Road Trip

Friends, Romans, countrymen...we're out of here. The Shattucks, complete with 3 little kiddos are taking a little jaunt up to the lake district for the IMB's annual meeting for the next 10 days or so. I say "little jaunt"...it's something crazy like 350km and takes 7.5 hours!! Oh, how I love Polish roads!!

It's going to be fun to see the kids submersed in English nonstop for these few days. They'll have VBS-type classes, be going to the pool, and having fun while we're in our meetings (I'm jealous). But the big kicker is that they really don't speak the language and there won't be any translators. So, this is going to be a big shocker for them...but definitely one they'll need to be getting used to as time goes on.

Just wanted to let you know that I'm still here...just not, uh, here.

Talk to y'all soon...

Core Values, Part 3b: Missional Community

Ok sports fans, let's see if we can't move through the last few bits of these core values. We're about to go out of town in a couple of days for our Annual General Meeting (meeting with about 800 missionaries and their kids from our region - Central and Eastern Europe) and so I won't be posting anything for the next couple of weeks (bummer for me).

As a refresher, we're taking a look at our third core value: Authentic, missional community. We've already unpacked the word authentic and today we'll try to understand this concept of a missional community.

I think that most of us may have a healthy grasp on the term community but what about missional? I was doing a Google search for that term and found a bunch of really interesting websites. One of them (would you believe I lost the link and can't find it now) gave this "definition"...

missional - adj.
"Saying something not so much about the activities of the church as its character: 'The church does not exist for itself, but for participation in God's mission of reconciliation...Mission is the character of the church in whatever context it exists.'"

I think what we're really considering is the possibility of becoming a church that is defined by being "On Mission". After all, we know what that means...to be "On Mission". There are programs, emphases, projects, etc which all give churches opportunities during the course of a given year to get outside of themselves...to get into the community. It's not that these programs, etc have any inherent problems in and of themselves.

The issue I see is that being missional can become something which occurs mostly when participating in certain projects, trips, or programs of the church...not in the everyday life of the church. This mission of reconciliation that God has been on since that dreadful day in the garden (you know the one) is the mission that the church, and us as Christ followers, have been given to join each and every day...not just on Spring Breaks and during the summer when its convenient to go on mission trips.

Again, let's imagine together...let's play my favorite "what if..." game. What would it look like if a church were truly a missional community all the time. I've had a few thoughts and questions...

• Is it possible staff members would be evaluated on how much time they are spending outside the church then inside during office hours?
• Would the concept of the entire community of believers being on mission mean that no longer would there be this erroneous thought that staff members are responsible for all the ministry of the church...the community itself is on mission...this means everyone is involved in bringing reconciliation to our broken world?
• Would evangelism and mission programs go bankrupt because these dinosaurs are now viewed as hindrances and not helps...further solidifying this notion in churches minds that "Mission" can be something done only at given points of the year or during certain church activities?
• Would the growth we see become more conversion growth...would we see more of our communities reflected in our churches because of our new focus on living our lives as a community on mission?

Wow, I could go on and on (nothing new). I like the sound of these things. And more, you couldn't be more biblical. A lot of churches fall into the trap of thinking, "I'll take care of things at home...and when they're settled we start looking outside of our walls." I don't see that taking place in the life of Jesus, the disciples, and later, the apostles and NT church. Their focus from the git-go was outside of themselves. And if we're going to consider this core value then we will have to do the same.

Authentic, missional community. That's a mouthful isn't it? Three words with such deep, wonderful, intentional meaning.

Home

Ever hear of Google Earth? I read an article about it awhile back and thought I'd see what the fuss was about. It's really pretty amazing to have this kind of technology available for free!

Anyway, I've visited and revisited place after place...checking out Washington DC, Beverly Hills, CA (man, they've got a lot of swimming pools), various places in Poland (terrible picture resolution), the Mall of America, the DFW area, and maybe some more. But the place I continue to return to is home. You know, I always said that as soon as I could I'd get out of St. Louis...that Missouri was more like Misery...that I'd had enough. But I keep going back with this software.

The picture attached to this post is actually where I grew up. Seeing it, I was immediately flooded with memories...playing in the tree in front of our house, my friends that lived two houses down, playing baseball and football in the big field behind our houses (top-right of picture), getting into fights, and of course being with my whole family before the divorce occurred.

I miss home. I miss family and friends. Can you believe it's been 2 1/2 years since we've set foot in the U.S.? And it will be another year + before that happens. I find myself craving home...the smells, the tastes (oh, Spring Creek and BlueBell...where are you now?), the choices, the bigness, the language, and obviously people. We can't wait to get home and see everyone and to live in our culture for a little while.

It's interesting to me how we can get so comfortable, we can learn the language, start living out the cultural norms, accept the people...everything...yet still we yearn for home. There are so many spiritual implications in that aren't there? Boy, what I'd give for a Google Heaven!!

Article: "The Emerging Church Is..."

A friend gave me an article from the Patriot News written about the Emerging Church. While the article itself was quite interesting and a great topic of discussion for us, I thought one of the most interesting parts was the following sidebar description:

The Emerging Church is...

• Not an act of preservation
• "Missional," serving the community
• Human. "It matters who's in church."
• Young
• Open, often undefined by statements of faith
• Integrated
• Experimental
• Familial
• Holistic
• "Much more about living the way of Jesus than believing the right thing."

This, and much of the content of the article, is attributed to Doug Pagitt, pastor of the Minneapolis emerging church Solomon's Porch.

A few of these descriptors might evoke some deep feelings in you...or some deep thoughts, forcing you to either say something like "right on!" or "you must be crazy!". Either way it's good to think, huh?! I must say that it's hard to find such a list of descriptors from many Emergent sources as it's not really a defined movement (as many say, it's more of a conversation).

I find myself really pulled toward this...conversation. I couldn't agree more with the last descriptor...that this life isn't about rules, philosophies...dogma. It's about becoming more and more in every way like Jesus. When we are doing this so many of the other descriptors found above might even begin occurring naturally.

Anyway, just wanted to share this tidbit for anyone out there finding themselves wondering "what is this emerging church thing?".

Core Values, Part 3a: Authentic

Ok guys and gals...we've come to Part 3 in our quest to better understand the four core values put forth by Brian McLaren in Church on the Other Side. We have ventured past More Christians and Better Christians and we find ourselves today grappling with the concept of an Authentic Missional Community.

If I tried to address my thoughts on this value in one blog you'd all bail on me before we got to dealing with the word missional. So, let's take this slowly and start just with the word authentic today.

The Webster's definition of authentic I believe we're working with is this:

Conforming to fact and therefore worthy of trust, reliance, or belief: an authentic account by an eyewitness.

The first thought that pops into mind is "what is being conformed?" I think this can be thought of as everything we are doing...our words, actions, thoughts. In my church this would relate to our service(s), ministries, philosophies of ministry...everything we do. So, what this is saying to me is that everything we do must be molded around Truth -- and thus be trustworthy, reliable, and believable.

Have you ever considered how widely accepted lying is in our culture? We do it all the time, although we of course don't label it that. We can see it coming from ministers (they call it "ministerially-speaking") and it goes like this:

Q: How many people attend your church?
A: 1500, ministerially-speaking. (Of course reality shows about 1200 but somewhere we've learned to round up to the nearest multiple of 500 to get extra bonus points -- with someone.)

You can also see our battle with truth and authenticity raging in relationships. Why else do we hear so much talk about masks being worn at churches? Do we not trust each other? Can we not safely tell someone that we're just not doing too well today without being afraid that the gossip tree will be activated or that we will be thought of as "lesser" just because we didn't show up smiling ear-to-ear, Bible in hand, tie tied to perfection, ready to go!?

What is the deal with this stuff? Why do we lie to each other? Why do we say things that aren't true? Why do we allow ourselves to do it and why do we allow others to do it? Sooner or later we are going to have to come to grips with how this problem is destroying the communities we "say" that we love so much.

Could it be that we don't really understand the concept of Truth and so we don't live out our lives in truth? Small-t truth...that way we live out or lives...the way the church lives out its mission in the world should reflect the power, the goodness, the perfection, the purity of God's Big-T Truth. Everything we do...again, EVERYTHING WE DO should be conformed to the character of God - Truth - in a way that will be trustworthy, reliable, and believable for everyone we come in contact with. If it is not, then Houston, we have a problem.

It's funny how sometimes I'm writing something...finish...and find myself re-evaluating everything I've just written. That's one of the bummers of monologue...it's nothing like sitting with a group of friends and wading through tough, interesting topics. That said, comment if you'd like. I'm certainly not writing in concrete here.

Challenge for you and me: Think about the things you do today...what are they conformed to? Your desires? Others' desires for you? Or the pure, beautiful, unadulterated Truth of God?

Praise Habit

I started a new book this morning, Praise Habit: Finding God in Sunsets and Sushi by David Crowder. From the very beginning he's got me day dreaming and returning to the ever-so-familiar place from my childhood...that place of dreams only reached through the wonderful question "what if...?".

This is how it all started:

We naturally understand praise. As kids, we talk about our favorite toys; later we praise pizza and football players. Kids just know how to enjoy things. They give themselves fully to whatever has a hold on them. Remember as children how we would fearlessly hold up our favorite toy and petition anyone who was in close proximity to behold it? "Look, Mom, look!"

We instinctively knew what it was to praise something. It's always been in us. We were created for it. It's a part of who we are. As kids, we were fabulous at it. But as adults we become self-conscious and awkward. Something gets lost. I think we do it to each other. At some point, I hold the toy up exultantly and you comment that it looks ridiculous to hold the toy up in such a way. It's not a cool toy like I believed it to be. It is worn and tired, you point out. And we slowly chip away at each other's protective coatings of innocence until one day we wake up and notice we are naked and people are point.

Sorry for the long quote (ok, not really). Hope you read the whole thing as it really does make us, or at least me, think. The guy with the crazy hair (do you know who the author is?) really has a point. I remember a life of seemingly constant praise as a kid. And what he says is spot-on: "They give themselves fully to whatever has a hold on them."

So, my "what if..." question goes something like this: What if we could return this kind of innocence and open praise in our lives and in our churches?

I will go ahead and confess that I have been many times a part of the problem...one of those with a pick in hand chipping away at people around me. I remember growing up, for example, thinking that any kind of visible expression of praise (raising hands for example) was nothing but a show and to be avoided at all costs. One time I saw someone start dancing at church and began looking for lightning (ok, a bit of a stretch but you get the point). So, I confess right here to each of you that I've been there and now I'm desiring to put the pick down and want to see these things change in my life.

What if (again) we actually did give ourselves fully to God in praise? What would that look like? If this was true, unadulterated praise wouldn't it attract people to God? Wouldn't it bind the church together in an incredible way?

Oh man...I could go on because it excites me to think about this. Honestly I think my mind is dwelling on heaven...where we will praise with everything in us...no one will point...no one will laugh...no gossiping, whispering, or whatever. There won't be any of that because we will be so consumed with what we are witnessing that we won't have time to even glance for a second at what the guy next to us is doing!!

Praise God!

Core Values, Part 2: Better Christians

I've been thinking a lot about how I would approach this core value. It sounds so simple doesn't it...Better Christians. I think that a lot of Biblical teachings need to have the phrase simply complicated attached to them. On the surface they really seem to be a fairly simple idea...but as we delve into the depths of what these ideas really mean we quickly come to see the complexity of their design.

Better Christians. I think to understand this we need to be together on what the term Christian is talking about. I was interested to find out that the term Christian is only used in Scripture three times but that the term disciple is used about 270 times! There is no mistaking this concept as we look closer at the life of Jesus (I almost said "life and ministry of Jesus" but really those two things can't be separated).

Let's think our modern day idea of the term Christian. What comes to mind? Is it something that looks like the majority of the people in our churches...something that evokes the idea of Sunday worship? Maybe you think about a coat and tie...sermons...Sunday School. Maybe you think about something completely different, something you are hungry for. Maybe you think about someone who is radically transformed.

As we think about a follower of Christ, a disciple, we need to understand what that term meant in Biblical times...what the term disciple meant in Jewish culture. I've come across a great resource to help us with that, if you're interested. There's an interactive "guide" on followtherabbi.com which talks about the relationship between a rabbi and his talmidim. I hope it will not only be insightful "educationally" but that it will also give you a clearer understanding of how Jesus viewed and used the term disciple as we read it through the Gospels and New Testament, generally.

This idea of talmidim can be mind-blowing when we compare that picture to the concept of Christianity as seen in many churches today. The whole goal...again, the whole goal of the talmid was to imitate everything that his rabbi did. He would follow the rabbi, as closely as possible, everywhere the rabbi led, trying to learn his ways so that the talmid could then imitate them himself. Ultimately the talmid would be given the responsibility for discipling new talmidim so that they also would know the ways of the rabbi...that they would come to imitate him and lead others to follow his ways as well.

We don't see the use of the word "talmid" in the New Testament as it is Hebrew. The Greek equivalent is the word mathetes. With some exceptions it is the word which appears when you read the word "disciple" in the NT. A word which is associated with it is mimetes, meaning follower or imitator. Mimetes is the word used by Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:1 where he says:

Be imitators of me, just as I am of Christ.

Paul is saying that we need to follow or imitate everything we have learned from Christ. As Jesus' disciples...as his talmidim (or mathetes, depending on your Biblical language bent) we are to follow him and imitate his every move! Can you imagine what that would look like if we learned to do that better? If we acknowledged our role as Christ followers? If we truly submitted to The Rabbi's authority and lived as he calls us to live?

Maybe it's possible that we not only need a revolution in our concept of Christian but also in our concept of discipleship. We are called to make talmidim. Just as Paul was setting himself up as an example for others to follow, we need to be doing the same. And catch this, he was not telling them to follow him...to become more like him (period). He was doing that because he saw himself as a shadow of Christ! Follow me...become more like me, the person you see standing in front of you...and you will become more like Him!

Often we have come to place our focus on making Christians...filling church buildings...spreading the seeds of truth and hoping that they take at least enough root so that someone prays a pray. But that is such a small part of the equation. If we are to truly make disciples (and we now are all together on what that means, biblically not just according to me) then we are going to have to fight past the first core value (More Christians) and see the necessity of realizing our second core value, Better Christians.

Drawn to destruction

We were driving home on Sunday evening after dropping our kids off (something awful in and of itself) and noticed a huge cloud of smoke rising somewhat near our neighborhood. We realized something big must be on fire and by the amount of smoke it was still raging. So, we decided to go check it out.

We quickly realized that we were not going to be the lone onlooker as we got closer and closer to the burning store. I'm telling you there were floods of people trying to get to see this thing. Everywhere we looked there were crowds either already camped out watching or on their way to the fire. We laughed about how it seemed like this was just the thing to do that evening...that all of Poznan was turning out to see this fire (ok, not "all" but I'd guess somewhere around 500 people at least had surrounded the perimeter that'd been setup by the police).

There were people calling others on their cell phones to give updates on what was happening, friends -- or so it seemed -- huddling together as if they were meeting at the local pub or wherever just to hang out, people who were really upset because of the devastation of the fire, others who didn't seem to care less -- they just wanted to see something explode (my interpretation), guys almost running people over as they directed their cars down sidewalks just to take a shortcut through a park to get to the fire.....in short, it was crazy.

People, not just Poles, are drawn to destruction. Do you think that it could have something with sin? I'm not giving my opinion -- don't know if I have one. But it just seems like we are drawn to destruction...and the more devastating, the more we stand there trying to catch a glimpse of something.

I'm not sure what we're looking for. In car accidents traffic piles up as people rubber-neck to see something in the accident. Police had to work really hard to keep people behind the perimeter because they kept wanting to get closer, wanting to see something. What are we looking for? Or is it just that we're drawn to it...somehow magnetically drawn to it?

Maybe we just want to see how the people involved fare...how they emerge from the devastation...whether or not they survived. Maybe we want to know what they experienced in the midst and later, the aftermath of it all. Maybe that meets some need we have inside of thinking that we could emerge too...we would survive.

Trigger any thoughts in anyone else out there?

Core Values, Part 1: More Christians

Been doing a lot of thinking about these four core values...remember them from the other day? If not just scroll down a bit for a refresher. They are crucial as we move forward trying to plant a church here in Poznan that will reach people (period). We're done with doing things just because and we are passionate about being on mission! I'm pumped up even now writing this and thinking about our drive to see things change...things happen! And before I write anything else, let me just say that these are Michael Shattuck's thoughts at 10:16am this morning. This is not exhaustive, I'm not being critical of any particular church, person, or whatever. As I said in my first blog entry, my intent on even blogging at all is to get some kind of interaction going between me and possible visitors. So, if I sound like I'm getting personal...you disagree...want to add something...whatever it may be, then email me or comment. That would be great!

More Christians. Let me just begin by saying that the evidence is overwhelming (just read any number of George Barna's books which give stats on church growth) that churches these days are growing primarily from transfer growth (church hoppers) and generational growth (babies being born and eventually becoming members through conversion/baptism) and NOT through conversion growth (new people coming in who decide to become followers of Christ). This should alarm all of us.

Church cannot become just another subculture in society. But that's what happens when we aren't reaching people outside the Kingdom. Just take a step into any big corporation or organization (even the IMB - International Mission Board) and you'll see what I mean really quickly. The IMB is setup to work with IMBers...seen especially in the language we employ. For example would you know what I mean if I said, "Soon we'll have our AGM with our RLT, SAs, SCs, FPUs, and MKs." No way! You can't know because we don't really think you need to know!! [By the way it's like this....soon we'll have our annual general meeting with our region leadership team, strategy associates, strategy coordinators, field personnel units, and missionary kids.]

Churches are not supposed to function the same way as the IMB. Our goal is to worship Christ and as an outpouring of the love we have for him, to share the opportunity for life [in Him] with the people around us -- generally, sharing Christ with the world. How can people come to see or experience that love when it's possible the message isn't even in the language which they speak? We are not a club...honor society...fashion show...cultural fixture...etc. We are the living, breathing, moving, reaching, touching, loving body of Christ. How can we continue focusing only on people who have supposedly already decided to follow Him and lose sight of the rest of the world? Who is the target of the message anyway?

Maybe I'll let Jesus speak for Himself:

Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew's house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them. When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus' followers. "What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riffraff?"

Jesus, overhearing, shot back, "Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: 'I'm after mercy, not religion.' I'm here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders." (Matthew 9 - MSG)

So how do we re-route our course if we feel like change is needed. I think a lot of evaluation is needed. We need to put ourselves in the shoes of someone who would come into our club (oops, church) and experience everything just as they would. Of course this means getting to know who these people are. It's amazing how you can lose touch with the reality of the world when you spend everyday only hanging with other Christ followers. And listen, I'm not talking about interviewing people, studying their habits, looking their trash...I'm talking about finding ways to make relationships with people outside of the church. How else will you ever share Christ's love with them without getting to know them??

As we are able to understand the mindset of people in our communities...after we're able to see how they view what goes on inside our services, ministries, etc...then we'll generally have a pretty clear picture of how things need to be changed, altered, revised, or maybe thrown out and completely re-worked. We'll also, through this examination of ourselves and our church, begin to see transformation occur in our own hearts. It's amazing, yet so true, that this transformation is Jesus making you (and me) more like Himself! As we see people the way He did we long to stop focusing so much on ourselves and begin focusing all of our energy on them...not just to bolster our Sunday worship stats but to see the Light of Christ enter their lives and change them forever!

This is huge in my life...a passion and an enormous challenge! It is the continuing work of Christ that we have been given the honor to carry out. If it becomes one of the core values of our churches (and of us personally) then we are sure to see growth. Don't hear me wrong. This is not formulaic...this is at its root a transformation of our hearts as we continually strive to become more and more like Jesus.

More Christians.

June 3 - Happy Birthday Vicki!!

You know, I haven't talked much about my family while blogging. If you knew any of them and knew me personally, you would know for sure that this isn't because of any lack of love for them! I'm sure that you've heard it said before...maybe you've said it yourself...but in all honesty it's never been true from other sources before. Quite frankly I should own the copyright for the phrase "most incredible family".

My wife, best friend in all the world and someone that I can't imagine anyone thinking anything but the best of things about, turned 30-something the other day (hehe). We had a party with our closest friends and celebrated together -- this involved much food prepared by the birthday girl herself (don't expect me to do it when other people will be subjected to it) as well as lots of hanging out and good times.

Something she said after it was all over and we were sitting in the living room talking was so true..."it made it so different to have today with our family." You see, along with seriously being blessed with the most incredible woman I have ever known I have also been blessed with these three crazy, quirky, beautiful, fun, adventurous, love-starved (however, not anymore) kids. They really do change everything. Sometimes we feel like life has become so complicated that we're about to check out and collect our last paycheck! :-) Most of the time, though, life has just taken on this completely different feel...sitting there watching them...being with them...holding them...whatever it may be.

I don't deserve any of this. I didn't deserve Vicki and still don't. I didn't deserve these three crazy kids. I'm not over-spiritualizing everything...it's just true. I am blessed beyond belief in my life through my family (and you've only heard about the other 4 in the picture...not anyone else in my greater family)! Thank you Lord!

Reflections

My mom sent me this picture today. I don't remember the day it was taken but I remember the scene...because it happened a lot when I was a little guy. My folks dropped me off at my grandma and grandpa's house while they went off to work and I would enter this fascinating new world. I remember snooping around in my grandpa's basement and drinking cans of orange juice that he'd gotten from working at TWA. And I remember riding with him on his lawnmower. Even to this day I remember loving that.

It's funny how your mind can take you back to a place from so many years gone by...it's like I can feel the scruff of my grandpa's beard on my face, remember trying to get him to shift to the rabbit gear instead of the turtle which he always seemed to prefer. Life was so simple then...no worries about church planting strategies, cultural acquisition, butchering foreign languages to get a point across. Life for me then was all about growing, exploring, experiencing, loving...living.

Just wanted to share a few sentamentalisms tonight. I sat done thinking about throwing something down with reference to yesterday's post...but for some reason seeing that picture and thinking about that time sort of sent me elsewhere.

Continuing to redefine church

Back to the basics. What a simple phrase that is used all over the place...sports, relationships, education...need I go on? Well, we're talking about this as well with respect to the church. It seems that often we can become so wrapped up in the formation of structure -- by that I mean programs, ministries, by-laws, etc -- that we figure who we are, what the point of all of those things are in the first place.

Tonight our church planting team (I use that somewhat loosely...but it is a team with the goal of planting a church) is having it's Thursday night meeting and will be hosting discussion and exploration of the concept of church. We will be thinking through what Brian McLaren says in The Church on the Other Side:

...The church has acted in different ways in history, depending on what was required of it -- it what it was tricked into -- according to the times. For example, on occasion the church has hunted down and killed heretics, while on occasion it itself has been vilified as a heretical organization. It has sometimes opposed the progress of science but sometimes has vigorously promoted progress. The church has preserved ancient culture and dead languages, eradicated ancient cultures and languages, ridiculed and hindered missionary expansion, healed the sick and fed the hungry, ignored the sick and forgotten the hungry, inspired capitalistic achievement, critiqued capitalistic achievement, opposed communism, baptized communism, promoted conservative politics, promoted liberal politics, fought the other denominations, promoted ecumenism, retreated into a subculture, penetrated new cultures...

Sometimes the church has found itself doing opposite things at the same time...For a lot of the time, much of the Christian church didn't seem to ask itself what its mission is, or whether it even has one. It seemed to just go along without any internal gyroscope or hard drive moving it out from the inside.

I believe this befuddlement about mission must change on the other side. The new church must define -- or redefine -- its mission. The specific focus of local churches will vary, of course, according to their context and environment. But I believe four overriding values will move to the forefront of the new church's mission:

1. More Christians
2. Better Christians
3. Authentic missional community
4. For the good of the world.

Very interesting stuff. These could definitely move us back to the basics of our mission. I'd like to take a closer look at some of this stuff in coming days. It should be interesting to see how our group talks about these core values tonight...how they are seen in the Polish context.

Happy Thursday!