Episode 24: Dr Michael Beck Contextual Intelligence, Missional Formation and Fresh Expressions of the Church

In this week's episode, Dr. Michael Beck talks about his new book "Contextual Intelligence: Unlocking the Ancient Secret to Mission on the Front Lines" (co-written with Dr. Leonard Sweet).

Buy Contextual Intelligence: Unlocking the Ancient Secret to Mission on the Front Lines https://freshexpressionsus.org/product-tag/contextual/
Connect with Michael Beck:
Michaeladambeck.com
Twitter: @reverendwild1
Connect with Dr. Russell:
Twitter: @briandrussell
IG: @yourprofessorforlife
Read Brian's book on missional interpretation: (re)Aligning with God: Reading Scripture for Church and World https://amzn.to/3k86KcN

Books that Michael Beck Recommends:
(1) Gerald Arbuckle Refounding the church: Dissent for Leadership https://amzn.to/2VdFD5e

(2) Manuel Castells The Rise of Network Society https://amzn.to/2JOZCSr

(3) Graham Cray The Mission-shaped Church https://amzn.to/2UWAIXg

(4) Alan Hirsch/Michael Frost, The Shaping of Things to Come https://amzn.to/35nA9v5

(5) Michael Moynagh Church in Life https://amzn.to/3bJDRR5
Dr. Michael Beck is South Atlantic Coordinator for Fresh Expressions US and North Central District Cultivator of Fresh Expressions for the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. He also leads the Fresh Expressions house of study at United Theological Seminary. Michael serves as senior pastor of Wildwood UMC where he directs addiction recovery programs, a jail ministry, a food pantry, and a network of fresh expressions that meet in places like tattoo parlors and burrito joints. He currently lives in Wildwood with his wife, Jill, and their blended family of 8 children.
Links to Amazon are affiliate links. Dr. Russell receives a small payment if you order resources through these links. There is no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting the podcast through your purchases.

A Community of the Desperate: A Reflection on Luke 2:1–20 for Christmas Eve/Day

A Community of the Desperate

"It was the most fun that I have ever had in ministry.  We were a community of the desperate."  Those were the initial words that rolled off of the tongue of church planter and pastor Eric while he was recalling fondly the early years of a church that he and his wife Kim founded in Maine back in the 1990s.  Eric and Kim were in their mid-twenties and fresh out of seminary.  They moved to Bangor, Maine to establish a new congregation without knowing a single person in the city.  They worked feverishly to make contacts and foster relationships with all whom they encountered.  To this day, Eric and Kim remain awestruck and joyful in their description of the persons who first expressed interest in this fledgling church.  They did not attract the movers and shakers nor did they reach the beautiful and the self-assured.  Instead, the core members of this congregation consisted of recent transplants to the area, several persons struggling with addictions, some ex-convicts, and many who for a variety of reasons were simply struggling to make their way through the world.  What did these persons have in common?  To put it simply: They were desperate for the very things that the Gospel alone can truly deliver - they were desperate for God.  Moreover they were precisely the types of persons whom Jesus himself impacted powerfully during his earthly ministry.  Jesus' earthly life models the creation of a community of the desperate -- persons hungry and desperate for God whom God can then transform and deploy back into the world to love and serve others.  Luke's birth narrative provides for us the earliest hints that this will in fact be the focus of Jesus' ministry and should be the focus of our own lives as followers of Jesus.

Our Scripture lesson on this Holy Day (Luke 2:1–20) is so familiar that it is easy to miss its subtle and subversive message.  The text recounts the Christmas story of a census, the journey of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, Jesus' birth in a manger, and the arrival of angels and shepherds to celebrate the event.  Yet, it is in these well-known details that we find the true power of the story.  For in them, we discover God's intentions to create a community of the desperate through whom God will reach out in love to the world.

Let's hear Luke's words again:

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. ² This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³ All went to their own towns to be registered. ⁴ Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. ⁵ He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. ⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. 

⁸ In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: ¹¹ to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

A Tale of Two Cities

Luke skillfully opens his report of Jesus' birth by setting it in a specific time and space.  The reference to Caesar Augustus serves as much more than a chronological marker.  Rather it sets up a conflict between two kings and two kingdoms.  Augustus was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of all Emperors who ever reigned over Rome.  Caesar bore all of the rights and prerogatives of power and influence.  His reach extended even to the small and insignificant province of Judea.  There our Scripture lesson opens with a trip by Joseph and Mary from the town of Nazareth to their ancestral city of Bethlehem in order to register according to a decree from Augustus. 

While in Bethlehem, Mary goes into labor and gives birth in a manger because there was no room in the inn.  A king is born that night in Bethlehem, but this King will lay aside all of the trappings of power and live his life armed only with faith, hope, and love.  Furthermore, Jesus' humble birth in a manger emphasizes God's care for the lowly.  The King of kings and Lord of lords is not born into wealth or power; he was not found in Rome; but rather he lay asleep in a manger.  What kind of king is this?  If Jesus were born today, where would we find him?

A Surprising Announcement

The scene shifts to the regions around Bethlehem in which shepherds were out with their flocks (verse 8).  Perhaps these were the same areas once patrolled by Israel's first shepherd-King, David.  Shepherds in Jesus' day were not numbered among the rich or powerful.  They were peasants at the bottom of the status ladder. Yet, these were the persons to whom Jesus' birth is first announced. God did not come looking for the proud, the important, or the powerful; he came to those in need.  Jesus came to those desperate for the sort of life that comes only by living for God.  Jesus came looking for those desiring a better life, a life lived for a value greater than their own good.

The shepherds were terrified at the appearance of an angel (verse 9), but their terror soon turned to awe, wonder, and joy at the announcement.  The angel tells the shepherds to be full of joy because of the good news of Jesus' birth.  Moreover, note that verse 10 declares that the birth of Jesus will be a source of joy "for all the people."  Jesus' birth and the salvation that he will bring has the potential to reach and touch everyone!

What does the angel announce?  In verse 11, Gabriel declares the place of the birth to be "the city of David."  The angel also gives titles to the child: Savior, Messiah, and Lord.

"Savior" was a title worn by the Roman Emperor, but Luke boldly declares the Jesus is the savior.  What an audacious and surprising claim!  In this distant corner of Roman influence is born one much greater than even Caesar Augustus.  Yet, he does not bear the trappings of his rank – the baby Jesus identifies with the weak and lowly.

"Messiah" implies that Jesus is Israel's long awaited Davidic King and deliverer.  "Lord" is the title used typically of God.  By declaring Jesus as "Lord", the angel is saying that Jesus is the one in whom God is working to bring forth salvation.  In verse 12, the shepherds receive a sign. This sign coincides with the description of Jesus' birth earlier in the passage.

Verses 13-14 describe the worship and celebration of "a multitude of the heavenly host."  Worship is the proper response to the miraculous work of God.  Verse 14 contains the familiar words of the angels.  Note carefully however that modern translations such as NRSV or NJB differs from the old King James' "...and on earth peace, good will toward men."  The NRSV correctly translates the best Greek manuscripts “on earth peace among those whom he favors.”  These words carry a powerful message.  They proclaim worship and glory to "God in the highest heaven."  God is worthy of honor and acclamation for his work.  Additionally, on account of the arrival of Jesus, "peace" is available for humanity, those most in need of God.  This peace of God refers to God’s desire for justice, restoration, hope, and wholeness.  Think about who received this message: lowly shepherds out in the field.  Yet, these were precisely the persons whom Jesus came to save.

Whom does God favor?  The contrast between the powerful and lowly continues here.  The announcement of the birth of Jesus by the angels does not occur in the presence of the Roman power brokers, business tycoons, or other influential elites.  The announcement of Jesus' birth came to the community of the desperate.  But God’s work does not stop with a mere announcement.  The announcement becomes a mission.

A Mission to Live

How do the shepherds respond to the birth announcement and the worship of the angels?  An experience of God’s grace is never an end in itself.  If it is authentically from God, it will always push us outside of ourselves and point to others.  The lowly shepherds become this new king’s first ambassadors. 

The shepherds head directly for Bethlehem to see things for themselves.  The authentication of the events with their own eyes causes them to proclaim the words of the angels to those who are present (verse 17).  This leads to amazement by "all who heard it" (verse 18).  Perhaps the "all" refers to those staying in the actual inn that night.  Mary, who already knows the truth about Jesus (1:1-76), simply reflects on the wondrous events around the birth of her son, Jesus (verse 19).  The shepherds then return to their flocks worshiping and praising God (verse 20).  The actions of the shepherds are significant.  They receive the good news about Jesus, and they are transformed from lowly shepherds to heralds and ambassadors of God's good news.  This is the call to all of us who know and believe the story of Jesus.  We who have experience outpourings of grace must become witnesses to the world of this fact.

A core value of Christianity is hope.  Too often we make hope a mere insider value.  In other words, Christians have hope because we put our trust in God.  This is certainly true but it is not radical enough.  Hope is also to serve as a value offered to outsiders. Christians are to be known to the world not simply as persons of hope, but more profoundly as persons who inspire others, especially those outside the Christian community, to have hope as well.  This is the true witness of Jesus' birth - that a community of the desperate becomes the source of hope for the world.

How will you be a beacon of hope for someone today?  Who represent the desperate in your circle of family, friends, and acquaintances?  

© 2016 Brian D. Russell  

Faithfulness to Scripture and Church Renewal

 The Scriptures mark out a path that guides and leads us to God’s future. In our day, as we sense acutely the new challenges presented to the work of the Gospel, followers of Jesus must hold to the practice faithfulness to God’s word as a key habit to cultivate and embody. Such a way of life will serve as the fuel for revitalizing existing communities of faith and for the launching of new ones.

The Trust Issue

Most of us resonate with a high view of Scripture. We are committed to biblical authority. Yet faithfulness to Scripture is more than a doctrinal confession. It is a way of life marked by a deep trust in God’s Word. Trust is the fundamental starting point for living into God’s future. Trust is lived out in faithful obedience to the guiding vision of the Bible.

Faithfulness to God’s word means trusting at a deep level that God has our best interests at heart so that we are willing to realign our lives with Scripture daily. Reading the Scripture faithfully keeps God as the constant subject of our lives.

In Genesis 3:1, the serpent opens his dialogue with Eve in the garden by asking, “Did God really say…?” Dietrich Bonhoeffer makes the sublime observation that this discussion was the first conversation about God.[1] With a subtle turn of a phrase, the serpent shifts God from being the subject to being the object. When God becomes an object, we run the risk of substituting God-talk, some naïve theology, a political ideology (of the left or right), or even the work of church renewal for a vital moment-by-moment relationship with God. When we remain open to a daily encounter with our Living Lord, the Scriptures will continually astonish us and draw up deeper into the world that God desires to create. Thus, before moving forward in any work of God, we must settle the trust issue.

GPS

A continual realignment with Scripture is necessary because God’s mission is a movement rather than some static entity or institution. Jesus’ call was to follow him into the world to make disciples and to serve as visible witnesses to different kind of world—the Kingdom of God.

As soon as we commit to movement, we run the risk of getting off course. As long as we remain faithfully rooted in Scripture, we have access to God’s cosmic GPS navigational system. Scripture serves as the guiding voice to keep us aligned and on course. In times when we find ourselves off course, the Scriptures will call us to realign ourselves with the values and message of the Cross.

The work of church renewal and the planting of new communities is challenging and often leads us into uncharted waters. As disciples of Jesus, we must learn to rely on and trust the Scriptures to lead us to our destination just as much as we rely on GPS equipment for our treks to unknown places in our daily lives. Apart from the Scriptures as our eternal GPS navigational system, we are left only with the folly of self-reliance or trust in the collective wisdom of the very lost world that God desires to send us into for the work of his mission.

Lived Out in a Believing Community

The message of Scripture is lived out in community. Faithfulness to God’s Word involves serving as a missional community. As we seek renewal and revitalization in our day by reengaging the Scripture, we will find ourselves shaped as individuals but drawn together into communities formed by the Scriptures.

Newbigin writes,

How is it possible that the gospel should be credible, that people should come to believe that the power which has the last word in human affairs is represented by a man hanging on a cross? I am suggesting that the only answer, the only hermeneutic of the gospel, is a congregation of men and women who believe it and live by it.[2]

Paul describes the purpose of such a community in Philippians 2:15-16, “so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world. It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.”

Communities that are soaked in and shaped by Scripture serve as clues. They shine brightly as the stars painted on the sky on the blackest night. Paul’s simile is an apt one for our day. We are called to be stars, but resist our tendencies to see this as some individual call. Since ancient times stars have naturally been grouped into clusters and constellations that tell of deep mysteries. When we as Christ’s Church live faithfully in accordance with the Scriptures in the work of church renewal and planting, we will collectively speak to the world the Gospel story in all of its abundance.

© 2015 Brian D. Russell

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[1]Creation and Fall, 111.

[2]Lesslie Newbigin, Gospel in a Pluralist Society (Eerdmans, 1989), 227.

The Book of Acts and Incarnational Mission

The Book of Acts also models an incarnational mission as part of its global and cross-cultural vision. The model has three key elements that invite our reflection. (1) The mission of God is a cross-cultural one and Jesus bridged the divisions that exist between insiders and outsiders. (2) Gentiles did not have to become Jewish with respect to the Torah in order to follow Jesus. (3) The Holy Spirit deploys various methods of advancing the Gospel depending on the context of its audience including use of Scripture, miracles, and the utilization of Gentile cultural and religious symbols (i.e., extra-biblical ones).

First, Acts demonstrates decisively that the Gospel is transcultural and that it can be translated into different cultures. The gift of tongues at Pentecost (Acts 2) demonstrated the Good News could be delivered in languages outside of the Hebrew/Aramaic/Greek of 1^st century Palestine. Moreover, the reality of the Spirit falling on Samaritans and Gentiles served as a tangible demonstration of the Gospel’s inclusiveness. Acts 10 narrates the remarkable story of Cornelius and Peter. Both men receive visions that prepare them for an encounter that will change both of their lives. Cornelius, who is a God-fearing Roman Centurion, receives a vision in which God tells him to send for Peter. The next day, Peter receives a vision in which he learns that God has pronounced the formerly unclean, clean. When Cornelius sends for Peter, Peter realizes that the vision was God’s way of preparing him for a mission to the Gentiles. He goes to Cornelius and presents him with the Gospel, which Cornelius and his friends and relatives receive. While Peter is still speaking, the Holy Spirit fills the Gentiles and, thus, marks their entrance into the people of God (10:44–48).

Second, as Gentiles became Christ-followers, the Jewish Christian leadership faced the issue of how the Torah’s laws affected these new believers. The question in its most basic form was this: Did a Gentile have to become a Jew in order to live as a follower of Jesus? In particular, there was a dispute over the question of circumcision. Did male converts to the Christ following movement need to be circumcised? Acts 15 recounts a remarkable conference involving Paul, Barnabas, and the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas shared the fruits of the Gentile mission, including all of the signs and wonders that God was doing to advance the Gospel. James, speaking on behalf of the Jerusalem leaders, discerned that God was indeed doing a great work among the nations in fulfillment of Amos 9:11–12. Gentiles did not need to embrace fully the Mosaic Law. In particular, they did not need to be circumcised. James wrote a pastoral letter that boiled down the Mosaic laws to avoiding idolatry and sexual immorality. This episode affirms that Gentile converts to the Christ following movement did not have to become practicing Jewish Christians. The key lesson here is that the Gospel can be contextualized into new cultures. Acts 15 also affirms that there are transcultural principles of moral conduct that establish a core ethos for Christ followers.

Last, Acts describes several modes of communicating the Gospel that push us to think beyond cookie-cutter approaches and remind us that the Holy Spirit deploys a variety of methods depending on the context. Sometimes the apostles proclaim Jesus via the exegesis of Israel’s Scriptures; sometimes it is through powerful signs and wonders; sometimes it is by cross-cultural contextualization, or some mixture of these options.

The Book of Acts shows that Jesus may be proclaimed to Jews and God-fearers by means of demonstrating that Jesus is the fulfillment of Israel’s Scriptures. This is the heart of Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch in 8:26–40. Philip hears him reading from Isaiah 53 and begins a conversation in which he tells the eunuch about Jesus by starting with Isaiah. This convinces the eunuch who immediately requests baptism and becomes a believer in Jesus.

The Book of Acts demonstrates that miraculous signs can serve evangelistic purposes. Acts 16:16–34 tells the story of Paul and Silas imprisonment in Philippi and the conversion of its jailer. Paul and Silas are accosted by a mob for disturbing the city. During the night while Paul and Silas are singing hymns to God, there is a violent earthquake. The quake is from God, as not only is the prison shaken but all of the doors open and the chains of the prisoners are unshackled. Fearing that all have fled, the jailer is about to fall on his sword when Paul calls out to him with the news that no one has escaped. In response to this miracle, the jailer falls before Paul and Silas and asks, “Masters, what must I do to be saved?” Paul and Silas share the word of the Lord with the jailer and his household. That very night he and his household joined the Christ following movement and were baptized.

Acts also shows the possibilities of contextualization for cross-cultural engagement. Acts 17:16–34 narrates Paul’s activity in Athens, the center of Hellenistic culture and philosophy. Paul has the amazing opportunity to share the Gospel with a group of Stoic and Epicurean philosophers on the Aeropaus. Since Paul is addressing Greeks with no background in the Old Testament Scriptures or the God of Israel, he does not use Scripture to address them. Instead, he imaginatively begins by affirming the religiosity of the Athenians and starts his Gospel proclamation with reference to an altar inscribed with the phrase: “To an unknown god.” Paul uses this as a beginning point to tell about the Creator God who sent Jesus. Moreover, Paul quotes from the Greek poet Aratus to support his claims that all people have their source in one Creator God. Paul ends his proclamation by referencing Jesus, not as Israel’s Messiah, but rather as a man through whom the Creator God will judge the world in righteousness. The truth of this claim, Paul says, rests in the reality that God raised this man from the dead. It is fascinating that Paul does not state the name Jesus explicitly. Verses 32–34 record the reactions of the crowd: some scoff at the mention of resurrection; others express interest to hear more. Most profoundly, some join the Christ following movement. Paul models a contextualized Gospel presentation in which he uses cultural symbols from his target audience to proclaim the Gospel fully without watering down its content.

The implications of the various Gospel approaches in the Book of Acts are vital if a bit disconcerting to 21^st believers in the West. We tend to value systems and programs. In the Book of Acts, the Holy Spirit is the means, and the Spirit uses faithful witnesses to reach others with the Gospel depending on the needs of the audience. The Good News of the Gospel is Jesus. The witnesses in Acts always proclaim Jesus, but the means of getting to Jesus depends on the context of the audience. This does not guarantee success as in 100 percent conversion, but the Gospel spreads on its way to the person and the next region in fulfillment of Acts 1:8.