Podcast Download: Episode 10 - The Forgotten Ways Chapter 2

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Download: Podcast Episode 10 - The Forgotten Ways Chapter 2

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We have moved into a discussion of The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch, which explores "reactivating the missional church" and explores the missional DNA which exists in all churches, planted there by the Holy Spirit.

I would love to have you in on the discussion. If you have any posts, comments, or questions about chapter 3 or 4 of The Forgotten Ways, leave them in the comments here or make a new post if you want.

Here are my notes for the Chapter 2:

The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch

Chapter 2 quotes

“Bill Easum goes on to note that every organization is built upon “an underlying systems story.” He points out that “this is not a belief system. It is the continually repeated life story that determines how an organization feels, thinks, and thus acts. This systems story determines how an organization behaves, no matter how the organizational chart is drawn. It’s the primary template that shapes all other things. Restructure the organization and leave the systems story in place, and nothing changes within the organization. It’s futile trying to revitalize the church, or a denomination, without first changing the system.” [Unfreezing Moves, p 31] Drilling down into this systems story – the paradigm, or mode of church – is, Easum suggests, one of the keys to change and constant innovation.” – p 54

“The movement that Jesus initiated was an organic people movement; it was never meant to be a religious institution. We must allow this new-yet-ancient systems story to seep into our imagination and reform all our practices.” – p 54

“Martin Buber, a profound commentator on prophetic religion and religious movements, warns us about the dangers of religious institutionalism when he notes that “centralization and codification, undertaken in the interests of religion, are a danger to the core of religion.” This is inevitably the case he says, unless there is a very vigorous life of faith embodied in the whole community, one that exerts an unrelenting pressure for renewal on the institution.” – p 55

“People now identify themselves less by grand ideologies, national identities, or political allegiances, and by much less grand stories: those of interest groups, new religious movements (new age), sexual identities (gays, lesbians, transsexuals, etc), sports activities, competing ideologies (neo-Marxist, neofascist, eco-rats, etc), class, conspicuous comsumption (metrosexuals, urban grunge, etc), work types (computer geeks, hackers, designers, etc) and so forth. On one occasion some youth ministry specialists I work with identified in an hour fifty easily discernible youth subcultures alone (computer nerds, skaters, homies, surfies, punks, etc). Each of them takes their subcultural identity with utmost seriousness and hence any missional response to them must as well. – p 61

“To reach beyond significant cultural barriers we are going to have to adopt a missionary stance in relation to the culture. And partly that will mean adopting a sending approach rather an attractional one, and partly it will mean that we have to adopt best practices in cross-cultural mission method. – p 63

“A major part of the problem is that although largely dechurched people do come to faith in Jesus through Alpha, it seems that they still don’t want to “go to church.” It’s that darn “Jesus yes. Church no” phenomenon again. People will come to faith in small, intimate communities of friends but generally don’t want the organized-religion part of the deal. This swapping of agendas has sometimes been perceived as a “bait and switch” strategy, which is generally considered unethical in the commercial world.” – p 63

“We must not abandon Christendom, for in it are God’s people, but it needs a fundamental change, a conversion if you like, if it is to become genuinely missional. This change is possible, but not without major realignment of our current thinking and resources. And because Christendom is so deeply entrenched in imaginations and practices, this shift will certainly not happen without significant political will to change. It will be resisted by those with the most significant vested interests in the current system.” – p 66

“It is time to (re)discover a new story of the church and its mission. Enter the emerging missional church (EMC). This form of ecclesia is genuinely creative, because it does present a fundamentally alternative imagination to the predominant one. And it is ancient, because as we shall see, it looks, feels, and manifests itself as very similar to the original apostolic one.” – p 67

“They are rich in conversations around spirituality, life, Jesus, God, faith, discipleship, and mission – conversations that try to include those outside the faith… There is a rediscovery of Christology and the person of Jesus as the center point of faith, rather than all the highly stylized dogmas and creeds that have defined the Christendom mode. On the whole it is very much a fringe movement – there is no sense that they have a central role in society at large – and yet it seems to committed to faith in the public sphere.

“Gibbs and Bolger list the following, more spirituality-focused, characteristics of the churches in the movement.” – p 68 [from the Table of contents of Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures]
• Identifying primarily with Jesus
• Transforming secular space
• Living as community
• Welcoming the stranger
• Serving with generosity
• Participating as producers
• Creating as created beings
• Leading as a body
• Praying, “Thy will be done”

“Somewhere in the genesis and genius of these diverse groups is hidden the future of Western Christianity. To dismiss them is to throw away the seeds of our survival.” – p 69 [Quoting Gerard Kelly in Retrofuture: Rediscovering our Roots, Recharting our Routes]