Christmas in So-Cal

First off, this was the aftermath of finals week. My room seriously looked and smelled like a boy's dorm room. Dirty dishes, chips, unmade bed, clothes strewn all over the place. It was revolting.

But now the incredibly busy quarter is over and everyone is filled with renewed optimism that the next one can't be nearly as bad.  I've already made lots of new years resolutions - to go to the gym, journal more regularly, spend quality time with people, spend quality time with God, start planning my overseas practicum (potentially for this summer), etc. etc.   All it takes is a little discipline.  All I need is a disciplinarian to reprimand me when I drop the ball.  That's all.

For the time being, I don't feel guilty for doing some fun stuff during the week off in Pasadena.  A friend and I went downtown this week to Grand Central Market, the Fashion District, Flower District, Central Library, Beverly Hills, then to Griffith Park to see the sunset and the city at night.  Pretty spectacular view up there.  However, LA can't hold a candle to New York or DC at Christmas.  It's already hard enough to think Christmas when it's still so warm and the leaves are just turning.  They have one semi-major lights display that people can walk through, and that's about it.  Maybe I'm just missing the other sights that you have to be "in the know" for.  Anyways, I'm disappointed Los Angeles...step up your game!

Last Book Review

Beyond Christendom by Jehu Hanciles
This book's intention is to explore the interconnection of globalization, migration and religious expansion. While Western influence consume the contemporary world order, globalization creates powerful trends that influence the West and all the world in significant ways. Dr. Hanciles, an immigrant from Sierra Leone, writes from a non-western perspective.
Chapter 1: Globalization pp. 1-37
This chapter looked at the concept of globalization VERY indepth. The term globalization, Hanciles contends, has been "in vogue" for about 30 years, but really it was at work long before then. Globalization ultimately involves marginalization and exclusion. The world is a dynamic entity and globalization cannot be the tool of America or Europe alone. And globalization cannot be considered solely an economic movement.

Chapter 4: The Birth and Bankruptcy of Christendomp. 84-114
During the reign of Christendom, Christianity was not based on faith, but was rather determined by one's national identity. With the "conversion" of such massive amounts of people, the creation of a "Christian society was a fitful and arduous process." As a result, Christian mission became inextricably linked with territorial expansion and political rule rather than discipling new believers. The first to contradict this approach were the Anabaptists, who themselves were marginalized and persecuted because of their rejection of civil society's role in the church. A effect of missionary influence and education resulted in national and racial pride, in addition to religious protest. In African and Asia, a large proportion of the first generation of nationalist leaders were products of missionary education.

Chapter 12 Sacred Canopies276-302
"Religious congregations serve to facilitate the immigrants' assimilation into American life while simultaneously allowing them to nurture their ethnic ties even as they ease their adjustment into their new country" (p. 278). In this chapter, the author argues that immigrant churches have a specific missionary function because they are the most effective means to model the Gospel to other immigrants. The first wave of immigrants came from northwestern Europe, followed by another wave of immigrants who were enslaved Africans (1619-1850).
The establishment of black Christianity signified anti-Christendom. This particular movement by African Americans resulted in the civil rights movement. Because immigrants often experience marginalization and racial prejudice, the immigrant church is a place they can find acceptance and solace to be in a familiar cultural context.
"African Immigrant churches are among the fastest growing because they reproduce or exhibit the same vitality and dynamism that are present in the homelands of immigrant members and also because they draw on a widening base of immigrants hungrry for religious association and participation" (p. 302).
As a result of America's diminishing "Christian" condition, it is less a missionary-sending nation and more and more a mission field.

Chapter 13 On the Road with Ancestors 303-323
African immigration to the US grew exponentially from the 1960's to the present. This is largely a result of the Immigration Act that in part offers diversity visas in a lottery system to Africans. Approximately 60% of African immigration is driven by family ties here. The majority settle in New York.
Transnationalism is the incorporation and involvement in the society of settlement and one's native context. "Transnationalism facilitates selective adaptation within the first generation of immigrants and will arguably have some impact on the acculturation patterns of the second generation" (p. 318).
There is a firm distinction between Africans in America and African Americans. African immigrants are often shocked to discover that many African Americans hold the same negative stereotypes of Africans that white people often believe - that Africans are poor, uneducated, and primitive. Yet the author stresses that both groups have a tremendous opportunity to practice reconciliation based on our biblical mandate.

Chapter 14 Have Faith, Will Travel324-349
It is primarily the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements who stress the importance of missions. Hanciles describes four categories of African immigrant churches:
- Abrahamic - spontaneous movements started by one individual who came to North America or Europe for a specific job and ended up starting a church. Most churches in the US apply to this group.
- Macedonian - these churches exemplify planned, organized initiatives, that are created by another church or ministry that is African-based.
*this two groups are closely related because the Macedonian group owe their existence most likely to an Abrahamic movement.
- Jerusalem - African-inspired and led church that is closely tied to a mainline Western denomination. This group is often known as an "ethnic" church.
- Samuel-Eli - mainline denominations that attract a large amount of Africans who can inform the worship and add to the larger church's diversity.
This chapter goes on to portray three case studies of churches derived from African influence: one in Maryland, started by a Liberian; his mantra was: Don't be refugees; be missionaries. The second story involved a Nigerian immigrant who came and found great success in the commercial world with Verizon, but eventually left that high-level job to start a church in Los Angeles. The third case study is a Congolese man who started a church in Chicago.
These stories convey a drivenness amongst the men, and capability to manage. Along with their strong faith, they are able to start thriving churches. However, no mention is given to any formal theological training that any of these individuals may receive prior to taking over in a pastoral role.

Chapter 15 African Immigrant Churches in America350-373
The age demographic of a lot of AICs are young families; 80% are under the age of 50. In a survey on why African immigrants attend church, the 2 primary reasons were lively worship and solid preaching/teaching. Prayer is also central to the gatherings - vigorous, collective meaningful praying. The majority of people in the AICs believe that their churches should do more to reach non-Africans. One major deterrent to that is people's hesitancy and intimidation with the language abilities.
The author ends by reviewing how little research has been conducted on this relatively young demographic. Their long-term impact on church and mission is yet to be determined. The key certainty is that "this African missionary movement reveals, yet again, how migration movement is intimately linked with the long-term prospects of the Christian faith. Yet all too often, the most momentous episodes in the history of Christian missions have been launched by small, insignificant initiatives, such as the ordinary actions of those unnamed migrant-refugees in first-century Antioch" (p. 373).

Last Class Reflection

Our last Church and Mission class for the quarter addressed Pentecostalism.American Pentecostalism started in Topeka, KS in 1901. During this time, the church was still racially segregated. A short time later, a worldwide Pentecostal movement was birthed on Azusa St.in downtown Los Angeles.
William Seymour was largely responsible for getting the ball rolling. He is now considered the “Luther” or “Calvin” of Pentecostalism.
Pentecostalism centers of the work and role of the Holy Spirit. The mission of the Holy Spirit is to lead us to truth. The more of the HS we have in our lives, the more we can get out of God’s word, which was inspired by the HS. Today Pentecostals comprise the largest denomination, or group, of Christians in the world outside of Catholics.  There are believed to be 600,000,000 believers who can trace the route of their faith to the Azusa Street Revival.


This has been a great class. I think I've learned a lot about the history of Christian traditions and its given me a richer appreciation for the diversity within my faith tradition.
Now, on to the paper writing, to prove that I did indeed learn something!

Anabaptism

Fitting for a lecture right after Thanksgiving, we learned about the Puritans.  The Puritans were being persecuted by the Church of England, so they sought asylum in a new land, just as the Israelites did in their escape from Egypt.  Because of this parallel situation, the Puritans saw themselves as God's new chosen people.  They wanted to be completely isolated from England and its strong connection with the state.  So in their newly created society in New England (the "promised land"), they said they were with God, but against the world.  They established adult baptism, rather than the tradition of Luther and Calvin to be baptized as a baby once.  Menno Simons, one of the early Anabaptist leaders, did not believe that the Eucharist truly embodied Christ's blood and body, but was instead a symbol of His unity. 

Turkey Day

When I was an intern at ECHO, a friend shared with us how she had a list of things she wanted to do before she was 30. And one of those things was to cook a turkey. I thought that was a swell idea, so I decided to set a similar goal. Another goal of mine is to do less procrastinating, so in order to kill 2 birds with one stone, I cooked a turkey for Thanksgiving, one FULL year before that big birthday milestone. This was a big deal to me since I 1)don't have a lot of confidence in my cooking abilities 2)H-A-T-E touching/cleaning/cooking/eating raw meat and 3)would be feeding a lot of people with this bird. So in order to try to avoid common pitfalls, I chatted with everyone who may have cooked a turkey in their life to learn from their experiences in the weeks leading up to the big day. Some of the common responses included:
* be sure to take the bag of guts out of the turkey before cooking it
* burning it may not look pretty, but will seal the moisture in
* you can never use too much butter

What people didn't tell me was how long it takes a frozen turkey to defrost...5 hours/pound, if you didn't know...that's a long time for a 17lb turkey! Also, the heavy wire that's wrapped around the legs doesn't need to come off before roasting it. And let me tell you, it won't come off short of heavy-duty wire cutters (which I couldn't find laying around anywhere). So I had planned to stuff some herbs, apples, onions and veggies in the cavity, but the cavity was a lot smaller than I imagined it to be. Nevertheless, I rammed as much colorful stuff in there as I could.
My roommates were there for moral support, and we all made multiple calls to our moms for instructions on anything from pie crusts to oven temperatures to how much stuffing it takes to feed 16 people.

The meal turned out gloriously, and we did feed 16 people.

Book Review #5

Emerging Churches Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures
by Eddie Gibbs and Ryan K. Bolger

Chapter 1 A brief look at Culture
Churches in the west face a missional challenge...there is a great need to understand the relationship between the gospel and culture. In parts of the world where Christendom was once prevalent, this issue has not been addressed. In order to understand the mission of the church, Christianity in culture must be addressed. The western church is in rapid decline and movements that are growing are ones that deal with the role of culture in faith.

Chapter 2 What is the Emerging Church?
The Emerging church appeals to "Gen Xers" who have abandoned their parent's faith for something more authentic and relevant. But it's not just about one generation. It is vital for the emerging church to be solidly rooted in the larger historical church. Emerging church leaders prefer to not be labeled by a particular brand or age bracket. There is a strong effort to separate themselves from labels and get back to the basic premise of Christianity, to be a follower of Christ. Simon Hall from the UK says, "My main aim for the community is not to be 'post' anything but to be 'and' everything." The 3 core practices are 1)identifying with the life of Jesus; 2) transforming secular space; 3)living in community. And because of these 3 main practices, they practice hospitality, serve with generosity, create as created beings, lead as a body, and take part in spiritual activities (p. 44-45).

Chapter 3 Identifying with Jesus
This is about rethinking the meaning of church. Mark Scandrette of ReIMAGINE in San Francisco described the difference between megachurches and what they're about. He said, "We started out thinking about what form the church should take, as opposed to what the life of Jesus means in this time and place." This is about being Christ. "Jesus served and forgave others, and the early church was encouraged to do likewise." One understanding is that God is already working in the world, so our job is to find out where and move along with that. Andrew Jones from the UK put it simply, "We find what God is planting and we water it." To be a Christian is to be missional, seeking to embody the kingdom at all times.

Chapter 4 Transforming Secular Space
All life must be sacred in the emerging church mindset. Bridges are made between the secular/spiritual worlds in order to rid people's perceptions of the division. For instance, in some churches secular music is played during the service, and different forms of the arts and media are used. In that process, the secular becomes holy. "As many church people fight to keep the dying church modern, emerging churches abandon the modern church while bringing new life to the church (p. 72). The intention is to stay true to both their faith and their culture. This is not only to make the transition from the outside world to church feel less contrasting and uncomfortable, but also to allow us to take our worship from church to the outside world. This idea of culture embodied gospel is distinguished by its creative nature, as well being highly participatory and community-oriented.

Chapter 5 Living as Community
Because the secular space no longer exists, church becomes a 24/7 event, not just 90 minutes on Sunday. There is an understanding that the risen Christ now works by his Spirit, who operates through the community as well as beyond it, in the furtherance of his purposes in the wider world(p. 90). The church must first be the product of mission before it is an agent of mission (p. 91). Community must be present and healthy in order to exude a product of mission. There is a shift, as mentioned above, from the emphasis on church to emphasis on kingdom. As the body of believers become like a family, the institutional practices will change. Generally speaking, the church rises and falls based on relationships. It takes commitment and intentionality. Meeting together is an effort to serve the community and strengthen relationships. Because of this, the groups tend to stay small and intimate, with no great desire to grow large. The focus does not seem to be as much about deepening one's faith, though I imagine that is part of it. It does say that emerging churches believe the church should shape its corporate life in accordance with the practices of the kingdom of God (p. 115).

Chapter 6 Welcoming the Stranger
Emerging churches are inclusive, just as Christ was inclusive and welcomed the stranger. There is a tremendous value placed on hospitality to create a comfortable, safe place to worship. There is a belief that sharing the gospel should flow naturally as a reflection of one's life, and not some contrived proclamation. There is a stress on dialogue and being engaged with the contradictory opinions rather than an indifferent disregard for other people's backgrounds and influence. Christians are called to live their life publicly so that those on the outside can be attracted to the faith (p. 130). The following sentence is key for me in understanding Fuller's perspective on interfaith dialogue: "We deemphasize the idea that Christians have God and all others don't by attempting to engage in open two-way conversations. This does not mean we have lapsed into relativism, as we still believe in the uniqueness of our own tradition, but we believe that it teaches us to be open to all. We are also genuinely open to being wrong about parts and perhaps all our beliefs - while at the same time being fully committed to them" (p. 132).

Chapter 7 Serving with Generosity
Hospitality and generosity are both important to emerging churches, in effort to serve both those inside and outside their specific communities. In referencing our consumer culture, church can become a producer/consumer relationship and the church seeks to market their brand to consumers. If church becomes that, there can be no sustainability. If Jesus stops satisfying, they will move on to another spiritual expression and never truly be satisfied. "Consumerism both pacifies and disempowers people and robs them of their individuality and creative potential (p. 139). Instead, in the emerging church, consumers must become active participants. They believe that people must be rescued from their greed and wastefulness in order to live a life of service and generosity. And this service is not viewed as a social service; instead, it is a spiritual practice that is part of their holistic way of life. Generosity stems not just from material wealth, but also giving of one's time and self, such as through one's vocation. Generosity is never calculating. It is extravagant (p. 152).

Chapter 8 Participating as Producers
In order to be incarnational participants in God's kingdom, church must be viewed as the body rather than the place. People must be given the space to use their gifts, making each one feel a sense of ownership and belonging. And in order to make the worship meaningful, it must be indigenous to the locale and not prescripted.
Seeking to be open and authentic can allow room for individuals to really wreak havoc on a community. However, the rest of the community must be prepared to handle those situations. The ultimate goal is to create a genuine worship environment for all people to fully participate in.

Chapter 9 Creating as Created Beings
God is a creative God. And he created us with the ability to be creative. This is a major emphasis of the emerging church. However, our society tends to McDonaldize life, seeking efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. Bad news! We are each unique human beings born with creativity (even though I don't feel like I received a whopping helping of it!). Yet, creativity gives worshipers the opportunity to embrace aspects of God's character they normally would not acknowledge (p. 178).

The Reformed Church

Well, talking about the Reformed Church in class should be a review for this Presbyterian-raised girl, right? Not so much...
We learned a bit about Calvin's background - how he wrote the Institutes of reformation at the age of 27. He was a preacher, not a renowned theologian. His goal was to make the church more personal. He proclaimed the priesthood of all believers, not just the apostolic succession honored by the Catholic church. The main focus was on the word of God rightly preached and the sacraments of God rightly given. Before this time, sermons were delivered in Latin, so most church attenders (which was basically everyone during this time of Christendom) didn't understand the message. How preposterous that sounds to us now. I mean, I've attended church services in other countries where I don't understand anything, but it's more about being there out of respect for the people there. Why would I attend a church in my own cultural context where I didn't understand any of it? Yet, that was how it was back in the day. So this new idea of "go to church, listen to a message, live it out" idea was radical! Maybe today radical things would happen if all of us believers practiced those 3 parts.