City Buzz

“Cities are brands and they need glamour, style and fizz” (The Creative City). Oh so true. One of the joys of visiting and exploring numerous cities is to get a feel for the vibe of the place. We all know it, we don’t necessary know how to explain it, but each and every city just has a different feel about it. Last night as we were out exploring Atlanta’s inner core I couldn’t help but compare and contrast the city with all the other ones I’ve been in. Cities are alive and buzzing with life and energy.  Whoever thinks of cities in terms of a mechanism and not a living breathing organism has got it all wrong.

City cores are like the heart constantly bringing in new people (blood) and pumping them back out.  This happens daily as people commute in or simply the transitory nature of the city. We went back to Atlantic Station to hang out all evening to get a good feel for one of the largest (if not largest) live-work-play communities in the U.S. It had a buzz, a feel, a brand. Teaming with young singles and trendy urbanites it had a vibrancy to it.  I totally dug the walkability of it where you could live in a high-rise apartment, walk to Target, the movies, coffee and so much more and only walk a block or two.  I know many cities are already built like this in the cores but this is all new construction with such intentionality.  It is encouraging to hear of a new church plant in there meeting in the movie theater.

What’s your city’s buzz? Electric? Moving? Alive? Breathing? Stagnant? Dull? Life-giving or sense-dulling?  If your city hasn’t reinvented itself then it needs to in order to keep pace with all the ones around them and this applies to mega-cities, 2nd tier, 3rd tier cities and so on. Even in central Illinois you have several small cities (Springfield, Bloomington, Champaign) all trying to reinvent themselves and we’ll see which one has chose wisely. Springfield is camping out on everything Abe Lincoln while Bloomington and Champaign are purposely going after the Creative Class.  We’ll see at the end of the day who “won.”

I love the buzz of each and every city because, like a fingerprint, they’re all different and unique.

Swank Urbanites

Last night we went out on the town in ATL and landed in a hip, trendy, and rather swank club that was bumpin’ with activity.  As the night wore on the more vibrant it became. Most of them were young singles living in the city.  The buzz and electricity of the place was life-giving.

The dude who brought us there was Tim Wolfe who planted 1027 Church. Not only did he plant that church but he works with many in the area planting other churches.  It was beyond exciting to hear the stories and see what God is doing in this city. So 5 of us sat there last night talking about planting churches in the city whether it was Seattle, Atlanta, or wherever.  Earlier that day I had heard Tim talk to a group of about 40-50 church planter guys about reaching young adults and he centered his talk around the city since that’s where most of these young adult live.

The diversity and complexity of city life is both an obstacle and a catalyst for church planting.  When you throw together high levels of ethnic diversity, a whole plethora of sexual orientations (straight, gay, bi, trans), and a varied socio-economic background you have immensely tough  but fertile soil for church planting.  From our conversations earlier in the day to what we saw last night it is true … most of our church planting efforts and strategies don’t factor in this explosive-growth population segment.  How do you reach poor urban neighborhoods? How do you reach new live-work-play urban neighborhoods (mini-cities) like Atlantic Station?

It’s a completely different game than the suburbs.

Missional Start-Ups

Since my last post on Missional Platforms I’ve been thinking a lot and talking with others about the idea of utilizing start-ups to (a) bring something tangibly good to a community and (b) use it as a platform to start a new church. This is especially true when I think about city contexts where the cost of living is so high that you may need additional income to simply survive.

Here’s the beauty of missional commercial enterprises on top of what I just shared … you have access to a wider range of people and resources.  Let me clearly say this up front: this is NOT a bait and switch kind of deal.  You’re not doing this just to make a buck.  You need to have a passion for what you’re doing and to see this all part of holistic community transformation that says that as the Gospel goes out not only does it change individual lives but entire neighborhoods and communities. The Gospel penetrates poverty, prostitution, domestic violence, teenage pregnancy, disconnected neighborhoods, and so much more.

If you’re to go this route then you’re able to access more in terms of grants, partnerships with local businesses, universities, public schools, the medical community, and so much more.  What about starting a coffee shop partnering with a battered women’s shelter giving them a step of freedom by helping with jobs? What about starting a network of support groups for women struggling with depression and partnering with the medical community? What about starting a bike shop working with troubled youth helping them learn a new skill as a bicycle mechanic? What about a recreation company that’s for new refugee / immigrant groups to your city? What about going into public elementary schools and teaching kids about water (hydration, conservation, and digging wells in Rwanda)?  See?  These are just a few quick things that came to mind.  The ideas and options are limitless!

Then, then, then … as you’re rubbing shoulders with people, offering hope, showing them a better way doesn’t it make sense for the Gospel to naturally and effortlessly come in?  Isn’t the reason why we need new evangelism program after new program (like the one I’m listening to now) is simply because we’re not friends with those far from God?  I mean, come on, if you’re friends with lots of of those who Jesus misses most, don’t you share things that are a part of your life?  For me, talking about Jesus should be just as simple and easy as talking about mountain biking because both are core to who I am and part of my identity. (obviously in different ways)

Missional commercial enterprises are a great way to bring about holistic community transformation.

Opiate of the Masses

Karl Marx made the quote which now has become infamous, “religion is the opiate of the masses.” It is a drug to numb people’s existence on this miserable planet.  Since life is so difficult, so hard, so painful then religion serves as a narcotic that dulls us like a good swig of whiskey or line of cocaine.  However, there’s another idea of “opiate.”

Last year in China in a whirlwind of events in a 3-day time frame we went from meeting with a persecuted house church leader from one of the largest house church networks in China to meeting one of the highest government security leaders in China (kinda like our FBI or CIA). If this is a cat-and-mouse game we met with both the mouse and then the cat. We met with the house church leader many hours inland in a large ancient bustling city at the top of a hotel under the cover of night. In order to meet with us he had to weave his way around the city to ensure no one was following him.

For hours he talked with our group through a translator as we listened to his stories and got to ask questions. It was an amazing time. I had read countless books on the whole explosive movement of the church in China in preparation of the trip.  I read how it was only when all the missionaries were kicked out and institutional Christianity was squashed that the church, now unencumbered by constraints, exploded with growth no one predicted nor has happened in church history. In 50-60 year time span China went from having maybe a couple of million Christians to as high as 120 million now. Maybe since life was hard it became the opiate of the masses?

At least that’s what our government security leader said to us, but he explained it differently.  Here was the man, a powerful figure in government in one of the most influential cities in China and the world who’s not a Christian but he said this (actual quote) … “The rise of Christianity in China is something that surprised us too. For the longest time this was a nation of atheism, there is no god. But we are now finding many people finding God. We the communists were brought up swallowing Marx and his evaluation of religion as the opiate of the people. We looked at it very negatively. You have to realize, China was knocked to her knees during the 19th century by the opium wars. Anything to do with opium was a no-no for the Chinese. It was our orthodox to destroy religion. And then only recently we are learning  that there are 1.3 billion people (in China) and only like 28 of whom even understand true Marxism. But you have to realize that Marx said this before we were invaded during the war. NOW WE DISCOVERED OPIUM CAN BE USED IN A POWERFUL WAY IN THE MEDICAL FIELD. It can paralyze you or HEAL you.”

Yes, religion is truly the opiate of the masses because used medicinally it can indeed heal you. We know that those who follow Jesus have a preserving and lifting effect on culture. When it comes to church planting that is the dream, to spread this opiate to people. We don’t plant churches so Christians can gather and sing in trendy settings cool songs to God. Instead we plant churches offering hope to our cities and to apply this opiate, this medicine to those who will listen and taste.

Spiritual Formation in the City

I’ve started sending out questionnaires to church planters who I know in numerous cities across the country in search for something. I’m looking for a collected understanding, definition, and activities on what spiritual formation looks like in a city/urban setting. This is part of my research for my dissertation. (BTW, if you’re interested in filling out the questionnaire click on the “Research” tab up above)

Have we ever thought about that question?  We talk about spiritual formation all of the time is some shape or form but have we talked about it in terms of coupling it with geography?  And not just anyplace but the city.  Think about it. Often times when talk about spiritual formation we often default to getting out in nature and away from humanity. But what if you’re smack dab in the city? How does that change things?  You’re not ever really alone it seems and the complexity and diversity adds so much as well. On one side of you lives Chinese buddhists, on your other is a lesbian couple, across the way is a non-practicing Catholic Hispanic family, 2 doors down is Indian Hindu family, and that’s just in your immediate surroundings. As a follower of Jesus you’re in such a minority that maybe 1-2% in your area follow Him.  Everyday you rub shoulders and bump up to worldviews and beliefs that are as different as SEC vs. Pac-10 football (sorry, had to throw that one in).

In these settings can we explore a spiritual formation that isn’t simply just prayer and Bible study alone in your room at night?  What can it look like in such a diverse 24/7 setting?  Along with that, how can we insert church planting and community transformation into a city-centric spiritual formation where these activities become as normative for believers as prayer and Bible study?  I’m convinced that unless we drastically revisit this topic I’m afraid that the diversity and complexity will stop many attempts to church planting because it is a long haul commitment that may not ever be financially sustainable.  In this case we need believers already living and working in the city there to engage in church planting activities (really, just discipling processes which can lead to new churches).

Again, if you’re a church planter / pastor / Christian in the city and want to throw in your two cents go ahead and fill out the questionnaire and email it in to me.

Missional Platforms

Today I was supposed to teach a class for our Epoch Center on missional engagement in the Chicago area. But our middle son ended up in the ER so I made the 3 hour trek back home to arrive at 2:30 AM to get our other 2 kiddos to take them home to sleep.  As far as Cam he’s doing great.  It was a super nasty bout with strep again which spiked his fever dangerously high.  We all slept in til 10:30 AM which was nice.

Ok, back to the blog. So last night I spent about 4 hours in a Starbucks finalizing my class notes and getting my presentation slides all together. The focus of the class was to talk about the 4 areas of missional engagement that Frost and Hirsch outlined in their book The Shaping of Things to Come. Here they are: (1) proximity spaces, (2) shared projects, (3) commercial enterprises, and (4) emerging indigenous faith communities. The portion of that list which currently has me jazzed is the whole commercial enterprise as a vehicle to bring value to our neighborhood and cities.

“If we come to plant a church in a particular area, we’re not perceived as doing any favors. But if we’re starting a cafe, an internet launderette, or a day-care center, we’re seen as bringing some intrinsic value to a community. We’re serving those to whom we’re sent.” (from The Shaping of Things to Come)

My mind is alway buzzing with ideas of starting new ventures and churches. To me the idea of a commercial enterprise is incredibly enticing.  Here’s why. (1) Like mentioned above you’re adding value to a community, (2) you’re perceived as doing good beyond simply starting a church (many outside the church don’t see new churches as adding value to their community), (3) you have a viable financial platform becaue we know planting a church is no get-rich program, (4) you’re extending both God’s common grace and His sacing grace to your community, and (5) you add credibility to your new church.  When you’re out and about in the community people who see you may say, “Hey, there’s that dude who spoke in my daughter’s 3rd class about … (you fill in the rest). I like what he’s doing.”

In my thinking this kind of activity goes hand in hand with church planting is a seemless blend. I hung out this week with a guy who started a coffee shop in Seattle.  How cool is that?  He did this in conjunction with church planting. He was able to connect with gobs of people through this commercial enterprise that he’d never have access by simply being a pastor.

I’d love to hear about some of your stories or other’s you’ve come across.  Right now I’m working on my own.  That’s all I can say but it’s given me life, energy, and passion like never before.

Why Spiritual Gifts Tests Are Lacking …

You can’t start a blog post talking about gifts and skills without reference to Napoleon Dynamite … “You know, like nunchuk skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills… Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.”

We’ve come a long ways in our evolution of the church. In the past 50 years there was a new found surgance of the notion of spiritual gifts and how God has uniquely crafted each of us. It’s had to imagine how this was mostly unheard of for the past 1,900 years of church history because you can’t read the NT without at least coming across the subject. Now it has become an integral part of the way we do ministry and has released so much pent-up potential and energy.  However, I’m afraid we’re ready to take the next step in the evolutionary process.

The Holy Spirit does impart these spiritual gifts to each and everyone of us who are followers of Jesus, but there’s more.  Something so in front of us, so embedded in our DNA, and so much of our story revolves around this. If there’s a 3-part conglomeration of who we are that leads us into our life’s calling then spiritual gifts is only one part.  What then are the other two?  Simply put it would be your story and your talents/wiring.  We could say it like this: Story+Talents+Spiritual Gifts=Life Calling.

Story: We all have a story.  I remember as a sophomore in college talking with an overseas missionary as I drove him around Omaha.  He said that if you want to find out how to find God’s calling on your life then you need to look backwards.  Your past, upbringing, and experiences shape your call.  What’s funny is that in many cases this takes place long before you become a follower of Jesus. It’s humbling to realize that for 19 years of my life before I came to Christ God was still orchestrating my life / my story to be used for His glory and His purposes.  We all have a story that shapes our future. Like I’ve mentioned in times past that art was the center of my life for the first 19 years. Is it any wonder why now that the things that totally get me amped is when I get to create from scratch?  I created the Epoch Center from scratch and which also why I’m involved in church planting … creating new faith communities from scratch. Also, I know the pain of growing up in an alcoholic home. It has equally affected me, how I process things, and look at life that has forever shaped me.

Talents: Dovetailing into our story is our talents. If God truly was part of coding our DNA then the “natural” gifts and talents we have are just as valid and spiritual as spiritual gifts. I’m afraid that we put way too much emphasis on the latter to the diminishment of the former. If the assumption that “everything is spiritual” is true (and it is) then both talents and spiritual gifts ought to be on an equal playing field.  So what are your talents?  What drives you?  Could it be a geographical setting? A certain activity? Music? Creating? Relationships? Loving the hurting and broken? What do people say you’re good at?  This may also delve into your primary intelligences … interpersonal, spatial, etc.  I’d venture to say that if you’re incredibly talented at something then it ought to be a primary factor in discerning your life calling.  Why would God give you amazing talents and abilities and you don’t use them?  What a waste!

So how does this affect church planting?  Church planting is sooo much more than having a couple of key spiritual gifts (apostleship, evangelism, etc).  Your story and talents tell you how you may go about church planting.  That’s the beauty of it all!  Drop the stupid “church-planting-by-numbers” deal, start with a blank canvas, and paint!  Create the church based up the way God has made you.  Pioneer a new way!  Don’t do what other people did.  You are only you and God’s wants you to plant a church using you for who you really are.  If you suck as a speaker then gather people a different way.  If you’re an amazing communicator then gather people that way.  Music?  You know the routine. Maybe you’ll start churches by starting non-profits first.  Maybe you grew up in a broken home and you start support groups for divorced people and you start that way.  Stop listening to others tell you how to plant.  You have the blueprint and DNA already embedded in you.  Go for it!

Forge / Missio Summit – Denver

I spent the last couple of days with some of the brightest and most gifted missional leaders across the U.S. and Canada.  This was all part of the Forge Summit initiated by Alan Hirsch and Hugh Halter and Matt Smay of Missio.  People flew in from all over to meet, hang out, and to talk about key strategic initiatives of uniting the missional movement.  Collected together were men and women with a passion for God and to see a movement sweep across the U.S. and Canada.

To me one of the highlights was simply the wide array of people assembled.  You had mega-church pastors at the same table with organic house church guys.  In the missional movement models, forms, and expressions of church are back burner issues.  You can be a missional church regardless if you have 12 people assembled in a living room or a church of 10,000.  I’m glad for this shift because early on the only thing deemed missional/incarnational were house churches and large churches were the evil empire.  Not so.  There’s a recognition we all need each other and we do so much better united than apart.  As a collected front there’s more power, more passion, and the apostolic ethos is more latent.

We talked about what we’d need to die to in order to see a movement erupt in the U.S.  For movements to take place we need to continually die to self in the same manner we saw Jesus demonstrate in Philippians 2. At the end our life it’s not about our fame but God’s and His alone.  We get the privilege of serving Him and laying our lives at his feet which is what all of us who follow Him are called to do.

I came away encouraged and inspired.  The relationships, new friendships, and cross-polination of ideas was beyond stimulating.  It definitely had a “band of brothers” kind of feel to it. We know culturally people are less and less responsible to the conventional way we’re doing church and believe that infusing a missional DNA into it has exponential potential. And so I will pray to this end … that there would indeed be a missional church planting movement that sweeps across North America like wildfire.

City-Fit Personality Assessment

I know, the title isn’t exactly appetizing. Yesterday on the plane to Denver I was reading Who’s Your City? by Richard Florida.  In a nut shell it’s an amazing book that talks about the pyschology of cities and why people end up where they do. By training he’s an economist and university professor.  He’s the one that popularized the notion that if you want to find a great real estate investment find out where all of the gay-bohemians are and go there. (that’s thick with church planting implications but we don’t have time today).

In some of his research into cities he collaborated with psychologists and explored the whole psychology and personalities of cities and when you think about it it makes complete sense.  What’s the personality of New York?  San Francisco?  Chicago? Memphis?  New Orleans?  Each city has a vibe / personality that by and large attracts certain types of people.  Would you agree?  If you’re into organic living with food co-ops and an active outdoor lifestyle you’ll end in in places like Portland or Boulder.  If your thing is the arts scene like films and acting and you’ll head to LA or NYC.  Music?  Nashville? High-tech?  Bay Area …

Let’s examine this in light of church planting.  Don’t you think one of the greatest gifts we could give up and coming potential church planters is for them to see how God has made them and then help them match up with a city that fits?  I know we don’t think this way AT ALL.  I think we’ve so over emphasized spiritual gifts that we fail to realize that EVERYTHING is spiritual including the way your personality was formed. It’s like a homing beacon in birds.  Somehow someway they just know to go south for the winter. The same is true with us.  We’re embedded with this tracking system that leads us to specific places that are great cultural fits.

Somehow we need to help church planters come to grips with who they are, how God made them, and help them find the city that connects with them. So now I begin the journey to figure out how to create an assessment tool to help determine this … should be fun!

Planting Churches On/Around College Campuses

This morning I visited Vine Community Church in Carbondale, IL. It was an amazing time worshipping with that group of believers.  It’s funny because in light of my last blog about worship gatherings I know sometimes I give the impression I think they’re wrong or evil or of the devil.  So not true.  I just like to explore, ponder, and question things.  If truth were told I LOVE gathering with other believers and worshipping corporately. I even love music styles that resonate with my heart where I’m swept away.

I had never heard of Vine Church before I got to Carbondale on Friday.  I was supposed to hit up one of our tribal (SBC) churches but once I heard of Vine, checked them out on the ‘net, I knew I had to go.  As I scoured their website I was super impressed … their passion for college campuses, their church planting efforts, and their church planting network they’ve created. I was eager to visit them today and so I came in with high expectations. I wasn’t disappointed.

The music was phenom, the message was grace-based and right on, and I totally dug the overall vibe of their gathering hang-out (still trying to get away from saying things like “church” unless it is about the people). What was most impressive was the sheer number of college students and young adults there.  I was blown away.  Afterwards as I chatted with Sandor (the pastor) he said that their college student numbers weren’t as high as they were even a year ago and that they were at about 40% right now.  40% of 1,500 adults?  That’s 600 college students!  If you were to add up every campus ministry at Southern Illinois University I don’t think it’d add up to 600 students.

So what then does this say then to the potential of planting churches around campuses? Would it make better sense to invest in collegiate church planting or campus ministries?  Obviously both are vital but what I’ve seen at Vine and countless other churches is a longer and more sustained impact and influence.  Even today in his message Sandor talked about what a blessing it was to start a church with mostly college students and how they sacrificially gave of their tithes and lives to get the church off the ground.  Usually when we talk about planting churches with college students I often hear how they’re a drain, they don’t give, and aren’t that productive.  I’m here to say that is NOT true AT ALL!!!

This is why I’m excited that in our NEXT/GEN world we’re retooling to do more collegiate church planting.  We’re not abandoning campus ministries but I think for long term influence and a larger impact a new church geared towards college students is the way to go.  Your thoughts?