The Tangible Kingdom
“We’ve tried Graham crusades, Promise Keepers, Willow Creek Church, Saddleback’s four bases, the ‘small group’ movement in every conceivable arrangement, Alpha, 40-Days of Everything, and house church. Yet we continue to lose the people we have while failing to reach the ones we don’t have.”
If you can identify, raise your hand!
Yes, yes, we know how to attract people from other churches. We know the services to offer, the programs to perfect.
But what about the growing segment that is completely unreached — by traditional church, simple church, house church, emergent church, etc.?
What would it be like, Hugh Halter and Matt Smay wonder in The Tangible Kingdom
What if we quit spending large amounts of time trying to perfect our assemblies? What if we took our lead from Jesus in the gospels — from the one who created a scandal by being with people who weren’t approved by the clergy? What if we disbanded church softball teams and church aerobics and church book clubs — and asked people to join similar groups out in the world? What if we quit trying so hard to protect our kids from “the world”? What if we quit trying to put our “time, effort, and communication into . . . doing church stuff in a different style”?
“Church,” the authors claim, “must not be the goal of the gospel anymore. Church should not be the focus of our efforts or the banner we hold up to explain what we’re about. Church should be what ends up happening as a natural response to people wanting to follow us, be with us, and be like us as we are following the way of Christ.”
This book — recommended to me by Randy Harris who said I had to read it — has 180 pages. There are about seventy pages in the middle that I found uninspiring at times; perhaps a bit overgeneralized. But there are about forty on the front end and seventy on the back end that are provocative, challenging, and hopeful.
From their experience as leaders in the Adullam community in Denver and as church consultants, the authors keep pressing the practical implications of the missional church movement. Less theory; more “this is what this looks like in action.” I know lots of people who are weary of hearing the experts talk about the theory of missional church — experts who rarely give examples of what this is looking like in their own lives. The stories in this book come out of yesterday and today. Real stories of people seeking to live in the world on behalf of Jesus. The point isn’t that a church should be large or small — but that it should be incarnational and missional.
Hearing those terms a lot but wondering what they mean? This could be your book.
How does this book differ from Frost and Hirsch? The approach sounds a great deal like _Exiles_, whose first half is masterly. (The second half, not so much. Pastors who prescribe beer selections for their parishioners are out of their league. Operate in your area of giftedness, and all that.)
This line of inquiry gives hope to those of us who have been badly burned by empire-building, consumerist churchianity; and those of us who are trying to help the wounded ones find their ways. But the escape from the Matrix is a tough path to find.
qb
There is a good bit of overlap, qb. They reference The Shaping of Things to Come in the book.
For what it’s worth, here’s Frost’s blurb in the front of the book:
“I don’t need another book to tell me that the cultural currents of our time have shifted and the church is floundering in uncharted waters. That’s as clear as the nose on your face. What I need are practical, biblical, tried-and-tested steps to piloting the church through these shifting currents. In Halter and Smay you have practitioners who aren’t just holding on for grim death in the midst of rough seas. They are riding the shifting cultural swells, surfing the rising waves, and having a ball doing it! Written by experienced church planters who love what they do, The Tangible Kingdom is a navigational guide for the stout-hearted missional leader.”
Good book. I worked through it recently and it’s helping shape the way we’re approaching things in Austin.
Mike, what did you think about Diane Dekker’s review http://www.amazon.com/Tangible-Kingdom-Incarnational-Community-Leadership/product-reviews/0470188979/ref=cm_cr_dp_hist_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addOneStar
Dekker writes “Halter divides the world of Christians into two camps- those who see the person of Jesus through “the literal interpretation of doctrine,” and “those who see the Christian message through the person of Jesus.” He is among the latter.”
I see this as a common struggle on this blog. Some of Dekker’s concerns are the very things that draw me to this book. Thanks for the recommendation.
Amazon makes it way to easy to spend money.
I read the book last month and found myself saying AMEN on just about every page (except the middle part, as Mike points out. Actually, it was my second attempt to read the book after getting bogged down in the middle the first time.).
Not too many Christians realize that there is already a growing segment who does not see “church” as the goal of their faith. These men, women and children simply live out the gospel by performing astounding acts of love among the people they encounter along the way in the name of Jesus. They focus on social justice, care of the earth and simple, profound acts of love. Love that turns heads, as Randy pointed out last week at HCC, is indiscriminate and reckless. I so look forward to the day when everyone who calls him/herself a Christian actually lives and loves like Christ and packs away all the unnecessary baggage that accompanies “church.” Read the book…
All the novelty to help us grow does become tiresome. Why can there not be the total and balanced and complete way as described in scripture. The assembly is for the church. To be stirred up to love and good works. Let us go back to realizing that Sunday is the first day, the resurrection day and spend time in the assembly preparing, being equipped through the worship to go out and extend love to whoever comes into your line of vision with whatever resources you have, like the Samaritan. It is essential that the word is taught and the Supper must be a part of every Christian life. It is being gospel centered. It is to remember His substitutionary sacrifice, the atonement , and what He has done at Clavary and that He arose. This impacts everything we believe and inspires every good work. The assembly is critical and then beyond the assembly the everyday significance of being light and salt. It is the perserverance of daily unselfish, serving love . It is deny yourself and the death to self will .It is every cup of cold water. Goes all the way back to the first century and the first church of Christ in Jerusleum. Has worked, still does.
Clint: We must not downplay or separate the work of Christ with the person of Christ. The doctrines of Jesus and the actions of Jesus must remain together. If one focuses exclusively on the words and comings and goings of Jesus while disregarding what He accomplished on the Cross (and the doctrines that accompany it – substitution and the like); He becomes nothing more than a good teacher with some zen/hippy/pithy sayings. Some movements and leaders of our day are doing this more and more (McLaren, etc.); seeking to become palatable to the men of the world.
But on the other hand; if we discuss Calvary and completely dismiss His words – we can become guilty of neglecting inner and communal change (sanctification) and incarnational living.
Ray: You’re right. A proper outworking of the Gospel will end up doing exactly what all these books are saying the church needs to be. All these books are assuming something…
…and here is the issue. We actually think everybody who goes to church is a Christian. This is simply not true. You can do and say all you want; but is the Spirit bearing fruit through you?
The reason these complaints arise is because they look at the visible church and think “this is it!” Couldn’t it be possible that probably half (or more) of people who go to church aren’t even born-again? “Away from me, I NEVER knew you” (Matt 7:23).
The invisible church, on the other hand, has always and will always perform the works of the Holy Spirit to the glory of God. “The Lord knows those who are his” (2 Tim 2:19).
Another point: “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom 8:7-8)
Remember, the best of what man does is a dunghill to God (Isaiah 64:6). The flesh will not perform works of the Spirit. Only those born-again do it. It seems that a lot of these conversations are trying to get those of the flesh to perform works of the Spirit. It’s not going to happen; indeed, it cannot.
The church must be both community and action. It must leave the church building and comfort zone to be what it must be. The church is losing members because it is only talking to itself, not meeting people in their real lives.
Jr. I agree, we only know the person of Christ through scripture. The two can no more be separated than the heart from the body. However there seems to be some tension between the life of Jesus and scripture (old and new) for some. We must die to self or all we will ever know is scripture without knowing the one scripture reveals. Too me love is the key to everything. If we can only love the way Jesus loves us then no matter what program we choose people will be drawn to him.
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” 1John 3:16
The trendy terminology of the last few years — emergent, missional, incarnational, etc. — has had absolutely NO appeal or relevance where I live: it all comes from the United States, mainly America’s Bible Belt, and if not the Bible Belt, then from people who are from the Bible Belt. It has taken less than a decade for the trendsetters of ‘emerging church’ ideology to become disillusioned and instead of churches emerging they are disappearing. Time to write some new books!
Church planting has been going on for AGES. Apparently the most endearing ones took place before the Bible was canonised and constructed. Whatever happened to the church in Corinth? You can take a group of like-minded people with an array of finite and quirky skills honed mostly in an American-style seminary, have them beg for support using modern secular business models and techniques, and then transplant them into an area where they are obviously the outsiders. Their goal is to make the insiders they dwell amongst become members of a new religious club, but actually these ‘locals’ will always feel like outsiders in their own territory.
Why? Because said transplant group of ‘expats’ have only committed to a transient stay just long enough to see if their missional projects succeed. And because when the expats are the majority attendees at functions they drift off into their own language and shared experiences and traditions together. Mostly they prefer to identify themselves as ‘expats’ instead of ‘locals’. If they are successful then when they leave to go back where they came from they can go write some books and get even richer than the locals they left behind by becoming consultants and doing seminars. The locals come to understand that these new folks in their midst have a hidden agenda when it comes to ‘building a relationship’ with them. Free food, free Bibles in fancy English translations and free medical care are nice for a few years. Curious more than compelling.
Church planting has been known to be successful until egos and testosterone clash. Then it’s time to move on and prescribe Centres for Conflict Resolution. Only in America can one seem to find these types of spiritual counselling centres. Foreigners beware!
American religious expats seem dodgy when it comes to their work, because where is all their foreign money coming from? They live in nice houses and drive nice cars without legal driving documents and their children have all the latest toys and gadgets and cute clothes. But the locals are confused because these expats do not keep office hours. Now if a group of religious expats from Europe or another country came and plunked itself and its accents and its foreign currency down into an American community it would be okay for them to seem suspicious and threatening. They have got to be a cult!
One cannot quantify the quality or depth of another person’s faith-walk, or lack thereof, because of ‘church planting’ programmes. Relationships built on hidden agendas – ‘OH! I just happened to forget my Bible in my car and one of my new local friends asked about it out of curiosity during a car pool ride and now we have a Bible study’ – are not only counterfeit but counter-productive to the authentic cause of Christ. How did people grow in faith and stature in the Lord for centuries before the Bible as we know it today was even printed, or before being illiterate became a class distinction?
It takes work to get to know people who live as close to us as next door, and to sincerely develop a caring, selfless relationship with them. God does not need me or the latest evangelical movement to ‘save’ them, but he does require I honestly get to know them and love them before I shove a Bible or a trendy paradigm down their throats and onto their lifestyles.
America has so many places where there is literally a church on every corner. Why is this? Obviously division is more a theme than cohesive relationships in Christ. And groups inside these buildings want to send church-planting teams out to other countries to mess things up?
Maybe God has been trying to say a few things but ego-driven passions and misguided dreams are keeping God on mute.
Sounds wonderful, Mike – thanks for sharing it! I’ll have to check it out, and maybe share it with the pastors at our church.
Deb: WOW.
qb
Ah, the social construct that is Christianity, trying–as every living organism does–to stay alive by evolving. Nothing wants to die. In the case of Christianity, the evolution has been going on, as Deb writes, for “AGES” (or since ca. 40 CE). It is interesting to watch the many twists and false starts of the last few years, especially since the internet and the huge amounts of books has drastically sped up the process.
Upcoming “Mission Alive” conference on missional living: http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/default.aspx?EventID=768289
Martin F: Those are some profoundly religious views and quite a social construct…
Deb: I appreciate you sharing and honestly I would love to know your experiences more. However, I don’t think it is good to paint entire cultures or people groups so quickly. I feel like I was characterized by your viewpoint on American Christianity in some ways but then lumped in to other things I am not.
Clint and Jr: The Church has ebb and flow or you could say a season or a time for things. That is why there are so many books, changes, perspectives, even false starts. Just look at church history, it repeats! Perhaps some of our attempt to find the absolute position and balance between Jesus and His message is simply incomprehendible…maybe we can’t figure it out but simply must have faith being fully convinced in our conscience and guided by the scriptures? Let’s continue to dig, discuss, and debate but in full humility. In this regard, I was not a fan of Dekker’s review compared with Mike’s.