disaffected with missiology

I have been doing a lot of reading trying to finish classes lately. I am somewhat jaded by the examples and test cases used in most missions books. Over 90% of the examples have come from tribal settings at least 20 years ago. Why are so few writing about contemporary cultures? Why are so few writing about urban centers. When we thing of the urban world, we always think of the technologically advanced western cultures. When you see a top 100 list, the majority of the top 100 cities are in "3rd world" countries. We seriously need some thought and reflection there as the world is racing into global urbanism.

strategery

Here is a video I made of a popular post from a while back.  Enjoy.

Strategery from Rastis on Vimeo.

ours is a God of strategy

Over the past year, I have come in contact with a lot of missionaries.  To my surprise, many missionaries I have met are offended by the idea of strategy.  They hear some strategy coordinator talk about how they are going to reach people and why they are going to go about it the way he proposes, and these missionaries balk at the idea that God uses strategy.  In fact, some of them view "human" strategy as an affront to God's sovereignty!  Don't misunderstand me.  I am not really saying anything bad about these missionaries.  They are very spiritual and because of that they have the idea [this was more true of the newbies I met] that they are on a journey together with God and he will lead them step by step through divine appointments to the right people who will start a movement as the pages of Acts unfold anew.  I do not disagree with their understanding; I only do what I do because I believe that God is already at work in the world.  If I didn't believe that, I probably wouldn't get out of bed in the morning.  The difference between us is how we describe God's working and leading.  They view it to be spiritually (somewhat mystically) and I view it to be spiritual and strategic.  

Here is an example from a different group of the same problem--a lack of defining how God works.  We were talking in Sunday School one morning about how we were going to reach our community with Gospel.  One lady suggested that we should pray.  We all agreed and talked about it some.  Everyone seemed to be fine with this solution, and the discussion distracted them from discussing it further.  I called everyone's attention back to the task by asking "then what?"  The room went silent.  There is a popular understanding that we will pray and God will do the work.  We should pray.  God will do the work.  But how will he do the work?  No one denies that it is God who saves.  But when the praying is done--or as it continues--God wants us to do the work of spreading the gospel.  It does not happen via magic or osmoses.  It happens through various forms of proclamation.  

In the same way, God does lead us and guide a movement.  But God also uses methods and strategies to do so.  The person of peace is often misunderstood in mission circles.  These anti-strategy missionaries believe that this is a divine appointment and we can blunder about our day till we have a shazam moment when we find this person who is the magic key.  I am not against the concept of a person of peace.  If you are called to reach young urbanites in your city, however, would you try to find your person of peace by looking in a retirement community?  God is big enough to do anything, but that is like looking for water in the desert or jumping off a cliff in the belief that God is going to save you if it is not your time to go.  This is deterministic missiology.  In biblical terms this is called testing the lord your God.  As crazy as that scenario sounds I heard of a family who did just that.  They felt called to reach young families.  Served for several years with limited success.  After their first term they were discouraged and concluded that the people's hearts were just too hard.  Their problem was that their town was predominantly elderly.  It was a retirement town.  Had they gone to the local government office and looked at the demographics, they would have either moved in search of their people group, or changed who they wanted to reach.  While God can get blood from a turnip, He probably won't do it just to prove it to you, or just so you can prove it to your friend.  In order to show that Spirit-driven strategy is the friend and not the enemy, I want to take you on a brief foray into God's strategy.  

Life began in the fertile crescent.  This area is called the fertile crescent because it is the "land between the rivers" spoken of in Genesis which looks like a crescent; it is Eden.

It is also called this because it stands in contrast to the surrounding desert.  We rarely think of Israel as a land bridge since it is connected to land itself, but with the constraints of ancient travel and with Israel serving as the only watered piece of land connecting three continents, it was a land bridge in ancient times.  

If you are going to cross the land from one continent to another, you cannot cross the desert.  To get from Persia [Iran] to Egypt, you would have to follow the water up the Tigris and Euphrates rivers [Iraq] to Syria and then head south through Israel.  This was called the King's Highway.  So when God chose a people and gave them a land, he did not pick the house on the cul-de-sac in the quite neighborhood out in suburbia.  No, he gave them the only piece of arable land between the three continents of the known world.  Google maps of the Persian, Greek, Roman, and Ottoman empires.  Each of these empires occupied essentially the same piece of ground.  Do you think that this kind of thoroughfare is important in proclaiming the name of one true God?  Would you consider owning every port of entry into every country advantageous to the spread of the gospel?  Every airport, sea port and border crossing?  This is what they had in their time.  It was no coincidence that God gave his people the land of Canaan.  Below is a theological map of the ancient world.

This map is clearly not drawn to scale.  The arrangement of the continents reflects the ancient trinitarian symbol.  More importantly, however, is that Jerusalem is placed at the center of the world.  This map represents the common sentiment of that era.  Again, it is not an accident or a coincidence that God gave the land of Canaan to his people.  He placed them on the center stage.  He placed them there, that is, until he sent them into bondage.  Jeremiah 29: 4 says "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent intoexile from Jerusalem to Babylon."  That's right, the dispersion of the Jews was not accidental.  One can obviously point to their sin and say that the purpose of the diaspora was punishment.  This is only partially true. I believe that the teleological [end purpose] explanation is missiological.  Little did the Jews know at the time, but their dispersion served to plant the gospel in the first century.  Look at Paul's strategy.  His first order of business when he reached any town was to go straight to the synagogue.  There is a smattering of verses throughout Acts [9:20, 13:5, 13:14, 14:1, 17:1, 17:10, 17:17, 18:4, 18:18, 18:19, 19:8 ]; synagogue ministry was central to Paul's strategy so much so that Acts 17:2 says that it was his custom to go to the synagogue.  This strategy hastened the growth of the early church.  This explains why, in Thessalonica, when he was kicked out three weeks later that there was an established church.


In addition to targeting synagogues, Paul's strategy was inherently urban. Paul made a 27 city tour over the course of his three journeys.  

Paul had a two-pronged strategy.  Prong 1: Go to a new city.  Prong 2: Go to the religious people.  There were two kinds of religious people he spoke to.  The first group was the synagogue.  He would stay there till he was kicked out.  Then he would go to the people who worshiped money and sex.  His message was different for the two groups.  For the first he would begin with "our father Abraham" and for the latter he would begin in culture.  His urban strategy should not be taken lightly.  He went to towns which were on major trade routs.  They were major ports, seats of government, and religious and cultural centers.  Just to emphasize this point, look at the map below.  Corinth was a key city in the Greek world.  It had a major sea port; and it was on a land bridge connecting two larger territories.  In addition to connecting these two territories, Corinth connected the Saronic Gulf and the Gulf of Corinth [3 and 4 on the map].  This is important because in that day most seafaring was done via heavy boats with small sails which required lots of paddling.  If a captain wished to bring goods from one side of Greece to the other he could cut of days of time by crossing the narrow land bridge in Corinth.  There were small tracks which would carry boats over the land.  Apparently the Corinthians were on to something because there is now a canal which serves the same purpose.


The advent of Jesus was not exempt from strategy.  Galatians 4:4 says that Christ was sent to earth in the "fullness of time."  Jesus did not randomly show up.  He came at a time when the world was united by the Romans.  They were builders.  The roads they built connected the empire.  The Romans also brought unprecedented peace, safety, and stability.  Travel was possible and relatively safe for the first time.  Hellenism bequeathed a common language on the world. Within Palestine there was growing discontent with the Roman empire and renewed messianic hope.  All of these factors [and many more] were providential in the advent of Christ and the spread of the early church.  


The time has come in global missions to think and act strategically.  Most of the missionaries I know [98%] come from small towns in the South.  This influences where they want to go when they go overseas.  It also influences where seminarians want to pastor.  We tend to focus on rural work or suburban work.  That is the case in my town stateside.  The majority of churches are middle class, suburban, and white.  My town is one of the most diverse in the world and it is a tragedy to see believers huddling up where it is safe and clean.  We need to have the mind of God.  And the mind of God is a mind of strategy with a deep and steadfast love for people.

detroit: how migration changes a city

Migration in and out of cities is a fascinating phenomenon.  From the early 1900's forward, there has been a massive influx into urban centers in the US.  Some of this has come through immigration.  Much of it has been a  result of industrialization; the improvement in farm implements did not require the same workforce to run a farm, at the same time the cities were opening factories.  During WWII, over half a million African Americans migrated to northern cities to fill jobs which were being vacated by men leaving for war.  This created, almost overnight, places like Chicago's south side, and New York's Harlem.  In influx of African Americans into cities, sparked what sociologists call white flight.  Suburbs are the result of white flight.  This left most major urban centers as predominantly African American.  While urban centers continue to grow--at least in the sun-belt cities--there has been a push since the late 70's to move to the suburbs and back out to smaller towns.  The influx of technology jobs (as industrial jobs are sent overseas) provided the means for this migration out of the city.


Detroit has seen exaggerated forms of all of these eras of migration, the most devastating of which has been white flight and the current down turn in the economy.  Detroit has shrunk by half its population over the past decade or so.  Over one third of all homes in the city are vacant.  The entire state is expected to fall below 10 million in population.  This exodus out of the city has sparked a major crisis for city leaders as they are trying to operate the same services for the same size city, geographically, with half of the tax base.  The city is facing a 15.3% unemployment rate and is suffering from a 2.8 billion dollar deficit.


Rather than looking to the federal government for a bailout (it is arguable that government has been a major contributor to the problems in Detroit), they should look to innovators, individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit and hard work ethic, organic solutions (a government prop up will only prolong the bleeding not stop it), and private investors (when money is needed--though judicious government should be used to prevent speculation).


One such group of innovators is the Catherine Ferguson Academy.  They are providing education to young pregnant mothers, who would otherwise have to drop out.  While they only provide services for 300 of Detroit's 3,000 young pregnant mothers, they have a phenomenal graduation rate of 90%.  They have reappropriated some school grounds have have turned it into a working garden.  The women are taught how to grow fruit and vegetables and then turn and sell their produce.  Aside from teaching them valuable job skills which can feed their family, they are learning self reliability and responsibility.  Two filmmakers have put together a documentary showcasing the school.   I highly recommend that you take an hour and watch this video.


One of the solutions to the problem of waning tax base and a vacatant city, some have proposed shrinking the size of the city's footprint.  This is a great idea.  The word self-sustaining needs to be in everyone's vocabulary.  Some have proposed using vacant lots for gardens like the Academies'.  It is no small irony that in the cycle of migration that the rural and the urban are now going to be mixed to one degree or another.


What can we learn?  Do you have a city with urban poor?  Rather than build your next church building or campus, why not buy some unused plot of land in your city.  Find the people in your church who are just sitting on pews with skills in gardening and husbandry.  Start a working community farm.  This demonstrates your genuine concern for being a blessing to your community.  You are giving people the skills and dignity to take care of themselves.  The people in your church will see an direct connection between your church and your community. 


Otherwise, we end up looking like the typical Americans and they typical Christians who tithe to themselves.  


Here is a funny video:

Poor Grosse Pointe - watch more funny videos

i want to be like Lot when i grow up

Check out my latest post.  The guys at sbcIMPACT! asked me to put up a guest post. 

eccleastical greed: a lack of ethos in urban space

As promised, I am going to blog following the TIME Detroit blog. I want to provide some 
theological and missiological reflection on their Detroit restoration project. Part of what is
amping me up on this post is my two previous posts {here and here} so you might want to 
briefly check those out before proceeding.

I don't know of any churches whose express purpose is to live for self. I don't know of a church
website, brochure, pastor, etc who would not say that they are not interested in helping their 
community and reaching the world. Yet, this is the exact impression most people under the 
age of 30 think of churches. Most churches state quite the opposite. Most will say that they 
are there to help their community. Why is there this disconnect? Perhaps it is because there 
is a Grand Canyon sized chasm between what churches say they are interested in doing and 
how they actually behave. When walk and talk are perceived to be this far apart, it presents a 
problem in a church's ethos.


Darrell Dawsey recently posted an article titled, "Ditchin' Religion."  He says

we put too much faith in these ministers, their big churches and the feel-good rhetoric they sell on Sundays.

While his cry to ditch religion is a bit premature, he says what many are probably thinking:

I can't help but wonder how much better our communities could be if we put even half the energy that we invest in keeping these pastors well-heeled into our public schools, politics, finances or businesses. 

I do not profess to know the situation on the ground in Detroit (at least beyond what is online and in print).  Their church situation is probably similar to the church situation around then country.  

In most pioneer missions contexts, missionaries are not allowed in as missionaries.  They must have a legitimate purpose for being in that country.  I believe the time has come in our own country that we need a specific purpose and reason for being in our communities.  Our role should never be to merely take up space in the city which only gets used once a week and provides little more than a meeting space.  We need to use the space more than once (and for more than just believers) and carry our own weight.  

Churches are religious organizations.  As such they are exempt from taxation.  This means that they use space which requires utilities and public services such, as fire and police, but they don't pay into the system.  Currently there are large census tracts with vacancy rates of 30-50% and higher!  At the city level, this makes maintaining adequate police and fire services difficult since they must still patrol and protect the same area but with fewer tax dollars to help them.  

This has been a problem for a Houston suburb as well.  There are so many churches moving in {because land is cheap} who are not paying into the system that the city is struggling to provide adequate services.  A barrier is growing slowly  between the city and the churches since the city knows that they will never win a fight to tax the churches and since the churches will never actually pay into the system.  Would it be so hard to pay for services that they are using?


Churches all over Detroit are struggling to keep things running cutting staff and services and charging for things like funerals.  But what if each minister were bi-vocational?  There would not be the stigma of "freeloading" in a sinking society.  It is time to abandon church as a purely Sunday function.  Why should everyone go through such sacrifice for the sake of one building?  Why not sell the building and give back to the community?  We have nothing to loose and much to gain by giving it all away and living like we truly believe this world is not our home rather than building kingdoms to ourselves. 


The urban crisis facing Detroit demonstrates the divide between church life and city life and how out of touch we  are with the problems in the world.  The church all over America is in the same boat but, since there is no crisis at hand, we do not realize that we are dragging our communities down rather than being a blessing to them.  In my previous post I recounted how Gallery Furniture has been a beneficial fixture of the community.  When it burned down, the community rose up to help it rebuild.  I can't imagine that happening for most churches were they to find themselves in similar circumstances.  


There is a lesson here if we are listening.

what if the church burnt down? a lesson in helping the community

I grew up for the most part in Houston.  As long as I can remember Mattress Mack has been a Houston icon.  He supports the community in numerous ways.  If you are unfamiliar with him, here is a good article.  It is easier to come up with a list of venues where he has not helped.

Earlier this year Mattress Mack's Gallery Furniture suffered millions in losses from a four-alarm fire which consumed most of his inventory. In spite of the great loss, he was able to keep the business running making deliveries on time.  Also in spite of the loss, he tried to donate over $300,000 worth of furniture and electronics to the firefighters and stations which helped put out the blaze {though it got tangled up in city laws...} In response to the fire, his customers have remained faithful.  Many have offered to donate time and money to help rebuild the store!  Some people have gone and bought furniture that they didn't need, just to help.

Here is the takeaway for us: if your church burnt down would the community come out in mass to help?  Would they even know?  Would they even care?  "Mack" has been a regular fixture in the Houston community for 28 years.  He has donated beds to Hurricane Ike victims, helped firefighters, policemen, students, 4H clubs, given scholarships... the list just goes on and on.  Again, it is easier to point out where he hasn't helped.  We could learn something from him. 

help wanted: bloggers needed

I need your help and I need it fast!  This is a blogging project for church planters, missiologists, strategists, sociologists, missionaries, and urban minded folk {any of those people can be actual, armchair, or wannabe status}.  I need your help getting the word out to and recruiting  these people.  I am stealing Ed Stetzer's idea wherein he recently used a number of bloggers to cover his vision trip to Taiwan. 
Here is the project.  In the Oct 5, 2009 edition of TIME magazine, they are starting a special project in Detroit {you need to find that copy and read the entry article on Detroit}.  They have purchased a house and moved some of their staff to Detroit for a year to cover the city.  They will be analyzing what went wrong, and possible solutions for making it proper.  You can find their stuff on the web.  For those who agree to blog with me, I am asking you to subscribe to their blog, and provide theological and missiological interaction with their articles, data, and opinions.  I believe that other cities can learn much from the decline and, hopefully, rise of Detroit. 
Just to pique your interest, here are some sobering facts:

• The city's population has plummeted from just over two million in 1950 to barely 900,000 in 2000.
• Detroit was once the 4th largest city; now it is the 11th.
  
• The median price of a house is now $8,000.
• 25% of the available houses are from foreclosures.
• Unemployment rate is almost 30%.
• 20% of postal addresses city wide are unoccupied. 
• There are 56 census tracts that are there are above 30% unoccupied.  Five of those tracts are 50% and greater unoccupied.
• 7 in 10 murders go unsolved.
• Check out this photo essay.

Here is the skinny: TIME attributes the fall to four things.  First there were the race riots and "white flight."  Second, Mayor Coleman Young practiced the politics of retribution and isolation.  Third and fourth, the economy collapsed at the triumvirate hands of stalled auto makers, unions, and pandering politicians.   
Some initial questions I have to get you started are {relate everything back to your context-what are the lessons and insights here?}:

• What is the role of racism in the decline of Detroit?  How does this relate to wight flight in your city? 
• How could the church have prevented wight flight?
• As America "browns" and whites move into majority minority status in most urban centers, what should be their outlook on their place in the future?
• What is the role of the church in restoring the city?
• How has the church failed?
• What role has greed played, both corporate and individual, if any, in the economic crash?  In what way is your city and church partaking in greed which is going to lead to their decline?

So here is what I need from you:

• Read the Oct 5th article on Detroit.
• Subscribe to TIME's Detroit blog.
• Blog {please let me know if you are doing this}
• Pray
• Mobilize

If I get enough feedback and interest I will set up a group blog wherein we can syndicate our posts.  If someone out there can make us a logo, that would be great as well.

miniature earth

In 1800 3% of people lived in cities.  That figure had doubled by 1900 to 6%. In 1950 less that 30% of the word lived in cities.  In 2006 50% lived in cities.  By 2025, 60% will live in cities.