Missional/Charismissional
There's surely got to be more to being charismissional than simply reading Rick The Blind Beggar Meigs' excellent resource site, Friend of Missional, and adding "plus the anointing of the Spirit" to every point the Beggar makes.
If anything, adopting the phrase "charismissional", first suggested by Emerging Grace, is more of a nuance than a radical departure. Granted, depending on the background of the charismissional church or group, some of the cultural elements might come as a shift in emphasis and perspective.
As I read through the Beggar's material, the item that jumps out as one of the most obvious to be nuanced is this one:
The emphasis about being incarnational is a needed element for charismatics to hear – being fully a part of the culture around us that we are hoping and praying to impact positively with/for the Kingdom of God. But as much as we need to focus on "word and deed" in the culture around us, as charismissional people we will also need to practice keeping our spiritual ears to the ground in anticipation of divine appointments.
Divine opportunities that have no other explanation than "God did it". Situations where – as we become an incarnational and serving part of the culture around us – we find Spirit-led opportunities to use the gifts -- charisms -- of the Spirit in our interaction with others. Words and deeds and Spirit-infused divine appointments.
If anything, adopting the phrase "charismissional", first suggested by Emerging Grace, is more of a nuance than a radical departure. Granted, depending on the background of the charismissional church or group, some of the cultural elements might come as a shift in emphasis and perspective.
"A missional church will be engaged with the culture (in the world) without being absorbed by the culture (not of the world). They will become intentionally indigenous."("Description of a Missional Church", FriendofMissional.org)Some charismatic streams may find this kind of incarnational identification with the surrounding culture a bit of a stretch, but I suspect most would find this more of a "nuance" than a "revelation".
As I read through the Beggar's material, the item that jumps out as one of the most obvious to be nuanced is this one:
"A missional church is evangelistic and faithfully proclaims the Gospel through word and deed. Words alone are not sufficient; how the gospel is embodied in our community and service is as important as what we say."I fully agree with what Rick Meigs has written in the foregoing statement, but this is a time where I would add "plus the leading/power/presence of the Holy Spirit". Charismatics have always been vocal about "signs and wonders", and as someone with a history with the Vineyard movement, signs and wonders were connected to evangelism and opening doors for sharing the faith.
The emphasis about being incarnational is a needed element for charismatics to hear – being fully a part of the culture around us that we are hoping and praying to impact positively with/for the Kingdom of God. But as much as we need to focus on "word and deed" in the culture around us, as charismissional people we will also need to practice keeping our spiritual ears to the ground in anticipation of divine appointments.
Divine opportunities that have no other explanation than "God did it". Situations where – as we become an incarnational and serving part of the culture around us – we find Spirit-led opportunities to use the gifts -- charisms -- of the Spirit in our interaction with others. Words and deeds and Spirit-infused divine appointments.
posted by Robbymac at
10:49 PM
21 Comments:
Totally agree Robby.
One of the things that I often ponder is how God obviously blessed the Vineyard movement with signs and wonders yet I'm not sure that they were used that much outside of the Church.
I get this feeling that for us as a Church and even maybe the broader Church that the next blessing of 'signs and wonder' will occur in 'the fields not in the barns' to steal a Neil Cole phrase.
I hear allot of people desiring the 'signs and wonders' yet I'm not sure how prepared they are to leave the barns.
This is very true.
Speaking of divine appointments . . . some time ago I decided to stop looking for a purpose (or a porpoise) and to just try to help the person in front of me. Needless to say, I'm not always successful. What I've learned is that divine appointments (divine opportunities, maybe?) are a lot more common than I ever thought. This could lead to a slogan "being missional . . . one person at a time."
"Words and deeds and Spirit-infused divine appointments."
The work of the Spirit is important should be expressed at FoM somehow. We can do nothing apart from Him. I'll have to give this some thought. Other suggestions welcome.
Scott,
The fact that these were NOT more regularly "in the field" was a source of frustration for me (and many others) in leadership in various Vineyards. There definitely IS a propensity to stay in the safe confines of the four walls, with only the occasional "field trip" into the real world, before retreating once again to the safety of the building.
And not being "prepared to leave the barns" (LOVE the metaphor, btw!) has been a problem for years. I guess that means the onus is on us to do it and provide at least an example of stepping out, eh?
Juniper,
I like your slogan! Sounds like you're on to something important.
Rick,
Thanks again for the resource that FOM provides. I've always assumed that FOM recognizes the very real role of the Holy Spirit in being missional; this post is intended only to nuance certain aspects for charismissionals.
The LAST thing I would want to create is a charismatic ghetto in the larger missional context, but felt that there should be a place where post-charismatic/charismissionals synthesis could be developed.
Again, I am deeply appreciative of the work you've done with FOM. Thanks for stopping by.
Good thoughs. I like the phrase "intentionally indigenous" :).
Great thoughts here Robby. As a fellow Vineyardite who is also listening in on a lot of the EC/missional stuff, I often feel a distinct lack of reflection on the role of the Holy Spirit within the EC/missional community.
I hope that we can continue to benefit from the great thinking going on by so many out there while not losing the consciousness of our need for the Holy Spirit amongst all that we do.
I would like to add a hearty "here, here" ("hear hear"?!?) to Matt's comments. I don't want to lose the benefit of the Holy Spirit's power in our attempts to live the mission of God.
This is one of the reasons I like the off-the-map sister site ordinaryattempts. Because it allows you to share examples in your own life of how God can use the ordinary "in the field" moment to be a divine connection, a 'it-had-to-be-God' moment.
I must add... The Friend of Missional site is a tremendous resource, thank you Rick.
Hey Rob,
No one wanted to "leave the barn" because that would mean exposure to the world. And the world is full of people that don't understand signs and wonders; and; tend to look down on what would be considered "extreme christianity".
This all stems from Christians requiring the acceptance of the person sitting next to them. I know that i struggle to do what God tells me in the work place for fear that my co-workers will not accept me for who I am.
The silly thing is that when we obey God with reckless abandonment, even if people do not agree with what we are doing, they will still respect us.
Again, I come back to that man from Winnipeg that just passed away. From what you said, there were tonnes of people at his funeral - christian and none christian. He was not affraid to do what God told him to do, and people respected him for that.
Neil
I think as a charismissional in the past I got myself too hung up around thinking of the Kingdom of God as the 'now' and the 'not yet' - too often i thought well it will get better in the future and not enough actually it means living like we believe this stuff now... the power of the Spirit is awesome thing and we need to be empowered but then again that empowering is often I think now more to do with faith to take the now seriously rather than to perform miracles et al...
My thoughts: what if beneath all this talk of charismissional and what not is distilled down to what Spirit-led living is in ordinary people in everyday, dull routine-dominated life? As Charismatics, and former charismatics, could it be that the signs and wonders we thirst after miss the point? What if the greatest sign of Spirit-empowered living is not in being dazzled by supernatural occurences? What if it's simply love? What does Spirit-empowered loving our neighbor look like? I wonder if we fail to break out of the barn because we are consumed with our self-interests. I wonder if I choose to hang out only with people who are like me because, well, um, they're a helluva lot easier to get on with then those who are so different than me.
What if the miracle of the Christian is not about healing broken bones, but embracing broken lives?
This is the intentional, charismissional life I am longing for and trying to build. And dangit, I'm really clumsy at it.
I ask the Holy Spirit all the time to fill my self-centered heart with the love of God for others. I know that prayer is answered when I have the capacity to choose to be kind and loving to another human being even when I don't like them or understand them. It is soooooo easy to be kind to people who I enjoy. But being genuinely kind in a way that betters that other's person day (or life) is something that I cannot manage with help from heaven. That's how it is for me. I'm an expert at being selfish. I need supernatural power to lift my head from the trough of my own barn and get outside.
Argh. Barn metaphors. Now I'll be thinking about cow patties all day. Yuk.
Regarding Pam's comments above...
Sorry if this push back seems a little abrasive, but what if Jesus is more interested in healing broken bones as an inroad in order to heal broken lives? Is he (and therefore us since He is in us) willing and desiring and capable of doing both?
I certainly have a lot of empathy toward broken lives but if we just hug people in their brokenness but do nothing else, what is there to distinguish Christians from social workers?
Pam, having read some of your blog entries as well as several of your off-the-map.org articles & posts over the last 1.5 yrs, I appreciate your journey and so I don't want to come across as being unaware or insensitive.
I'm just curious why I'm hearing (formerly?) Charismatic voices that seemingly want to reduce the salvation message to a social program?
If Jesus thought "signs and wonders" were important, and judging by the number of them that He did it's reasonable to assume he thought they were important, why should we think that they aren't important to our mission now? Are we becoming cessationists, whether in belief or just in practice?
Anyway, I'm just thinking out loud.
hey ksg, you are so polite! And I am honored that you have tracked some of my writings...and yes, you rightly discern my trepidation with signs and wonders... but no,I've not backslid into cessationism. From my vantage point I have seen an emphasis in alter ministry and such to pray for the sick, yet it can stop there. The person is often not healed, but do we love them after the praying has stopped?
I certainly have a lot of empathy toward broken lives but if we just hug people in their brokenness but do nothing else, what is there to distinguish Christians from social workers?
I hear your concern, but the difference is huge - social workers are professionals who earn a living by helping others. Followers of Christ choose to show compassion by showing hospitality and friendship to those not desired. A social worker might help you find housing, but does the sw invite you over to their own home? Christ followers will.
I do believe in the power of God. I pray for my kids every single time they are sick. My son had a serious birth defect with a mortality rate of 50 percent. Lots of prayer. Lots. After his birth, that he survived, the head neonatolgist told me, You're son is a miracle. We don't usually see babies fare as well as he in these cases. I know about the power of healing.
Yet it is the power of love that heals deeper than physical stuff. I knew a guy one time with an amputated arm. A Pentecostal, in a burst of zeal, offered to pray for a creative miracle for the guy's arm to grow back. The amputee replied, Brother, pray for my heart. That's where I need the touch of God.
Do I really sound like I've reduced the gospel to a social program when I emphasize the love of God?
Yes, I long for more supernatural signs and wonders...yet I suspect that the greatest manifestation of God's power is not in the dazzling healing of broken bones, but in the extraordinary display of God's grace and love through our ordinary lives.
I appreciate your thoughts, KSG. I can tell you that if I ever have a sickness that I would absolutely be seeking out people who believe in the power of healing, and I would also be needing the love of friends to help me through it.
(btw, I have a small housecleaning business and one of my clients is the founder and director of a healing ministry here in Portland. We have had several fascinating talks about the phenomena of answered and unanswered prayer. In fact, after a long and prayerful battle, her husband died of cancer, yet she continues on with their healing ministry. This is extraordinary faith to me)
Boy, what a good post and good comments. As another involved with a pretty mature Vineyard for a chunk of time, I have to say that I have rarely encountered the Spirit-infused missional ethos other than in the Vineyard, with folks willing to take the risk of praying for people right there on the street, and willing to grapple with what it could mean when "deserving" people aren't healed. I appreciated that so much when I was a part of it, and I still do. It gave me courage to do my own praying for people right there on the street, even after we moved away.
That said, I do think a full theology of the Spirit is yet to be developed in the Vineyard. There is still the tendency to see "miraculous acts" as the work of a faraway God. Sometimes in charismatic circles it seems to me that the point of the gathering is to be able to call the Holy Spirit to come like a puppy and do his tricks. I know that is not the way it is with seriously engaged, thinking charismatics, and I wonder how many are caught up in the phenomena without thinking about what is going on and what it means, and wrestling with some questions.
It's late and I'm getting tired and probably rambling, but there's a reason your post-charismatic research has touched something in so many people, Rob.
Dana
Robby, I love it when Jesus has the meeting with Nic-on-the-rooftop talking about the wind, and just reading Paul's journey in the Book of Acts it ws completely " Wind Driven." When the wind wasn't moving he stopped, and when he felt it he moved in that direction.
We seem to have lost a respect for the reality of the Wind of God. If you live on coastal BC this winter you've gained a whole new respect for its power, its force and contantly changing direction.I find even with in the " emerging conversation " charismatics seem to have no respect. It's like charisma and missional can't be linked its like an oxymoron.Somehow, the charismatic is like the kid in the class room with ADD who can't sit still long enough to accomplish anything...he's always on the move never finsihing anything.
We, the "church" needs to regain this needed element, this navigational gift that moved in the life of Jesus, and all through the book of Acts. Great post Robby...Peace Ron+
Wow, I am honoured to have such amazing people commenting on this blog!
Major HT to KSG & Pam for your interaction with each other. I feel like St. Paul when he said "I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea..." (Romans 16:1), except that I'd insert "KSG and Pam" into the verse. (And thanks for the link to Ordinary Attempts, KSG).
It's interesting to note that in the same thread, comments about Vineyards that were too inward-focused, and also Vineyards that got it right (re: getting out of the barn). Just goes to show that it really depends on the people actually doin' the stuff and not just talking about it. As I read Wimber's Power Evangelism and Jackson's The Quest for the Radical Middle, I'd say it's fair to assert that Wimber envisioned "power encounters" both in the barn AND out in the barnyard.
And as several have noted (LOL: the ADD comment, Ron!), I too have gotten the impression that charismatic missional people are sometimes viewed as "not emerged enough" (seriously, I've had emails bluntly stating this to me). While I find that kind of reaction a bit sad, I think the best thing to do is just be who we are, say what we say, and whoever resonates, resonates.
Finally, in the category of "Best Blogging Metaphor of 2007", I hereby nominate Pam Hogeweide's Barnyard & Cow Patties. Anyone feeling creative enough to create a parody or parable based on this metaphor? :)
Happy Birthday (a day late), Rob! I meant to stop by yesterday... but didn't. Anywho, hope it was a delightful day. Many blessings on your head. Woot woot! Party hats and noisemakers...
you crack me up. I'm not sure if I'm meant to thank you or slap you for such a nomination. (smile)
I may never look at a barn quite the same. Or a cow patty. Not that I go around gazing at cow patties, mind you. I'm a city-kind-of-girl. but thanks for the shout-out just the same...I think. :-)
Great discussion everyone! Sorry I missed the party. I had a computer virus.
I don't really have anything to add. I just wanted to stop by and say hi to all the cool kids. ;)
Oh and apparently Happy Birthday Rob!
Yeah, Happy (now belated) Birthday Rob,
How many rings on your tree?
...Pam, I'm sorry for not being able to follow up yesterday to your response to me (i-net issues), here is my follow-up...
Pam,
I guess my thoughts are revolving around a paradigm of “both this & that” not “either/or”.
The Bible claims that the same compassion that led Jesus to feed the 5000 (a sign & wonder) also led him to heal people. Weird hey!? Love caused Jesus to do miracles. He also healed people because it was a justice issue, see Luke 13:10-17, Luke 6:6-11.
I want to be found doing what is right, what I can do within my human power (justice, mercy) and what is good, what is beyond my power (healing of sick & oppressed).
Faith & works James 2:14-26.
On an entirely different note, holy BLIZZARD batman! We're currently experiencing a nasty blizzard that stretches from Edmonton through Saskatoon to Winnipeg.
ksg, you and i, it would appear, are actually on the same page, perhaps even the same paragraph.
good discussion.
and, i must tip my hat (if I wore one) to you for having the words holy, blizzard and Batman in the same sentence. Damn good blogging.
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