This is my second foray into Alan's follow-up 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."


CLICK HERE TO READ PARTS: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5/6