We're Not Dead Yet

As part of my recent Theology of Ministry paper I've been doing some continued cultural analysis of Burleson in particular and US Suburbs in general. Christ Journey folks will likely remember the recent series we participated in regarding living missionally and navigating the suburban wilderness (based in part on the book Death by Suburb). Through this series we attempted to highlight BOTH the blessings (there are plenty) and potential toxins (there are plenty) of suburban life. 

We do not believe, as is popular to espouse right now, that to be a truly committed missional Christian you must move to the city, nor do we . We honor those who are dedicated to urban renewal and to whatever degree we can further those efforts we certainly want to help. However, understanding suburbia has remained a topic of interest for Chris and I as we continually seek to serve as missionaries and equippers of church planters in this particular context.

There has been a good deal written about the "death of the suburban experiment." Much of which is based on concepts I heartily affirm: rejection of consumer culture and indiscriminate greed, a call to actual community as opposed to cookie-cutter psuedo-connections, a reclaiming of local character and culture, a desire to be better stewards of resources and the environment, etc. However, sometimes this rhetoric seems to be more politically motivated than I would like and is often focused on the current trendy-ness of urban life. 

I stumbled across an interesting article today that I thought I'd share. It doesn't give a whole lot of insight on the value and potential benefits of suburbia (which can be found through David Fitch, Todd Heistand, Tom Sine and others). Instead this is merely a closer examination of slanted statistics that have been presented in support of urban growth and suburban decline.

Check it out and let me know what you think.
Death of the Suburbs: Part Nauseum 

World Missions Summit

with Conner....

This morning my friend Devendra joined the Christ Journey community in our worship gathering (you can find links to the podcast on the Christ Journey Life blog). After a powerful morning of sharing his life and faith story (which I thought was highlighted by his prayer and singing in the Nepalese language in preparation for our time around the Table) a group went to Royal Pizza to continue the conversation. Conner and Micah got to ride in the truck with Devendra and I - and they decided that this funny talking guy was pretty cool! 

I think Devendra had already won Conner over by spending a few minutes before worship helping him with his Where’s Waldo book.

But during the car ride to lunch, Micah definitely got on the bandwagon. Devendra told them all about Nepal and the mountains and how different it is from Burleson. Both boys decided that they want to visit Mr. Devendra’s country, and ESPECIALLY Mr. Devendra’s little hill called Mt. Everest.

When we arrived at Royal Pizza the wellsbrothers insisted that they get to walk through the parking lot with Mr. Devendra and they were both going to sit by him at lunch (sorry guys, the kids’ table was a better place for you to enjoy your cheesy deliciousness).

This evening at dinner Conner began asking about Nepal. “Did Mr. Devendra say that there are bad people in his country?” 

“Well,” I replied, “it isn’t that they are necessarily BAD, but they worship pretend gods instead of following Jesus and they don’t like for people to worship our God.”

Conner: “Oh, you mean they worship statue gods?”

Me: “...uh, yeah, actually.”

Conner: “And they don’t like people who follow Jesus? What do they do to Christians?”

Me: “Well, sometimes they are just mean to them and take away their stuff. But sometimes they hurt them or even put them in jail...just for being a Christian.”

Conner: “Oh...then I changed my mind, I don’t think I want to go to Nepal anymore.”

Me: “Well, Mr. Devendra said that the Hindu people in Nepal are actually very nice to people from other countries, even if they are Christians. But even if they weren’t, it is important for those of us who follow Jesus to be brave so that other people have a chance to know about Jesus. We should be careful and smart, but we have to be brave. Do you remember the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego?”

Conner: “Yeah, they wouldn’t worship the statue god.”

Me: “That’s right. Do you remember what they told the king who wanted them to?”

Conner: “They told him that they will only worship God. And they said that God could save them from his fiery furnace.”

Me: “Yep, and do remember what they said they would do if God DIDN’T save them from the furnace?”

Conner: “Um...they would still worship God?”

Me: “That’s right. We have to trust Jesus for protection when things look pretty scary, but we also know that other people might hurt us if we love Jesus...God might not always keep us from getting hurt. But we will be brave and follow him anyway. 

Do you know what is the best thing to do though? We treat everyone like Jesus would treat them. We are respectful and helpful - we love them like Jesus loves us, and that means we do good for everybody. I think there are a lot of people who don’t like Christians because we haven’t always acted very much like Jesus.”

Conner: “Dad, I want to be a preacher like you some day. I will tell people about Jesus and I will be brave even if they say they are going to put me in jail.”

(This is the first time that Conner has said that to me...)

That’s when Micah chimed in for the first time - he had been sitting there listening quietly the whole time. “And do you know what I will do when the bad guys worship the statue gods?”

Me: “What?”

Micah: “I’ll kick them in the face.”

...Baby steps I guess.

This Week on the Journey

with Christ Journey

Sending. Going outside ourselves. Mission of God. Church planting. These words are never far from the lips of those who are participating in the Christ Journey. This summer they are front and center. What does it mean to be sent by God? What does it look like to put the aspects of our story into practice to serve God’s Story?

Over the last three weeks I’ve been immersed in a world of reflection and listening. Four very diverse ministers and two professors have been coming around a table to understand more fully what it looks like to serve God and the Church in our contexts. One of the primary methods we’ve used for learning has been an EXTREMELY thorough analysis of a specific event from our ministry context.

Each of the four of us shared our life and faith story with the others and then we also shared the details of this event - which served as the background for the 8 billion pages of papers we’ve written each night. What was powerful was that we didn’t merely reflect on our event or the cultural context or theological principles at work. We presented our papers and then worked through the issues in the midst of this learning community; with others who share a common calling though in very different settings.

I didn’t just learn from the books we read or the professors (who actually didn’t lecture very much); I learned most from Sandralyn - a United Methodist pastor from south of Dallas, Debra - a Christian Methodist Episcopal pastor from Shreveport, LA and Devendra - a missionary/church planter from Nepal, who is here studying and preparing to add a bachelor’s degree program to their local missionary training school in Nepal.

We learned together by processing through our events together, instead of trying to solve our problems in isolation. As I think about what it looks like to live as a Sent people in the midst of Burleson, I think perhaps this same dynamic can be helpful for the Christ Journey community.

I’ve asked Devendra Acharya (Ah-sha-REE-ah) to join us this Sunday and share his faith story. I don’t want to give too much away, but it is incredibly powerful...and parts are so funny that the class had to wait for me to stop laughing before we could continue...

Nepal is a mountainous country (ever heard of Mt. Everest?) It is primarily a Hindu culture with a similar caste system to what you would find in India, which it borders. Devendra is the Senior Pastor of Bishram Ministries and founder/director of the Bishram School of Missions located in Kathmandu. Since its inception in 2001 the Bishram Church and school has planted around 45 churches comprised of over 100 house churches representing around 8000 people.

Join us at the Nashville Room this Sunday as we hear the story of a Christian brother from a culture slightly different from our own. As we gather around the Table together be sure to realize that this is a glimpse of heaven, people from every language, tribe and nation coming together in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord.