01.05.07
the forgotten ways II
This is my second foray into Alan’s followup to his earlier work with Michael Frost, The Shaping of Things to Come. I had hoped to cover most of the book this week, but work and life have a way of interfering with my good intentions. If I spend too much time on reading or on my blog, my business suffers.. not good for the family budget.
In my first look I attempted to convey my excitement about the book. Now we’ll move beyond the introduction and first chapter and begin to get at the heart of Alan’s thesis. Chapter two opens with two quotes, the first from the notorious Machiavelli, and the second from David Bosch.
“Nothing is more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than achieving a new order of things.” Machiavelli
“Strictly speaking one ought to say that the church is always in a state of crisis and that its greatest shortcoming is that it is only occasionally aware of it…” D Bosch
For Alan, this translates into the recognition that “most efforts at change in the church fail to deal with the very assumptions on which Christendom is built and maintains itself.” (51) In part, this is why we are “stuck in a moment and can’t get out of it” (U2). The discussion here is on the Christendom compact, and Alan references both Stuart Murray and Douglas John Hall.
Alan uses an analogy from the computer world. Apple Computers is synonymous with innovation. In that world innovation translates into reworking three components: hardware, OS, and software. There isn’t much point in developing new hardware unless a new operating system is also designed. And there isn’t much use for a new OS unless new software is developed. Working at one level only without addressing the other two creates bottlenecks that restrict effectiveness.
In a similar manner, developing new programs without addressing the shifting cultural context, or addressing that context apart from also doing theological work only limits the work of God in the world. Reorienting the church around its mission is a huge and embracing task, and it requires systemic change. Alan calls us to become aware of the invisible assumptions that govern our interaction with the gospel and culture: in effect, he calls us in the same direction as Margaret Wheatley, Parker Palmer, Peter Senge and others, to “see our seeing.” When we have done that work, true change becomes possible.
Alan reminds us that Ivan Illich suggested that to change the world one must tell an alternative story. What are the myths on which our systems are built? Are we aware of how our “operating systems” interface with the hardware and software? Like Brueggemann, we are going to have to appeal to an alternative scripting of reality, “the playful entertainment of [a script] that may subvert the old given text and its interpretation and lead to the embrace of an alternative text and its redescription of reality.”? This process becomes more challenging as we recognize our own resistance to change, our investment in the “the politics of oppression and the economics of affluence.” As McLaren and others are constantly reminding us, the Gospel is profoundly political.
Are we then “anti-institutional?” Alan comes across this way, as do many of us, but he prefers to reference “holy subversion.” Holy rebellion directs us to a greater experience of God than we currently know. Alan maintains that this attitude and resulting action is our only hope for renewal.
The next section references the work of Ralph Winter and his idea of “cultural distance.” This material has been used by many others, including Brian McLaren. In short, we set ourselves and others on a scale from m0 on the left to m4 on the right in order to “see” the gap we must cross in order to proclaim and authentically perform the Gospel.
Each movement along the scale from left to right indicates a barrier one must cross to bring the Gospel. The common example is language, a step from m0 to m1. The step from m1 to m2 would be from a “Christian” context to a context where there is popular awareness (perhaps having heard bad things about the church), or previous rejection. From m2 to m3 there is no real knowledge of Christianity at all.. this is an alternative culture or ethnic group. From m3 to m4 is the greatest distance and often active resistance.
The Edict of Milan and Constantine’s deal with the church provided a uniform context in the western world for 1600 years. The church has largely conformed to that mode and is comfortable working with the m0 to m1 regions. Now, however, that region is vanishing and we are forced to move beyond those simple barriers to m2 and even m3, all in our own neighborhoods. In Christendom “outreach” often worked. In post-Christendom and the pluralistic environment, the cultural distance has increased and our local context has become missional.
Intriguing.. in missional settings the “attractional” mode becomes “extractional.” We actually do more damage than good by evangelizing a few and bringing them into our isolated Christian subculture. We need to explore and find incarnational means of ekklesial life if we are going to survive as a dynamic movement. Alan moves on from here to discuss the emerging church movement and the many signs of dynamic spiritual life, mostly underground, and worldwide as he moves into the second section, titled “A Journey to the Heart of Apostolic Genius.”
John Santic (Towards Hope) said,
January 5, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Len Thanks for that glimpse into the book. It seems intriguing to me and I’ll add it to my wish list…
You know, I’ve been pondering the idea of formation and I’m thinking that many of the challenges we see arise from modernity’s church is that ecclesiology and formation are not Trinitarian in identity/nature. Here’s waht I mean. If the Church is formed by Trinitarian values and then practices, it is hospitable, mutually loving, relational (as opposed to instatutional), generous, and importantly, among a host of other things, missioal. I know you do much work in the area spiritual/missional formation, so I’d like to know your thoughts about this.
for clarity, I think the modern church has missed the Trinity and embraced values that are other, such as personal needs, comfort, security, individualism, materialism, etc…thus leading to an ecclesiology that largely plays into or is formed out of the autonomous individual’s needs.
It just seems to me that (in many cases) at the deepest level of operation (the value level) there is somthing other than the Trinity shaping things.
I’d be curious to hear your thoughts.
len said,
January 5, 2007 at 3:03 pm
John, you’re right. I’m convinced, along with many others with clearer heads than mine, that thr Trinity is not just a theological idea.. it expresses the very shape of ultimate Reality. Consequently, it should impact our theology and our practice. Snyder, Peterson, Grenz and others have done a lot of work spelling this out. I’ll post a bit more on this tomorrow.
Subversive Influence » Blog Archive » NextReformation »? the forgotten ways II said,
January 5, 2007 at 3:10 pm
[...] Len Hjalmarson has issued part deux of his review of Alan Hirsch’s The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church. Quotes from Machiavelli and Bosch stood out… [...]
John Santic (Towards Hope) said,
January 5, 2007 at 3:13 pm
thanks Len…these are the questinos we are wrestling with as we seek to shape practices from a missional perspective. I appreciate your thoughts.
john
Dana Ames said,
January 5, 2007 at 8:39 pm
Len, have I pointed you at LeRon Shults yet? I can’t remember
Every time I read him, his very language vaults me into a “higher” realm of thought. He is very big on relational, trinitatian, shape-of-reality kinds of ideas. Sample here: http://www.leronshults.typepad.com.
Dana
Alan Hirsch said,
January 6, 2007 at 12:24 am
Len, you are a masterful reviewer. You make me sound really intelligent.
Carl McLendon said,
January 6, 2007 at 6:18 am
Thanks to Alan for the intro to your site. I look forward to the rest of the review. Have you reviewed “Irresistible Revolution”? If not, do you plan on it in the future?
len said,
January 6, 2007 at 10:41 am
Alan, you smart guys are too humble. Dana, sounds familiar thanks for the reminder. Carl, I’ve been cracking Shane’s book off and on over the holidays.. I like it. Like the cover too
Apparently he is coming to our town in Feb, just when I leave! Hmm.. maybe he is avoiding me 
I could probably do a short review if I can get some course work out of the way by month end.
Robert Campbell said,
January 8, 2007 at 8:57 am
Len, at your suggestion I’ve picked up the book and have hardly put it down. My heart aches with longing at the beauty of Christian life and ministry as he desribes it. I am in my 17th year of professional ministry (that is, I get paid for it) and find so much hope by what I am reading.
At the same time. What does the future look like for someone in my place/career/life? An honest question from a man who loves Christ and the mission.
Please keep on with the review. Im not yet finished with the book.
len said,
January 8, 2007 at 9:53 am
Rob, when I hear guys like you ready to embrace change, because of their passion for Christ and His people, it moves me deeply. And it challenges me personally.
I see in you the courage of Christ, and the passion of Jesus for His bride. I don’t know if I have answers for you.. but I’m confident you will find them because it is God who is at work in you! How can He not answer the cry of His Spirit from the depths of your being? I tell you.. He will answer speedily! And if you don’t find perfect clarity remember: He is the truth and the Way.
Alan Hirsch said,
January 8, 2007 at 10:09 am
Amen amen amen. Rob, my experience is that the Spirit is really moving and it is our generation (I have been 18 years in ‘ministry’ now too) that seems to be very open to the shift. We must become the permission givers, protectors, and guides to the missional phenomenon.
And thanks soooo much for feedback like this. It moves me deeply.
Len: keep on with that review bro. You really are good.
len said,
January 8, 2007 at 11:35 am
It’s a privilege.. and I’m reminded that this venue is so good for this kind of thing, where there aren’t any limitations on space and I don’t have to worry about someone else’s editorial slant
Robert Campbell said,
January 8, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Thanks Alan, both for the writing and your interaction. We will not see eye to eye on all things here. I dont necessarily see John Wimber as “apostolic” maybe because I have been involved with so many of the damaged products of his work being here in Southern California. I have family and good friends who started with him and still bear many wounds today.
I also tried and did not really appreciate Organic Church. I found myself wondering if it was honest in the way it described the organization. It seemed that there was much more than was stated clearly. Organic structures will still be structures.
That is one thing I have appreciated about your chapter on Apostolic Environment. Thanks for delineating a structure that was organic and still a structure.
Looking forward to the sections on community especially.
Journeyfiles » Blog Archive » Erste Besprechungen von Alan’s Hirschs Buch "The Forgotten Ways” said,
January 15, 2007 at 2:24 am
[...] Da haben wir zu dem Buch direkt Besprechung 1 und Besprechung 2, zu Karl Barth (ein Australier bringt uns diesen Theologen zurück, man überlege sich das…) und einem Vergleich zu “Organic Church” von Neil Cole bzw. “Decoding the church” von Howard Snyder. Interessante Meinungen und Einblicke. Zwei Zitate aus dem Buch: “Nothing is more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than achieving a new order of things.”? Machiavelli [...]