NeoZine

Bottlenecks in History

The distant past throws long shadows across modern life. Americans recently fought a war in the Balkans that lasted from 1991 to 2001. What many do not realize is that this conflict actually began in the 1500’s. Many of the trends in modern Christianity are tied directly to that era. These long chains of the past are now being stressed by secular culture. This has forced Christians to reconsider hallowed institutions once codified during this violent era in European history.

During this war in 16th century, the Holy Roman Empire were attempting to block Ottoman Turk Muslims from invading southern Christian Europe during the reign of King Charles V. However, Charles could not entirely dislodge them. As a result, the area became a perpetual powder keg between Islamic, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox religions. Theoretically, Clinton settled it 500 years later, right here in Ohio at the “Dayton Peace Accords”.

The Birth of a Movement

As strange as it may seem, the Muslim invasions brought welcome relief to the infant Protestant movement. For two decades Charles V was entangled in the Muslim conflict in southern Europe, while Protestant uprisings grew in Germany, far to the north. The Vatican chaffed and issued threats and edicts from Rome, but was unable do anything to prevent Protestants from dismantling a millennium of well-established church authority.

It was a raucous movement led by rowdy, beer-drinking Luther. The Reformation rocked Germany like John Bellushi’s Animal House (minus the sex, drugs and Rock ‘n Roll.) Protestants turned the Sunday Mass into a spirited attack against the papacy. This was all terribly exciting for the peasants.

The movement enjoyed widespread popularity. “High Church” ceremonies were swept away by spiritual freedom and love for a personal Savior. The somber atmosphere of Mass was shattered by a crazy new, beer-hall instrument called an organ. A joyful cry of “Sola Scriptura!” raced across Europe and spilled into France, where the formally, relatively peaceful movement was suddenly crushed in great bloodshed.

One who fled these massacres was John Calvin. While in hiding, he furiously wrote the Institutes a mere three years after his conversion. He loved the Protestant cause, but his disciplined mind was repulsed by its wild pace and enthusiasm. He wanted more law and order, and the Institutes he wrote established a theology of crushing, sovereign authority by Jesus Christ which justified torture, massacres and wars. Calvin soon unleashed his theology in Geneva. There he established an orderly Protestant world and ruled it with an iron will. The Catholics suddenly became the hunted by the previous persecuted Protestants in Switzerland.

Institutionalized Christianity

Without a doubt the institutions of the church are the greatest obstacles for God’s love and the single cause of Christianity’s dark history. With good motives, brilliant men wrapped tight structures around the church to preserve it. But whenever the Gospel gets wrapped in the systems and business of the Kosmos, the sweet message of God’s grace is gripped by a monster that won’t let go. Institutions always grow more complex, and their grip grows continually more fixed and frozen. Out of biblical Christianity arises just more of Institutionalized Christianity.

Continue Reading »

Chaos suddenly flared across Europe, tearing apart the fragile coalitions of the Holy Roman Empire, the “Protector of the Church.” This was bad timing, because Muslim Turks were marching into the soft underbelly of Europe and advancing to the heart of the Empire.

Europeans were romantic and hopeful about their Holy Roman Empire. It was the rebirth of ancient Rome and Europe’s best hope for holding back the invasions of Muslims equally bent on world domination. When Charles V (1519–1558) came to power, he wore the crowns of Spain, Austria and Germany, which could finally unify most of Europe under church rule.

But a crazy monk messed it up early one frosty morning in 1517 with a hammer, a nail, and a handwritten list of “protests” against local abuses by church authorities. As he tapped the nail he had no idea his protests would expose deep fractures lying beneath the glossy surface of the HRE.

His complaints became a movement defying the Vatican’s monopoly on Christianity. It was infectious and flashed across Europe, triggering religious confusion, chaos in revered social structures, riots and wars. The armies of Charles V were preoccupied with the invading Turks and could do little to quash the Protestant Reformation for years, and then it was too popular and unstoppable. Continue Reading »

You just gotta love ‘em: the “New Calvinists” they’re called, which means they embrace Reformed theology, commonly known as Calvinism.

A young generation of Christian leaders like Mark Driscoll are capturing headlines even in the NeoZine! They are dubbed “the young and restless Reformed” because they are innovative church-planters, but they still maintain a strict diet of old-fashioned Reformed theology.

Driscoll is speaking in July at the Xenos Summer Institute, so it’s worthwhile to study Reformed theology and its history in order to appreciate Driscoll. Especially at Xenos, people are largely unfamiliar with the old, tired dog of Reformed Christianity called Covenant Theology.

Reformed churches were once-monolithic Protestant denominations, such as the Episcopalians, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Baptists, but since the ’60s they are growing increasingly irrelevant, with few exceptions. The newest research now shows about 7% of the population is “evangelical”, and the hardest-hit are these Reformed denominations.¹

But changes are underway, and some Protestant churches are trying to stop the bleeding.

A Gen-X Revolution?

Generation-X made a big splash in the pool of American church life with “Emergents” (Emergent Church) and young, Restless Reformed. The Emergents and Restless Reformed are driving new directions, but with very different theologies.

Emergents are represented by the Emergent Village, and is renown for blending Postmodernism with the Bible,² but the Restless Reformed maintain a classical epistemology (view of truth).

Driscoll characterizes Gen-X as largely ineffective, silly Christianity:

This generation can be a whiny bunch of idealists getting together in small groups to complain about mega-churches and the religious right rather than doing something. - quoted in Relevant Magazine

He then describes his Restless Reformed theopraxy³ as a backlash against the “whiny” Emergent church:

In Revelation, Jesus is a prize fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up. I fear some are becoming more cultural than Christian, and without a big Jesus who has authority and hates sin as revealed in the Bible, we will have less and less Christians, and more and more confused, spiritually self-righteous blogger critics of Christianity.

The Thrill is Gone

Still, these very different Gen-X movements bear the same prominent Gen-X trademark: a penchant for the banal. (What does “Generation-X” stand for, anyway? Nobody knows, and nobody cares.) They know how take the zing out of the Bible.

Continue Reading »

1. See Dennis McCallum’s review of “Fall of the Evangelical Nation”. [⇑]
2. See Wikipedia - Emerging Church: Postmodern World View and the language of deconstruction. [⇑]
3. Theopraxy is the practice of theology, or what some call “the practice of God.” [⇑]

Finding Xenos

I’ll never forget finding Xenos. Kathryn and I moved from Colorado Springs to Columbus in 1996 where Kathryn worked for Focus on the Family in the marketing department. A copy of “The Death of Truth” by Dennis McCallum, senior elder with Xenos, came across her desk. She was intrigued by the book and brought it home for me to read. The book struck a chord with me because of its philosophical bent. It agreed with much I had picked up as an undergraduate student of J. P. Moreland at Biola University. Once we moved to Columbus, despite the 45 minute drive from our apartment in Delaware, OH, we decided to check out Xenos.

The first day we strolled into the warehouse there a band was playing Steely Dan music. I was able to get a donut and coffee to eat during the service. I’d never seen a church with a snack bar! In addition, everyone was dressed like they were about to wash their car! But the best part occurred when Dennis got up to speak. I looked at Kathryn and said “this is our church.”

We were passive pew-sitters for a while but everyone kept talking about “getting incorporated” by checking out a home church. We decided to check out a home church and were referred to a home church in Upper Arlington led by Eric and Vicky Schroer and Anne Blackwell. Continue Reading »

When you read the history of Xenos, you read about chaos - or so it seems to the institutional mind. But to those who enjoy the love of Christ, it’s called freedom, and freedom is chaotic for legalistic minds. This is the “real Xenos model” in a nutshell: some call it chaos, while others call it “freedom through the love of Christ”. (What a cool slogan!)

Here’s the kind of chaos I love: listen to The Road Less Traveled by Dave Browning, some dude from the West Coast.¹ He’s a Willow Creek mega-church business-model dropout who is now more relaxed and happier than ever — and more fruitful than ever, too! This was Dave’s life in the business-model church:

Dave’s high didn’t come from a bottle or a needle, but from those Sunday mornings when a big crowd packed his church, everything went just right and he hit the ball out of the park with another power-packed sermon. The need for that rush nearly destroyed everything Dave cared about.²

The Business-Leader Model

Such is the life of the business-model church leader: it’s all about “Kingly-Leadership” which kills a good Church Planting Movement. The business-leader model also kills the kingly leaders through exhaustion.

Willow Creek’s own research now reveals a disturbing trend with this entire approach. I recently blogged about the “Revolving Door Syndrome” that kept us stagnated here in Northeastern Ohio, and Willow is discovering the same trend through research. It’s called the “Old Christian Syndrome” (or OCS), and it looks like this:³

Continue Reading »

1. The Road Less Traveled, by Dave Browning from Christ the King church in Washington. His podcast is from last month’s Multi-Site Exposed 2008 conference [⇑]
2. Quoted from Leadership Network. [⇑]
3. Research from the Reveal Web site. [⇑]

A Word of Prophecy

Tom Dixon’s teaching began with some fumbling and mumbling mishaps with the microphone and sound system, which probably shook Tom up a little. It promised to be a dismal teaching from an obscure figure.

But then Tom launched into a strong message about what it means to carry out the Great Commission: “GO!” It’s all there in the first word. Aside from Tom, there was a surprising paucity of insights about the Great Commission at the STR.

This Great Commission oversight was not only unusual for the STR, but very noticeable since Calvary Chapel was often cited. As a model of a healthy church, if Calvary is actually driven by the Prophet-Leader extolled in the “Tri-Perspectival View,” there should be a clear path to follow in their footsteps. But what is it?

Dennis strongly endorsed Calvary’s “hot theology of ministry,” but then grew vague about exactly why it was so hot. It was difficult to discern what changes leaders could implement from the STR, beyond avoiding the obsession with statistics. The deemphasis on counting was only marginally-helpful for NeoXenos leaders, since our statistical work is already sloppy and pathetic enough.¹

NeoNews reported the aspects of Calvary which Dennis said were not enviable or easily-transferred into a Xenos ethos, and the list eliminated most of the distinctive differences from Xenos.

But there was one major distinction from Xenos which Calvary pursues with gusto: Calvary is perpetually sending out leaders to plant extra-local churches. This was, of course, the point of Tom’s teaching about “GO!” Unfortunately, only Tom’s teaching tackled this issue. Some of the other teachings casually mentioned the “sending” ministry of Calvary, but without much practical benefit.

The Multi-Site Movement

Driscoll’s “Tri-Perspectival View” of leadership is merely an introduction to the real excitement and drama in Driscoll’s teaching. He uses the Prophet-Leader concept to call for potentially-unsettling changes at Mars Hill in Seattle. He calls it “Multi-Site Church”, and whatever else may be said about his vision, it is certainly valuable for Xenos in two big ways. Continue Reading »

1. Leaders discuss statistics about once every six months: the October leader retreat and February FST retreat. View a slide show of the 2008 retreat slide online. [⇑]

Greg Morscher and I were watching this cool online broadcast by Mark Driscoll titled, “Why Mulit-Site?” Driscoll is the big speaker at XSI in Columbus this summer, and his arrival is none-too-soon. Columbus Xenos is re-evaluating itself, the major topic at this year’s Servant Team Retreat (STR) in Cincinnati. Listening to Driscoll’s broadcast offers a refreshing and visionary alternative to some of the hand-wringing confusion at the STR.

Driscoll proposes answering the big question left unanswered from the STR: how will Columbus regain its vision as a Church Planting Movement (CPM)? This is a significant issue for NeoXenos, because we are absolutely committed to CPM, and we fought a long and hard battle to get here. STR was certainly inspirational by teaching us the differences between spiritual and carnal leadership, but never resolved was The Quest for CPM, as most of the STR teachers acknowledged.

But Tom Dixon’s teaching at the STR raised the most exciting and clear answer for The Quest. Surprisingly, it is an ancient solution, but still highly applicable, and Driscoll frames it well.

The “Tri-Perspectival View” of Leadership

Driscoll approaches the Great Commission in a fresh way even though he uses silly terms like “Tri-Perspectival”. Jesus is the pattern to follow, he says, and names three roles of effective spiritual leadership: the Priest, Prophet and King. These Old Testament offices were all fulfilled by Jesus, as we are studying in Hebrews. This is God’s eternal paradigm for spiritual leadership, and since the authority of Jesus is driving the Great Commission, these aspects of his leadership should be evident.

The Priestly Leader is compassionate and concerned about people’s needs, like we studied in Hebrews: “He is able to deal gently with ignorant and wayward people…” (Heb. 5:2). Driscoll says the Priestly-Leader asks the question “Who?” In other words, he cares for people. This is what someone does with the “pastor/shepherd” gift, and it is an invaluable leadership role (see Eph. 4:11ff). But churches don’t grow without the other leadership roles, and they often shrink.

The Kingly Leader is a builder, Driscoll says, always asking “How?” These leaders are not only practical, but phenomenal organizers who bring people together to build. This energetic, effective leadership is a spiritual gift in Romans 12:8, but still requires the other leadership roles for balance. The King-Leader becomes too results-driven and uncompassionate without the Priest-Leader, or too institutional without the Prophet-Leader, thus eliminating God’s dynamic leadership altogether.

The Prophet-Leader is perpetually asking “Why?” and pursues the quest for change, Driscoll says. This corresponds to the gift of prophecy in Romans 12:6, and it is highly-valued in Paul’s writings. This is a powerful gift with strong influence in the church because it arises from the spiritual and mystical leadership of God. As such, this leadership gift also brings the upheaval and change that God desires for his people (see 1 Cor. 2:9, Luke 5:37; 2 Cor. 5:17). But these leaders are too theoretical or rhetorical without the other leaders who implement, build, and touch people’s concerns.

Leadership Imbalances

The STR teachings were aimed at the overwhelming influence of the Kingly-Leader model working in Columbus. When this occurs it means structures, organization, programs, buildings, statistics, bureaucracies, policies and budgets dominate a Christian group. Continue Reading »