  Hear and obey versus learn, grow, and go.  Hear and obey requires the Holy Spirit and spiritual disciplines.  Why does this matter?  This “disciple” is the building block of the body of Christ that we must produce.  This “disciple” is a part of the family meant to be lived in community.  This is where Jesus is the head and we hear one another together. 

Coleman, Eddy Leo - an Indonesian Pastor of Abba Love Church in Jakarta, and a lot of time with many global pastors and Christians helped me here. 

  4.  A rediscovery of “Apostolic” ministry.  There are only two writers that I carefully follow on this.  One is David Devonish - an Englishman who has worked with New Frontiers.  His book “Father Movements” is incredible, biblical and a gold mine.  The other is Alan Hirsch an Aussie in Forgotten Ways, and his more recent book, with Tim Catchim, The Permanent Revolution.  However, the person who has modeled and taught me the most is an Indonesian named Eddy Leo.  I had him speak with me a couple of years ago at Exponential when I was keynoting.  I don’t think most of the American planters knew what to do with him.  I’ve known Eddy the past ten years and love him deeply.  He’s mentored our church and created some healthy chaos. 

Ten years ago, I’d have people tell me, “Bob, you’re Apostolic.”  For a long time I didn’t really understand what they meant.  Often they concluded that because of all the churches we start out of NorthWood and the fact I worked around the world.  When I read The Forgotten Ways, it was the first time I read anything close to helping me understand and it resonated with me deeply.  I keep it stocked and have had our elders, leaders, and church planters read it. 

I was excited when the new book Permanent Revolution came out, because I felt like it would go in to more depth and maybe even make Forgotten Ways irrelevant or unnecessary.  Before I even read it I ordered several copies for our staff and elders to read.  I still think you need Forgotten Ways.  I would say Forgotten Ways is the theology and theory and Permanent Revolution is more the practice.  I would give Permanent Revolution an A.  Not an A+.  It should be read by church staff, elders, movement leaders, etc.  It probably should be read first.  Then if you want to go deeper into the theology and theory read Forgotten Ways. 

What would make Forgotten Ways an A+?  Alan writes about Pauline Apostleship versus Petrine Apostleship.  He admittedly writes from a Petrine perspective.  The Petrine is more of the challenging of the church as it is in various contexts vs. the Pauline which is more translocal and pioneering.  I’m definitely, in this context, more in line with the Pauline.  There are some things from the Pauline perspective that I think need more attention in Apostleship.  If I were writing the book with Alan, I’d have focused on these things:

1.  Apostleship that touches the world most effectively is grounded in a local church.  I disagree. They move from church to church and are more in parachurch ministry to be more effective.  They are in parachurch ministry because the church doesn’t know what to do with them.  The biggest challenge I’ve had outside NorthWood is people encouraging me to start a ministry and leave the church. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. This is wrong.  If I’ve learned anything from Global Apostolic Pastors, the church is the base - not a “season of ministry”.  We have too small a definition of church in the West today.  I could write a book on this.  A local church grounds, contextualizes, and provides a laboratory of sorts as well as holding the leader accountable.  It also gives a place to disperse opportunity to the broader body of Christ and not just “the” apostle.  I’m a bridge that connects people all over the place, in all kinds of projects.

2.  The primary way of balancing the 5-fold ministry is the local church.  In addition, it’s the local church and people in 5-fold ministry in prayer.  You have to respect one another, and yield to one another’s giftedness, but, there are times, when there is and will be disagreement.  Prayer and listening to Jesus as the Holy Spirit speaks is the key.  This is the only way it can operate.  Unless people leading ministries are people of passionate prayer - the 5-fold will never work.  It becomes a tug of war between personality types found in 5-fold.  I could write another book on this.

3.  In “Petrine” Apostleship, there is scaling that can take place from models and systems and that is how it grows.  In “Pauline” Apostleship, you don’t scale Holy Spirit opportunities.  The “Pauline” has the ability to see and recognize people and opportunities that are going to be unique to them.  Systems are scaled not opportunities.  I would say the operative word for the “Petrine” is system.  The operative word for the “Pauline” is “door” and “opportunity” that is opened and the masses come through.  I get more joy out of opening doors than writing books - though I just finished my 5th!  Once again, my books are more stories and concepts than models and steps.

4.  Starting a lot of churches DOES NOT MAKE YOU APOSTOLIC!!!  You may simply be a good religious factory worker or systems person.  That doesn’t require leadership as much as it does process.  I think too much attention is given to this and the definition that if you start lots of churches you are Apostolic.  I disagree, and we start a lot of churches every single year!!!!  Apostolic is multiplication, it’s beyond a single location, but it’s more than a product – it is influence and opportunity.

5.  There can be no legitimate development of “Apostolic” ministry without an understanding of GLOBAL!!!!  Be it the 12 or my global pastor friends - they are all global in their work.  The definitions of their ministry is rooted in a local place but learned from around the world in the global church.  In addition - they get the world.  The book was totally silent on global trends and how that impacts how this operates.  To be a single church, or a network of churches doesn’t require “Apostolic” ministry - to move beyond that does.  Apostolic - sent - was created for a Gospel that would extend expeditiously through the grid of the world.  Other than using the word glocal and translocal, there was no discussion on how this works globally.  WE LIVE IN THE GLOBAL WORLD NOW - STOP THINKING MISSIONS AND THINK GLOBAL.  In the West we have a global view of the world through the eyes of mission.  This is a damning mistake.  Why?  If you don’t understand your context and the world, you have nothing to offer the world - you’ll never know how to communicate.  To me the greatest lesson I learned from Rick Warren wasn’t purpose or how to do church, it was how to communicate and be relevant so people can understand what you are saying.  I’ve written books on this.

6. Apostolic is not limited to “church” and “religious work” but how believers who are not professional clergy should operate in the city.  I’m convinced this language was not for “church leaders” alone but “faith leaders” in multiple vocations.  Imagine the possibilities when the body of Christ in a city in the broader church connects with the 5-fold engaging the city - WOW - that could be incredibly exciting.  There’s another book. 

So all in all it was a great book - and maybe there’s not a huge audience for “Pauline” Apostleship - I don’t know - but if you’re one of those - here are some things you’ll find as important . . .