Reading The Bible As Subversive Literature

"For the first 300 years after Jesus’ death, Christians were the oppressed minority; we were rebels hiding in catacombs. But by the year 400, Christians had changed places. We moved from the catacombs to the basilicas. That is when we started reading the Bible not as subversive literature but as establishment literature.

Once we were in a position of power and privilege, we couldn’t read or understand many Scriptures (for example, the Sermon on the Mount) because we had to maintain our empire, and in this direction the Scriptures give us little support or consolation.......

But when Scripture is read through the eyes of vulnerability—what we call the “preferential option for the poor” or the bias from the bottom—it will always be liberating and transformative. Scripture will not be used to oppress or impress. The question is no longer “How can I maintain the status quo?”

~ Richard Rohr

Bible is Both Best And Wost Book

"I’ve often said the Bible is the best book in the world and the worst book in the world. It is the worst when it is used for bullying and self-justification; it is the best when it is used for the healing of the world and for transformation of the self. Obviously, God intended the latter."

Richard Rohr

Rediscovering The New Testament

Like it or not, the church is finally becoming much more universal in its teaching. Marginalized and oppressed groups have a wealth of insights to offer us in reading the Gospel. The New Testament is being rediscovered by altogether different sets of eyes, raising very different questions and perspectives that we just never thought about before. We are just beginning to honor the voices of women, minorities, and many groups that have not had access to the power, privilege, and comforts of past theologians."

Richard Rohr

We Have Problem With The Bible

I have a problem with the Bible. Here’s my problem…

I’m an ancient Egyptian. I’m a comfortable Babylonian. I’m a Roman in his villa.

That’s my problem. See, I’m trying to read the Bible for all it’s worth, but I’m not a Hebrew slave suffering in Egypt. I’m not a conquered Judean deported to Babylon. I’m not a first century Jew living under Roman occupation.

I’m a citizen of a superpower. I was born among the conquerors. I live in the empire. But I want to read the Bible and think it’s talking to me. This is a problem."

Brian Zahnd

Your Brutal Tips & Techniques Bible

"We must return to the scriptures for the story that it is and stop approaching it as if it is an encyclopedia, looking for "tips and techniques.""

(John Eldredge)

Plant Churches or Missionaries? Which Comes First?

Which comes first? The more people live the missional life, the more churches will be planted.

"The goal of our missional life is not to grow churches. The goal of the church is to grow missionaries."

(Tangible Kingdom. Hugh Halter, pg 168 2008, Jossey-Bass)

Developing Community is the Most Crucial Muslim Contextualization Issue?

"Christian workers frequently want to make the transition to Christianity easier for converts from a Muslim background. They try to strip all the external, unnecessary trap from Christianity and flt it into the Muslim setting. They dress as Muslims, develop Jesus mosques, and place a Muslim façade on Christianity in an attempt to make it less offensive. But they seldom develop community.Theologically, the new convert is able to see and understand the gospel; he can exercise faith and experience gifts, and is able to enter into ministry. What he struggles with most is the idea of leaving his community..... I have discovered that in I have discovered that in most settings where large numbers of Muslims have turned to Christ, the common attraction is not contextualization but rather the presence of community."

("Contextualization and Community. Roland Muller. in Encounter the World OF Islam, Lesson 7 extra Readings online to text.)

Real Theological Issues of Muslim Contextualization: Avoiding Reductionism of the Issue!

"At the other end of the spectrum, missiologists sometimes advance theories as facts and simply assert that God is doing a new thing...... A prime case in point is the debate in recent years that has gone on about contextualization in Muslim contexts. Some have asserted or implied that watershed differences exist over cultural issues, when in fact those differences are primarily theological in nature.

The reality is that pretty much everyone agrees that a Muslim who becomes a follower of Christ shouldn’t have to cease being a good cultural Algerian, Nigerian, or Indonesian of whatever ethnicity into which he or she was born. The person does not have to be “extracted” from his or her roots or claim the title “Christian” in the cultural sense in which the term is often equated with perverted Western lifestyles. The individual can continue to honor his or her family and heritage, and do the things that members of his or her society do, up to a point. And that point is reached when doing something communicates falsehood about who Jesus is and what faith in him means.

Falsehood is hyped when the issue is treated as if there are only two choices—extraction or remaining a good Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist, The fact is that the issue is a complex one. While there is an almost universal commitment to avoiding extraction and keeping new believers functioning in their home societies, there is a continuum of understanding as to where lines must be drawn in order to maintain faithfulness to Christ and the gospel. To paint the issue otherwise is to engage in a misleading reductionism, an effort that has the appearance of being intentionally confusing in order to gain acceptability for one’s views."

(A Second Look: The Audacity of Hype and Humility. Gary Corwin Editor EMQ. EMQ January 2009 Vol 45, No 1 pp 7)

Wise Use of Money!

"Western money must be used wisely in world missions in order not to create damaging dependency. The assumption that the West is the banker for world missions comes from the period when Western Christians became the paymasters for missions. This went along with a condescending attitude toward non-Western Christians, which spread the disease of dependency. Dependency caused non-Western Christians to assume wrongly that they had nothing worthwhile to contribute to world missions. The apostle Paul knew that money must be used carefully for it to be a help and not a hindrance to God’s mission (1 Corinthians 9:14-16). Consequently, he created no dependency either on himself or on funds he could raise."

(Robert Reese. "Best Mission practices for the 21 century" Christian Standard, November 29,2009. pg844-45)

Mission is Trully "WORLD" Mission!

"Every human being who has a physical or spiritual need is a valid mission field for those who desire to incarnate the love of Jesus regardless of were they live."

(The State of the Gospel. Jason Mandryk. Perspectives 4thed 2009, Ralph D. Winter, William Carey Library, pg 366)

Enough Mission to Do At Home! Why Bother with other nations?

"That there are thousands in our own land as far from God as possible, I readily grant, and that this ought to excite us to ten-fold diligence to our work, and in attempts to spread divine knowledge amongst them is certain fact; but that it ought supersede all attempts to spread the Gospel in foreign parts seems to want proof."

(William Carey, 1792. An Enquiry Into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens. Perspectives,Ralph Winter, 4th edition 2009, William Cary Library pg314)

Mission Helps "Disentangle the Irrelevant" ?

“One keen observer is convinced that 100 million middle-class Hindus await the opportunity to become Christians – but There are no churches for them to join which respect their dietary habits and customs. Is the kingdom of God meat and drink? To go to the special efforts required by E-2 and E-3 evangelism is not to let down the standards and make the gospel easy- it is to disentangle the irrelevant elements and to make the gospel clear. Perhaps everyone is not able to do this special kind of work.”

(The New Macedonia. Ralph D. Winter. Perspectives, 4th edition, 2009, William Carey library pg 356)

The Great Commission Loses Meaning for the Church of the West?

"(There)..... is the vast ignorance of its own members about the texts and traditions of their faith. A clergy friend of mine put on their calling card “Great Commission minded.” When his spouse gave that card to a friend who was in trouble, she looked at it and said, “It says here that you are Great Commission minded. How big a cut do you take of the offering?”

(So Beautiful. Leonard Sweet. David C Cook, 2009. pp37)

Mission Is Leading People to Discover The "True"

" Every lurch forward in the christian tradition springs from the recovery of the true, not the discovery of the new"

(So Beautiful, Lenonard Sweet. David C. Cook, 2009, pp29)

The Mission Invitation Is To Come Encounter Jesus

"All lives are changed that encounter Jesus the person. Evangelism is a Spirit-led encounter with the resurrected Christ. The same can be said of teaching, preaching, play, fellowship, sacraments, worship, justice, and all the other `church' activities. Unless we are pointing to Jesus, introducing and helping others to encounter this Word-made-Flesh who challenges our core assumptions, engages with us in unexpected ways, and turns our lives bottoms up, then we are not functioning as a church."

("So Beautiful". Leonard Sweet. David C. Cook Pub, 2009, pp 104)

Gandhi &The Power of the Scriptures

"You Christians look after a document containing enough dynamite to blow all civilization to pieces, turn the world upside down, and bring peace to a battle-torn planet. But you treat it as though it is nothing more
than a piece of good literature."

(Mohandas Gandhi)

NOT Called to Plant Churches?

“You might say `I’m not called to plant churches.’ Yes, you are! It’s always the will of God to have a people who worship His Son in the nations. You’ll never have to worry about making God mad if you try to plant a church. It seems crazy to me that people are under the delusion they need a special calling to save souls, to disciple them, and to get them together to love Jesus”

("Apostolic Passion", Floyd McClung. "Perspectives on the world Christian Movement", 1999, William Carey Library, Pasadena California . Pg 186c)

Islamic View of Sin is Often Vertical Rather than Horizontal Shame versus Guilt

This is a keen insight that also apply to the animistic people I lived among. Relationships are paramount.

Guilt is a normal reaction of a Western Christian to sin. His conscience is smitten; this leads to remorse and often to repentance. Sensitivity to and the definition of sin depends on many factors. Conscience is conditioned by culture, moral codes, and parental teaching. Sin is regarded primarily as a rebellion against God and secondarily as rebellion against fellow man.

"By contrast the Muslim focuses on the penalty for sin. He does not usually experience sin as guilt but rather as shame and embarrassment losing face is the crucial issue. Lynn Silvernale describes this reaction to sin in the life of a Muslim Bengali. “Shame or embarrassment is a primary social control, that is, it causes a person to try to keep himself in a socially acceptable position.. . . The Bengali governs his behavior by asking himself, ‘What will people say?”

Three-wheeled cycle rickshas are very common in one Muslim country. The drivers arc notorious for their behavior on the road. Often the police will grab one of these drivers and punish him by making him grab his ears, stick out his tongue, and do scores of deep knee bends. The public laugh and ridicule as they pass by. The embarrassment of this simple, nonviolent mode of punishment bums deeply into the heart of the offender.

A consequence of the Muslim perspective is that it is difficult to communicate the biblical meaning of sin to a Muslim. His outlook is horizontal rather than vertical. Often the key criterion of a definition of sin is whether or not a person is caught. ......Repentance and tears come quickly to people with this perspective when they are apprehended in the act. But seldom does guilt lead Muslims to take the initiative and confess a sin of social consequence. The ideal would seem to be a merger of the vertical and horizontal guilt before God along with the shame and embarrassment one feels in relation to other human beings. These forces acting in concert can serve as an effective deterrent to sin."

(Muslim Evangelism: Contemporary Approaches to Contextualization. Phil Parshall. Gabriel Publishing. 2003 p. 96-97)

“Christians need no Missionary appeals when they are lead by the Spirit.”

(Crucial dimensions in World Evangelization, Hiebert, Glasser, Wagner, Winter, pg 9 William Carey Library, 1976)

Multiplication is the BEST "Church Growth" says McGavran?

“One of the leading exponents for church planting in this century was the late Donald McGavran. In a Dawn Report, Jim Montgomery related the following incident:

During the last months of Mary McGavran’s illness, my wife Lyn would frequently spend time with her. Donald McGavran would be there, too, disregarding his own painful cancer while taking care of his beloved Mary. ‘You can be sure Jim and I will continue our commitment to church growth after you’re gone,’ Lyn said to Donald one day. ‘Don’t call it church growth anymore,’ was his quick response. ‘Call it church multiplication!’ Two weeks before his death, he said, ‘The only way we will get the job of the great commission done is to plant a church in every community in the world.’

There is more interest today in missions, world evangelization and church planting than ever before in history. In AD 100 there were 360 believers for every one believer. In 1500 the ratio was 69 to one. In 1900 it was 27 to one. And in 1990 it was seven to one. Ralph Winter is the founder of the U.S. Center for World Mission. Concerning this shrinking ratio, he says, “In the last 20 centuries the meek have quietly been inheriting the earth!”

(Saturation House Church Planting, Robert Fitts, Sr. Chapter 55 in, “Nexus: The World House Church Movement Reader, Rad Zdero, William Carey, 2007 pg 465.)