A Little Word, A Big Change

Submitted by Larry Doornbos

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ... (Jude 1:1 ESV)

When I was in middle school one of my favorite things to do was to play football at night under the lights that illuminated the front area of a local church.  My friends and I would play until our fingers were cold and we had done too much damage to that church's front yard.  Somewhere in the midst of our game I was sure to hear the voice of my mom calling me to leave the game behind and head home (we lived next door, a good shout or three would get me home).  When I heard that voice I knew (although I would not have put it in these terms in middle school) that I was being called out of one thing and into another.  I was moving from playing a game and hanging with my friends to doing homework, getting ready for bed, and being with family.

Jude in his tightly packed first verse tells us that we have been called.  Like my calling on those cool autumn nights, God's calling calls us out of one place and into another (see also 1 Peter 2:9-10).  What we may miss in this concept of call is that God is not simply calling us out of being unforgiven to being forgiven.  Instead, God, like my mom, is calling us out of our present way of life and into His kingdom.  He is calling us out of the people we are presently a part of and into being part of the new people of God.

This calling changes us in dramatic ways.  We now begin to live the values of the kingdom.  When we are part of this kingdom we see far beyond our own salvation and into the great plan of God to redeem the cosmos.  Our lives become part of this overarching goal of God's redemptive plan.  As N. T. Wright reminds us, "...in Scripture itself God's purpose is not to just save human beings, but to renew the whole world.  This is the unfinished story in which readers of Scripture are invited to become actors in their own right."  Not only do we begin to live the values of the kingdom, we become part of a new people, the people of God, the church.  We become committed to this community where we strive to love, honor, and care for one another.  And we discover that our commitment to the community we were called out of calls for our commitment in new ways.  We are committed to that community and the people in it to help them see the wonders of God's kingdom, to serve them in ways that enhance the kingdom, and to invite them to hear God's call.

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother to James, to those who are called...

13 and a Few Other Odd Ways to be a Fanatical Religious Hypocrite

Submitted by Todd Murphy

1.  Go to church and do churchy things for what it does for you rather than what you do for others.

2.  Talk about God using affected Christianese like "praise the Lord" all the time while purposely keeping your relationships with unchurched people as surface and invulnerable as conceivably possible.

3.  Act like since you are a Christian that you think you have all the answers.

4.  Make sure your primary emphasis is on being a moral person who is a "testimony" (testimony means you live in a way that makes unchurched people feel ashamed of themselves and think you are really unique and super-moral).

5.  Make sure your second priority is to "convict" other people to be more moral.

6.  Don't show up to serve at any kind of social service project where "unbelievers" are there helping out.

7.  Do show up at all political, anti-gay, anti-abortion rallies wearing a sandwich board sign that says something like "Turn or burn!" and be sure your wife is wearing a doily on her head to look more godly.

8.  Do street preaching downtown or in the arts district so you can be sure to ruin people's date nights everywhere (including the date nights of real Christians).

9.  Always carry a pack of vintage This Was Your Life Chick tracts.

10.  Never enter into a truly quality relationship with anyone who might potentially expose your deep moral and spiritual dysfunction.

11.  Refer to the Roman Catholic Church as the "whore of Babylon" because you are sure that is what the King James version means in the book of Revelation.  Remain oblivious to the fact that you only have a Bible because of the Catholic Church.

12.  Be sure to shun other churches and Christians who don't think the same as you theologically and politically.

13.  Be sure to turn red and slobber on people's faces when you scream at them.

14.  Build a website to share all your views plus animated links to your multilevel home business opportunity.

15.  Be sure you have an Elijah complex that you are one of the last godly people in the world.  Make sure your prayers are always focused on the sins of other Christians and the unchurched culture so that you remain oblivious to your own.

16.  Stay far away from real Christian community that might expose your deep brokenness and hypocrisy.  Maintain the posture that you need to keep yourself pure by not worshiping with all the apostate Christian churches.

17.  Read the Left Behind series and tell people that the locusts in the book of Revelation are definitely black helicopters owned by the international bankers.

18.  Be sure to thank God that you are not like other people.

Criticism That Counts

Submitted by Kris Vos

I can still remember some 20 years ago the anger that stirred me as I came to realize all that I missed out on growing up in a traditional church in rural America.  I realized that the church of my childhood had very little understanding of the Missio Dei.  So much of her focus was trapped in a time long past and mostly irrelevant to the lost and dying world around her.

That anger and frustration toward the church fueled a missional focus in me and the church I planted.  But my thoughts about the church I grew up in have tempered some, especially as I reluctantly hear people refer to Crossroads (the 18 year old church plant I lead) as an "established" church.  In my mind it's another way of saying we have one foot in the grave!  But my criticism of the church environment I grew up in is also soften as I listen to criticisms of the the so called "attractional" church.  Attractional churches allegedly don't care about discipleship, don't count the cost of discipleship, and thrive only because of transfer growth.

There are times I feel like I need to apologize for the sin of inviting people to church.  Despite the fact that some of our most dedicated and committed disciples at Crossroads began their journey with Christ when they received a flyer in the mail, somehow that is the sin of marketing the church.  Somehow being attractional has become the opposite of being incarnational.  We have a lot to work on at Crossroads.  Growing people spiritually is like moving mountains.  We are far from where we want to be in growing Christ-like disciples and impacting our community.  We are working hard to grow our understanding of discipleship and incarnational ministry but we still have a long way to go.

Listening to the dialogue surrounding attractional and incarnational church planting reminds me of my own anger toward the church environment I grew up in.  Frustration about what is wrong with the church can fuel a great fire for missional revival.  History shows there are times when church reformation and revival is desperately needed.  At the same time, exposing what's wrong with the church can be just too easy!  You can look at my church and find holes, gaps, and institutional sins.  The best formula for revival is when we criticize and reform something we are a part of, not something we lob grenades at from the protective covering of our own little church environment.

I am convicted even more as I reflect on the fact that when I planted Crossroads I turned to the same churches I criticized for financial support.  I gleaned some of the best leaders for my church from that same traditional, irrelevant church.

I'm still as passionate as ever about being missional in my focus as a leader but I don't think my passion is fueled nearly as much by what is wrong with other churches.  As we work together in the Missional Cafe' movement we need to make sure our passion is fueled more by what we want to accomplish than by what we want to condemn.