Missio Dei

I read a lot about th emerging church and to a great extent I find the dialog intriguing, refreshing, and encouraging. Fresh, new expressions of what it means to engage God’s mission of restoration show up all the time. And part of that process mean deconstructing, which is not always fun. And as I look at this process, it reminds me of what our country went through more than 200 years ago.

I, for one, like this time in Christianity. We are in the midst of change that happens about once every 500 years. Tearing stuff down, or reinventing what we are already do is not easy. But I’m on board because I like where this ship is going. And even if the emerging ship takes us right back to the old orthodox church of 500, or a thousand, or even 2,000 years ago, I want a front row seat.

I was reading this post by Frank Viola, who just published a new book with George Barna called Pagan Christianity. Brant Hansen has an excellent review of the book here. In Frank’s post he attempts to answer some of the questions that arise when you write a book like this, one that seeks to deconstruct some sacred cows. Frank addresses the nature of construction, or what do we do now, in the third section,

“The constructive question — “What do we do know and how do we get there?,” is a very complicated one. Thus it’s dealt with thoroughly in an upcoming book that releases Summer 2008. That book will explore those timeless principles of the first-century church which are rooted firmly in the Triune God, in the cross/resurrection of Christ, and in the unfolding narrative of the Bible. The book will clearly distinguish what is timeless from what is time-bound in the early church. And it will raise many important questions to grapple with.”

Frank is very clear that the process is an ongoing affair, one that should be taken very seriously. But it’s not easy. build something new, or really, really old requires patience, timing and and lot of guts.

And while I was reading this post I kept imagining this same sense of wonder, fear, and possiblity were present 200 years ago. I kept imagining what the founding father’s of America must have said to each other during the American Revolution. “Okay, we know what we don’t want, but what DO we want. What do we want to create here? I don’t know. Do you? No. But let’s try anyway.” I’ve read several books that delve into this process and its easy to take for granted that what they did had NEVER been done before. They had to invent it as they went along. And the risk they were taking was everything. Taking on the establishment meant victory or death.

In some respects, I feel like the emerging church is in the same boat. The old way got us here and here ain’t so good anymore. And my hope is that we as a body of Christ can find a way to reconstruct positive, holistic, effective structures that would release the body to be the church. I hope that 200 years from now our great, great grandchildren will say, “They built something wonderful and it changed the world.”