LeadershipConneXtions

Missiological Leaders (We Aren't in Christendom Any Longer)

 

Kansas is Going, Going, Gone...

And it isn't coming back!

 

Here are two great lines. The first is from Dorothy to Toto.  "Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas any more."

Here is the second one, from the Matrix, when Cypher says to Neo, "Buckle your seat belt Dorothy, cuz Kansas is going bye bye."

Kansas has long ago gone bye-bye. And in this case, Kansas is Christendom. 

Christendom is the condition that exists when Christianity has a privileged and powerful position in the culture. It is when Christianity is in the air, it is the values, the ethos, the norms, the way, what is natural and comfortable.

For many centuries, Christendom was the way of life in Europe and then in North America. The only real question is - what version of Christendom. Would it be the Roman Catholic version or a Protestant variety? In Europe, the issue was often determined by those who lead in the various regions and countries.
 

In North America, which received vast numbers of immigrants who intermingled in the areas where they settled, denominations sprang up in every town square and village green. They occupied the main streets of culture. They migrated out to the suburbs when people spilled out past the boundaries of the city.

Seminaries trained their clergy to be pastors of congregations (kind of a chaplain who presided over the transitions and seasons of life) and to be preachers of the specific theological doctrine affirmed by the denomination. (Really, convincing the congregation and visitors, that's its way was the best way to understand the Christian faith.)  This was the pastor-teacher who often had a secure and respected position within Christendom. 
 

But Christendom has gone bye-bye and there were far too many of us who did not have our seats buckled.

In the emerging order and the not so brave new world, the religious leaders of communities MUST BE missiologists. That is, those who interpret the culture, who discern the times and who know how to speak, not just to the church dwellers who know the language of Zion, but to the much larger numbers of people for whom the Bible is an ancient and archaic book and to whom the ins and outs of Christianity are strange indeed. 

The pastor as missiologist knows the truth of Hebrews 11. We are sojourners, stranger in a country we don't understand. And we who want to sing songs of lament (Psalm 137), instead, God has called us to the work of Jeremiah 29.

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce Marry and have sons and daughters, find wives for yoru sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughers. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, becaues if it prospers, you too will prosper.  Jeremiah 29:4-9

 

This is the work of emerging leadership which we spent our week discussing. This is the new vocational calling of Christian leaders. Missiological entrepreneurs who know how to architect new communities of missional friends of Christ.

This is what we spent our week pondering over, praying baout and preparing to go forth as a new kind of leader.
 

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

"Here Be Dragon" Times

 

 Disruptive Change,  
a Dangerous Era
And called to lead...

One of the core ideas we work with in the Emerging Paradigms class is the rapidly and massively changing world around us. The world is exploding with change, at almost frightening levels. Change is happening faster, more often, more widely and more disruptively than ever.

A Church That is No Longer Relevant.
I have a friend who use to say, "I was trained to do ministry in a church that was no longer relevant, in a world that no longer existed, using methodologies that no longer worked." That is a fact in our emerging world. The old ways no longer work. Christian leaders have to face this.
 

Best of Times... Worst of Times.
I find the quote from A Tale of Two Cities is always powerful for leaders. Dickens opens his book about the French Revolution and the general turmoil within Europe with these words:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness... it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way...

This is our situation also. Best of and worst of times. Exciting opportunities and enormous challenges at the same time.

Serious Times.
I use the quote of John Adams to his friend Thomas Jefferson, describing the revolutionary times in which they had been called to lead. "My friend, you and I have lived in serious times." Yes indeed -- the times are serious. Our times are very serious.

Here Be Dragons Times.
I use the idea of "Here Be Dragons" kind of times. If you look at some of the very old maps, when they were poorly drawn, when the terrain was not very well known and when it was risky to sail in to these largely uncharted waters, map makers would put on the boundaries of the map, sea creatures and the words - Here Be Dragons. It was symbolic of the dangers that lay beyond the known world.

I borrow this idea and say that we live in the time when all the cultural maps (religious, moral, spiritual, political, philosophical, etc.) are literally being redrawn. We do not yet know what this emerging world will look like. But it will be risky and dangerous. The temptation will be to stay safe in the known harbors.

Inbetween the Times.
Finally, I use the theme of "Inbetween Times." I borrow this from Drucker who said:

Every few hundred years in Western history a sharp transformation has occurred. In a matter of a few decades, society altogether rearranges itself - its worldview, its basic values, its social and political structures, its arts, its key institutions. Fifty years later, a new world exists. And the people born into that world cannot even imagine the world into which their parents were born.

This too is our situation. We are living in about the middle of one of those times of great transformation and upheaval. Everything is changing. We are not yet sure what the end result will be. But in another 25 or so years - everything will be radically different than life that we experienced in 1980.

A new world is emerging. 
A new kind of leadership is necessary.

This establishes the motivation as well as the urgency to consider these matters. That is what we spend our week probing, arguing, debating, exploring and trying to discern... as did those sons (and daughters) of Issachar who also lived in paradigm changing times.

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

A Description of Modernity: Part Four (IBT #14)

'll cover two more features of modernity in this post:  Autonomous Individualism and Narcissistic Hedonism.

Autonomous Individualism. The individual is supreme. It is all about me. It is my way that counts. Who are you to challenge me? Who are you to contradict me? Who are you to bother me? Who are you to need anything from me?

Perhaps the theme song of this feature is the old Simon and Garfunkel tune, I Am a Rock:

I am a rock

I am an island

And a rock feels no pain

And an island never cries

Take a moment and listen to this video of the song.

In the twilight of modernity, our autonomous individualism has left us self-sufficient, independent, isolated, bereft of friends, incapable of participating in meaningful community, the arbiter of our own destiny, the (supposed) Master of Our Own Universe . . . and very lonely and very lost.

It is a general Axiom among Postmodern Christians that post modernity is a radical reversal of this feature of modernity and that in post modernity, community is a high value. Mark Sayers, in The Trouble With Paris differs and believes that in our condition of hyper-reality, individualism is more extreme than ever.

Autonomous Individualism by itself is one thing, but it is naturally joined together with Narcissistic Hedonism.

Hedonism is the way of life that believes pleasure is supremely important. Now, pleasure may be defined however the autonomous individual chooses to define it. It often takes on the form of some variety of sensualism and/or materialism. The pursuit of material comforts and the enjoyment of sexual desires are strong driving forces in our culture.

I typed in hedonism in my Google Search to look for an image to use. I have the safe filter settings on and it is still striking the pictures/images that come up for website. Almost everything is associated with sexuality. You can go on Hedonistic Vacations if you want!   (I decided not to put any images on this post.)

Narcissus was the figure from Greek mythology who looked into a pool of water and fell in love with himself. The narcissist is the person who loves them self inordinately and fails to love others appropriately. The narcissist as hedonist believes that she or he deserves pleasure of the desired kind.

NOTE:  One website said that 75% of narcissists are men!  That sounds like it could be a book. Narcissists and the Women Who Love Them

Of course, money is no object in the pursuit of this kind of lifestyle and so we spend and live far beyond our means so we may have what we think we deserve. 

If the 21st Century Man and Women were described by archaeologists from 1000 years from now, perhaps they would describe us as:

homo consumerus shoppus livingindebtus

You can easily see how autonomous individualism and narcissistic hedonism mutually reinforce one another and how such a person will eventually be very lost and very lonely.  For they are incapable of selfless, generous love and sacrifice on behalf of others.

The current generation of Superstar Athletes is just one example of these qualities carried to extravagant excess.

Our culture's fascination with the Celebrity is in part a fascination with those who live the life of narcissism, hedonism and heroic individualism.

I would also come back and ask - is Post Modernity really that different on this issue? Is the emerging generation really that much different in this than their modern predecessors? Again, some authors would have you think post-moderns are significantly different. And again, Mark Sayers believes that Post Modernity is just the hyper-experience of this quality.

This is the world/culture in which we are called to live, lead, model the life of Christ (who is the anti-thesis) of both autonomous individualism and narcissistic hedonism, and offer a subversive alternative to the prevailing norms of our culture.

This is not an easy thing to do . . .

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

A Description of Modernity: Part Three (IBT #13)

I am going to continue with this InBetween the Times series but intermittently. If you ever want to look at the entire list of IBT posts, just click on the link InBetween Times that is in the footer at the end of the post. What that link does is bring up ever post associated with this topic. You can also always click on that same link in the Categories category on the left hand side of this site.

Today I'll briefly describe the twin issues of Pluralization and Relativism.

Pluralization simply means we now have a variety of options from which to choose.

Relativism is the view that no one option is morally superior to or spiritually better than the other option.

Multi-culturalism is the result of Pluralization and Relativism as it is socially programmed into our experience.

Tolerance is now considered the supreme value needed in this kind of world.

- - By the way, all of this emerges out of another phenomenon known as Globalization, which we'll look at in another post.

- - Another "by the way" is that even though these things developed in a Modern world, they have each been carried over into a Post-modern world. A PoMo who is reading the above list would say, well all that describes my Post-modern experience. And it does.

This is another example where "post" does not necessarily mean - contradictory of what went before. Sometimes a PoMo assumes that to be Post-modern means everything is against or in contrast to what was Modern. That is just not true. There are many things in a Post-modern world that are simply the intensification to extremes of what was true of the Modern world.

So, here are a bunch of quick thoughts as to what all this means for us today.

It is now commonly accepted that all religions are the same and that all religions lead to the same God, just using different terminology and different flavors. Therefore . . .

It makes "apologetics" very hard and, for some, completely suspect. 

For many, evangelism is now seen as unfortunate proselytism and a remmnant of religious imperialism.

It undercuts missional efforts . . . after all, why is it even needed?

Or it redefines mission as finding ways to work together for social betterment. (After all, we can agree on that . . . can't we?)

Everything (just about) is permissible and almost nothing is wrong. Even if it is illegal, if you can get away with it, go for it.

It deepens radical individualism. For you are the consumer who can sample and try whatever you want. No one can challenge you or question your choices in this pluralistic, relativistic, tolerant world.

Although we all know that this is very selectively held. Just witness the recent presidential election and it kind of blows much of what we "pretend" to believe about pluralization and relativism and tolerance right out the window.

I think it fosters tribal isolation where every tribe does what is right in their own eyes. At best, these tribes have an uneasy co-existence. But in many cases, even though they must tolerate each other, they don't really like each other.

Smorgasbord faith and Syncretism abound as we increasingly sample and remix our beliefs.

All of this is the result of Modernity and it is describing these InBetween Times in which we live as we are transitioning out of a Modern world and into an emerging "Post-modern" world.

And it makes leadership a very "tricky" thing.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

p.s.  You can download this file that has some cartoons on it

Download RelativismComics

A Description of Modernity Part Two (IBT #12)

As you will see, these different features of MODERNITY are closely inter-related. Yesterday we looked at: (1) secularization and (2) privatization. Today we'll look at (3) reductive naturalism.

REDUCTIVE NATURALISM

This may sound complicated, but it really isn't. It just refers to the belief that NATURE is all that is. There is no 'SUPER' - NATURAL. Only what you can access with your senses (sight, sound, smell, taste and touch) is real. There is no spiritual world. There is no God or small gods. There is no "other realm."  (Think Carl Sagan, one of the great popularizers of this in the 20th century)

ONE:  Reductive naturalism (RN) is an ideology that is built on the scientific method of testing hypotheses.

TWO:  RN has produced an endless proliferation of specialization and areas of expertise. These areas of study become every narrowed in scope, highly isolated from other fields, and thus reality is experience in fragmented way.

Q:  By the way - have you heard the definition of an EXPERT?

A:  An expert is a person who knows more and more about less and less until she knows everything there is to know about nothing.

THREE:  This specialization lead to a massive attempt to standardize and systematize all discovered knowledge in texts known as encyclopedias (of a wide variety). This also involved a massive work to categorize and classify all knowledge. And to do that, there was reductionism - where everything is reduced to its seperate, simplest form.

FOUR:  Progress was an accepted "given" in this approach. Progress would always occur and this progress was viewed as evolutionary in its nature.

FIVE:  In such a world shaped by RN, we lost our sense of wonder, awe, mystery, reverence and miracle. Such things were expunged from a scientifically secular world that had no room for them.

Without these things, MODERN MAN AND WOMAN became hollow men (T.S. Elliot) who were full of sound and fury signifying nothing (MacBeth).

Stephen Crane wrote these tragic words:  A man said to the universe,"Sir, I exist!" "However." replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me a sense of obligation."  (pictured to the left)

Walker Percy said we were "lost in the cosmos."

And T.S. Elliot's poem could aptly be applied to all of MODERNITY.

We are the hollow men

We are the stuffed men

Leaning together

Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!

Our dried voices, when

We whisper together

Are quiet and meaningless

As wind in dry grass

Or rats' feet over broken glass

In our dry cellar

Shape without form, shade without colour,

Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

Those who have crossed

With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom

Remember us - if at all - not as lost

Violent souls, but only

As the hollow men

The stuffed men.

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends.

Not with a bang but a whimper

This is the way hollow MODERNITY ends, not with a bang but a whimper.

Maybe that is how the church reared and shaped by modernity (certainly the liberal and possibly the conservative expressions) will end as well . . . with barely a whimper or notice.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

A Description of Modernity Part One (IBT #11)

Well, I'm picking back up with the In-Between Times series. The last time I posted  on this was about two weeks ago.

I want to take a few days and describe MODERNITY to you. Modernity is the time of life that is coming to an end (supposedly). Modernity is the season of life that was the context for evangelicals and how we thought about theology, spirituality, missions, evangelism, apologetics, world religions, church structures and leadership.

Today I want to mention two closely related features of modernity. The first is Secularization and the second is Privatization.

SECULARIZATION:

Secularization is the process by which everything that is (family, law, politics, economics, art, novels, etc.) becomes divorced from the sacred or religious. It is the elimination of the spiritual from life and culture. It is the co-opting of religious symbols for non-religious use.

In Europe, this process was dramatic, inexorable and had total impact on country after country.

In the United States, the process was different. Secularization made great inroads in the elite areas of life: university education, the media, the social sciences in particular, the hard sciences as well, politics and the urban centers. But even though that was a considerable penetration, it did not reach the masses as it did in Europe. In the USA, many (even most) people remained religious in some ways.

This process is described by several scholars.

America is as furiously religious as it ever was and in some cases more so than ever. Peter Berger, sociologist

German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche may have proclaimed that God is dead, but it is apparent that few in America attended the wake.  James Emory White, pastor

And here is one of my favorites:

If India is the most religious country on our planet, and Sweden is the least religious, America is a land of Indians ruled by Swedes.  Peter Berger

And that leads to a direct by-product that arises out of how secularization worked out in the USA.

 

PRIVATIZATION:

Theodore Roszak explained privatization when he said the Christian faith in America is "socially irrelevant even if it is privately engaging."  (quote may not be exact)

In modernity, we are allowed to have faith as long as we hold it privately and to not engage in the public arena from a position of faith. Live out your faith in your family and church, but then leave it behind those doors when you go to work, to shop, to play and do anything else.

Ray Kroc is the man who turned McDonalds into a worldwide franchise. He said, "I believe in God, family and McDonalds. And in the office that order is reversed."

The end result of this is that our Christian faith has no room and even less impact on our way of life in the USA. There are, of course, Christian groups who desired to reintegrate their faith back into the public life.

There were very sophisticated and theologically robust attempts to do this. Andy Crouch's book, Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling, is one more of the latest articulations of this approach.

There were also less culturally astute and more poltically aggressive approaches like the Moral Majority of Falwell, Robertson and Dobson.

These were two VERY DETRIMENTAL features of America that were hostile to the Christian faith.

Tomorrow - a look at Reductive Naturalism (don't be alarmed at the title, it will make a ton of sense as soon as you read it).

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

. . . that's Post-Christendom (IBT #10)

When a young 25 year old man visits church and the preacher says, turn to the Gospel of Mark, and the young man does not know what a gospel is, he does not know what the Gospel of Mark is, he does not know what the New Testament is, and he has never opened the pages of a Bible - that's Post-Christendom!

When a first-time visitor to a church does not come back because she does not know that church is a repeated, weekly event (she is thinking it is like a one-time concert) -that's Post-Christendom!

When dozens of old church buildings close their doors FOR THE LAST TIME because there are too few people to keep them open (and heated) - that's Post-Christendom!

When in a major city, there are more Muslims worshiping at Mosques then Christians worshiping in Churches in a given week - that's Post-Christendom!

When you go to a Border's or Barnes & Nobles bookstore and look at the religion section, and discover there are more books on Buddhism than on Christianity, and when there are more people looking at the Buddhist books and not the Christian books - that's Post-Christendom!

When millions of people buy a book called The Da Vinci Code, and believe it is factual history - that's Post-Christendom!

When the Story of Christian Faith has virtually disappeared from our vocabulary and mindset . . .

. . . when the church now competes with every other institution  (schools, sports, shopping, etc.) for attendance on Sunday morning (and loses) . . .

. . . when the children who grew up in conservative churches no longer attend them  (because they just don't make sense any more and are not appealing) . . .

. . . when the statistics show that the average Christian is little different in actual moral behavior than the average non-Christian . . .

. . . when the moral codes of Christianity are now considered the quaint, left-over remnants of an outdated morality . . .

That's Post-Christendom!

And that's our emerging cultural context.

It is the established cultural context in Europe . . . and it is inexorably moving our way. It may still be years away . . . but it's coming.

While the fullness may still be years away, it is already here.

And if the church continues to do church and faith and spirituality and preaching and mission and evangelism and leadership like we've always done . . .

we'll just accelerate the process of Post-Christendomization!

I think I just made up a word . . .

More on Post-Christendom soon and looking at this question:  Is this Post-Christendom a good thing or not so good of a thing?

I'll be taking off from this IBT series for a a bit, but we'll come back to it later in the month.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Post-Christendom (IBT #9)

Here is another of the "BIGGIES" when it comes to a "post" world. It is Post-Christendom. But to understand that, we must first understand what Christendom is.

There is a connection between Christian and Christendom. Here is one way to think of that connection.

Think of Christian and think of Kingdom and merge them together into an earthly political entity.  That's Christendom.

Think of Church and think of State and merge them together in a geographical location on earth.  That's Christendom.

Think of Christianity and think of Culture and merge them together into a whole.  That's Christendom.

Christendom is when Christianity becomes institutionalized into the culture in which it exists.

Christendom is when churches have American flags in them and when American Courts have people swear to tell the truth on a Bible (which now, they no longer understand, believe or follow, which means Christendom is going... going ... gone... )

Christendom is when the Statue of Liberty holds a cross to the sky.

Christendom  is when the money of the country says In God we Trust (but the truth is that we no longer trust in God but in our money making and multiplying systems, which means  Christendom is going, going, gone).  And so is our money!

Christendom is when political officials ask God to "bless America" (but today they have not the slightest idea what would actually bring the blessing of God to a nation, which means Christendom is going, going, gone). 

Christendom exists where the Christian faith and church has been so strong that it came to define and decisively shape the life other culture in which it was.

Christendom exists where the church and the town hall are side by side (think of the New England "greens" or "commons" where the center of the village, town or city was). 

Christendom exists when the Christian faith has a privileged role in shaping the cultural life of a country and its people.

Christendom exists when the church is THE (or virtually THE) primary institution in the culture.

Christendom began when the Roman Emperor CONSTANTINE turned the persecuted, on the fringe, minority religion known as Christianity into the dominant and preferred religion of the Roman Empire. It happened about 312-313 AD.

Christendom migrated to the rest of Europe and became entrenched into its countries throughout the Middle Ages. It was in the time of the Renaissance, then Reformation, then Enlightenment which slowly saw the "disestablishment" of Christian faith as the dominant, controlling influence on society.

In the United States of America, to where Christendom was exported, it lasted longer than it did in Europe. But it has been in a long, slow decline for many years.

People like James Dobson, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell were three Christians who lamented the passing of Christendom and sought to revive it through a politically energized "moral majority" that through political means would "re-establish" the Christian faith and its moral code which was becoming marginalized again.

So, is the end of Christendom in the U.S.A. a good thing or a bad thing? James, Pat and Jerry think it is a very bad thing . . .

We'll visit that question tomorrow.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

 

 

 

A Post World: Part Two (IBT #8)

Living in a Post-Modern World!

What is it going to look like?

Yes I know I said yesterday that it is terribly difficult to describe the future. So why am I taking a shot at it?  I don't know - maybe I'm a glutton for punishment. Anyway, here goes . . .

In some ways it will be very DIFFERENT from a modern world. In some ways, post-modernity is the "anti-thesis" of modernity. It is the opposite. It is a corrective. It is a reversal.

Example:  Modernity was excessively secular, there was no room for the sacred or spiritual. Science was supreme and only what you could scientifically measure was real. And the result was a loss of wonder, awe, mystery and other beautiful things like that which the human soul longs for.

Not so in the post-modern world. Spirituality is making a major comeback. There are high levels of interest in the spiritual. Isn't it striking how many different TV shows have a lot of spirituality in them? Yet so much of this spirituality is pretty far removed from Christianity. And therein is the "rub." Spirituality yes, but not necessarily Christianity or for that matter, not even Jesus.

In some other ways, the post-modern world may be quite SIMILAR only intensified. Modernity to the nth degree.

Example:  Individualism.Will postmodernity reverse our extreme tendency toward individualism and replace it with community? Well, the jury is still OUT. But right now, it sure doesn't seem so.

Example:  Image and appearance.  Will postmodernity reverse our fixation on "image" and replace it with deep authenticity? Well, the jury is still OUT. But right now, it sure doesn't seem so. Image is more important than ever and image is easier to fake than ever.

Example:  Consumerism.  Will postmodernity mean the reversal of our massive and not-sustainable consumerism? Hmmm.  Well, maybe, but maybe not. Right now, if consumerism is diminished, it will be due to economic crisis and collapse, and not to a radically different value about possessions on the part of Post-moderns.

Here is another good question when it comes to the emerging Post-Modern world.

What will happen to the evangelical or generally conservative church? According to Spencer Burke in Heretic's Guide to Eternity, the changes are so massive that it signals the end of religion as we have known it. And for Burke, good riddance and it can't happen soon enough. I think he is wrong. Both on the evangelical church disappearing and in thinking that would be for the best.

For Christians, the transition from modern to post-modern MAY NOT mean the end of the conservative church as it has been formed.  I think Phyllis Tickle is a more reliable guide on this. She points out in her book, The Great Emergence, that whenever there has been a time of transition and emergence, while something new and beautiful has arisen out of that time, what was in place was reformed and invigorated.

Tickle believes that the conservative church (which J.I. Packer reminds us is only 1/2 inch deep) can and should anticipate a time of renewal and reformation as we deal with the issues, themes, challenges, and correctives of postmodernity.

And perhaps if we are wise and courageous and deeply connected with Christ, we may even have something good and valuable in this curious world that is still emerging but not yet fully here.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

A "Post" World: Part One (IBT #7)

Post-Modernity

Post-Enlightenment

Post-Christian

Post-Christendom

Post-Evangelical

Post-Secular

Tim Keller says we are Post-Everything

What does all this "POST" stuff mean? Well, I am going to look at several of these in future comments, but for now, to explain, let me choose Post-Modernity.

In this "post" and several of the upcoming ones, I am going to give you some explanation and descriptions of important terms that are central to the conversation we are having today. Here are a few of them.  Modernity, Pre-modernity, and Post-modernity.

Modernity was the era of history that was a philosophical, cultural, political/social way of life that had its conception in the  Renaissance about 1500'ish, was born in the Enlightenment (1700's) and then grew to maturity in the 19th and 20th century. At this point I won't describe its characteristics. For now we just want to know that is the time period referred to as MODERNITY.

So Modernity was the cultural run that started about 1500 and moved into its terminal phase in the final decades of the 20th century.

PRE-MODERNITY therefore, is the period of time (with its cultural, philosophical, social/political way of life that came BEFORE the modern period. The Pre-Modern world was a paradigm of life that eventually gave way to the paradigm of Modernity. The Medieval Church was part of that Pre-Modern season of history.

POST-MODERNITY is that season of life which comes AFTER Modernity.

However, it is a little messier than that, for Modernity is not yet over, it is still continuing and will be with us for some time. It is just that Modernity is no longer the DOMINANT intellectual, cultural way to understand life. Post-Modernity is beginning to take up that role . . . But, it has not yet fully moved into that role.

So there is a season of overlap with Modernity and Post-Modernity just as there was a period of overlap between Pre-Modernity and Modernity. This overlap may be decades long. And this overlap is what I called, in an earlier post . . .  In-Between the Times. 

So, Modernity while it is in decline, is not yet fully over. And Post-Modernity, while it has begun, is not yet fully here.

Okay, if you are with this so far -- great job on your part. We are almost done for today.

We have the vantage point of history to look back on PRE-MODERNITY and describe it.

We have the vantage point of history to look back on MODERNITY and describe it. I'll give you the major defining characteristics of Modernity in a few days.

But we cannot yet fully define or describe POST-MODERNITY, for it is too early. So we don't know exactly what it will be like. In some ways it will be very different from MODERNITY. But in some ways, it may just be the hyper or ultra extension of MODERNITY.

Post-modernity

... is only emerging and appearing. It will be some time until it is fully here. We can describe some aspects of it and take guesses at some other things. But I try to keep this in mind.

Actually discerning the times that are already here is hard enough. Figuring out what the future will be (the occupational task of Futurists) is terribly difficult and prone to frequent error.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Paradigms: A Final Word, At Least for Now (IBT #6)

Here is a word from Leadership expert, Peter Drucker on paradigms.

Every few hundred years in Western history a sharp transformation has occurred. In a matter of a few decades, society altogether rearranges itself - its worldview, its basic values, its social and political structures, its arts, its key institutions. Fifty years later, a new world exists. And the people born into that world cannot even imagine the world into which their parents were born.  (Peter Drucker)

We are living in one of those times.

We are in the In-Between Times when society is rearranging EVERYTHING about itself.

There are a lot of Christians who feel as if they are going to be the losers in this paradigm change! And you know something -- they are going to be the losers if they don't learn how to be a part of the change that is taking place. But change is hard. If you are afraid of the transition and even more afraid of what is going to emerge out of the transition time, you will likely have a number of reactions that are unhelpful (to say it mildly).

ONE:  The Ostrich Approach.  Do the old head in the sand tactic. Ignore what is going on around you. Hope it goes away. When the dust has settled, pull your head out of the sand and hope things are okay.

TWO:  The Nostalgia Approach. Wistfully remember the good old days. Long for a previous era. Complain about the new-fangled ways.  This is an exercise in futility. I may have really loved using my typewriter (actually I didn't), but the typewriter is gone, replaced by this new contraption called the computer.

THREE:  Retrenchment.  This is withdrawing, retreating, escaping and usually separating oneself in a Christian enclave (i.e. church, campus, ghetto, fortress) and hoping we will be unaffected. (You can see that some of these approaches I am mentioning are used simultaneously and complement one another.) Sometimes it means praying for the old ways to be restored and working to go back to the past.

The Israelites wanted to go back to Egypt. They could not handle the paradigm of freedom and responsibility.

There are many Russians who are struggling in the aftermath of the collapse of Communism and with the early years of transitioning to democracy and capitalism. They are loudly proclaiming they want a return to the way things were - communism.

FOUR:  Reactionary Fighting. Denounce the new. Condemn it. Fight for the past. Sometimes this generates results, but it usually requires violence and aggression.

Islamic Fundamentalism is a case in point. As globalization with all its attendant issues penetrated Islamic cultures, the fundamentalists were horrified and launched counter-measures in the forms of terroristic attacks against those in their own culture who were embracing the new. This can be seen especially in the case of Muslim women who were starting to move away from the strict regulations of Islamic fundamentalism.

When the church had the power of the state behind it, it could label a new paradigm heresy and its proponents heretics and punish them with the power of the state. Torture, imprisionment, and death.

In America, it is possible to fight through political means. It can get just as ugly.

FIVE: Escape by Rapture. Pray harder for Jesus to return to get us out of this mess. This is not just longing for the return of Christ, but this is being desperately ready for it.

Every one of the options listed above is the way of frustration and failure. If you choose one, you won't have a voice or a contribution to make in this In-Between Time of paradigm transition. You will be one of the losers when the dust settles.

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There are other options available and we'll be looking at some of them in the days ahead.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Paradigms: A Few More Thoughts (IBT #5)

If you didn't read yesterday's post, be sure to go back and read that one first, because this is just a continuation of it.

FIVE:  A paradigm doesn't last forever. Every paradigm gets challenged. And then either morphed or supplanted.

Example: Communism was a paradigm that had major power and influence in the world in the 20th century and yet now, is pretty much "played out."

Example:  The idea of two super powers (the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R.) contending for the world was a paradigm that came to an end.

Example:  The world of Newtonian Science is a paradigm that is being replaced by Quantum Physics.

SIX:  Whenver paradigm change is taking place, there are winners and there are losers. The losers are those who benefited from the old paradigm and especially, those who were the power brokers under the old paradigm.

Example:  Think of South Africa and apartheid. Wow has there ever been paradigm change and winners and losers. And for the losers, they feel as if they have lost an entire way of life. When I was there earlier this year, I had many conversations on how people were affected by their changing paradigm.

Example:  I think the 2008 Presidential election in America involved paradigm change. This was much bigger than the previous races where the issues are always tense between Republicans and Democrats. This time it was heightened several notches. Barak Obama was seen as a major change to the "way things are" and did this election ever make us think in terms of winners and losers. It seems that every campaign ad, on both sides, had this as its theme.

SEVEN:  A paradigm (usually) does not change quickly or easily. Initially, there are cracks and flaws that reveal that the existing paradigm is beginning to lose its power to define and explain reality. But the "keepers of the paradigm" come up with DUCT TAPE solutions to these early problems. Many of these solutions by the keepers involve punishing and suppressing the flaws and those who are revealing the flaws. Usually, those who are pointing out the "Naked Emperor Paradigm" are the visionaries who see a new paradigm on the horizon. But the "keepers of the old" bring harsh reprisals against the heretics of the new.

As time progresses, the "paradigm keepers" are less able to do this and the flaws turn into fault lines which begin to threaten to unravel the entire paradigm. Frantic DUCT TAPE attempts continue but they are less and less effective.

Example:  The world is flat . . .

Example:  The earth is at the center of the universe . . . 

Example:  The Protestant Reformation . . . after awhile, it just became impossible for the Roman Catholic authorities to kill the major reformers.

EIGHT:  The seasons of paradigm change are times of major uncertainty, tension, conflict, struggle, insecurity, anxiety and fear. The bigger the paradigm change that is taking place, the greater our unease and the more painful the transitional time is.

NINE:  And everything I have said in yesterday's post and today's about paradigms is leading up to this statement.

The In-Between Times in which we live are so interesting and so serious because they are times of MASSIVE PARADIGM CHANGE. We live in the time when the biggest, most established paradigm is being rocked to its very core by the newcover paradigm. The established paradigm of Modernity is giving way to the emerging paradigm of Post-Modernity.

Christian are not immune to this. Far from it. We are and will be forever changed by this time of Paradigm Change because our Christianity as we conceptualized and practiced it was profoundly shaped by our context of modernity.

When Brian McLaren writes, Everything Must Change, this is the context he is addressing.

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More on paradigms tomorrow and their implication for the  Christian church.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

Paradigms (IBT #4)

In this series of posts, we are looking at issues of culture. The context of this series is a little harder and more challenging to read and process. I know some of the vocabularly is going to be unfamiliar. And any one post will make more sense as you read all of them. I hope you'll hang in with these posts because these themes are important and are affecting all of us.

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I don't know when I first heard the word PARADIGM, but I do know when I first really understood what it meant. It was in 1981 when I was taking a course with Dr. David Wellsof Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He was talking about a book by Thomas Kuhn, The Structures of Scientific Revolutions and how Kuhn described a paradigm.

Here are the important ideas about paradigms:

ONE:  A paradigm is a (usually) complex and complicated model that provides an integrated and comprehensive construct that organizes both theory and practice.

For example:  Evolution is a scientific paradigm that is dominant in the west for understanding the origins and nature of life.

Another example:  Dispensational eschatology is a theological paradigm for how the world will end.

TWO:  Paradigms are often (but not always) held at the level of a worldview strength. In other words - we have deep commitments to paradigms and they have huge explanatory power in our lives. A paradigm becomes embedded and entrenched into our society and way. A paradigm is unquestioned by its holder. It is simply assumed as truth, the way things are. A paradigm functions kind of like a "meta-story" that explains reality or a significant part of reality.

Example:  Listen to Jack Van Impe interpret anything that is happening in the world and you will see the strength and power of his eschatological paradigm.  Check out Jack Van Impe Ministry

Example:  Listen to a secular biologist talk about Christian creationists and you'll see the strength and power of that evolutionary paradigm. For the evolutionist, creationism is simply unthinkable.

THREE:   In times of paradigm stability, the paradigm is so entrenched that almost everyone takes it for granted. We don't even think about it . . . it is just there. For those of you who wear glasses or contact lens, think of a paradigm as the lens through which you view the world. You are not conscious of the lens. It is so constant for you, that you don't even know it is there. Unless something challenges your paradigm. However, it is virtually impossible for someone to just "take off" their paradigm lens. In most cases, the paradigm/lens is glued to our eyes.

FOUR:      Paradigms have a strong social hegemony and legitimacy. Alright, I'll break that down into English. It means they are supported and maintained by those in power. They are justified and protected by those who benefit the most from them. And, when a society holds to the paradigm, the entire society legitimizes that paradigm.

Example:  The Jim Crow laws that discriminated against African Americans in the southern States of the United States after the Civil War and until the Civil rights movement of the 1960's was a paradigm that was supported, protected and fought for by the white south.

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If you are wondering why this is so important, here is why. The In-Between Times in which we live are in-between paradigms. There is an established paradigm that is being challenged and there is a new paradigm that is emerging. And oh is it painful.

Our Christianity is right in the middle of all this.

More on paradigms in tomorrow's post.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

3000 Miles Wide and 1/2 Inch Deep (IBT #3)

One of the core ideas we explored last week when I taught the Emerging Paradigms of Leadership course at LBC was a statement by J.I. Packer that I first read many years ago. It has become a core idea that guides my reflecting and acting. I think it grabbed the course participants as well.

(By the way, they are pictured below. From left to right: Quinton (Lancaster), Gladys (Kenya), Miriam (Holland), John (Reading), David (India) and Jiten (India). I had a blast learning with you guys.Thanks for all your interaction and processing.)

Here is Packer's statement:  North American Christianity is 3000 miles wide and 1/2 inch deep. It is from his book, The Quest for Godliness. For those of you who live outside the U.S.A., just contextualize the quote for your own country.

Here is why I think Packer is right on.

ONE:  We should lament the lack of spiritual transformation that results in the lack of godliness or Christ-likeness. We should lament the lack of being STRIKINGLY DIFFERENT from the culture around us and for looking just like the culture in too many unfortunate ways.

TWO:   We should deplore the lack of substantial biblical and theological reflection in the church today. Obviously this one was important to Packer. First, because he is a theologian by vocation and it is to be expected that we will love and deeply value what we are called to do. Second, because Packer stands in the Reformed tradition of theology which deeply values substantial theological thought. But with that said, Packer is right. Our lack of substance and depth and vitality in this will only hurt us as we seek to fulfill our calling as God's people.

THREE:  We should grieve the cultural accomodation of Christians and the church in the world. Maybe we all need to (at least from time to time) borrow a page from the Anabaptists (and a modern one at that - Shane Claiborne) and seek to be subversive, prophetic and counter-cultural as we follow Christ in our location. But as we do this, we must, at all costs, avoid forms of this that come across as strident, judgmental and seperatist. We need a kinder, gentler, wiser subversion in the days ahead.

FOUR: We should be disappointed with the lack of a holistic, balanced, integrated witness to and service of the world, through wise evangelistic engagements and costly service, especially to those who are most needy. We are just falling really short on this.

In these interesting, serious, In-Between Times, all is not well with the church. It is only 1/2 inch deep. But now we have to drive this home. You see, we must all adopt a Chestertonian approach to this. When Chesterton was asked, "What is wrong with the world?", his first response was, "I am." When we ask - why is the church only 1/2 inch deep?, we must first understand - it is because "I" am only 1/2 inch deep.

A 1/2 inch deep church full of 1/2 inch deep followers will have little to offer In-Between Times, or contribute to the Emerging World that is headed our way.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

How Do You Define Insanity? (IBT #2)

Well, this question could take us in a lot of different directions! But here is how I want to work with it. I'll introduce it with three quotes.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results (Einstein).

If you keep on doing what you've always done, you'll keep on getting what you've always got/gotten (unknown, probably to keep irate English teachers from getting hold of that individual!).

And finally . . .

The things that got you to where you are today are not the things that will get you to where you need to be tomorrow(George Barna).

Living in our interesting, serious, best of/worst of, In-Between Times, we must at all costs - AVOID INSANITY.  The insanity that keeps on doing the same things, practicing the same models, using the established strategies, and maintaining the same approaches that once worked (supposedly) in the emerging era - will be our undoing.  (I suspect that an English teacher or two is irate with this sentence as well!)

Living in these In-Between TIMES  calls for:

creative innovation in all things,

bold experimentation with new ways of being the church on the other side (a la McLaren),

a rebirth of theological reflection (Stanley Grenz, now deceased),

and sustainable spiritual practices of an Ancient-Future blend (me).

Biblically, it involves discerning, understanding, interpreting, making sense out of the times in which we live (1 Chronicles 12:32).

It means living with our eyes wide open as we look for manifestations of God in the world around us (Romanowski) seeking to discover the new things God is doing (Isaiah 43:18-19) and then joining in with that new work (Blackaby).

These interesting and serious In-Between Times are exciting with their potential.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International

 

p.s.  and don't be afraid to be a little crazy along the way . . . after all, we are fools for Christ . . .

Living In-Between the (Interesting and Serious) Times (IBT #1)

"May you live in interesting times."

Question: Is this a blessing/benediction or a malediction/curse? Because if they are interesting, the times are probably not stable or certain!

The opening words of Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities comes to mind.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way . . . 

John Adams wrote to his friend Thomas Jefferson,

"My friend, you and I have lived in serious times."

We are once again living in times that are both interesting and serious.

Times of wisdom and foolishness, belief and unbelief, Light and Darkness, hope and despair . . .

Times of everything and times of nothing . . .

It is the best of times and it is the worst of times and they are our times.

And these times have one more aspect to them which intensifies everything I have said. We are living in the:

In-Between Times.

The In-Between Times are times of change on a massive scale. A time of change means we are in transition. We are moving from one time (condition, historical season, cultural era) into another time.

It is In-Between Times because the old is still lingering and the new has not yet been established. That is why it is so interesting and serious. 

Living transitionally In-Between the passing, fading, morphing of the established, while waiting for, anticipating, wondering about, and perhaps anxiously fretting over what is to come IS NOT EASY. In fact, it is psychologically, emotionally, spiritually painful to be in transition In-Between Times. 

The In-Between Times  are full of potential and peril. Risk and reward. Pain and promise.

For the next few weeks, I am going to have quite a few posts on these In-Between Times.

For, how we lead, how we live, how we do church, how we engage in spirituality, how we do missions, everything is in transition in these In-Between Times.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International