Book Review - Right Here, Right Now by Alan Hirsch and Lance Ford

Right Here, Right Now: Everyday Mission for Everyday People (Shapevine)
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 by Alan Hirsch and Lance Ford is one of the most recent additions to the missional library. The book is very helpful as a primer for those entering into the conversation for the first time or for those who are trying to figure out how to move from ethereal to action. This text has a simple structure beginning with a "Briefing" by Hirsch where he summarizes The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church
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 in about 30 pages.  This forces him to be succinct and clear when dealing with the philosophical edge of missional thinking.  The book ends with a "Debriefing" where Hirsch is able to fill in any philosophical gaps that resulted in the rest of the text. The meat of the book is broken into three sections written by Ford with sidebar comments from Hirsch: Putting Our Hearts Into It (Missional Paradigm), Wrapping Our Heads Around It (Missional Analysis), and Doing Something About It (Missional Action). Putting our Hearts Into It covers the perspective or paradigm shift that has to take place for followers of Jesus need to make to really engage in missional activity. The shift is that of seeing the world with a "missionary's eye", the second is that of being people of peace, the third is getting a proper view of the gospel. Wrapping Our Heads Around It contains three chapters that cover issues surrounding our culture and how we ought to relate to it.  Ford adeptly critiques Western culture.  After that he argues for a missional lifestyle that frees us from the trappings of the American Dream.  Finally, he provides insight into how to understand the largely suburban world within which most American Christians find themselves. Doing Something About It looks at the systemic and practical approaches to creating a community wide missional approach. Ford discusses the house church and small group movement, followed by a practical approach to hospitality, and ends the section with a discussion on what it means to be scattered a people of God. Each chapter concludes with practical steps to take to help you activate what you are reading. I found this to be one of the most helpful books on the subject that I have read.  Hirsch and Ford have found a nice balance between philosophy and application.  The writing is down to earth and accessible. The only criticism I have is that in some ways this text can come across as very individualistic.  While community is discussed and the importance of relationships comes through, Hirsch's groundbreaking concept of "Communitas" is largely missing as a word to shape the conversation.  I think an opportunity was missed to bring this concept more into the mainstream.

Are you...Radical?

I just finished reading David Platt's Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From The American Dream. It's a good read and really challenging. David successfully puts the ideas and concepts of books like Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat's Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire
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into terms that the average 40+ person can understand. His metaphors are great. His passion is obvious. I think for the most part his exegesis is solid too. Nothing really stood out as problematic. I really appreciated the clarion call throughout the text to abandon all and follow Jesus. For this alone the book was worth the price of admission. The place where I think the book really wins is the emphasis on discipleship. I am reminded again that Robert Coleman nearly 50 years ago really did know what he was talking about with The Master Plan of Evangelism
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. I hope that we who have read this book will take the Biblical command to multiply our lives through discipleship seriously. It is through the work of discipleship that the world is changed and transformed. It is in the context of discipleship alone that we will see the kinds of things that are described in the book. Discipleship is the soil for radical Christian living and growth. Actually, it's only "radical" because we've lost the focus. As Platt says, we have become too caught up in the big buildings, the cool programs, and the fog machines, to really be bothered by biblical discipleship. I pray we will be willing to disciple one another. I pray that we will be willing to disciple our neighbors. I pray that we will simply obey the Scriptures that we taught as infallible truth. Who's in?

Your GPS is Broken

Missional Map-Making: Skills for Leading in Times of Transition is one of those books that jumped out at me as one that I needed to read. First, it was penned by Alan J. Roxburgh who has been a key player in the missional movement for a very long time. Second, the title alone highlights the fact that Roxburgh is not just talking recipes but is seeking to dive deeper into the heart of what is happening in the church today. The text is broken out into two parts. The first is entitled, "When Maps No Longer Work". In this first part Roxburgh makes a cogent argument that the world is not changing but has changed. The shift has occurred and our culture has moved from the "enlightenment/modern" understanding of the world to the "post-modern". This means that our entire way of understanding the cultural terrain is broken. Roxburgh uses maps as his key metaphor. He argues that each of us have internal maps to help us navigate our daily meanderings through life in this broken world. This is the primary function of worldview. They are to provide us the means by which to make sense of the world around us. But what happens when the world is no longer what it once was? What happens when the maps no longer work? This is catastrophic when it comes to leadership. Roxburgh makes great connections from the business world and from the world of philosophy to make his point that leaders must not use the old maps but must be willing to change their maps so that they can lead the community of God's people toward reaching a lost world. I think one of the best arguments he makes is in chapter 7 where he discusses the development of the internet and compares it to the culture at large. The internet was initially a linear connection of a handful of super-computers. It is now an interconnected web with no beginning or ending. This is true of our culture. The boundaries are being erased and as a result we struggle to even speak "multi-culturalism" or "pluralism" because inherent to both are boundaries. The boundaries are disappearing, so argues Roxburgh, so what will the church do about it? Part two, "The Map Making Process" seeks to answer that question. There are four key components to building a new map that Roxburgh discusses. The first is to assess and understand the changes that have taken place in your community. Unless we have a firm understanding of the lay of the land it will be very difficult to draw a new map. We must become surveyors of the new landscape. The second is the cultivation of a core identity. This core identity is developed from the Biblical narratives and calls people to a renewed confidence. It is a pushing down to the "regular folks" the mission of God and removing it from the hands of the "pros". The third is the "cultivation of parallel cultures in the kingdom". This means that we must ease change into being by living out the new culture alongside those in the old. As more and more people live off the new map the old map will give way. While this is requires patient and slow change it is the way of love. The fourth are "partnerships between a local church and neighborhoods and communities." Roxburgh argues for the church to partner within its neighborhood to meet real needs and to care for the community within which it resides. These partnerships will help the church to ask the right questions and begin to draw an even more proper map for it's world. Conclusion This is a great text. It's strength lies in the critique of contemporary church culture's ability to engage with a changed world. It's weakness lies in application. While Roxburgh provides some good stories, the reader is left wondering, "How?". I was expecting this from the start (thanks to a very well done introduction). The truly engaged leader will be spurned on to creativity and thoughtfulness.