Church planting, contextualization, and church planting residencies aren’t anything new. These have been practices of the missional church for centuries, and in comparison to what is passed off as contextualization today, our early planting fathers possessed greater missiological insight than most of us.
Gregory the Great (540-604) was the most influential bishop of the 6th century. Some have argued he was the first Pope, in which case, he would not have been the best bishop, especially given some of this politicization of the faith. All this is debated. Nevertheless, Gregory would have made a great church planter. He was an apostle of sorts, sending missionaries to Briton to ‘make the Angles into Angels”. His choice emissary was Augustine of Canterbury, who with 40 monks, set up mission base at St. Tours. Like many of his Celtic predecessors, Augustine realized the strategic value of having a mission training and sending center among his target people. And I’m willing to bet it was much better than most “church planting residencies” we have today. Here’s a few reasons why.
Augustine implemented great missiology received from Gregory. That missiology, as Tim Tennent has pointed out, can be summarized with three words: Adaptation, Gradualism, and Exchange.
- Adaptation – To adopt a cultural form for Christian purposes. In Augustine’s case, he adopted heathen temples and turned them into church buildings. Gregory wrote to him: “Detach them from the service of the devil and adapt them for the worship of the true God.” Many Christian leaders and Christians would frown on using a Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall for a church building because their conception of church is so narrowly conceived. Since my first day in Austin, I have been praying that God would give us a male strip joint called La Bare to meet in and do mission from, located the corner of Riverside and Congress. We are currently meeting in a downtown Theatre where we frequently pick up beer bottles off the floor before people arrive. The bathrooms are covered in graffiti and smell terrible, but the aroma of Christ fills the Hideout every week and is slowly changing that part of the city. This isn’t about being cool; its about adopting Austin’s cultural forms, creating common cultural space for non-Christians, and using these forms for Christ-honoring purposes.
- Gradualism – Implement Christian ideals slowly recognizing that individuals are undergoing and entire worldview shift. Don’t expect radical holiness from your new converts. If they have embraced Christ but still smoke pot or occasionally drink too much, don’t beat them up for their behaviors. Instead, shepherd their hearts, lead them into the gospel, and allow their inner joy to transform their outer joys. Gregory wrote: “If we allow them these outward joys, then we are more likely to find their way to the true inner joy… It is doubtless to cut off all abuses at once from rough hearts, just as a man who sets out to climb a high mountain does not advance by leaps and bounds, but goes upward step by step and pace by pace.”
- Exchange – The creation of an entirely new cultural form in exchange for an existing idolatrous one. It is one thing to use pagan temples for church buildings, it is quite another to participate in pagan sacrifices. For instance, if your people consistently go to happy hours to get wasted and have a social life, create a more God-honoring context for socializing. Gregory wrote: “People must learn to slay their cattle not in honour of the devil, but in honour of God and for their own food…” We need to work creating more social spaces for our people to exchange sinful social spaces with holy social spaces.
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October 20, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Pastor Chad
What I am wondering about is how this fits in with an established church context?
Just thinking.
Do the same kinds of principles exist? Do we adapt current outmoded practices for something which reflects God’s glory and relates more to our daily lives. Do we make change gradual, for even those raised in the church change slowly into the people God is calling them to be, not expecting instantaneous change BUT STILL EXPECTING CHANGE? Do we exchange the social norms which have crept into our lives for ones which are more God honouring?
If this is the case, and I think it is a great model, thanks, how do we do this in an established congregation. We do not very often move locations. We do not very often have a large amount of contact with non-Christian (though we should). We do not very often notice the things that have crept into our way of thinking, simply because they have crept in.
So, how do we do it?
October 20, 2008 at 1:52 pm
jdodson
Hi Chad,
Sounds like you are answering your own question to a degree. The change should probably begin with teaching your people that the gospel and Jesus, are contextualized message and Person. Once they become convinced from Scripture that contextualization is careful communication of the gospel, not “selling out to the culture”, then you have the pastoral warrant to lead and correct them toward being a missional people.
After that, you might teach them Gregory’s principles of contextualization and then begin asking them how their cultural forms should change in order to bring the gospel into newer layers of unbelief around them, into their neighbors lives. Make them into missionaries and then foster opportunities for them to interact with the lost.
October 21, 2008 at 2:02 am
Jacob Vanhorn
Great post bro.
Adaptation
Funny you mention LaBare. We looked into it in the fall and again in the spring. It is currently being remodeled and turned into office space. A waste of a great location. But we continue to look.
Gradualism
This is a good word for those of us who are in areas that are culturally and morally far from the gospel. Shortly after we got here we ran into a girl who does zen buddhist massage and has a zen meditation tank. We quickly realized that if she came to faith, it was like a stripper or pot grower coming to faith and needing a while new career and life. Patience and pastoring becomes challenging, so we need to bring the mop with us.
Exchange
I have been thinking through how to do this without going Christian ghetto. It is a fine line to walk.
Thanks bro for the post.
October 21, 2008 at 6:33 pm
jdodson
A -Yeah, at a hefty price minus the land!
G -Great example, Jacob.
E -Look forward to your work on this.
October 22, 2008 at 3:56 pm
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October 23, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Ryan Bolger
Excellent! Adaptation, Gradualism, Exchange — like it.
I would say some current translations of these approaches would be hybridity, remix, and mashup…Andrew Walls talked about how missionaries must not introduce new cultural forms, but simply redirect them to God in worship…
Peace,
October 24, 2008 at 9:35 am
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