Exiles- Living Missionally In a Post-christian Culture (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3 of Michael Frost's Book is called "Following Jesus Into Exile." ...

Frost tells the story recounted in Gordon Mackenzie's book Orbiting the Giant Hairball of two boys who feign stomach cramps to get out of going to church. Once the rest of the family is safely out of the way, they proceed to hypnotise the 70 or so chickens on the family farm by pushing each bird's beak onto a chalk line on the veranda. In due course, the parents return with the minister who has come to visit because of the boys' supposed illness. Embarrassed by the sons deception, the father bounds onto the porch and place-kicks chicken after chicken back into consciousness. Mackenzie goes on to make the point that business corporations do the same to their employees, forcing them to parrot the company line, until all traces of creative thinking are removed from them.

Frost makes the very perceptive comment that the church often falls for the same hypnotic process by our host culture. We are pushed down and down to the chalk line and forced to adapt the philosophies, procedures and politics of the empire. Then Jesus comes along and place-kicks us back into consciousness.

If you think this is a bit far-fetched just think about the mental gymnastics that we often go through to justify why the commands of Jesus are just not practicable today, because our culture is so different.

As Christians, we are required to follow the example of Christ. As exiles living in a strange land we need to follow the example of Jesus in the exact process of leaving heaven and coming to earth. Frost draws a strong distinction between "Incarnational" and "evangelistic" ways of proclaiming the Good News. In traditional evangelism we present a doctrinal position such as the Four Spiritual Laws and ask the person to respond. In incarnational witnessing we engage in a life-dialogue with the people around us, sharing n their lives, fears and dreams. He shares these 4 points of genuine incarnational witness:

1. An active sharing of life... being IN the world
2. Using the language and thought forms of the people- Jesus used common language and images.
3. Go to the people, rather than expect them to come to us.
4. Confidence that the gospel can be communicated by ordinary means such as loving relationships, acts of service etc.

We can't be living in an ivory tower, removed from the concerns of ordinary life. One factor that often worries me is that christians who claim to be always victorious and overcoming seem to have lives that are too good to be true and are beyond the realistic aspirations of most ordinary people. We need to be honest about our struggles and how God helps us in the midst of the struggles rather than pretending that Jesus makes everything perfect.

I have problems at point 4, though. Deeds must lead to words to be effective. Faith comes by hearing, Paul tells us in Romans. So we must always be ready to give an account for the hope we have. One of the problems that many christians have is that we do not have an effective way of talking authentically about our faith.

Frost then goes on to develop the idea of the "Third Place" as a place of effective missioning. the first place is home and the second place is work. There is a third place in most people's lives where they go to relax. These places are informal gathering places, they make people feel at home, they develop a sense of community and civic pride, they encourage sociablity and enrich public life and democracy.

These are places which cost little to attend, are readily accessible and available most days, and places where poeple feel welcomed and comfortable.

In traditional societies this was the marketplace. In Australian folk-lore it is the pub, although fewer people attend pubs these days than in the past. They might be places such as cafes, or parks or public swimming pools. In many places, it is the school gate where mothers gather to deliver and collect children.

Some missional christians are developing businesses which give them an opportunity to establish third place interactions. They might be cafes, or music venues. We don't have to all do this, though, because there are plenty of "Third Places" in any town. we just have to discover them.

For a several years, my daily routine involved taking my children to the swimming pool after school. I discovered that there is a natural meeting place where the same people go at the same times each day. If you stay more than a couple of hours, you will see a change over of people. It is a great meeting place as parents bonded by the same obligations take time out to sit by the pool. This is a perfect example of a "third place".

Personally I find this very exciting. We don't have to be highly trained or articulate people to be "on mission". Just ordinary people prepared to meet other ordinary people and spend time with them in a relaxed environment.

The key to all this is regularity. We need to be there several times a week. Eventually as we become a familiar face, we will find invitations to go to barbecues or other social events come up. The most important interactions though are the spontaneous ones in which you are caught up because you are there.

The problem is that for many christians the church takes up all their time. Several meetings per week soak up all the available energy and time. The church becomes our "Third Place" but we fail to interact with non-christians there. Our church is deliberately structured to minimise meetings so that people are free to be "on mission."

Here is a question to help you think missionally. Where are the "Third Places" in your community where you could hang out comfortably a couple of times a week? Perhaps a better way of expressing this is: "Where are the places your work-mates go to unwind?"

Can you make time in your schedule to hang out with them, being Jesus in their community?

Blessings

Keith