Is Francis Really That Crazy?

 

"Missions" or The Mission?

I was reading the final chapter of Luke this morning and was struck once again  (Luke 24:45-48)  that Jesus' vision and his commission has always been about catalysing a Jesus centred disciple multiplication movement to seek and save THE NATIONS (Gen 12, Matt 28, ..."your Kingdom come, your will be done on Earth..just as..in heaven..").      Yet most of our inherited churches ("Christendom shaped") are primarily shaped and structured for the task of evangelising and serving (caring for) local communities; with pursuit of "missions" being a secondary (or even optional???) aim. 

 How did that disconnect happen??

Last week I read that more than 60% of Christians report feeling no obligation to share the gospel.  The vast majority of churches have never intentionally planted another church. (i.e. we've planted sterile churches.)   The vast majority of pastors have no current practical plans to start another church.   Doing so is often regarded as "above and beyond"..  rather than just the "normal outcome" of contagious "disciplers" multiplying local communities of disciples who are also living daily "on mission" with Jesus.    

And even those who DO have a vision for planting another church..are often mainly focused on "serial church planting" (one at a time) rather than actually catalysing a movement of spontaneous, contagious disciple multiplication..  Now our inherited churches aren't "bad" (in fact God is present and they're really, really good!!)  But they just aren't adequate for the specific All Nations commission we've been called to.   The time, effort and energy it takes to sustain and run an attractional / extractional church usually keeps disciple multiplication and the spontaneous multiplication of new local communities of disciplers well off our radar.  

When you lose site of the end mission (THE NATIONS)  it actually shapes, shrinks, and constricts your "vision", your values, and your understanding of the mission of God..  The end goal that you start with will totally shape the values, priorities, and structures that you choose.  

Seems that even if your end goal is a really good and noble one (e.g. "reach and transform our local community, train new pastors, and help them start great new churches like ours") the other values and structures that we assume and start with (inherited and often enshrined and unchallenged in our theologies or worse in our unexamined habits and practices)  normally fall way short of what is necessary for catalysing a viral movement..      

So..just after reading Luke and reflecting on all the above I then clicked on the link below  [a dialogue between Francis Chan and Mark Driscoll and Joshua Harris (Gospel Coalition),]  and it just seemed to be a classic illustration of the VERY thing I was reading and thinking about.  Mark and Josh (and many others..) just see Francis as going through a kind of burn out and "copping out" of his high calling to pastor the large mega church he started and has been pastoring in Simi Valley, CA.   They think he's stepping back and aiming lower..   But is he??    

Personally I think he's recapturing a vision for the nations..and realising that the structures and forms, resource demands (time, energy, people, money, emotion)  for maintaining and operating the inherited Christendom shaped structures are too often actually a distraction from, and a BARRIER TO the full on pursuit of the mission of Jesus!!  And even though Francis may not be able to fully explain it all, it seems that Jesus is steadily leading him into uncharted territory. 

"Follow Me"

I think it was Soren Kierkegaard who long ago wrote about "following Jesus out of Christendom".   I think that might be what's going on in Francis' life right now.    And that doesn't seem all that crazy to me..

Have a look at the video (link below) and let me know what you think.. 

Phil

http://vimeo.com/14452343

Comments

[Tim Palmer]

Phil,

Thanks for the thoughts and the link. I agree with you very much on this.

The other day I was flipping through the latest CBD catalog which I guess is one of the largest Christian Book resources here in the States. Among the dozens of pages dedicated to Bible study tools and Christian romance novels there was one single page which listed Crazy Love (Francis Chan), Radical (David Platt), and Experiencing God (Richard Blackaby), all on the same page. It struck me like a lightning bolt that "REALLY" wanting to live for God is a genre when it comes to marketing.

And from the tone of this video discussion with other famous Christian teachers/authors it is also a curiosity to those who should know better. If you truly desire to hear from and follow God it will not be understood and appreciated by many. It has become a niche in the Christian world. Each of the interviewers here says something to the effect of "...obviously you're responding to the Spirit and so on, BUT..." (Harris) "You're a crazy prophetic dreamer...that's the way God made you, BUT..." (Driscoll) I think if Chan were more aggressive he could have just stopped the questions there. There is no BUT after hearing from God.

Barna Research had an insightful discovery just a couple of years ago. They found that while 33% of American teenagers claimed to be "born again", only 4% said they wanted to "live for God." I think that's what we call the narrow gate. Few find it.

I have other thoughts related to this discussion, for example, the Bible says, "If a man DESIRES (aspires to, or sets his heart on) to be an overseer, that is a good thing." And that position means a certain role to some, especially in the context of a culture with many established churches. What if Chan does NOT desire to be an overseer in the way our culture has defined it? Then he should have freedom to walk away from that local congregation even if he "started" it. It's not about Francis Chan. It's about God and glorifying him and obedience.

And then there's the whole arena you brought up of being on mission. After the direct questions he received, Chan could also have just said, "This is what churches do, we send out. This is what Jesus did, send people out. We cannot lose sight of our great mission to disciple the nations 'As you are going' I'm not trying to build my own kingdom." No one should have to apologize to other believers about that.

In personal practice near Atlanta we are also getting resistance as we try to follow God regardless of what established churches think or practice. We could be in worse company than Francis Chan.

Tim