December 15 - The Shaping of Things to Come

Central Argument. Frost and Hirsch battle against “Christendom” (8). These authors see Christendom as a hierarchical force which dominated Christian thought for 1700 years. Christendom, in their view, is merely church-as-institution, rather than church-as-organism as practiced in the previous “Apostolic” era of Christian history, and based primarily not on scripture, but on classical imperial governments. To get the church back on track, the church requires not slow change or even “evolution” but rather their goal is “revolution” (6).

Sub-points. Frost and Hirsh cast their vision for the “missional” church as “incarnational … messianic … [and] apostolic.” By incarnational, the authors mean that the church “disassembles itself and seeps back into the cracks and crevices of society to [incarnate] Christ” for non-Christians. They emphasize that the missional church does not “create sanctified spaces into which unbelievers must come to encounter the gospel.” By messianic, the authors mean that the church “like Christ, sees the world and God’s place in [the world] as more holistic and integrated” instead of “divided between the sacred (religious) and the profane (non-religious)” (12). By apostolic, the authors mean that the church should return to what, according to their perspective, is a more biblical pattern of leadership which the authors have abbreviated APEPT: apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, pastoral, and teaching (168). The Apostle Paul outlines this in Ephesians 4 and the authors develop it into a leadership paradigm defined against the “hierarchical” framework which the authors assert is left over the “Greco-Roman empire” (12).

Using this framework, the authors detail a new paradigm for their incarnational ecclesiology, which is defined over and against “attractional” (41). In such a model, the non-Christian must come to the church facility to hear the gospel. In the authors’ view, churches run themselves ragged developing methods to attract people to come to church and hear the gospel. However a more effective model might be to bring the non-Christian into connection and relationship with a Christian. Allow the church to go to them. Thus, the authors propose a model of church mission where Christians go to the turf of non-Christians, evangelize certain “persons of peace” in that area, establish small-groups, and build the church on “local resources” with a “bi-vocational church planter” (72). Such a “contextualized church” (76) would be based on Acts 2 and first be characterized by “communion” with Christ, focusing on worship and reading scripture; second, by “community” (78), learning about Christ and experiencing deep fellowship and friendship; third, by “commission” (79), hearing the story of the gospel and going forth in service and self-sacrifice. One leads other people along this journey “by exciting curiosity through storytelling, by provoking a sense of wonder and awe, by showing extraordinary live, by exploring how God has touched our lives, and by focusing on Jesus.” (112)

Next Frost and Hirsh detail a new paradigm of spirituality, which they term “messianic spirituality” (112). For the authors this means refocusing on engaging non-Christian culture with practical actions, putting as much emphasis on “orthopraxy” as well as we do “orthodoxy” (121). In the final analysis from the perspective of the non-Christian, the only thing that we have is our message and how we live it. Christian life and faith should not be reduced to “science and scholarship” but be applied within real life (155).

Finally, the authors detail for us a new paradigm of leadership, which they term “apostolic leadership” (165). This paradigm centers on five functions found in Ephesians 4. First is the apostolic function, which “pioneers new missional works and oversees their development.” The second is prophetic which “discerns the spiritual realities” in a missional area and “communicates them … to further the mission of God’s people.” Third, the evangelistic function “communicates the gospel in such a way that people respond in faith and discipleship.” Fourth, the pastoral function, “shepherds the people of God by leading, nurturing, protecting, and caring for them.” Fifth, the teaching function assures the Christians “learn how to obey all that Christ has commanded them to do” (169). Since God is urging us to act, according to the authors, the only thing that limits the church is “imagination” (187). Above all the church should see itself as an organism, focusing on ecological paradigms for its growth and development: organic … reproducible … and sustainable. (210, 213, 216).

Compliment and Clash. Again, these books are building upon each other; so they compliment each other ultimately. American Cultural Patterns focuses on American culture from a secular perspective. How Does America Hear the Gospel does the same from a Christian perspective. Contextualization of the New Testament develops the biblical foundations and rationale for contextualizing the gospel within any given worldview. Clash of Worlds develops the terms and background for how the historical and emerging worldviews come into both constructive and destructive interaction. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society critiques secular culture, the part of the church co-opted by it, and how we can recast our notions of Christian faith, leadership and community to address modern pluralism. The Shaping of Things to Come takes on not American culture, but church culture and tradition since Constantine and proposes a framework for an alternative vision of the future, more in touch with ancient Christian practice.

The clash may come at the point of what I think is Frost and Hirsh’s most radical idea: the dissolution of the clergy. The other authors either do not mention this or it is beyond the scope of the work. The other Christian authors assume that there will be clergy; in fact, one could argue that all of these books were mainly written for clergy and other kinds of church leaders. However, it is only Newbigin that brings them to task in his work. I believe that this would be a step too radical for the other authors. Even the most congregationalist of them do not see the church operating without trained and formally installed leadership of some kind. Later in this paper, I address the issue of a clergy-less church. I trust that the other authors would agree with the assessments of Frost and Hirsh that I make there.

Scripture, Tradition, Reason, Experience. First, The Shaping of Things to Come is steeped in scripture and it makes good use of reason to provide a rich presentation of not only the authors’ experience, but also the experience of other ministry practitioners involved in what can only be called a missional church movement. However, this book assumes that tradition is something to generally avoid. I cannot imagine a work that is more critical of Christian tradition than this. If there is a weak point in the reason and use of scripture in this book, it is the attack upon 1700 years of Christian history and tradition. Perhaps this may not be the case.

The authors believe that at some level Christendom is “something of a failed experiment” (15). Ironically, this quote is from people who were raised within Christendom. If their good ideas come out of a failed system, how good can their ideas really be? Instead of a failed experiment, to me Christendom seems more of an extended passing phase and a response to culture. There was a time, literally when Caesar needed honest people to run the government. Caesar does not need us any more. And, in the words of my generation and culture: that’s okay.

Traditionalists, those who would cling to Christendom, believing that her demise would mean the demise of history, will slosh around kicking up muck and mire. People like the Frost and Hirsch, those who would abandon Christendom, will be rootless vagabonds, avoiding their history and repeating its mistakes. Those who know Christendom, who caress her face and kiss her forehead, just before the coffin is sealed, will be clean of muck, instructed in the past, and free to pursue a bold incarnation of Christian mission.

Second, with regard to church organization, I do believe that there should be organization within the church on all its levels; we should not be a totally decentralized organization like Al Qaeda. Also, it is arguable that we cannot be totally decentralized. Put simply: organization happens. People invent organization to further mission. This cannot be stopped, only directed.
For example, Willow Creek Church is governed congregationally; they have five satellite sites, each with a different pastor. Bill Hybels, the founding pastor, is now the senior pastor of the greater Willow Creek organization. There is even a wider Willow Creek Association comprising thousands of churches. As a result, Hybels’ job description seems similar to what United Methodists would call a district superintendent, or perhaps even a bishop. Let me say it again: organization happens. How strange it is that congregationalists are reinventing the episcopacy. The question is how will the organization affect the mission of the organization? And worse, as we see readily in the United Methodist Church, will the faithful permit the organization, or its ideology, to dominate the mission? Similar arguments can be made about Frost & Hirsch's proposal to abandon the idea of clergy. It is a fine idea, but, again, organization happens. Clergy would just rise again. Like kudzu, one benefits more by feeding it to cows than poisoning it to death.

Vision of Class Discussion & Ministry Application. This book provides a unique perspective. I am certain that it is not the only perspective on how the church might function for the next few hundred years. Therefore, one area that I would like to see discussed is the practical application of this book as well as the practical elements of The Gospel in a Pluralist Society . There are some ideas that can be directly applied to ministry in The Shaping of Things to Come, however, it is so radical, so untested and so beyond the pale and paradigm to which I am used to, that I struggle for a practical application.

The application that I find, again like in so many of the books that we have read, is in the formation of my own theology and practice of ministry. For example, when I return to the North Alabama Conference I might start a new church. All my thinking on that matter focused ultimately on building what Frost and Hirsch would call an “attractional” church and less so of a “incarnational” church (12). Mission, as they define it, would have been the fruit of an effective church, not necessarily a primary element. This book for me has been a warning on how to and how not to disciple people. I will now exert more wisdom in the new church venture.

The new church will now be much more intentionally missional and incarnational and less attractional than before. I know a church that has a McDonald’s-style jungle gym in the front window of their church facility. Talk about attractional! How much can God do with a bigger jungle-gym, when he could have a more committed, truly Christ-incarnational life or community that goes to the people, instead of expecting the people to come to it? Frost and Hirsch have challenged me to think creatively about the incarnational nature of ministry. How this creativity will manifest itself is currently unknown. Learning from Frost and Hirsch I must wait until I am more aware of the sub-culture into which I will be sent.

We read this book to ask how the church ought to be positioning itself for the 21st century of mission and ministry. Ultimately, I agree that many of our ideas about doing church have come from the old Christendom model, where the church was basically monolithic and owned the culture into which God sends us. We need to shed much of this model, because it is no longer a true representation of our missional situation. Despite their valuable critique of tradition, the authors are truly reconnecting with the Bible, the oldest tradition of Christian life and faith. In The Shaping of Things to Come , Frost and Hirsch definitely challenged me to think outside the box of Christendom, to be relational, incarnational and missional.