The Verge Missional Community Conference took place last week in Austin. I believe I am correct in saying that it was the largest “missional conference” to date. There is a lot to be encouraged about coming out of this event. First, it was great to see so many non-vocational (I refuse to say lay persons) people at the conference. They were soaking it up and the hunger was so very evident. I had conversation after conversation with men and women that would literally tear up as they talked about what they were hearing. For a real movement/reformation to ever take place it will have to be of, by, and for the people. Unleashing the saints, a true priesthood of believers, is what we should all be praying and aiming for. I was also encouraged by so many pastors and church leaders that were in their older years, feeling a sense of hope and renewal.

No too long ago I was doing an interview with Greg Boyd and asked him if he thought the word "Christian" was recoverable. The issue at hand had/s to do with the "they like Jesus but not the church" (Dan Kimball) issue that confronts us as Christians. Fact is that Christians don't really have a good name in the non-church world. And we are rightly to be blamed for much of it. So, I officially am launching a new Christian Witness Protection Program. Rather than being called an Evangelical Christian, I want to be known from here out as a Goodnewsical Jesusian. Anyone that wants to is welcome to join the program on Facebook- Group: Goodnewsical Jesusians

“The contemporary church is often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoledby the church’s silent and often vocal sanction of things as they are. But the judgement of God is upon the church as never before. If the church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century.” Martin Luther King Jr., 1963

Now---check out this story by Bruce Feller on Fox news (its on CNN also) from this morning.        More of the same ain't cutting it folks. And "missional" paint on the same old systems won't do it either.

                                                                       

Where Have All the Christians Gone?

Christianity is plummeting in America, while the number of non-believers is skyrocketing.

A shocking new study of Americans’ religious beliefs shows the beginnings of a major realignment in Americans’ relationship with God. The American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) reveals that Protestants now represent half of all Americans, down almost 20 percent in the last twenty years. In the coming months, America will become a minority Protestant nation for the first time since the pilgrims.

The number of people who claim no religious affiliation, meanwhile, has doubled since 1990 to fifteen percent, its highest point in history. Non-believers now represent the third-highest group of Americans, after Catholics and Baptists.

Other headlines:

1) The number of Christians has declined 12% since 1990, and is now 76%, the lowest percentage in American history.

2) The growth of non-believers has come largely from men. Twenty percent of men express no religious affiliation; 12% of women.

3) Young people are fleeing faith. Nearly a quarter of Americans in their 20’s profess no organized religion.

4) But these non-believers are not particularly atheist. That number hasn’t budged and stands at less than 1 percent. (Agnostics are similarly less than 1 percent.) Instead, these individuals have a belief in God but no interest in organized religion, or they believe in a personal God but not in a formal faith tradition.

The implications for American society are profound. Americans’ relationship with God, which drove many of the country’s great transformations from the pilgrims to the founding fathers, the Civil War to the civil rights movement, is still intact. Eighty-two percent of Americans believe in God or a higher power.

But at the same time, the study offers yet another wake-up call for religious institutions.

First, catering to older believers is a recipe for failure; younger Americans are tuning out.

Second, Americans are interested in God, but they don’t think existing institutions are helping them draw closer to God.

Finally, Americans’ interest in religion has not always been stable. It dipped following the Revolution and again following Civil War. In both cases it rebounded because religious institutions adapted and found new ways of relating to everyday Americans.

Today, the rise of disaffection is so powerful that different denominations needs to band together to find a shared language of God that can move beyond the fading divisions of the past and begin moving toward a partnership of different-but-equal traditions.

Or risk becoming Europe, where religion is fast becoming an afterthought.

I have been wondering if what is currently happening across evangelicalism is not the precipice of a genuine reformation. Tons of leaders and churches are dancing around missional concepts and ideas. But until they full out abandon the hierarchical stances it will fade out and be replaced by the next fad. In my opinion this is a "Judgment must begin at the house of the Lord" deal. When Jesus announced the coming Kingdom he didn't say, "Adjust"...he said, "Repent". My sense is that there is a lot of adjusting going on in the church today re: Missional. The ones that will really get there will be the ones (many are and will be "full-time" ministers--a detestable term) that risk everything to become and develop missional-incarnational communities.

Summer doesn't "officially" end for a couple more week, but with the commencement of the school year, cooler air, and football season (one more reason to live another day!), summer is done and fall is here. This is my favorite time of the year. I love the colors of the turning leaves, the brisk air, and the previously mentioned beginning of football season.

For most leaders, the first weekend following Labor Day marks the beginning of a new ministry year. One of my greatest passions in ministry is tied to church planting. But I must admit that as much as I love it, I believe the term is actually inappropriate and problematic. Jesus didn't call us to plant churches; he called us to make disciples. Jesus said, "I will build my church." And he told us to "make disciples." Isn't it strange that we want his job? We would rather build churches than make disciples. This week at Shapevine we want to invite you to an interview with a guy that knows a lot about both making disciples and church planting. David Watson is someone that people deep within the culture and circles of church planting know about, but many people outside the realm may not be aware of. He is a prolific writer on the subject and travels around the world endlessly, training others and keeping up on what the Lord is doing. You will get a lot from this interview, which is located on our homepage under the "Video Exclusives" section.

Course Description
New Online Course on Developing Missional Frameworks This track focuses on developing leadership for churches and movements around the idea of Apostolic Genius, developed by Alan Hirsch.  Apostolic Genius is the net result of a combination of six elements or mDNA. These elements are clearly seen in the church during times of phenomenal growth and impact, and the premise is that they are actually always present and can be reactivated to create apostolic movement. Instead of relying on revised/updated solutions from the Christendom paradigm, this section will delve into a vision of the future growth of the church coming about by understanding and re-activating the power that surges through transformational movements.

Reggie McNeal identifies the six most important realities that church leaders must address including: recapturing the spirit of Christianity and replacing "church growth" with a wider vision of kingdom growth; developing disciples instead of church members; fostering the rise of a new apostolic leadership; focusing on spiritual formation rather than church programs; and shifting from prediction and planning to preparation for the challenges of an uncertain world. McNeal contends that by changing the questions church leaders ask themselves about their congregations and their plans, they can frame the core issues and approach the future with new eyes, new purpose, and new ideas. Reggie McNeal provides an overall strategy to help church leaders move forward in an entirely different and much more effective way. 

For more info download and expand course description here or on the right of the front page under FILES

In the past week I was in the Twin Cities and happened by the Ford Motor plant that has operated since 1925 on the banks of the Mississippi River in Saint Paul's Highland Park neighborhood. As I drove past this complex that is over 80 years old I couldn’t help but think about its history and survivability. Employing several thousand people and a key cog in the neighborhood, it’s endangered. The big three auto companies are all scrambling to survive and one of the primary outcomes agreed upon by just about everyone is that they must produce new models of cars and trucks that are not only stylish but energy efficient and economical. This led me to think about the need to retool the plant every time they begin to create a new model. The automakers have two choices: adapt or die.
The same situation is facing leaders of the church in the West. Two factors have converged, like underground continental plates, creating an earthquake. One, is an economic shaking like only the oldest among us has ever lived through. Two, is a revolution happening in the church that is bringing to surface a true priesthood of believers. The missional movement is happening and there is no stopping it. This changes everything. It affects leadership structures, styles, and systems and for many people, brings into question the need for buildings. Especially in the economic times we are in, streamlining church staffs and overhead not only is beginning to make sense, for some churches it means the difference in survival and death.
We must retool our ways and means of leading in the church and there is a serious need for tools and resources for missional leading and learning in our churches. One of the tremendous courses we have at Shapevine is Living Missionally, an online course with Michael Frost. It can be taken individually or, we encourage a group of staff members or small group members to each sign up and take the course. The cost is only $19.95 per person and provides a phenomenal primer for living and leading missionally.
Shapevine has also partnered with Biblical Seminary to create the first Masters level program for Missional Church Planting and two unique features make this program stand out.  First, someone that wants to participate does not have to leave his or her ministry setting to be part of the program. It is designed through a combination of online and short on-site intensives, so that relocating to the seminary campus is not necessary. Secondly, we have brought together many of the top authors and missiologists as teachers and curriculum providers. Alan Hirsch, Neil Cole, Joseph Myers, Bob Roberts, Steve Sjogren, and others will participate in the program. There is also a Certificate option available.

“The messianic future proper to Christian faith does not just confirm and reinforce our preconceived bourgeois future.  It does not prolong it, add anything to it, elevate it, or transfigure it.  It disrupts it.  ‘The first shall be last, and the last shall be first.’  The meaning of love cuts across the meaning of having.  ‘Those who possess their life will lose it, and those who despise it will win it.’  This form of disruption, which breaks in from above to shatter the self-complacency of our present time, has a more familiar biblical name: ‘conversion,’ change of heart, metanoia.  The direction of this turning, the path it takes, is also marked out in advance for Christians.  Its name is discipleship.“
–Johann Baptist Metz, The Emergent Church (New York: Crossroad, 1986), 2.

Metz' book, The Emergent Church, came way before the term Emergent was in vogue. It's a treasure. We must recapture true conversion...not just from the neck up. As Metz says, conversion of the heart must take place and it does lead to a path of discipleship to Jesus and not merely a discipleship to churchanity.

This is a sad commentary on the Evangelical church of today. What gospel are we preaching? What Jesus do we follow?  This should make all Christians weep.

The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new survey.

Seven summers ago our family broke ground for a home we built on a little less than 15 acres. This year is the first season we have been able to get squared away enough to start a garden, and after months and months of planning, we now have our first seeds in the ground. We are counting on this garden to produce quite a bit of food, so it is pretty large. My wife and I both had grandparents that were prolific gardeners and our grandmothers did a lot of canning and storing of fruits and vegetables as well as making jellies and jams. My wife has spent the last several months researching and planning on how to do the canning process. These "ways" were common practice and simply a way of life for people a generation back. Sadly, the skills so prevalent just a few years ago are lost on most of us and have to be relearned. Within these skill sets lie some of the best ways of growing and processing the most healthy and tasty food imaginable. Ours is a culture that has substituted growing our own food for processed and genetically modified foods. I would argue that the church of today has done the same thing. We have lost the ways of developing genuine disciples, and consequently, churches that produce crops of blessing for their cities and neighborhoods in significant ways.

With this in mind we want to point you to the latest learning course, The Forgotten Ways. This is an extremely in-depth learning podule, based on Alan Hirsch's groundbreaking book. This podule will delve into a vision of the future growth of the church coming about by understanding and re-activating the power that surges through transformational movements. Check it out here.