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“Interesting read from a very interesting man.”
Joel H wrote this review Saturday, October 10 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Frost and Hirsch are Australians writing about missional churches in a highly secular culture, a world of post Christendom. They cut to the quick of the need for revolutionary change in the church to enable it live out the gospel within the local context rather than existing as a institution with its own separate culture. Radical and provocative it seeks and succeeds in being based on orthodox Christian doctrine and adherence to scripture. It explores more the ‘Why?’ questions than the ‘How to?’ yet, through stories and examples, provides inspiration that makes you feel: Yes, we could be doing something like that.’ The book is for those Christian communities who have already begun their journey of mission helping them create church on purely missional foundations. It is a substantial meal of several courses.
community mission wrote this review Friday, May 29 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
”“Excellent book on emerging missional expressions of church”
headphonaught wrote this review Tuesday, March 24 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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James M wrote this review Monday, March 23 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I am gearing up to read Michael Frost’s new book, Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture (look for a future review on that title) but first I had some catching up to do. While I am familiar with Frost’s work with Alan Hirsch, I had not read any of their work completely. So Before tackling Frost’s first solo book, I thought I would jump into their earlier work, The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21 Century Church.
This is a popular book that came out in 2003 and has been recommended to me many times by pastors, church-planters and fellow ecclesial dreamers ever since. The success of this earlier work is evidenced by the wide ranging use of the vocabulary that Frost and Hirsch use throughout the book (words like “missional” and “not-yet-Christians”) by those concerned with the future of the church.
Frost and Hirsch raise important questions and share well told stories to initiate a conversation about some important things that some in the church are trying to avoid. They quote from a wide variety of sometimes seemingly incompatible Christian thinkers and point to a lot of real world examples to illustrate their claims. They argue that if the church is going to have any relevance in the future it is going to have to reshape itself. They take the reader on a broad overview of history to show how the church has lost its way. But they are not prophets of “doom and gloom.” Frost and Hirsch believe that the church can change and once again be what it is called to be. Their generous and gracious tone soften much of their critique and it is not surprising that many are turning to this book to help them frame their thoughts of re-framing the mission of the church.
But as I read this book I could not escape a feeling of deep dissonance. Certainly, some of that dissonance is intended, as the authors are indeed trying to shake contemporary paradigms of how we embody church. But those things were not what troubled me. For me, it was more about the tension in many of the things that are left unsaid. There seems to be an underlying assumption throughout the book about what “the gospel” is. This concept of “gospel” is referred to again and again in their arguments (“the missional church proclaims the gospel.”) but it is never clearly spelled out what they mean by it. Likewise, they make mention several times to holding on to things that are “biblical” and letting go of things that are “unbiblical” as if these concepts are universally accepted by the church. These undefined things make their arguments seem shallow and inapplicable.
Early in the book they argue that our ecclesiology should emerge from our missiology, which in turn should emerge from our christology. But underneath this is an undefined soteriology that makes their christology and missiology unclear and their ecclesiology only a cosmetic addition. It seems the authors are clear in their minds on what distinguishes a Christian from a “not-yet-Christian” but because they assume this does not need any clarification the reader is left wondering just what the mission of the church should be. While they attempt to call into question the empirical nature of typical evangelism it is unclear how their own understanding of missional is any less empirical. And while they quote the outstanding missionary thinker, Vincent Donovan in support of their arguments it is difficult for me to see how Donovan supports their claims. While Donovan argues very powerfully that it is time for the Church to be evangelized by the world, and for a historically and theologically dynamic, cosmic christology, Frost and Hirsch clearly see “mission” and “evangelism” as a unidirectional endeavor to lead the lost to a historically static and theologically settled Christ.
Finally, it seems that their vision of the shape of things to come challenges their own assumption that the church is in trouble which begins the book. They argue that the church of the future will not look like the institutionalized, commercialized church of the present which is already in sharp decline. The future church will be hard to gather statistics on because it will be more incarnational than attractional. If the church fails to reinvent itself at this pivotal moment in history it will have no impact in the future. But in contrast to the declining statistics that mark what they see as the current paradigms, they argue that the future church will be more like a “web of relationships.” It will be difficult to gather statistics in the future church that show a reverse in the declining numbers because their will be no easy way to gather the data. Could it be that their vision of what is to come is already here (and has been for much longer than we care to admit)? If that is the case it seems that pointing to the statistical decline is no indication of how bad things are. It may in fact be a better indication that the Kingdom of Heaven is here and many of us are not living into it as we should because we don’t recognize it.
Anyone who knows me will guess correctly that I would disagree with the authors views of “leadership” so I will not beat that dead horse here. But there is plenty in this book that I find beneficial and I have a deep appreciation for Frost and Hirsch in offering these thoughts and presenting them as a hopeful way forward. Overall, I think this book will be helpful for pastors who are already invested in institutional church paradigms and questioning how to transition their ministries as they move ahead. But those asking deeper theological questions about soteriology, “Gospel,” and ecclesiology may find it disappointing.
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“In The Shaping of Things to Come, Frost and Hirsch advocate “a wholesale change in the way Christians are doing and being the church” in the Western world (:ix). Therefore, the book is a critique of the “old way,” or what they call “Christendom,” which they see as incompatible with a truly mission-focused Christianity, or “missional church.” Their critique of Christendom involves three areas. It is attractional in design (a “come-and-see” instead of a “go-and-be” approach), dualistic in spirituality (creating unnecessary and harmful distinctions between secular and sacred life) and hierarchical in leadership (a top-down approach rather than affirming various spiritual gifts). Thus, the book is structured to address each of these three areas and propose an alternative for the missional church.
Jesse S wrote this review Saturday, July 19 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Instead of attractional, the missional church should be incarnational, meaning following the example of Jesus’ incarnation as a 1st century Jew, rooted in the surrounding culture and community. The authors state, “We believe the missional-incarnational church will spend more time on building friendships than it will on developing religious programs” (:44). The authors invite Christians to intentionally inhabit a specific community, or tribe, with the intention of discovering together what it means for those individuals to life as Jesus in their context. This approach is inherently indigenous, communal and creative, as opposed to the church of Christendom which often imposes a pre-packaged and foreign program upon believers.
Instead of dualism, the missional church will embrace a messianic spirituality. The authors claim that “what postmodern people are crying for is not better doctrine or clearer theology,” but they need “to make daily connections between heaven and earth” (:145). Pulling heavily from Jewish writers like Abraham Heschel and Martin Buber, Frost and Hirsch attempt to reclaim the sanctity of daily life and break the divide between “church life” and the rest of the week.
Finally, Frost and Hirsch call for an important change in the type of church leadership, basing their structure on Ephesians 4:1-16 and the “fivefold ministry” of Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher. Seeing an overabundance of pastors and teachers, they state that, “if we fail to make significant places for APE-type leadership in our time, it is unlikely that the emerging missional church will get footholds...” (:181).
Given the obvious decline Christendom in the West, few can disagree that changes must be made, and Frost and Hirsch present a strong case for a missional church. The authors are careful not to be reactionary in their statements, always affirming a biblical worldview and the classic creeds of the faith, while challenging Christians to critically examine the future of the church. I find this book helpful in pinpointing the areas that I “sense” are wrong with my current evangelical church context and hopeful in painting a picture of a vibrant and revolutionary church community that can (and does in some places) exist. At times, the book feels immature in it’s development, and it is important to recognize it was written nearly six years ago. Later books by both authors promise to be more nuanced and advanced in their presentation of missional theology and ecclesiology.
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“This an awesome, thought provoking book! I am pastor and have struggled for years with the whole "attractional model" of the church. This book challenges the church to be incarnational, messianic (Christ-focused), and apostolic. It resonates with me because it has a relational approach to how we do church instead of an institutional approach. While someone may not agree with everything the authors say, it is one of the best books on what the church is and how it should carry out its mission to the world.”
Kelly Cohoe wrote this review Thursday, June 26 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
