Occasio

Another day at Fuller

Day 3 -- Today I presented my dissertation proposal. I was on the hot seat in front of my colleagues and doctoral advisers for about 80 minutes. Pastor James Bergen was able to make it down from Fresno to show support, ask questions and help me with the presentation. Thanks James!

My proposal was dismantled fairly thoroughly, but a number of elements survived. I’ll now have to work hard at reshaping the eleven-page document and then resubmitting it. In general, I’m proposing to help North Fresno Church begin to think about diffusing the kinds of things we’ve been doing in the church neighborhood into the neighborhoods of individual congregants. We have engaged in such wonderful missional practices on North Fresno Street, we need to understand how members of NFC can engage their own neighbors. My plan is to gather several families from different areas of town and begin some simple experiments with missional practices on their blocks. The practices might include walking and reading a neighborhood, Appreciative Inquiry interviews, lectio divina in their homes, and the practice of hospitality. The actual practices will be decided on by the families who covenant together to participate in this project. One of the outcomes will be a Sunday school class that is taught by the participants. Hopefully that will be a way to pass on what we have learned.

A lot of the details are missing because my next task is to redesign my proposal and fill in the blanks. If you would like to follow my progress or are from NFC and would like to participate in this project just let me know. Say a prayer for me to if you think about it as well.

My stay at Fuller

I’m spending the week at Fuller Theological Seminary enrolled in the final seminar of my DMin program. I have completed all of the course work and am now ABD – All But Dissertation. The main task this week is for each of us doctoral candidates to present the first draft of our dissertation proposal, then listen to our colleagues and doctoral advisers deconstruct and tear it apart.

Day 1 – I arrived Sunday late afternoon after a fairly uneventful drive. I had fun listening to some of my old albums-now-on-CD, and I even got to hear the broadcast of Dinuba Mennonite Brethren Church. The five hour drive is never a problem because I love listening to music and radio. The day ended with a meal for the ten of us students hosted by our doctoral advisers, Mark Branson and Alan Roxburgh. We spent a couple of hours fellowshipping and catching up. I’m so blessed to have such wonderful colleagues, friends and conversation partners.

Day 2 – We started the day, as we always do, with lectio divina. Our passage for reflection this week is Acts 2. (For a brief description of this “dwelling in the Word” see my blog about last year’s Fuller experience here.) Acts 2 records the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. It’s full of rich imagery: violent wind, tongues of fire, miraculous languages, amazed people, a sermon, repentance, baptism and the birth of the first church. One of the things that we reflected on is the context for this message. The believers are gathered together and are driven out into the streets after receiving the Spirit. They immediately begin speaking the languages of others in the city. Jews from various areas had moved to Jerusalem, and even though they would have spoken Greek, the newly Spirit-filled believers speak to them in their own native languages. These people used to live in communities and territories that were established during the Babylonian exile. These are the descendants of the post-Persian exiles. It's amazing to see that the Spirit chooses to speak in the native tongues of the people.

With regard to this context, we must ask, Why did the apostles speak to them in their native languages and not Greek, the dominant language that they all would have understood anyway? What was God up to? What was God doing by including all these nationalities and languages in the emergence of his new church? Or, as the people in Jerusalem asked, “What does this mean?” Surely God was redefining his kingdom community to be inclusive and open. The believers were ministering the gospel of Jesus Christ as any missionary would, in the native languages of the people. Our challenge today: What would happen if we walked our neighborhoods asking some of the same fundamental questions: How can we speak the language of these people? What signs and wonders are already evident in the neighborhoods we live in? Might we be “amazed and perplexed” with what God is already doing and ask with the first-century Jews, “What does this mean?” There’s a lot more to unpack in this passage….

The remainder of the day was spent listening to two dissertation proposals and then discussing them. The dismantling and reconstructing of our proposals is the primary task of this week’s seminar. I’ll say more about that after I have my turn.

Fuller: Day 7, 8 & 9

I really got behind in my posts. Since there are at least a few of you who have been following along, I'll give a quick summary of the work we did during the last three days of my time at Fuller. (More importantly, it's a great way for me to personally debrief; thanks for listening in.)

Day 7. On Tuesday we worked quite extensively at understanding and implementing Missional Action Teams in our congregations. This is the culmination of an 18 month process. In my church, North Fresno Church, I have facilitated leadership retreats, conducted research and organized listening groups. Through this process our church leadership has identified several adaptive challenges. Along the way our goal has been to listen for the voice of God through his people. We will now select one of the addaptive challenges, choose a Missional Action Team, and release the team to creatively re-imagine how the challenge might be addressed in our specific context.

In the afternoon we watched a very provocative movie: The End of Suburbia. The film presented a rather grim picture of the rise of suburbia and gave a dire prediction of its demise. There is a growing movement of people that believe oil production has peaked on planet Earth, and that suburbia will not be able to sustain itself as the global demand for oil increases and production decreases. How is this related to missional church studies? Churches and congregants must understand the context in which they live and witness. Geography matters. Is it possible the American dream is nothing more than a dream?

Day 8. On Wednesday we heard stories from Dr. Mark Lau Branson and Dr. Alan Roxburgh about the importance of geography and context for missional ministry. Branson related the story of his home congregation in Oakland, California. He and his family relocated to an older urban neighborhood of neglect and poverty. While there, they worked with a local church in several exciting initiatives:

• They disbanded all of the committees at the church and created “covenant groups.” These groups formed not only to address issues in the church but to bring those issues into the real-life everyday situations of the congregation and the church neighborhood. Example: the worship group continued to plan the worship for Sunday gatherings, but they also began to plan block parties in the neighborhoods of the church and of the congregants. They asked, “How can we celebrate Christ not just in the church, but also in our neighborhoods.
• They partnered with a local elementary school, implemented a literacy program, and watched literacy among second graders jump from 10% to 90% in the school.
• They had a Christmas celebration that started at the home of an artist near the church. While at the home they listened to the artist explain one of her sculptures and talk about recent pain in her life. As they then walked several blocks to the church for a Christmas evening service they sang carols, invited strangers to join them and watched their parade grow. After the service at the church they walked to another home for a spaghetti dinner and continued celebrating late into the night. What started with 20 people ended with 80!
• They created a co-housing project in which four families lived together, shared resources, grew much of their own food, and even generated their on electricity through solar power (quite amazing since this was 1999).

Roxburgh told of life lived together in community as well. Eighty percent of the 400 attenders at the church he pastored were from the neighborhood. They had regular meals together, spent time walking through the streets of the church’s surrounding neighborhood and hung out in local businesses and restaurants. They also started a community house for ministry students who were attending seminary; all the participants practiced community within the context of the local church.

In the afternoon we visited Christian Assembly, a Four-Square megachurch in Pasadena that operates with a set of missional values. I don’t think I have ever heard of a church of 2500 understanding and implementing a missional approach to ministry (I didn’t even know it was possible!)  Two things stood out while talking to this church’s leaders:

• Absolutely essential for the life of this congregation is the telling of stories. It was not surprising to hear that this church was born out of the Alcoholics Anonymous model (“Hi, my name is Tim, and I’m an alcoholic”). In church services, small groups and even pastoral staff meetings, the primary agenda is to tell stories of how God is active in the lives of believers; and that includes stories of failure as well. This is an extremely vulnerable and confessional community.
• The pastors are very intentional about releasing ministry to congregants. The leaders understand their role to be that of encourager, equipper and sustainer. They provide a fertile seed-bed for creativity and then empower congregants to use their giftedness in real-life ministry. Example: one woman in the church had a burden for the sex-slave trade in the ports of Los Angeles. She checked this with the pastors and other members in the church and soon found another woman to partner with her. They, in turn, found someone who was not even a member of the church, a non-Christian, but had the same passion. The church equipped them and resourced them to begin a ministry that brought awareness to the issue, advocated for appropriate legislation and reached out to the victims. Amazing initiatives for a megachurch!

Day 9. On Thursday we just tidied up some of the mechanics of the course, reviewed various frameworks for reflecting on church and ministry and clarified questions around the ethnographic research we will be doing. I’m hoping to do my research in the Whispering Woods apartment complex. This complex is virtually across the street from our church and is home to 1500 people of all ethnicities, faiths and economic brackets. Can’t wait to get started….

Fuller: Day 6, Jim Wallis on Bono

It’s late so just a quick post tonight.

I was able to hear Jim Wallis, editor and CEO of Sojourners, at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena tonight. Jim has been a proponent for the integration of faith, politics and culture for years, and has been an especially important voice in the evangelical community. He is currently on a book tour promoting his most recent work, The Great Awakening: reviving faith and politics in a post-religious right America.

He had some great words of commendation for Bono in his presentation. He recalled how Bono made such an important impact at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit a couple of years ago. Speaking about that event one pastor told him, “When I came I wasn’t sure if Bono was a Christian; when I left I wasn’t sure if I was.” Bono has a way of doing that to people! Jim speaks of meeting with Bono on numerous occasions and of Bono’s love of politics and theology. He always has questions for Jim. During one particular conversation Jim and Bono were discussing Luke 4:18-19. Jim unequivocally stated “if the good news does not bring hope for the poor than it is not good news. To that Bono replied, “I want to tattoo Luke 4 on my forehead!”

Some other thoughts from Jim (not related to Bono):

• There are two hungers in the world today: one for spirituality and one for social justice.
• Two things have changed recently in America: there is now a praying left and evangelicals have become socially conscious.
• MLK never endorsed a candidate; he made the candidates take his agenda.
• The religious right is being replaced by Jesus. The answer to a religious right is not a religious left.
• Every generation asks two questions: What is acceptable? and What is possible?
• Politicians are blown by the wind. We are called to be wind changers.

As the California primary is now just hours away, I don’t want to underestimate its significance, but it really is not as important as what happens after the election. Rather than elect “one of our own” (this is most often just another form of coercion), we as Christians must work for systemic change by being a voice for Micah 6:8 – justice, mercy and humility. I’m much more concerned about the role I play in lobbying whoever is in congress or the White House than in getting “my” candidate elected. I’m still idealistic enough to think that this “new activism” can make a difference.

I guess that wasn’t a short post after all….

Fuller: Day 5, Theology is local

This morning Alan Roxburgh sketched a historical perspective of the shift away from the local in modernity. Place and time no longer have the significance they once had. The result is that we no longer have individual or collective memories of our past. This impacts the way we do ministry. Here are some summary thoughts.

• After the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 local territories began to consolidate into nation-states, the precursor to modern nations.
• From Decartes: “I think therefore I am” creates a dualism between the mind and body; the mind takes precedence over the material. From Kant: we all know normal ethical imperatives; place, geography and culture no longer matter. From Schleiermacher: Jesus came to give us a universal answer; time and place are discounted.
• London created the first suburbs as people moved to the edges of town. This was viewed as stately and cultured. In response to the industrial revolution people moved away from their places of work. On a related note, this is the first time women assumed a weaker role, staying at home while their protector husbands went to work in the city.
• The priest/pastor and cathedral/church were no longer centered in a parish. Geographic location was less important as people become more mobile.
• In the twentieth century clergy become professionals. Schools of theology gained in popularity and pastors began to study in the same way that lawyers and doctors did. In the 1970s and 1980s pastors primarily found their identity as therapists; their role became therapeutic. In the 1990s the dominant professional role shifted to “pastor as business manager.” The emphasis was on management, administration and “church health.” This represents the notion that universal professional skills are transferable and can be taught and learned without consideration for the local congregation.

All of this supports the idea that the local and particular are unimportant. We unknowingly yield to the false assumption that we can manage reality, predict outcomes and control our destiny. If we believe this we will not sense the need to interpret scripture at the local level and we will experience high anxiety when we can’t meet goals, can’t manage and successfully predict ministry outcomes in a time of massive discontinuous change, and can’t deliver when ministry no longer works like it “used to.” The corrective is to spend time in the local, corporately interpret scripture in a church’s context, and resist the impulse to find the one right, universal plan or solution.

Fuller: Day 4, Mama's Hot Tamales

Today we got on the Metro and rode from Pasadena to MacArthur Park in central Los Angeles. I’ve been to this park many times in the last 15 years, but on this trip I learned quite a bit more about it’s history.

Joe Colletti told us about the birth of a business and the rehab of a park. Joe rented a storefront office when MacArthur Park was infested with drugs, prostitution and gangs. He remembers scooting his old wooden desk up against the window looking out at the park and wondering what God was up to. The spirit was heavy on Joe’s heart to do something about the historic park, but what could he do?

He started by simply cleaning the sidewalk in front of his business. He swept and washed it down every morning. Still, he watched drug deals go down right outside his front door multiple times a day with no response from the police. After having the parking meters on the street removed there was significant progress made; this reduced the drug trade and made it impossible for people stop and make deals. His next step was to secure a temporary permit to hold a family festival in the park. In a 100 square foot section he and his wife handed out balloons and met the residents of the neighborhood – that was his festival. On successive occasions the festivals got larger and larger and attracted more people. Joe began “weed and seed” meetings hosting various faith groups and civic leaders. The community task force pressured the police chief to install cameras in MacArthur Park and soon crime had dropped dramatically. The 2005 census track revealed a reduction in crime greater than any other area in the country. Today the park is clean, safe and family friendly once again.

All through this process Joe was building a business. Together with Sandi Romero he identified the need to help illegal tamale vendors find a way to legally practice their trade. They opened a kitchen where vendors could come and make their tamales in a clean and state-approved kitchen. They also started an education center where vendors could learn business management, culinary skills and legal requirements for street sales of their products. The result is Mama’s Hot Tamales, a wonderful restaurant serving and catering tamales from all over the world.

Joe and Sandi (“Mama”) had a vision for an area of town that even the police had given up on, yet through the power of the spirit they realized a dream of revitalizing an entire neighborhood. Together, and with the help of many others, they heard the voice of God among his people and answered a call to meet the needs of neighbors, not through any strategic plan, but through persistent listening, unswerving patience and sheer determination on a day-by-day basis.

Fuller: Day 3, The Kings Villages

One of the highlights from today was visiting the Kings Villages apartment complex. This complex has 1400 residence and occupies six blocks (32 acres) in Pasadena, CA. Ten years ago the apartments were full of drug dealers, gangs, and prostitution – even the police stayed out of the gated community. Crime ran amok and poverty was evident everywhere. The people lived in a virtual prison.

A little church, Community Baptist Church, of 25 people looked across the street at this tragedy and was challenged by the spirit of God to do something. But what could a little tiny African-American fellowship do? Pastor Jean Burch, a former lawyer, worked to form a nonprofit corporation that could tackle the tough issue. Through great determination, creativity and imagination the church worked to purchase the complex.

Pastor Jean tells a wonderful story of how the church came into the complex after purchasing it, called a meeting and proceeded to tell the residents how they were going to fix up the residence and, in essence, save the people. The pastor and her congregation were stunned and embarrassed when one person rebuked the new owners as self-interested, self-serving landlords. The residents were fearful, skeptical and suspicious of the new owner’s intentions. In a beautiful act of grace and humility the pastor and congregation later returned and apologized. They said they were sorry for assuming what the complex’s needs were, for not genuinely listening to the people who lived there, and for living across the street and allowing the complex to fall into such disrepair. The pastor also brought other civic leaders into the complex to apologize. The tragedy of the Kings Villages was the fault of everyone in the community.

Today the complex is a beautiful, vibrant and rich living environment. All of the apartments have been refurbished at a cost of $17,000 per unit, the complex has been painted, plumbing fixed, grass planted, pools cleaned and filled and so much more. The apartments now have a computer learning center, social services, kids programs and ESL classes. The dream of renewal has been realized because a small church listened for the voice of God in their sanctuary and in their neighborhood. God’s spirit is among God’s people.

Fuller: Day 2, Geography matters

Today Alan Roxburgh addressed why “geography matters” using Albert Borgmann’s book, Crossing the Postmodern Divide. Borgmann argues that there are three features of modernity that have led to an understanding that geography no longer matters.

• Aggressive realism. This is the notion that all of nature can be conquered. Example: airplanes can carry us against the jet stream, over mountain ranges, across borders and over oceans. Business can now be conducted across international boundaries and, with the advent of the internet, in real time. The modernist believes that nature, space and time have been mastered.
• Methodological Universalism. Simply put, what we do in one place we can do in others. Technology has created universality and homogeneity. We believe that if a method worked in one context we can reproduce it in another.
• Ambiguous Individualism. People are lonely. In an attempt to alleviate their loneliness they seek out and join other gatherings of lonely people. They interpret these gatherings as “community” but there is nothing authentic about these pseudo fraternities. These are groups of instant and superficial affiliations, not genuine relationships (think “I’ll meet you at Starbucks”).

In sum, in modernity there was a belief that geography didn’t matter. In a postmodern context we find that this is a bankrupt belief primarily because people are not satisfied with the superficiality this brings. Pomos are suspicious of aggressive realism, methodological universalism and ambiguous individualism and are returning to the “local.” Have you heard about the “slow food” movement? Have you bought food from a local co-op? Have you grown food in your own backyard? Are you inclined to buy American? Have you seen the gentrification of your city’s downtown so that people can live in the area they work? Do you know someone who has moved closer to their church? Geography matters again.

A final comment. A vital problem of the church growth movement is that it buys into the notion that geography doesn’t matter. The three features Borgmann defines come eerily close to describing the contemporary church. Are we simply building superficial communities? Geography matters, and all theology is local. More on that later.

At Fuller Theological Seminary: Day 1, Lectio Divina

Today is the first day of two weeks at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA. I'm continuing in my third year of doctoral studies. My area of interest is missional church leadership. Here is a brief description of the program. Read my first blog entry to find out why I started this blog and how it relates to my program. Click on the "Fuller Studies" category over there on the right if you would like to read a variety of entries on the missional church.

We began our day "dwelling in the word." This is a modified form of lectio divina that we practice corporately on a daily basis. Lectio divina is a way of reading, praying and meditating on scripture with the expectation that God is present and that He can be heard through the text. This devotional reading of scripture can be traced back to the Desert Fathers and other early church leaders, and was given special prominence by St. Benedict. To this day the Benedictine monks set aside time each day for labor, liturgy and lectio.

There are four basic steps involved in lectio divina. First is the lectio, or “reading/listening.” This stage cultivates the ability to listen deeply without distraction. The selected scripture should be read more than once with the option of using different translations and a variety of readers (especially in a group). The listener is encouraged to identify any word or phrase that stands out or “shines.” Even in familiar passages something new might catch the reader’s attention. This is done in deliberate silence and with great patience. Next is meditatio, or “meditation.” In this step the listener dwells on or “chews on” (reminiscent of a cow regurgitating its food) a specific word or phrase asking for God’s help in letting His Word become flesh. The third step is oratio, or “prayer.” While the whole exercise can be considered a prayer of scripture, this segment emphasizes a prayer of contriteness. The listener prays that God will shape him or her through the text. The final stage is contemplatio, or “contemplation.” This is the silent response the reader has to God’s magnificent presence. It is a time of resting in the midst of the Living Word.

Every day for the next two weeks we will be dwelling in Luke 10:1-12.This is a powerful passage of scripture in which Jesus sends out the 70 to teach and heal in advance of his coming. So many questions surface as I read and pray through this. "What might it mean to collect the harvest in an agrarian community?" "Can we understand the full meaning of Christ's use of the word 'peace'?" "Why is hospitality, staying in homes and eating food such a prominent part of this story?" "Why were the disciples instructed not to greet anyone on the road?" "What does the nearness of the kingdom mean?" I have a feeling that asking these and other questions will do me more good than reading for answers.

Other than that we spent the day hearing stories of the missional journey in each of our contexts. There are now thirteen of us pastors left in the cohort (we started with eighteen). For some the conversation has been warm and inviting in their congregations. For others it has been a hard if not impossible struggle. I am grateful for the conversation we are having in our community at North Fresno Church. Here is a blog we have started to chronicle a bit of that journey.

Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy

Class was very good today (I’ll say more in another post), but what happened after class was just as meaningful. Tim Peters is a great friend and has ministered in downtown Los Angeles for more than fifteen years. I stop by or take students to see the ministry he is involved in at least a couple of times a year. Last year when I came for studies at Fuller I took some colleagues to a karaoke night for homeless people at Central City Community Church. You can read three previous posts about that here.

Recently, Tim left his ministry as a pastor to homeless children and now is the executive director of a shelter for families. This is a passion of Tim’s because in Los Angeles, while the homeless population used to consist of primarily men, there are more and more mothers and children on the street (this is due to the gentrification of the older downtown area, forcing families out of cheap housing and refitting the hotels they lived in as high-end lofts). There is a desperate need for family “restorative housing,” as Tim calls it. Tonight I had dinner with three homeless families at an old home called “The Door of Hope.” I ate with them, played with the children and helped prepare two rooms for two more families that will move in tomorrow. It was a house of joy (lots of children laughing and yelling), of celebration (we stopped the meal to clap for Tiara for getting a 100% on an assignment in kindergarten), and acceptance (my name was as important to them as theirs was to me). In this one-year program the parents are taught financial skills, parenting skills, are given psychological care and are placed in jobs. The program has a wonderful rate of success; one of the grads is now a full-time case worker back in the home.

We talked in depth about theology and ecclesiology today. I am more and more convinced that theology must be preceded by, or at least accompanied by, ministry to make any sense at all. There is no orthodoxy without orthopraxy. Ministry informs and shapes my theology, and an appropriate ecclesiology can only come from serving together as a community of believers. I have seen this in my own congregation: people’s understandings of God, of self and of others are radically altered when they serve, clothe and house the poor.

After I left “The Door of Hope” I drove over to All Saints Church, an Episcopal church in Pasadena. I entered the beautiful cathedral-like sanctuary and to my delight I was the only one there. I wandered around and then sat down, reflected and prayed through the day. I was thinking how wonderful it would be to hear some music. I had barely done so when a whole bunch of noisy, chattering women emerged through a back door and mounted the stage. I spent the next half hour just listening to them practice! Here’s a brief clip.

I left the church in pursuit of a bunch of fresh bananas. I found a Ralph’s and picked up some goodies for tomorrow. I was met in the parking lot by a lady who needed gas. I helped her put five bucks worth in a spare gas can. Orthodoxy is not complete without orthopraxy.

I ended the day by catching up with my roommate, Bob, and eating peanut butter and bananas. Not a bad day. Thanks God, and good night.

UPDATE, February 1: Oddly enough, it's the morning after I wrote this post and the front page of the Los Angeles Times has an article entitled "Rousting of skid row homeless puts strain on surrounding areas." The Times has been following issues related to the downtown homeless community for awhile. Hospitals have been discharging people and dumping them on skid row. In Long Beach a pastor defied a city ordinance and let homeless stay on his church campus. Here's an article about a teen who makes his way to school in urban L.A. and overcomes all adversities with family and prayer. Here's one about a teen who chronicles gentrification in her neighborhood. I have many more; let me know if you need them.