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Discipleship as boundary-breaking
Jesus’ kingdom embodying mission cut across the boundaries that commonly divide humanity. The model of Jesus is of a mission that embraces all humanity and one that tends to be offensive to the religiously minded.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Matthew has skillfully constructed Matthew 8–9 into a series of mighty acts of Jesus. The initial segment (8:1-17) is instructive for seeing Jesus’ kingdom signifying actions as involving the shattering of religious and cultural boundaries. Jesus performs three explicit miracles in this segment: cleansing of a leper (8:1-4), the healing of a Centurion’s servant (8:5-13), and the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law (8:14-15).

It is significant to reflect on the reason for Matthew reporting these initial three events as he does. All three of the persons whom Jesus engages in his mighty actions represents a group marginalized in some fashion in the pious circles of first century Judaism. The leper was ritually unclean and forced to exist on the fringes of society as an unwanted outcast. The Roman centurion represented the hated Empire and was a tangible reminder of the ongoing Exiled condition of God’s people evening their own land. Likewise the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law is significant because women enjoyed much lower status than men in the culture of the time. But throughout the Gospels, Jesus associates freely with women. This was uncommon for a spiritual leader.

The importance of boundary breaking is not merely symbolic or politically motivated. It is central to the values of the kingdom. The Gospel is for all humanity. Moreover the Gospel advances through its introduction to outsiders. When former outsiders become insiders through the Gospel, they become new conduits of God’s grace to previously unreached people. Jesus’ boundary breaking created new mission driven people. Reflect on the three groups mentioned in Matthew 8 (lepers, Roman centurions, and women). All of these groups serve as unexpected witnesses for the power of the Gospel. Jesus sends the leper immediately to the priest to serve as “a testimony to them” (8:4). Immediately after Jesus’ death on the cross, the centurion’s present at the crucifixion exclaimed, “Truly this was the Son of God.” This is profound in that their confession mirrors Peter’s earlier declaration at Caesaria Philippi (Matt 16:16), but unlike Peter who balked at an understanding of Jesus as Son of God that involved death on a cross (Matt 16:21-23), the centurions recognize the reality of Jesus’ identity after watching how he died. In essence, they are the first truly public witnesses of Jesus and they are outsiders. Likewise (and perhaps unsurprisingly in light of God’s mission) women serve as the initial witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection (Matt 28:1-10 cf. Mark 16:1-8, Luke 24:1-12, and John 20:1–18). Deploying women as heralds of the good news of God’s victory is profoundly significant and subversive. Women were unable to serve as witnesses in legal disputes yet God unleashes them to be the first proclaimers of the Resurrection. Their message ultimately changed the world.

Thus, by engaging such persons actively and without reservation, Jesus models a cross-cultural and boundary exploding mission that can run against the current of societal prejudice and injustice. The Gospel is liberating and egalitarian in outlook. God’s mission involves extending the message of the Kingdom to all people, especially to those marginalized by society or by religious insiders. Boundary breaking mission also keeps social justice on the front-burner. Jesus demonstrated through his life that God is radically for the marginalized, the poor, the sick, the dying, the foreigner (even representatives of the privileged empire), and the outcast. Christ followers of today would do well to heed this model as they plot to launch to communities of faith.

Perhaps reflection on these question: Where would Jesus establish new communities of faith today? What people in our social location represent outsiders? A missional reading reminds God’s people that a biblical model of missional outreach will always include persons different from us.

Here is another snippet from my forthcoming book:

The endings of the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy are instructive for us to this day. At the end of the book of Exodus, God’s people exist as a sacred community with God’s presence in its midst (Exod 40:34-38). Israel is truly in the world, but not of it. Israel’s role is to serve as a missional community that embodies and reflects God’s character for the sake of the nations around them. Moreover, the end of the book of Exodus presents God’s people on a journey. When moving, God’s presence serves as a vanguard leading the people into the world as a pillar of cloud by day and as fire by night. When settled, God’s glory dwells anew at the center of the community. In a sense, the function of God’s people is sacramental. With God at its center, Israel functioning fully as a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation” exists as a means of blessing for all people. Hope is reborn in the world. Israel is a taste of the new humanity that God ultimately will reveal in Jesus of Nazareth.

Deuteronomy concludes with a transition from Moses to Joshua as the leader of God’s people. Yet profoundly, Moses will live on through the Torah. Moses the man dies (Deut 34:1-12). But Moses’ witness continues on through the book of the Law (Deut 28:56, 28:61, 29:20, 29:21, 29:27, 30:10, 31:24, 31:26 and 32:46). The Torah that Moses received from God and taught God’s people on the plains of Moab will abide with God’s people as an authoritative guide to the true way of life and as a warning against disobedience. We find here the beginning of a Torah piety and a mode of life rooted in Scripture. It is notable that the Prophets and Writings begin with exhortations to remain obedient to the Torah of God (Josh 1:7-8 and Ps 1:2).

Thus, God’s missional people advance the cause of God in the world by being propelled by the twin realities of God’s real presence through the Tabernacle and through God’s voice as mediated through the Mosaic revelation.

What do you think?

© 2011 Brian D. Russell

Discipleship as Boundary-Breaking Ministry

One of my favorite sections in Matthew’s Gospel is the collection of miracle stories that Matthew arranges together in 8:1–9:35. This segment of the Gospel involves three sets of miracles (8:1-17; 8:23-9:8; 9:18-35) with two sections of teaching (8:18-22 and 9:9-17) on discipleship in the middle. Matthew 8:1-9:35 follows the first major section of Jesus’ teachings in Matthew’s Gospel, the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5-7). In Matthew 8:1-9:35, Matthew portrays the healing ministry of Jesus, and at the same time, Matthew offers additional insight into the meaning of discipleship. One major aspect of discipleship is disciple as boundary breaker. This is a dimension that desperately needs to be recaptured in our present context as we seek to recover the missional focus of discipleship. Boundary breaking involves at least two aspects: radical outreach and empowerment of the new disciples.

Boundary Breaking as Radical Outreach
In the first of the three sections of miracles (8:1-17), Jesus in rapid succession heals a leper, the servant of a Roman centurion, and Peter’s mother-in-law. It is easy for us to miss the significance of Jesus’ action because these categories of persons are unlikely to stand out in the mind of the modern reader. Yet each of these persons, a unclean leper, a representative of a hated oppressive regime, and a woman were the types of individuals that were marginalized and shunned by institutional religion in the Judaisms of the 1st century. It is impressive that the bulk of those whom Jesus encounters positively in the Gospels tend to be marginalized persons, and it is ironic that Jesus receives the most conflict from the religious leaders of his day precisely for his outreach to the lost and hurting of the world. Yet, Jesus reaches out and forms a community of the desperate – Jesus heals and delivers those who come simply with a faith that Jesus can help them in their time of need. These are persons desperate for the sorts of things that God alone can provide.

How would our ideas about discipleship be different if we reached out to the marginalized of our communities today? What if instead of treating outsiders as threats we practiced radical outreach in love?

Boundary Breaking and Empowerment
The practice of radical outreach is only a beginning. The true challenge comes at the point of entry and inclusion in the community of faith. The story of Jesus’ calling of Matthew, the tax collector, is illustrative and profound. In the call of Matthew in 9:9-13, Jesus makes a bold and daring addition to his band of disciples. He calls a hated tax collector, i.e., a collaborator with the Roman occupational government. Matthew, as a tax collector, represented the agent of the transfer of Jewish wealth and capital from Israel to Rome and also became wealth at the expense of the tax payers.

It is one thing for communities of faith to enter into patron – client relationships with marginalized persons and groups. We take “mission” trips into blighted neighborhoods or perhaps find a “sister” church with a different demographic than our own. But we can keep such encounters at arm’s length and our own communities are not disrupted by those whom we “help.” This is what makes the calling of Mathew so bold. Jesus does not merely heal or help a person and then go on his way. He invites an outsider into his closest circle of followers. He elevates Matthew the tax collector from hated outsider to a member of the twelve. Look at the list of disciples in Matthew 10:2-4. There smack dab in the middle is the name Matthew with the descriptive title “tax collector.” This is boundary breaking in a way that truly empowers an outsider to the position of colleague rather than client. If we want to lead our communities of faith into radical outreach that will lead to growth of our communities, then we need to be willing to empower the newcomers by giving them authority in our communities to act and engage in ministry as partners. Jesus’ willingness to associate with persons such as Matthew brought the abuse and criticism of the Pharisees. Jesus’ response is classic and worthy of deep reflection. Jesus calls upon the words of the ancient prophet Hosea in replying, “Go and learn what this means ‘I desire mercy not sacrifice’ for I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.” In the chapter ten, Jesus will send out his disciples to do similar sorts of ministry with the injunction, “go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (10:6).

If we desire to be faithful disciples of Jesus, we need to lead our communities of faith into radical outreach. There are multitudes of persons hungry, even desperate, for what God alone can provide. Who among us will go to them? Who among us will empower them to be full members of our own communities?

Reflection:
1) Who in your present context would represent a shunned or marginalized person or group?
2) What would it take to reach out to such persons in the name of Jesus Christ/
3) How good am I at “power-sharing”? What would have to change in my life if I began to include fully newcomers into my community of faith?

© 2011 Brian D. Russell

Over the last decade or so, Christian leaders in Western world have become acutely aware of the decline of the Christian faith in its former centers of power and influence. The numbers show a loss of roughly 5000 Christians every single day. Alex McManus has summed up the irony of this retreat aptly: “The Western world has lost its faith in the shadows of church steeples.” In response to this reality scholars, writers, and activists such as Lesslie Newbigin, Alan and Debra Hirsch, Michael Frost, Neil Cole, Donald Guder, and Reggie McNeil have helped to inspire and describe a paradigm shift in ecclesiology.

Missional church refers to a broad and loosely unified movement committed to recapturing the apostolic ethos of the New Testament era Church. The essence of missional is the recognition of the need of the Christ following movement to reengage the world with the Gospel by embodying a “go” and “sent” mentality. Missional churches come in all shapes and expressions: liturgical, organic, house church, multi-site, traditional, etc. But they share a commitment to incarnate the Gospel among those currently outside of the Christ following movement instead of waiting for such persons to be attracted to existing communities. The launching of new faith communities is at the forefront of the missional movement.

Here are five emphases common to those self-identified with missional:

Church as the Sent People of God
Missional churches seek to cultivate an apostolic DNA of “go” rather than “come.” The focus of discipleship is the mission of God. Christ followers see themselves as ambassadors or equippers of those engaged in mission. Discipleship is not separated from mission. In fact, evangelism and mission are construed as the shared values rather than the spiritual gifts of a select few.

The World as the Locus of Ministry
Missional churches consciously embody an “outside of the four walls of the church” posture. Ministry is practiced in the neighborhood rather than on the campus. Missional churches adopt local schools, feed the hungry, hold bible studies in public places, and other practices that present a visible witness to a watching world.

Churches as Mission Outposts
Missional churches see themselves as outposts on the frontier between heaven and hell rather than as safe refuges from the world. Communities of faith exist as training and equipping bodies that gather for worship in preparation for doing God’s work in the world. Missional churches avoid a siege or bunker mentality. Communities of faith exist in and for the sake of the world.

Pastor as Resident Missiologist
In missional churches, pastors see themselves primarily as the resident missiologists. They eschew old understandings of the pastor as chaplain, resident theologian, or ceo. Such identities represent artifacts from the past. Instead, missional pastors focus on equipping all Christ followers to engage fully in God’s mission in the world. They empower the people of God for service in the world.

New Measures for Evaluating Success
In the past, communities of faith judged vibrancy and health by means of maintaining membership rolls, tracking average attendance in worship services and Sunday school, and counting baptisms and confessions of faith. In the emerging missional context, what counts is the impact that a community has on the world around it—e.g., how well have we eradicated hunger among children in the local elementary school, how much of our budget is spend on the community, how many members do we lose to new church plants and other missional projects?

To what extent has your community of faith been impacted by the missional movement?

Who are the people whom God has called us to reach? What are their stories? What worldviews are held? What causes matter to them? About what do they care? A missional hermeneutic must be attentive to these questions. Obviously we are committed to encountering the Scriptures in all of their richness, but if we hope to share its message with others, we must be willing to engage people at a deep level as well. Biblical studies professors often use this quotation to remind students of the centrality of reading the Bible within its literary context: “A text without a context is a pretext for saying anything that an interpreter wants to say.” But it is likewise true that a biblical message apart from a local context of people becomes a pretext for misunderstanding and wasted words. We must be committed to shaping our speech, metaphors, and images in light of the context to which we are communicating. When we combine a rich understanding of the biblical story with a deep connection with the people to whom God has sent us, we find ourselves in an environment in which we can truly speak to fellow humans about biblical message of (re)alignment. We find ourselves with the crucified and risen Jesus calling Christ followers to join fully in God’s mission and inviting those on the margins to become part of God’s work of ushering in a different world.

Moreover, we must also gain a sense of the gods that bind the hearts and minds of the women and men in our ministry context. Only when we understand the idols that capture the hearts of the world will we be prepared to proclaim the Lordship of Jesus in ways that subvert the claims and practices of those idols. A missional hermeneutic recognizes that idols exist within both the church and world. They are easy to spot: sex, consumerism, power, family, security, pleasure, and freedom among others. But these have different localized expressions. A missional approach to Scripture listens to the text in light of the idols who reign over our culture.

What do you think?

This week I will be teaching a course in tandem with this year’s Kingdom Encounter at Asbury Theological Seminary. Alan and Deb Hirsch are the featured speakers.

COURSE DESCRIPTION/GOALS
This course is being offered in tandem with Kingdom Encounter 2011 featuring Alan and Debra Hirsch. This course will explore the role of biblical interpretation within the missional church movement. Using the writings and teaching of Alan Hirsch as a representative of the missional church, students will reflect critically and theologically on a missional approach to the Bible. Focus will be on empowering participants to contextualize the Scriptures for the proclamation of the Gospel to the world and the renewal of the Church with special attention to the student’s ministry context.

STUDENT COMPETENCIES
Having successfully completed this course, participants should be able to:
• Articulate the significance of context (social-location), and especially the missional, theological and ecclesial contexts, for engagement in biblical interpretation;
• Dialogue critically with the writings and ideas of Alan and Debra Hirsch as representative of the broader Missional Church movement;
• Assess critically the role that the Bible serves in the missional church;
• Reflect critically and practically on the promise and prospects of a missional hermeneutic
for proclaiming the Gospel in the 21st century; and
• Understand key issues in communicating the message of the Scripture in pre-Christian or
post-Christian contexts.

I am requiring the following texts:

Let me know if you have questions.