J R Woodward is a church planter in Virginia and now in L.A., with an apostolic gift who is ever pushing forth new ventures for the Kingdom. Just hanging with him for half a day last summer made me tired. He is also an innovator intellectually doing some great work for all of us missional leaders on his blog Dreamawakener (and other writings).
His most recent blog series on “The Good News” asks missional authors, bloggers, professors, and practitioners to answer the question “what is the good news?” for your context. If you were to write an announcement of the good news for your newspaper what would it look like? I urge you to read these 300-500 word posts. You will hear perspectives from different ethnicities and different genders, as well as from Asia, South America, Europe and North America. I post the entire list of contributors below. Today is my contribution entitled “What is the Gospel to the massive subdivisions of the North West Chicago?: Life After Easter in the Suburbs”. Thanks J R for doing this. This is rich!
The Dreamawakener Good News Blog Series
April 13: Len Hjalmarson / The Good News post
April 14: J.R. Rozko / The Good News post
April 15: Brad Sargent / The Good News post
April 16: John Chandler / The Good News post
April 17: Sivin Kit / The Good News post
April 18: Brother Maynard / The Good News post
April 19: Danny Gutierrez / The Good News post
April 20: Dave Kludt / The Good News post
April 21: Kurt Fredrickson / The Good News post
April 22: Winn Collier / The Good News post
April 23: J.R. Briggs / The Good News post
April 24: Noel Heikkinen / The Good News post
April 25: Dustin James / The Good News post
April 26: Jim Pace / The Good News post
April 27: Erika Haub / The Good News post
April 28: AJ Sherrill / The Good News post
April 29: Andrew Perriman / The Good News post
April 30: Raffi Shahinian / The Good News post
May 1: Benjamin Sternke / The Good News post
May 2: Joey Tomassoni / The Good News post
May 3: Brian Hopper / The Good News post
May 4: David Fitch / The Good News post
May 5: Christine Sine
May 6: Jonathan Dodson
May 7: Kathy Hanson
May 8: Jason Clark
May 9: Alistair Johnson
May 10: Greg Larson
May 11: Brian Russell
May 12: Sonja Andrews
May 13: Jamie Arpin-Ricci
May 14: Nathan Colquhoun
May 15: Todd Hiestand
May 16: Doug Paul
May 17: Luis Fernando Batista
May 18: Evan Hansen
May 19: John Santic
May 20: Mark Van Steenwyk
May 21: Ryan Bell
May 22: Eugene Cho
May 23: Joe Racek
May 24: Audrey Blumber
May 25: Tony Stiff
May 26: Maria Drews
May 27: Jason Coker
May 28: Andy Bleyer
May 29: Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
May 30: Jon Tyson
May 31: JR Woodward
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Love it man. Great thoughts on the possibility of the kingdom breaking into the burbs…
Dave,
In a time where social injustices like racial oppression and sexism are still quite rampant in our context (being so close to Chicago), why does it feel as though we need to create certain “injustices” such as ‘busy isolationism’ and an overwhelming commitment to ‘belief in the nuclear family’ in order to proclaim the salvific power of the gospel?
In other words, why are we sitting in the suburbs carefully (and at times creatively) unearthing these emotional needs for salvation, when there are much more powerful bonds of evil going on thirty miles away?
I’m not suggesting that the suburbs don’t need a missional church. I’m suggesting that the missional church may be more needed in the places of the world where the hurting is more than an emotional ‘isolationism’ or overcomittment to capitalism.
Although they are not overtly ‘missional’, many of the megachurches provide the ‘community’ to aid the isolationism and at times even challenge the autonomy of super capitalistic attitudes.
Dustin,
I think you pose a legitimate question. I am more inclined to say that the church is by definition missional, and therefore wherever the church is found it must choose to engage the community for Mission. We’re in the suburbs whether we like it or not, at least for now.
Yet I actually don’t buy that the suburbs need a church less than other places, for I find its life to be crumbling, and the structures equally overbearing. I also don’t see this as creating “certain injustices” for I see these things as principalities and powers. For some of us the suburbs is the land of deep inhospitability. The structures are just as evil, and the needs are imploding, and the harvest is great if we will not choose to ameliorate the existing status quo with the gospel.
Thanks for the dialogue …
Thanks for the post and the response!