Charlie Wear’s Notes

Some of you may know that I was up to my eyeballs in the outward-focused, servant evangelism ministry over the past couple of years. One of the things I like about this stuff is that when we decide to make our selves available to serve others, God shows up and touches people.

You can read about a $1 car wash that was recently done by a church.

Or watch the short video:

I think it is rare to find leaders that we can truly look up to. One of my heroes is a pastor named Larry Kapchinsky. Besides his many years of steady pastoral leadership of the church he started in the 1980s he has put some meaning into the word “missional.”

In 1991, after the fall of Communism opened up the door to humanitarian aid to Russia, Larry gathered a group of other concerned individuals and began traveling to Russia, hand delivering basic essential to Russian orphans. As word spread about the deplorable conditions in these orphanages, the number of volunteers and volume of relief donations increased exponentially. People saw the need and were moved to action.

Larry Kapchinsky

From these beginnings, KidCare International, a relationship-based humanitarian aid organization was born. It’s mission: to equip and empower desperately disadvantaged children to lead lives of purpose, service, and leadership through sustainable programs and strategic partnerships. Larry has challenged people to “do something about it.”

In the emerging church there is plenty of talk about being missional. If missional communities are looking for role models, Larry Kapchinsky and KidCare International are a good place to start. Larry started by responding to the call of the Holy Spirit and then followed up by putting “boots on the ground.”

Sophia

This year KidCare celebrates 15 years of service. Last Friday night they held their annual fundraising dinner and Larry invited me to attend. I was moved by the stories. In Arusha, Tanzania, 12-yr.-old Sophia knows nothing of the cost of food, gasoline, or the housing market crisis. Her only question was, “What will I do now my mother is dead?” Sophia is an AIDS orphan. She had been sold to a 60-yr.old man with 9 other wives. She gathered unusual courage and ran away, escaping to a shelter supported by KidCare. There she found hope and encouragement to continue her education.

So you want to be missional and you are not sure where to start? Study KidCare International. Learn from them and participate with them.

Are people really struggling to make connections? Is "authentic" community as big a deal as church leaders make it out to be? My friend Scott Bane is talking about these issues on his blog. These days I have some extra time to think about these quandaries. Just about a year ago I was up to my neck in thinking about how a new church would deal with some of these issues. Now I am observing from 2000 miles away what is happening in that same new church on these same issues.

I think it is basic to say that most people fulfill their need for community in their families. If this is true, then the need for community increases proportionately when family ties are weakened or broken. Likewise, where families are strong, these church-generated "community connections" are less important. For me the most valuable connections have been those I have made "on mission." This is because I am more of a human "doing" than a human "being."

Ah well, it’s Friday and another weekend is just around the corner. Time to spend with the family!

I like to read all kinds of books on business, management and leadership. One of the authors who does a great job on his blog and in his books is Seth Godin, the marketing master. In a recent post he makes this point: Make promises and keep them.

This seems to be the problem with Christians and the Church in North America. We have failed to deliver on our "promise." You see, most everyone knows what we are supposed to be about: Doing unto others, turning the other cheek, being merciful, giving, blessing, all that Sermon on the Mount stuff. Someone else made our promises 2000 years ago, and we really haven’t lived up to them, have we? However, like the bunch of Pharisees we are, we keep saying to God, "Thank you that I am not like them." Well guess what, we are exactly like "them."

Godin makes the point that great organizations "overdeliver." My suggestion for all of us for 2008? Under-promise and Over-deliver. Tell others: We don’t have everything figured out, but here is what we do have figured out: we want to love God with all we’ve got and love our neighbors at least as well as we love ourselves. Let’s be nice to each other, especially our family members and then spread that circle out to include our co-workers and everyone we come in contact with daily.

I think I kind of understand what Pernell Goodyear is saying in this post, "Missional Church? be prepared to lose."
To get the entire context you have to read the entire post. But here is an excerpt:

"It [being a missional church] meant that we would lose two thirds of the people who actually join us (we would lose many more "Christian tourists" who come to check things out, and many of the folks who want the church to be a "self-help" group). One third would leave disgruntled. One third would leave as Jesus called them on to new and exciting missional ventures (often they are some of our brightest and best folks). One third would stay and continue to learn to live out mission as a community."

This is an interesting statistical assertion. It reminds me of those who say that a church budget should be one-third facilities, one-third salaries, and one-third overhead.

Another quote from the article:

"It meant that we would lose money. Lots of money. Many of the people who leave are the best financial supporters."

Here’s what I am wondering. Is it possible to become "missional" and grow? Is it possible that many Christ-followers, who have been "fed" like hothouse plants, would blossom if they were allowed to grow toward their natural inclinations? Is it possible that we might still be interested in budgets, and the number of people involved in a dynamic missional group? Is it possible that there might be even more money attracted to doing the works of Jesus in our communities?

I am really wondering, would it be okay for a "missional" group to be large and making a significant, life-changing, world-changing impact?

Chris Elrod posts about what he has learned on his church planting journey. Here’s a poignant quote:

"Recent church planters are your best resource. The greatest advice, financial gifts and friendship I have ever received is from guys that planted within the last several years. They will cry with you, rejoice with you and sacrifice for you. As long as I live I will remember the day that the pastor of local church plant (less than 3 months old) handed me their last $250 because another church (mentioned in answer #4) didn’t come through and we couldn’t pay rent (God bless you Hal). To this day other church panters are some of my closest friends and greatest source of inspiration. God uses them in mighty ways to speak into my life (God bless you Gary, Shawn, Travis and Adam)."

Now, before you freak out and call the emergent cops on me, let me explain myself. I’m sure that none of us believe that war is a good thing. I mean the earthly kind of war, where people kill each other with bullets, explosive devices and in hand-to-hand combat. There is devastation aplenty to spread around. Growing up I was part of a denomination that were conscientious objectors, did not refuse to serve, but refused to carry weapons. Most of those drafted into the Vietnam War from my group ended up as medics. Some of them died while caring for the wounded. Now that is a different kind of pacificism, don’t you think.

I protested the Vietnam War on my campus, singing folk songs and not really understanding what was at stake. I avoided military service.

Today, there is a similar attitude toward the Iraq War. Since I have never fired a shot, or carried a weapon, or served in the military, or been a political leader who is required to make some of these life and death decisions, I don’t think I am really qualified to determine if this is a "just" war or not. No matter, every wound, every death, every family forever scarred by wars is a person that God loves and cares about.

Okay, now here is where I am going to try to get myself off the hook about the title of this post. I have been thinking a lot about this. With all of our sophisticated theological questioning and ecclesiological deconstruction we may have forgotten as eric keck put it in his post today:

"…we are at WAR, there is a battle going on, and sometimes its behind the scenes, on foreign soils and other times its on us… and rightly so…"

We had better figure this out sooner, rather than later. It is a life and death matter. People are living in a hell on earth, because we don’t take seriously the commands of Jesus. Let’s not let our peacemaking and peaceful attitudes spill over into the area of our sense of urgency about what is important. Yes, the battle starts with our own souls and within our families. But then oughtn’t we take the battle to our neighborhoods, cities, and nations? Isn’t this pretty darn important? God cares about this, doesn’t he?

If we work hard enough, with all of our anti-authoritarian and deconstructionistic tendencies, we might just convice ourselves that we should be anti-war protesters in the spiritual war that rages all around us. And don’t be confused. Our enemy isn’t using "improvised" explosive devices. He is using the cares of this world to distract us from the main thing, the realization that we are at war!

If you haven’t figured it out, these days I am up to my neck in editing and publishing ventures. As an agent I am negotiating book deals. As an editor I am shepherding several websites and blogs. I am also helping a close friend in a publishing venture. Roger Sachs has been "missional" since he was radically saved during the Jesus movement. Before his conversion, he had been a hippie and a drug dealer until he ended up in a Mexican prison. He was in on the early days of the Vineyard and Keith Green. He worked with Lonnie Frisbee in the 80s and 90s. He is not an international speaker, nor is he the pastor of a megachurch. But he is a guy who sold all he had, cashed in his family’s savings and bought round-the-world airline tickets to do missions work in New Zealand, Africa and England.

On that trip he found himself hiding out in a storm pipe in the African wilderness along with many other adventures. Over the years Roger has had a passion to write about these adventures. In his own, raw and conversational style he has told his story in his first book, Fire on the Mountain, available through Freedom Publications. This is the kind of book that "missional" leaders should read if they want to understand how truly radical following Christ can be.

I found this by way of Jordon Cooper's Church of the Exiles site. It is from David Fitch's Reclaiming The Mission blog:TEN THINGS ANYONE WHO JOINS IN A TWENTY FIRST CENTRUY MISSIONAL CHURCH PLANT SHOULD NOT EXPECT1.) Should not expect to regularly come to church for just one hour, get what you need for your own personal growth and development, and your kid’s needs, and then leave til next Sunday. Expect mission to change your life. Expect however a richer life than you could have ever imagined.2.) Should not expect that Jesus will fit in with every consumerist capitalist assumption, lifestyle, schedule or accoutrement you may have adopted before coming here. Expect to be freed from a lot of crap you will find out you never needed.3.) Should not expect to be anonymous, unknown or be able to disappear in this church Body. Expect to be known and loved, supported in a glorious journey.4.) Should not expect production style excellence all the time on Sunday worship gatherings. Expect organic, simple and authentic beauty.5. Should not expect a raucous "light out" youth program that entertains the teenagers, puts on a show that gets the kids "pumped up," all without parental involvement. Instead as the years go by, with our children as part of our life, worship and mission (and when the light shows dim and the cool youth pastor with the spiked hair burns out) expect our youth to have an authentic relationship with God thru Christ that carries them through a lifetime of journey with God.6.) Should not expect to always "feel good,"or ecstatic on Sunday mornings. Expect that there will ALSO be times of confession, lament, self-examination and just plain silence.7.) Should not expect a lot of sermons that promise you God will prosper you with "the life you've always wanted" if you’ll just believe Him and step out on faith and give some more money for a bigger sanctuary. Expect sustenance for the journey.8.) Should not expect rapid growth whereby we grow this church from 10 to a thousand in three years. Expect slower organic inefficient growth that engages people’s lives where they are at and sees troubled people who would have nothing to do with the gospel marvelously saved.9.) Should not expect all the meetings to happen in a church building. Expect a lot of the gatherings will be in homes, or sites of mission.10.) Should not expect arguments over style of music, color of carpet, or even doctrinal outlier issues like dispensationalism. Expect mission to drive the conversation.O AND BY THE WAY … Should not expect that community comes to you …. I am sorry but true community in Christ will take some "effort"and a reshuffling of priorities for both you and your kids. Yes I know you want people to come to you and reach out to you and you’re hurting and busy. But assuming you are a follower of Christ (this message is not for strangers to the gospel) you must learn that the answer to all those things is to enter into the practices of "being the Body" in Christ, including sitting, eating, sharing and praying together.If anyone out there is interested in this kind of place … join us or another missional church gathering somewhere.