Emerging Rural

Hi Luke and everyone – sorry I have been absent for so long.  With the adoption we have been very busy and just last week we moved to a new house!    Needless to say, things are crazy around here.  I wanted to post this here for input from any and all: 

Being Fourth of July weekend I thought this would be an appropriate topic to discuss.   The following post was something I wrote this morning on my personal blog but because it is something that I think touches the heart of perhaps every rural church in America I would love to hear thoughts from other rural church leaders and lay members.   

My friend Tom and his wife were over for dinner yesterday and being the 4th conversations veered toward the flag.  A blog by a friend and ThD student at Duke that Tom was reading (which can be read HERE) highlighted this debate, bringing up some pretty good reasons why the flag should not be in the sanctuary. 

The church I pastor is a rural church in NC that presently has both the American and Christian flags on either side of the hanging cross behind the pulpit.   I admit, I have never been comfortable with them being there (in fact, when we stripped the altar for our Good Friday service I purposefully did not bring the flags out that next Sunday.  Alas, someone noticed and 3 Sundays later I saw the flags back where they “belong”). 

I wonder what others think about this issue.    My friend Tom makes a great point which I would echo:  The flag, by its very nature, is a symbol that divides.  It states that I am this and you are that.   To use his analogy, if I carry a Steeler flag into a football game I am declaring to any that would look that I am for this team and not that team.  Around the flag we begin to mobilize.   The cross, however, while being a symbol it is a symbol that stands for something entirely different.  The cross demolished the boundaries and walls that would divide us.   The cross puts all of us on equal ground, regardless of nationality.   There is now neither male or female, slave or free, Jew or Gentile.  When we worship corporately with a cross next to a flag I think it sends mixed messages.  On one hand we announce the Good News that Christ has set us free and tears down walls that divides while on the other hand we announce our allegiance to something different - to a country that insists on being “other” and different from any other.

Dan Kimball has a very interesting article on his blog - Jesus and Dinosaurs.

Did Jesus ride dinosaurs? You have to look at the pictures. They are hilarious!

Alan Hirsch has written a very interesting article in the latest issue of the Leadership Journal, Three Over-looked Leadership Roles.

Hirsch addresses the role of Apostle, Prophet, and Evangelist and states that over the ages these “leadership functions were marginalized from the church’s leadership structure.”

Interestingly, Hirsch also states that “missional churches require all five aspects of ministry Leadership on the team.”

My question to spark some discussion is simple - Do you feel that these roles are neglected or promoted in your tradition? Do you believe they have a role within the Emerging Church? How might our “traditional” concepts of these roles be challenged?

Feel free to share any other thoughts or considerations…

One of the last commenters, rheyduck, reminded me of the need to balance the need to point people to Jesus Christ while at the same time getting our hands dirty in the world that is groaning for redemption.   The following is an essay I wrote that was published in my Alma mater’s School of Religion magazine about being the Church in the 21st century.

One of the first impressions I had of the church growing up as a pastor’s kid was that this “holy huddle” possessed the whole Truth.  I was convinced that my parents, rightly concerned for my salvation as well as their own, had with great diligence placed us in our particular denomination because it had done the best job at mining the Truth out of the Book (indeed, the only book), that contained truth.  Everyone else, those other churches, were out in left field.  Ironically, I realize some twenty years later that it was not those other churches that were lost and clueless, but it was me.  I was wrong about what the Church is and what it does.

I took years for me to realize this, but when I did, I became excited about pursuing the call to ministry.  Prior to this I ran like Jonah, joining the Navy and snubbing the Church and what she stood for.  What I didn’t realize then is that the Church I was forsaking was not hte Church as it ought to be; rather, it was the attempt by imperfect people tyring to be faithful to a perfect God.  No matter how well we think we are doing, we are still “looking through the glass darkly” on this side of the Kingdom.  Sadly, my church then and many churches now are not humble enough to admit that they do not in fact see very well.  Either they emphasize personal piety and a personal relationship with God to the exclusion of anything else the gospel might address or they go to the other extreme and focus their efforts on being an institution among many trying to make the world a better place.  And far too often this “institution” is considered able to run without the aid of the Triune God, nor demand personal conversion and holiness.  With such a dichotomy in place, one might wonder why I got off the ship and wandered back into this foray.  The answer is simple:  I believe tha just as in ages past, God is doing a new thing (Isaiah 43:19) and a Church is emerging (some will say this is “new,” but in truth I believe it is ancient), being raised up from the ashes of arrogant individualism and spiritual passivity.  With this “emerging church,” new leaders will be needed to speak God’s redeeming Word into this world dawning before us.

I owe a great deal to professors I have had in the past, both at Lee and now at Duke Divinity, for challenging my childhood assumptions and taking the lid off the box my faith had grown comfortable (and lazy) residing within.  I am forever grateful to them for acknowledging that though we see through tinted glass, we must never grow weary of cleaning our lenses.  We need leaders in every generation who refuse to see the world as it was “back in the day” or see the world as it presently is, but instead proclaim our citizenship to a different world, a new colony, and help us see where our daily prayer of thy kingdom come is being answered or needs fulfilled. 

Today, the world no longer sees in black and white - it is no longer the world of my parents or their parents - where truth is gleaned from those who speak loudest or wear the suits and ties.  No, this world embraces mystery, sees grey in almost everything, questions everyone and yet is profoundly spiritual and hungry for something greater than themselves.  The Church must step forward and refuse to be a mere distillery, but rather be the beacon on the hill, a colony of resident aliens, that humbly declares with open arms befitting the Servant we serve that the Kingdom of God is at hand.

The world needs a Church that is transformative, powerful, and different from the culture that promises the “American Dream” yet leaves us famished.  We don’t want to walk into a church whose entire focus is on the self and whose only concern is getting ourselves out of hell.  Nor do we want a Church that looks more like the United Way, yet less successful.  We don’t need more churches that cater to members like a country club or a church that tickles the ears of seekers looking for one more social activity to fill their week.  We don’t need a church that is trendy or that apologizes for practicing spiritual disciplines.  What we need is a Church that reaffirms its ancient roots; a church proud of its establishment 2000 years ago by a resurrected Lord rather than a building committee.  A church that speaks from the pulpit and from City Hall about what is unjust in our world, demands personal holiness alongside social holiness, and becomes passionate about making disciples, not converts.  In short, our task is no different from the days of Eden when God said to mulitiply and subdue the earth. The Church must be intent on making disciples while at the same time easing the groaning that all of God’s creation has felt since the fall. 

I am grateful for the various tapestries of faith (as well as periods of denial and un-faith) that helped mold me as a youth and on into my adult years.  Without such a foundation I might be hesitant to look ahead at what God is doing today.  I am grateful to those professors who helped me readjust my focus, without whom I would still be stuck in a box of my own making.  But most of all I am grateful to a God who is still in the business of bringing people like me out of Egypt, while faithfully leading (even pulling) us, the church, to that which He has called us.  By his grace may we have the courage mixed with the humility necessary to proclaim as a Church, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

What has been your experience? Have your new things (be they plants or changes of course in the life of an existing church) been the result of one persons hard work or has your experience matched ours? Is shared ministry an Essential in the Boondocks?

The following essay was written for a Theology of the Land course I took at Duke Divinity.   I have revised it to some extent so that it makes sense standing alone.  Initially I was going to include a sermon that I would preach at my local rural church but as you will see, I determined that the sermon must follow some very practical measures before it could ever take root in the heart. 

Grace and peace,
Chad

The Garden Becomes A Church

          If you drive thirty miles north on interstate 85 out of Durham you will come to a small, quaint town known as Oxford.  “Small and quaint” is synonymous with the town’s distinction of not having a Super Wal-Mart but humbly displaying the older, smaller version.  Leaving Oxford on highway 15 heading north you will pass many farms, mostly tobacco, with cozy little townships who’s only boast is a gas station with the best short order cooks in the county that will make you a mean cheeseburger while you fill your tank or buy a fishing license.  If you keep heading north until you would bet your life you are either in Virginia or at the very least mapping  new frontier you will find a cozy, white, country church that would make Norman Rockwell sigh.  The church is called Marrow’s Chapel United Methodist Church and I am her pastor. 

         If you were to visit Marrow’s Chapel on a Sunday morning there are two things that might immediately stand out to you.  First, you might be surprised by the number of people who gather in the middle of nowhere to worship God.   On any given Sunday there may be as few as 80 and as many as 120 packed into this little country church.   Furthermore, you would see that a large number of them are young families with children, causing us to revamp our nursery and children’s areas to make enough room for everyone.  The second thing that might stand out to you is that 100% of the families you see are white.  This may not be so surprising given the area in which we live.  Four miles down the road is the black church – same denomination, same white, cozy, country exterior – and every bit as segregated as ours. 

            I would wager that this problem is not isolated to my neck of the woods but is endemic in just about every rural church in America.  When I hear the word “emerging” one of the predominant images that comes to mind is inclusiveness.  As such, I have to wonder to what extent any of our rural parishes can be considered “emerging” if those of us who pastor such churches are consistently preaching to a crowd of sameness.  Since I have begun serving here at Marrow’s Chapel I have slowly, subversively if you will, been trying to help the good people here cast a new vision for themselves as a church, one that more accurately captures the rich tapestry that is the Kingdom of God.  In short, I envision a church where “all nations” come together to worship the one true God who is still in the business of reconciling and restoring his children.   In this way we can truly be “emerging” as we break from long held cultural strongholds and begin to live into the vision God has for God’s people. 

           How might this be accomplished?  This past semester at Duke Divinity I got to take a class with Dr. Ellen Davis where we read the Old Testament through agrarian eyes.  Through this course I met a farmer/theologian (perhaps an up-and-coming Wendell Barry) who manages a community garden called Anatoth outside a Methodist church in Durham.  This garden was begun to teach ecological values to the people of the church as well as the community while simultaneously offering healthy food to people in need.  The garden is a phenomenal success and churches are beginning to model their efforts.   Seeing this, I began to envision an equally if not greater benefit to beginning a similar garden, one that I pray will turn Marrow’s Chapel into a truly emerging, inclusive church where all nations gather to worship God.  This vision will require some hard work and some sweat but by getting back to some long forgotten or ignored basics I think we will see healing not only in our relationships but in the land this rural church calls home.  Is it possible that from a garden can spring a church? 

             To get back to the beginning I look to the biblical account of our origins where we first get a glimpse into our purpose on God’s good earth.  Genesis 2:15 sees man’s God- given duty and essential task to be in the garden to “till and keep” the land.  Both Norman Wirzba and Ellen Davis note how the verbs to “till” and “keep” are best rendered as “serving” and “preserving” and “observing.”  This is significant if for no other reason than to remind us that the land is not ours to “till” for mere gain but we are to work it out of service to the land, not for ourselves.  Noticing that it is not good for the man to be alone in his service to the land, God fashions another for him, a woman.   There is much said today about how woman was formed from man and similarities between the two are often emphasized, and for good reasons.  However, it should not be missed that while the fellow care-taker of the land is similar to Adam the new member of the garden is not the same as Adam.  Why didn’t God just duplicate what God had already done and make another Adam?  Would that not have provided some companionship as well as adequate help in the preserving of the land?  It would if the God we serve is primarily utilitarian in nature.  However, if we learn nothing else from this story it may be simply stated that in the garden we have been placed to serve, God likes variety.  

            Sitting in a restaurant with a group of church members just the other day I shared with them that in order for Marrow’s Chapel to become the church everyone hopes it to become (i.e. a growing, vibrant church and a full-time charge) it will need to be open to every and all persons within our community.  One parishioner asked, innocently and honestly, where all the different races of people came from if all of us came from the same parents, Adam and Eve?  Deciding that Chick-Fil-A was not the place to launch into a discussion on human origins and the mythic quality of Genesis, I offered to her the above truth that God is a lover of variety.  When God made trees why didn’t he make just one kind?  Why not fill the world with only daffodils?  Why must there be so many types of fish?[1]  The answer proved helpful and even excited this small group to consider that the variety which God loves is sorely lacking in the pews of our church. 

            This love of variety is not limited to Genesis but found throughout scripture.  One reading I found helpful in formulating this line of thought was William Brown’s The Ethos of the Cosmos.[2] Brown draws some wonderful insights from Isaiah 41:17-20 pertaining to the taxonomy of community or the way in which God will revive and restore the land and people.  God will do this by putting in the wilderness the “cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive” and setting in the desert the “cypress, the plane and the pine together” (Isa. 41:19).   Brown observes that these 7 species of trees from different parts of the world with various climate needs brings forth a “forest of remarkable biodiversity.  Yahweh intends to plant seven distinguishable varieties of trees, all coexisting in the transformed wasteland.”[3]  The diversity of trees, however, are but a prelude to what God desires to do amongst his people.  The compiler of third Isaiah picks up on this vision in 56:1-8 and expresses Yahweh’s intended goal.  The foreigner and eunuch will not be allowed to say, “I am just a dry tree” (Isa. 56:3) but they shall all be joined to the Lord and to the Lord’s peoples and the house of the Lord shall be called a “house of prayer for all peoples” (56:7) for it is the Lord who gathers not only the outcasts of Israel but “will gather others to them besides those already gathered” (56:8).  It is this reconstitution, this diversity among the peoples, which will “make them joyful in my house of prayer” (56:7).   Brown concludes, “The biodiversity of the garden reflects the ethnic diversity of the community.”[4]

            Initially I intended to write a sermon as part of this essay, one that would capture what I have learned and how I wish to convey it to my congregation.  However, I find (and I doubt I am alone on this) that sermons without some robust biblical theology and practical relevance backing them are impotent.  Thus, demonstrating the theology and the practicality from where the sermon will spring I believe is far more instructive.  Having shown the biblical foundation for my sermon above, I will now briefly detail the practical dimension. 

            As already mentioned, I was very inspired hearing the story of Anatoth Community Garden.  What I saw as I watched this church begin to take seriously their service to the land and how they can teach people to be connected to creation in ways they had not considered before was inspiring.  I saw people of all races coming together to sweat side by side, working for a common goal and being reminded that all of this is God’s, and therefore so are each of them.  I began to imagine what such a garden in my own community might look like and how it might bring people together who otherwise do not inter-mingle and how it could begin to sow seeds of reconciliation and eventually bring the reconstitution of God’s people in the church.  In other words, I began to wonder if a Garden might sprout a Church. 

            It was a Garden in Genesis that was the seed bed for God’s people, the beginning of what would become a church.  It was Isaiah who linked together the diversity of the garden, particularly trees, and wished to reconstitute community in the same way.   And not insignificant, it was in a garden that the resurrected Christ was first seen (John 19:41). 

            Since hearing the story of Anatoth Community Garden I have begun planning a similar endeavor for us at Marrow’s Chapel.  I am convinced that in order for Marrow’s Chapel to become the vibrant, growing church it desires to be and in order for it to properly reflect the Kingdom of God through a diversity of people living in community it will have its genesis in a garden. 

            The sermon I wish to preach cannot yet be written because we have not yet begun the work of tilling and keeping the land.  It is not until the good people of this community can sweat together side by side;  seeing with their own eyes that the work of their hands produced such a variety of life in one field – it is then that a sermon exhorting God’s people to reconstitute itself based on the same diversity will find its mark.  It is my prayer that out of a garden will spring a church, a house of prayer for all peoples.    

Session 2: Jim Henderson and Matt Casper - Is This What Jesus Told You Guys To Do?
I was really looking forward to hearing Jim and Matt discuss a bit with the audience both their journey of writing Jim and Casper Go to Church and how things have progressed since the book was released. For those of you who have been sleeping under a rock (most of you?), this book was written by a Christian, Jim Henderson, who formerly served as a pastor and now serves as the Director of Off The Map and by an Atheist, Matt Casper, who is hilarious and very fun to listen to.

The two began the session by introducing themselves and discussing why they felt their conversation, which was released in the book, was important for both Christians and those who did not align with Christianity. Matt made an interesting comment about how, as an Atheist, he doesn’t really have any sort of a ’support group,’ because it is difficult to get people to rally behind unbelief: “Hey everyone, let’s rally around what we don’t believe in.” The comment sparked a large amount of laughter by the group. I think Matt’s point was that this may be why some well known Atheists spend more time being anti-Theistic rather than focusing on being Pro-Atheistic. It was an interesting comment.
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Session 1: Todd Hunter UnPacks UnChristian
This book has been on the “Best of 2007 list” for far to many lists to actually name. David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons have brought forth an excellent piece of research for us to learn from. The main thesis of the book: Christianity has an image problem.
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Perhaps you’ve read Jim and Casper Go to Church or I Sold My Soul on Ebay, two books that have really stimulated conversation relating to sharing Christian faith with atheists or other “secular” or “liberal” folks (I blogged a book review of I Sold My Soul on Ebay here that was actually mentioned by the “friendly atheist”). Anyway, the big questions are simple: How do we share our faith in a post-modern culture? How do we engage this culture in a way that does not compromise truth but is willing to actually listen to what is being said? How do we “do” evangelism?

Off The Map is currently hosting a conference called the Conversational Evangelism Conference here in Minneapolis, MN at Hosanna!. The featured speakers are Dan Kimball, Mark Mittelberg, Becky Pippert, Garry Poole, Rick Richardson and is being hosted by Todd Hunter. Did I mention that Jim Henderson and Matt Casper of Jim and Casper Go to Church are here also? Excellent voices for this subject.

I’m going to blog the key topics that are discussed over the course of the next day or two, depending largely upon how much time I get inbetween all the discussions, open-forum question & answer times, reading, and thinking. I’m hoping to give you a taste of this information because thus far it has been excellent to hear, to conceive, and to spend more time discussing.
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Okay, I’d be lying to you if I told you that I’ve figured out the key to being a pastor without being stressed out sometimes. Nevertheless, I am not as stressed out as most of my friends who also serve in ministry positions. I suppose that I watched a lot of people before me go through situations that I never wanted to go through and I recognized through seminary that most of what was being taught about pastoral ministry probably wouldn’t work that well (oops).

I suppose I’ve always been an advocate for “team ministry.” Regardless of what stream of the faith you are in, the simple idea of having accountability alone is excellent. This obviously looks different through each of our traditions, but regardless of your church polity, having a team is better than having a one-man show. Wouldn’t you agree? Maybe you are a one-man show… if so, uh… coffee anyone?

Anyway, if you have been, are being, or will be burned out, I highly recommend Alan Nelson’s latest book Me to We. It’s “a pastor’s discovery of the power of partnership” and is so practical it is ridiculous.

The book covers topics like:

• Ideas for increasing congregational involvement up to 90%;
• 4 essentials for implementing an empowering value;
• Developing your “to do” and “not to do” lists;
• Pastoral paradigm shift based on the Bible;
• Advice from a local church pastor-practitioner;
• Best-practice ideas from around the country;
• How to change your church without killing it: Know the “Fab Four”;
• How to use congregational mobilization as an outreach.

Yeah, I know… it’s too good to be true. Listen, this isn’t another one of those “self-help” or “follow this model to success” type of books. The brilliance of this book is that it is written as a fiction! Yeah, it reads like a story. It’s the “story” of a young pastor named Matt who is up to his neck in pastoral crap and his developing relationship with Pastor Vernon. Pastor Vernon has been there, done that. Over the course of the book, Vernon spends time with Matt discussing how to deconstruct typical western-church pastoring to follow a more holistic and biblical model. Throughout the course of the book, Vernon gives “keys” to making leadership more effective and how Matt can partner with others in his congregation.

If you don’t get the book based off of my recommendation, purchase it because the cover is freaking awesome (dope, hot, sweet, fresh, cool, rad, bad, ill, sick, groovy, bloody great [for our English friends] really neat, [insert phrase you use]). Seriously, the book is great.

You don’t have to be emerging to like this book. You don’t have to be “non” emerging (is that a movement?!?!?!). You simply have to have the desire to see people grow and reach their potential for thier calling and you have to have a desire to help them develop and transition into the role they are called to function in. You will read through this book in two sittings even though it is nearly two hundred pages. It will capture you.

Have I convinced you yet? Do I sound like I work for Nelson? I apologize. I just can’t recommend this book enough. It’s like a combination of all the books that I’ve read on the subject and is easy to read. Yikes. It should sell like hot cakes.

If you get it… what do you think? Have you read it? Do you love it? What do you disagree with? What do you agree with? Let’s talk…