Mennonite Brethren from the United States and Canada gathered in the metro Vancouver area July 12-18 for the North American celebration of the MB Church's 150th anniversary. Through Facebook, a blog, online updates and reports in our magazines, the Christian Leader and MB Herald worked hard to bring you the news of Celebration 2010. Read our extended online coverage.

Visit the Celebration 2010 Web site to see a list of all available media recordings of the event. 

Just like the classic Certs commercial touts the candy as “two…two…two mints in one,” we Mennonite Brethren often say we merge two theological streams—Anabaptism and evangelicalism. On the occasion of our 150th anniversary as a global Mennonite Brethren Church, it is appropriate to consider our evangelical identity. What defines evangelical Christians? What unique contributions can Mennonite Brethren make to the evangelical movement? Two church historians—one who speaks as a Mennonite Brethren and the other as a more detached observer—address these questions. Their conclusions? That our dual nature is a valuable perspective, if we’re willing to share it. Read more.

By Jennifer Lynn Woodruff Tait

If ever we knew when a movement started, who started it and why, perhaps evangelicalism is that movement: traceable to April 1942, when J. Elwin Wright, Harold Ockenga and friends met in St. Louis, Mo., seeking greater unity and clarity of mission among various effective but scattered, fundamentalist ministries and founded the National Association of Evangelicals, declaring in their statement of faith: “We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in his virgin birth, in his sinless life, in his miracles, in his vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in his bodily resurrection, in his ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in his personal return in power and glory.”

Or, perhaps, traceable to the fall of 1821 when a young lawyer named Charles Grandison Finney, soon to become one of the 19th century’s most famous revival preachers, felt the call of God on his life, writing later in his memoirs: “But now after receiving these baptisms of the Spirit I was quite willing to preach the Gospel. Nay, I found that I was unwilling to do anything else…. Nothing, it seemed to me, could be put in competition with the worth of souls; and no labor, I thought, could be so sweet, and no employment so exalted, as that of holding up Christ to a dying world.”

Or then again, to May of 1738, when Anglican priest John Wesley, struggling with issues of faith and assurance, went to an evening meeting of Moravian believers and met God in a new way that would lead to the founding of the renewal society called Methodism—writing soon afterwards in his journal: “In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while the leader was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

Or perhaps we should look to 1675, when Lutheran pastor Philip Jakob Spener published a little book, Pia Desiderata, setting forth proposals for renewing the Lutheranism of his day, which gave birth to the term “pietist”—pleading, “Thought should be given to the more extensive use of the Word of God among us. We know that by nature we have no good in us. If there is to be any good in us, it must be brought about by God. To this end the Word of God is the powerful means, since faith must be rekindled through the gospel.”

Our moment
Regardless of their beginnings, evangelical Christians—in the mid-20th century almost invariably the subject of dismissal and derision from cultural and political elites—have, in the last few decades, become one of the most visible Christian expressions in the American religious and political context.

Several decades after the founding of the NAE, when Jimmy Carter identified himself as an evangelical during his 1976 presidential campaign, he was treated in the press, in the words of journalist E. J. Dionne, “as if he were some sort of Martian.” In 2008, by contrast, evangelical megachurch pastor Rick Warren hosted both presidential candidates in hour-long discussions of faith and politics broadcast on major cable news networks.

Books and movies from mainstream media outlets, while not always expressing evangelical theology, are regularly aimed at the evangelical market (The Passion of the Christ and the Narnia movies, for instance). While mainline denominational attendance declines, attendance in more conservative and non-denominational churches is rising. And evangelical theologians have become respected partners in ecumenical dialogues such as the one sponsored by First Things, “Evangelicals and Catholics Together.”

Although precise estimates are difficult to come by due to the difficulty of capturing exactly what makes for an evangelical on surveys, responsible estimates (such as those from the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicalism) put the number of evangelicals in the early 21st century at anywhere between 25-35 percent of Americans, or 70-100 million people. In many ways it is, potentially, our moment.

Who we are
Knowing what we are called to do in this moment depends, to some extent, on knowing who we are. As the NAE points out, following historian David Bebbington, evangelicals are often identified by their focus on four crucial points:

• “Conversionism: the belief that lives need to be transformed through a ‘born-again’ experience and a lifelong process of following Jesus.

• Activism: the expression and demonstration of the gospel in missionary and social reform efforts.

• Biblicism: a high regard for and obedience to the Bible as the ultimate authority.

• Crucicentrism: a stress on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross as making possible the redemption of humanity.”

These emphases characterize most of those who claim the term “evangelical,” whether they live and speak out within established mainline denominations, gather in breakaway denominations of their own or claim no denomination at all. They admit some diversity of opinion (Once born again, can one fall away? Is the Bible inerrant? How involved in social justice should missionary activity get? Must Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross be defined as penal substitution?), but they also serve as a unifying force.

Notably absent from this list, as from the NAE’s statement of faith itself, are positions on some other questions that have historically troubled Christian believers. What is the relationship of the Bible as the “inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God” to the Christian tradition, which, guided by the Holy Spirit to give us this biblical canon, has also given us considered views on its interpretation down through the centuries? What is the relationship of “the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ” to physical ecclesiastical attempts at ecumenical reconciliation? How are the Holy Spirit’s “regeneration” and “present ministry” connected to some ways historically preached as agents of the Spirit in this, such as the sacraments?

Much of modern evangelicalism is well exemplified by Warren’s church and others like it, as well as the burgeoning traffic in Christian versions of all aspects of secular culture, from music to self-help books to colleges. But some modern evangelicals have also been searching for answers to these other questions.

Searching for answers

One example of this search is a movement known as the “New Monasticism.” While the term goes back at least to the interdenominational community of Taizé in France in the mid-20th century, its current popularity grew out of the conviction of several young seminary students almost a decade ago that they needed to do a better job of living out as well as preaching the Gospel. In 2003 they founded a Christian community in Durham, NC, called Rutba House, opened both to married couples and celibate single persons.

In the process they developed 12 “marks of distinctiveness” influenced by both Anabaptism and the monastic movement. These included “relocation to the abandoned places of empire” (such as the inner city), hospitality and sharing of resources with fellow community members and the needy, a commitment to addressing racism in both society and the church, intentional submission to spiritual disciplines and to community accountability, nonviolence and conflict resolution (on the basis of Matthew 18) and “care for the plot of God’s earth given to us” including support of local businesses and agriculture as opposed to large national corporations.

Another example, under the leadership of Northern Baptist Seminary professor and author Robert Webber, was the Center for an Ancient Evangelical Future, which took as its mission the relating of evangelicalism to historic Christian traditions and practices. Their “Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future” took the broader evangelical culture to task for letting its four defining characteristics run away with themselves. For example, they opposed “forms of worship that focus on God as a mere object of the intellect or that assert the self as the source of worship. Such worship has resulted in lecture-oriented, music-driven, performance-centered and program-controlled models that do not adequately proclaim God's cosmic redemption.”

They also called evangelicals “to turn away from an individualism that makes the church a mere addendum to God's redemptive plan,” an individualism that they felt had “contributed to the current problems of churchless Christianity, redefinitions of the church according to business models, separatist ecclesiologies and judgmental attitudes toward the church.”

Finally, like the new monastics, they sought to intensify evangelicalism's prophetic voice “against the culture's captivity to racism, consumerism, political correctness, civil religion, sexism, ethical relativism, violence and the culture of death.”

A crossroads
Common to these efforts was the recognition that evangelicalism’s many beginnings had all begun as renewal movements within something larger, whenever it seemed that the larger Christian context had lost its passion for applying orthodox doctrine to the believer’s heart. Ultimately, they all argued, the evangelical movement functions best as an important emphasis within historic Christianity rather than as a separate movement standing, in some cases, over against it.

And in many ways, this recognition represents a crossroads. After all, those forms of evangelicalism criticized by the writers of the AEF Call have, on the whole, been successful when measured in terms of membership growth and geographical spread of the Christian message. Perhaps more people are hearing and in many cases responding to, the message of the gospel than at any other time in American history. Yet the question remains: Is what they are hearing always adequately connected to the fullness of the gospel Christians have historically preached?

And here is where the Mennonite Brethren can, in my opinion, most clearly have a voice. One of the great contributions the Anabaptist movement has made to the Christian tradition is its clear witness that the gospel, lived out to its fullest, poses a serious challenge to the powers and principalities of this world, whether those powers are kings and emperors or marketers and statisticians. And it is never a message that needed to be preached and lived more distinctively than it does at this moment.

For, in the end, if ever we knew when a movement started, who started it and why, it was in a small Middle Eastern garden over 2,000 years ago, when the God by whom all things were made, for us and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; he was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried, and the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures. By grounding ourselves in that story, we will be able to tell all the other stories that really matter.

Jennifer Lynn Woodruff Tait is an adjunct professor of church history at Asbury Theological Seminary, Huntington University, Southwestern College and United Theological Seminary and the author of The Poisoned Chalice: Eucharistic Grape Juice and Common-Sense Realism in Victorian Methodism, University of Alabama Press, 2010. She lives in Huntington, Ind., with her husband and daughter.

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In this issue we delve into our need to be connected—to one another and to our God.

May these articles persuade us to more intently pursue relationships that exemplify cooperation, care, integrity and reconciliation.

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As God’s children we are belong to a spiritual family that is made up of many parts. “For as one body we have many members…so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members one of another” (Rom. 12:4-5). We most often experience this in terms of the local congregation.

But we are also members of a larger body—the U.S. Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches. Our denomination is called to be one family, serving one Lord, unified by one mission—transforming individuals, families and communities with the good news. We accomplish this mission most effectively when we pull together as 200 congregations.

The essays that follow highlight this benefit of denominational affiliation. You will read how six pastors complete this statement: Partnering together as one national family is important as we…. Their stories and reflections remind us that together is better.—Connie Faber, CL editor

Essays in this series:

Working with the larger family by Josue Aaron Hernandez

Living our faith in the world by Chris Eidse

Discerning together what the Bible teaches by Brad Bonnett

Planting churches by Paul Robie

Striving to be missional by Phil Stangland

Preparing leaders by Paul Bartel

There is nothing more exciting than seeing people in our communities surrender their lives to God. No church denies this as central to their purpose or mission, but at Grulla MB Church we felt that we needed to be intentional about it.

We did not pray to become a particular type of church—traditional, contemporary, modern or relevant. We prayed that we would become Christ’s church with his vision, his plan and his purpose.As we began to seek God for direction, God moved Grulla MB into a new phase that will allow us to do more for his kingdom. God told us what he repeatedly told Joshua: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). This meant that our faith-risk factor had to increase.

If God was going to lead, then he was going to provide the resources needed for us to accomplish his vision for our church. In other words, “If it is his will then it is his bill.” And God has faithfully been doing this in every way. Our congregation has continued to be faithful in their giving and God has blessed us through a new partnership with Mission USA and Don Morris.

MUSA’s financial assistance only begins to scratch the surface of our partnership. MUSA has joined us in constant prayer and Don has provided words of encouragement and advice drawn from his years of experience. MUSA has been strategic in partnering alongside us in the direction God is leading. Don has not dictated our moves or direction but has been very sensitive and supportive in believing with us the vision that God has for Grulla MB Church.

Moving into a new phase of renewal brought challenges that we had not considered or foreseen. MUSA has been a catalyst in helping us to better confront these challenges. One specific point of help has been in the area of staffing. Grulla MB has always been very active in serving our community by means of service projects, basketball tournaments, outreach/family events and hosting other Mennonite Brethren church groups who come to serve in South Texas and Mexico.

However, as our vision became clearer we realized we needed to increase our staff in order to cover a wider range of ministry and to develop a team that would better serve the needs of our church and community. By joining with MUSA in prayer and discernment we have been blessed as God has sent the right people for his work at Grulla.

We currently have one full-time pastor and one part-time worship leader, but expect to end the year with at least two more part-time staff that will help in ministering to our youth and children. Increased staffing has helped us be more effective in reaching our community for Jesus and targeting specific areas of ministry that needed more help.

I am amazed and grateful that God wants to use us to increase his kingdom and that he has provided people like Don Morris and Mission USA to help our efforts to reach our community for Jesus. At Grulla we are in a long-distance race that requires discipline and sacrifice from those in our church. But even now, God is blessing us with small samplings that bear the fruit of our partnership with MUSA. As I write this we are but a few weeks removed from an Easter weekend in which we rejoiced to celebrate 12 baptisms, five new confessions for Christ and 350 people joining our celebration.

Being part of the U.S. Mennonite Brethren family really is a good thing for us. It adds value to our church life as we aim to increase the kingdom of God.

People in their 20s and 30s are staying away from church more now than at any other time in modern history. The stats show that the majority of this rising generation views us evangelicals as largely irrelevant at best and judgmental bigots at worst. How did we get to this point, and more importantly, what can we do to change this perception?

I believe that this upcoming generation really matters, and if we want to see them embrace the Christian faith we need to figure out how to improve their perception of us. The future of faith in our country depends on it. We as a Mennonite Brethren family have a lot to offer, and I believe we can make a real impact on this changing culture.

Part of our image problem has to do with what we stand against. Evangelical Christians are known for their stance against some pretty controversial things. We take a stance against abortion, gay marriage, embryonic stem cell research and all kinds of things that we believe are sinful. Standing against these things is not the real problem.

The heart of our image problem comes when we are only known for the things we stand against and not for the positive things that we stand for. To mend our image we need to be known for all those great attributes that made Jesus a hero. Imagine if we were known 90 percent of the time for the fruits of the Spirit and only 10 percent for trying to legislate what is right. If so, our efforts could influence the country more than winning a few political victories at the expense of embittering our opponents.

Was Jesus known for his stance against prostitutes or crooked tax collectors? Was Jesus known for his stance against homosexuals and divorcees? When I think about Jesus I think about the people he stood up for more than the people he stood up against.

Jesus was a champion of the sinful masses. He was known for his outrageous love for people who were a mess. His love for sinful people shocked the culture. There is no doubt that Jesus spoke the truth about sin, but his outstanding love for people formed the lasting impression that built his reputation.

As Mennonite Brethren we have some pretty remarkable beliefs upon which to stand. Here in North Carolina we have a rich history of standing up for racial equality and integration. This sets us apart in an area that has struggled with these concepts in the past. We have a reputation of empowering the underprivileged and teaching the Word of God in a way that is relevant and trustworthy.

Building our reputation on these attributes will continue to attract people that are searching for real meaning and depth in a shallow world. Our U.S. Mennonite Brethren family has many great things to stand up for. I hope we are known for our emphasis on community, peace, justice and reconciliation. These are characteristics that people are crying out for. They are focal points for us that can change our image from judgmental to loving, from hypocritical to genuine.

The U.S. Mennonite Brethren family has solidly stood alongside our churches in prayer and support in our quest to shine our light in North Carolina. Together we need to stand and rebuild our reputation as evangelical Christians who are known for their outrageous love of Jesus. Now more than ever we need to stand with one voice saying, “This is who we are.” Let’s pray that it can be as shocking today as it was 2000 years ago when Jesus spoke his message loud and clear.

This desire and tension is not new, as those who follow Christ can attest. We have in our history the record of a church that was likewise in this tension-filled dialogue. The question at hand dealt specifically with how followers of Jesus are to live. How must their lives change because of their allegiance to Christ? What is essential to follow Christ and what is nonessential?

As this church struggled with this question, they looked beyond themselves for guidance. They sought direction from those who were in positions of church leadership. This led to one of the first recorded gatherings of church leaders, now referred to as the Council at Jerusalem. Read Acts 15 for more about this gathering.

As Christ-followers who gather under the Mennonite Brethren family label, we follow the examples of those before us. Organized as an identified portion of the kingdom, the Mennonite Brethren denomination strives to live out our faith in the context of a greater gathering of accountability. This means living out our commitment to one another to strive, arm-in-arm, to corporately follow Christ in a faithful biblical manner.

Guided by our Confession of Faith, every church united by this common quest seeks after dynamic orthodoxy (right belief) and orthopraxy (right practice). First century Christ-followers needed guidance in changing cultural times as they carried an unchanging message. Is that not at least equally as true for Christ-followers today?

As the globe encounters rapid change that knows no geographical or cultural boundaries, the body of Christ continues to be charged with carrying the unchanging message of the good news. Immense change once again meets foundational truth. It is partially for this reason that as Mennonite Brethren we have resurged in our valuation of the U.S. Conference Leadership Board to plot a course.

It seems that at no other time in history has the potential magnitude of impact been as great for the Word of God. The church of Christ is spread throughout this world, encountering questions of biblical interpretation daily. This tension-filled truth is seen in every mission-focused church, both foreign and domestic. What is essential to the Way/Truth/Life, and what is non-essential?

Our quest, therefore, is fraught with great potentials along with great threats. How might the direction of the church been changed had the Council at Jerusalem (Acts 15) decided to follow the legalism (a need for circumcision to follow Christ) dictated to them by a powerful Pharisee force? Rather than encouragement to preach the freedom found in Christ, the message could have become diverted with religiously cultural burdens. Simple focus prevailed. They were able to focus on “one mission,” which we Mennonite Brethren subsequently rally around.

Is the Mennonite Brethren denomination any different? Is there not continued and perhaps a greater need for groups of believers to be spurred on and encouraged as they navigate change? Great potential or great threat exists. The method of sharing the freedom in Christ yet challenges the message of freedom in Christ.

The proverbial winsome tie (i.e. shirt and tie) threatens the towel (i.e. the basin and towel that Christ bore). Cultural burdens both within and without the church walls should daily cause us to examine what is essential to transformation in Christ and what is nonessential. As I listen to the band Coldplay, eat lunch at the local bar & grill, spend time kneeling in prayer and talk with friends who are considering divorce, I am constantly navigating an unchanging message in perpetually changing times.

Followers of Christ have the unworldly gift of not walking alone. As Christ desires “transformation of individuals, families, and communities” through us, we have the potential of reflecting the same experience of that local church as recorded not so long ago in Acts. May we, by God’s grace, echo their response: “There was great joy throughout the church that day as they read this encouraging message” (Acts 15:31 NLT).

As I reflect back on the 11 years that I’ve lived in Utah as a church planter for the Mennonite Brethren, it is my pleasure to give credit and encouragement to those that made it possible.

South Mountain Community Church began as a dream fueled by a growing distaste for the way the Latter Day Saints Church has successfully dominated an entire culture with a God-dishonoring false gospel called Mormonism. I visited Utah several times during my 10 years as an associate pastor at Laurelglen Bible Church in Bakersfield, Calif.

Scott McKinney, a friend from seminary days, was having success reaching disenfranchised LDS in Utah County, the hotbed of Mormonism and home to Brigham Young University and The Mormon Missionary Training Center which processes 30,000 missionaries each year. Scott talked to me about the need for good churches in Utah and drew my attention to a town called Draper at the south end of the Salt Lake valley. At the time, this town had a population of 20,000 and not one Protestant church. The Mormon church was thoroughly entrenched in every aspect of this community—government, education, social networks and religion.

With a new passion to try to reach the folks in Draper with the liberating news of the gospel of grace, my wife and I became intent on moving to Draper to start a church. Laurelglen Bible Church was the first to hear of our plan, but soon the Pacific District Conference Board of Home Missions and Mission USA were in the mix and showing interest.

By January 1998 all three entities had come together to form a coalition of partners on this project. I was to receive funding for two years minimum with a third year possible. Along with that funding, a Task Force was formed with representatives from each entity. This Task Force gave encouragement, counsel and accountability. This was a “parachute” church plant—we had no connection to a mother church in Utah and no core group to help us from the beginning—and so these men were especially important in navigating these uncharted waters.

SMCC opened its doors to the public for worship the second week in October 1998. Now SMCC has planted a church in West Jordan, Utah, with Cory and Trina Anderson. We also have two other campuses—one in South Jordan (The Daybreak campus) and another in St. George (SMCC @ the Springs).

All of us attending a Mennonite Brethren church on a weekly basis in Utah are now about 2,000 people. Without the confidence, encouragement and funding from Mennonite Brethren in North America—some funding came from Canada—none of this would have happened.

Each new Utah church plant or campus has had Mennonite Brethren backing. The initial investment made into this Draper project has resulted in a great harvest for God. That original investment has not only yielded over 500 baptisms but the ongoing mission of the gospel in Utah. As a Mennonite Brethren partner, SMCC has invested over $500,000 in Utah projects.

Why is it important that the national family of Mennonite Brethren has come alongside SMCC and is involved in other communities for church planting? It is so that God’s fame can be continually spread throughout Utah and other places.

Does the church serve the denomination or does the denomination serve the church? It’s clear that either extreme takes us down the wrong path. That is why we at Laurelglen Bible Church (LBC) seek to simplify our global mission emphasis by sending those in our family. Our immediate family is LBC. Our extended family is our Mennonite Brethren churches. This is not to the purposeful exclusion of others. It’s simply a result of so much mission activity with our immediate and extended families that we have our hands full, and that is a good thing.

At LBC we almost always support those who emerge from the immediate church family in their area of service and with the mission agency we agree that suits them best. We have the joy and privilege of discipling them over many years through the various ministries of the church and we walk with them as they sense God’s call to global mission. It is because of this approach that we end up with a very diverse group of missionaries in the LBC mission family.

Here’s the current picture: We have 29 missionary “family units” serving with 13 organizations in 13 different countries. Six of these units are with MBMS International. No other organization has more of our missionaries—not by design; it’s just the way it is right now. We believe the strength of the mission ministry has come through this diversification. We don’t believe it has been to the detriment of MBMSI. As LBC’s global missions ministry has grown, so has our involvement with MBMSI.

Where has the growth come from? Mostly through a consistent investment in global mission emphasis that creates a cultural mind-set around LBC where we value taking the gospel to the ends of the earth. It occurs through a fall emphasis on supporting the poor around the world, an annual mission conference in the winter and through life-changing short-term—especially summer—mission opportunities. This summer we have 49 people heading out on five LBC teams. There are also at least 12 individuals who will serve on teams with other organizations. This is made possible through generous donors who believe in what we are doing and seek to use their resources to build into the lives of our young people and adults, many of whom have experienced missions for the first time here.

The investment has paid off dramatically this year. Four of our 29 units are heading overseas soon for long-term assignments. All of them have participated in LBC’s short-term mission program. Probably the most significant statistic is that over the last 10 years, with the exception of national missionaries and Mennonite Brethren missionaries we have “adopted,” all of our new missionaries have been “homegrown.”

How does our connection with the Mennonite Brethren mission family work with all of this? It works because of the mind-set that is already established at LBC and the consistent dialogue and participation we have with MBMSI. The key words are partnership and networking. One comes from trust and the other from communication.

Some examples: It was easy to be one of the first churches to jump on board with the Thailand Team 2000 almost 10 years ago. The Lord connected us to the Delhi Team almost five years ago through a trip I took with MBMSI to Thailand. A visit to north India two years ago with MBMSI has resulted in a growing interest in India. And about a year ago, we heard about John and Geri Warkentin who had a vision to serve with MBMSI to help tell the stories of our MB missionaries around the world. Adopting them into our LBC mission family was one of the easiest decisions we ever made. And next month, as a result of our long-term relationship with Otto and Marjorie Ekk, we are sending one of our homegrown missionaries, Doug and Myra Gentry, to serve with the Ekks in Portugal.

Is MBMSI serving us? Yes, and they are doing a great job. Are we serving MBMSI? Yes, providing finances and people is our calling as part of the Mennonite Brethren family. With God’s blessing, the mission agency and the local church can both flourish as we each do our job.

I believe in our academic institutions. I am a supportive alumnus of Tabor College and MB Biblical Seminary. I have seen dozens of high school students grow in their faith and their commitment to ministry thanks to Ministry Quest. I have watched Tabor College, Fresno Pacific University and MB Biblical Seminary graduates become leaders within communities and local Mennonite Brethren churches.

And yet, when we think about our denomination as a family and these different institutions as a part of that family, we seem disconnected. Certainly money is exchanging hands—many churches are supporting these schools. And these schools have a keen focus on training leaders—particularly Mennonite Brethren—for the church and the world. Yet we are detached from each other, and it would be good for us to become better connected.

We will forge new connections when Tabor College, Fresno Pacific University, MB Biblical Seminary and the local churches band together in partnerships and communication, developing new methods of teaching and training the leaders that will lead our churches in lay and clergy roles. If we truly are a family—and I believe we are—then we have to openly work together, discovering improved ways to partner those among us who are the most gifted educators with those who want to be trained as leaders in the church.

We can reconnect churches and institutions by rethinking education methodology. Traditional methods of leadership training—primarily on-campus, classroom education—are no longer the choice of many. This is especially true of those pursuing seminary education, although our undergraduate schools are not immune. Mennonite Brethren institutions must change methodologies in the midst of a changing culture.

Leadership development happens in two realms. It happens through the local churches as people volunteer on committees and boards and serve as deacons, elders, musicians, teachers and small group leaders. It happens at a seminary for those who desire a more thorough and in-depth training. Perhaps as a family of churches it is time we begin thinking creatively of ways to merge these two levels of leadership development. Can we find new ways to partner our institutions with the churches in Christian leadership development beyond financial partnerships? These dynamic partnerships are vital to our success with future leadership development.

Ministry Quest is an example of this. This program employs the theological insight of seminary and college professors, the ministry of the local church and the wisdom of lay leaders in local churches to provide a dynamic leadership development program for high school and college students. This program carries enormous potential for leadership development in our churches and illustrates the creative ways our institutions can serve to facilitate that process.

I am completely convinced that as a family of churches, it is vital that we continue to support our educational institutions as they create leaders. I am totally persuaded that as a family of churches, it is essential that we continue to support these institutions as they create leaders and that we support the congregations in their efforts to nurture leaders. However, when we band together as a community of churches, we are able to do much more than we can alone—which is why we are a family.

By Myra Holmes

The U.S. Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches relies on multiple “pocketbooks” in the form of 200 congregations in carrying out its ministries. When these individual congregations make it a priority to give to the denomination, ministry expands beyond the reaches of any single congregation.

The number of congregations that open their wallets for the U.S. Conference isn’t very big—just 65 out of 200. What prompts these churches to give? To find out, I talked with pastors and church members from several faithfully-giving congregations. I learned that a sense of what Mennonite Brethren can do better together is a key motivating factor.

Loyalty helps, especially for congregations that have a significant history with the denomination. Fairview (Okla.) MB Church—now 114 years old—is a good example. Interim pastor Brad Penner says that the influence of loyal givers throughout the church’s history means that supporting denominational ministries is “in the DNA,” as Penner says. “It’s a good habit that has grown out of the vision and the mission of the forefathers of this congregation.”

A church doesn’t have to be 100-plus to have that sense of loyalty. Those I spoke with—from old and young congregations alike—say: “It’s just part of who we are;” “It’s our tithe;” “It’s nonnegotiable.”

At 40-something, Grace Bible Church, Gettysburg, SD, is significantly “younger” than Fairview, but denominational giving habits were similarly established early on. Long-time member Phil Hamburger cites the influence of early pastor Wilfred Fadenrecht: “He instilled that in us.”

But loyalty isn’t always enough. Two pastors of well-established congregations told me that rocky relationships with denominational ministries have impacted their giving, in spite of tradition. One closed the church pocketbook for a number of years before resuming; the other has become more selective in giving.

So what takes a congregation beyond “good habits” and loyalty to motivate giving? Time and again, pastors cite the importance of being part of something larger than themselves. In the end, it’s the vision that inspires giving.

“There are things we can do together that we can’t do by ourselves,” says David Froese, pastor of Heritage Bible Church, Bakersfield, Calif. He points to church planting and evangelism as examples: “We can expand beyond our borders in a way we couldn’t if we didn’t link arms.” Others point to Christian education, publishing and missions as things we just couldn’t do as individual congregations.

The local church benefits from the support of that larger family as well. Daniel Clubb, pastor of Shorelife Community Church, Capitola, Calif., appreciates the counsel of district leaders, the budget advice from MB Foundation and the prayer support from conference leaders, to name a few. “There’s something positive about being part of a bigger family,” Clubb says.

Personal connections help bring the vision home. For example, at Enid (Okla.) MB Church, the church invites conference leaders to come as often as is practical, both to preach and to help equip the congregation, which gives a face to denominational ministry. Dinuba (Calif.) MB Church had a part in the founding of Fresno Pacific University and MB Biblical Seminary, both in nearby Fresno, and continues to be actively involved at the schools. That feeling of personal investment makes giving easier, according to pastor Jim Aiken.

So if loyalty isn’t enough and if vision is the bigger motivator, communicating the vision will become increasingly important in the days ahead. Some of that responsibility to communicate lies with denominational leaders, and you can be sure the CL will continue to do what we can.

But congregations have a responsibility, too. I like what Pat Coyle, pastor of Shafter (Calif.) MB Church, says: “Take some time to look into what the district and the conference and the denomination do. If you’re currently not supporting any of those, look at their vision and decide as a congregation what part you want to have in that.” Because it really is true that 200 pocketbooks are better than one.

Myra Holmes is the Christian Leader assistant editor. She and her family worship at Trailhead Church, a Mennonite Brethren church plant in the greater-Denver area.

Myra Holmes interviews  Ed Boschman

Ed Boschman, U.S. Conference executive director, likes nothing more than heading for the open road on his Harley—except, maybe, leading the national Mennonite Brethren family through unexplored territory. So it’s appropriate that he was preparing for a week-long trip with his motorcycle buddies when he and CL assistant editor Myra Holmes took time to evaluate the USC “road trip.” For Boschman, seeing people come to Jesus is “high-octane fuel,” and he dreams about what new vistas would open if all U.S. Mennonite Brethren were revved up about that. When he looks back at the miles covered in roughly a year and a half of leading the national MB family, he notes important landmarks, defining crossroads and a few frustrating detours. Still, he eyes the road ahead with hope.

CL: We’ve covered a lot of miles since you took leadership. What have been the high points?

EB: One of the challenges that we faced immediately was strengthening our connectedness to and our communication with the constituency. We worked pretty deliberately at that. Another piece was the official launch of our national Board of Faith and Life. These are important pieces that we’ve been able to put in place that will help us down the road.

We have completed my second Leadership Summit, which gathers our Leadership Board and all of the principal players in our districts and educational institutions and agencies. We made some pretty significant strides there in clarifying that leadership development ought to be a priority for us.

At our July convention, we were able to clarify both our logo and our mission statement, and the convention gave us a mandate to move strongly in the direction of putting flesh and bones on our commitment to partner as “one family with one Lord on one mission for the transformation of individuals, families and communities.” I think that was a good thing to celebrate.

EB: The 2009 Leadership Summit is an illustration of how I see us working together. As the various agencies and districts reported, two things emerged as signals that we are on the same page. One was stories of transformed lives, clearly evident in a good, solid way throughout the various reports.

The second thing that we are agreed on is leadership development. At the local church level, district level, educational institution level and at the ministry level—each of these agencies has said we want to work together and to create a pool of people who are on a path toward ministry and to share the resources we have. We see ourselves working together rather than independently and parallel.

EB: Staying with the leadership development theme, I point to the Summit a year ago. I think we made a key decision there that we would prioritize leadership development as a primary, collaborative centerpiece.

The national team rallying around the fact that we want to be “one family with one Lord on one mission” was a clear signal that we are to continue our commitment to being Christ-centered, and that evangelism and outreach ought to be our priority plank undergirding our existence and our purpose for being.

To gather and streamline us as “one family” is the more difficult part. We are somewhat scattered and have multiple agencies. Alongside that, there is the general trend toward more individualism and more local freedom and local initiatives, so it’s just more challenging to be able to easily decide how we hold ourselves together.

EB: As it relates to theological education in our seminary, we are not today where we would have dreamed. This has been a very difficult year for MB Biblical Seminary. The challenges have been real for several years, and the recent additional challenge of presidential leadership is an added test. The dream that we would be reviewing and reinventing graduate theological education has been to some degree put on hold.

In my enthusiasm or naïveté, or both, I hoped that by now we would have a greater number of our churches aware of and appreciative of the added value that the national ministry team offers and as a result of that be financial partners. That’s not happened.

Parallel to this is the question of how to connect with the non-Anglo church communities in our family. There are about a dozen of these, with Hispanic and Slavic communities the two largest. All of these local churches and communities matter to us, so we are talking about doing some things to better communicate this.

EB: The economic world in which we live today is different than it was a year ago. When we built last year’s enthusiastic, faith-stretching budget, we did not anticipate where we would be right now. We realize that we will have to do our ministry with less funding. This means cutbacks in the church multiplication and renewal initiatives and in our communications initiatives.

At the same time, our fires are still hotly burning. It’s tough when you just can’t pour as much fuel on them as you want to.

EB: I believe there’s hope. On properly prioritizing the transformation of individuals, families and communities, there is awakening in some places, but we need to do much better. There is still among us here and there an unwillingness to do as Jesus did or as Paul asked us to do: to be on a mission to seek and save the lost, to do whatever it takes to call people to Christ.

We are sometimes sidetracked by other stuff—process, form and structure stuff or peripheral theological nuancing—and quibble about a whole bunch of stuff that in the end doesn’t help us with this core mission. In whatever way I see us getting beyond that stuff, I celebrate, and whenever it appears that we do not maintain the main thing as the main thing, I grieve. My prayer is that we’ll continue to sharpen that focus and make sure we really are a family on that mission.

EB: That may well be one of the key challenges for us. What would happen if each of us in one year, or two or three years, would invite the Spirit of God to help us be instrumental in bringing one soul to Jesus? Just one! I think about stuff like that. So the fact that it’s not happening in all places and among all people is a burden.

There’s something inside of me that yearns for additional sensitivity and openness to the movement and direction of the Holy Spirit. This is a time—specifically because it’s so tumultuous and unnerving—that we need the nourishment of Scripture and the promised guidance of the Holy Spirit so that we don’t lose our way.

By Wilfred Martens

The Old Testament poets give us some advice on the value of a day. The psalmist says, “This is the day that the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it (Ps 188:24). Proverbs 27: 1 says, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”

What is the value of today? This day is a day of choices about how we will live our lives. Three stories remind us of the importance of choices and the value of each day.

This person began life with all the classic handicaps and disadvantages. His mother was a domineering person who found it difficult to love anyone. She had been married three times and had beaten her second husband so badly that a jury found her guilty of spousal abuse. The father of the boy in this story was her third husband; he died before his son was born. The woman could not keep a job. She was fired numerous times. Eventually she became a practical nurse in a convalescent hospital where she earned a few dollars each day.

Teachers described the boy as withdrawn, maladjusted, insolent and secretive. He had no friends and was always alone. His mother didn’t permit him to have playmates. He was intelligent and had a high IQ but had little interest in school. His grades were consistently low. He frequently skipped classes and went home to watch TV or read comic books. At age 13 he was assigned to a probation officer because his mother lost all control of him.

He dropped out of school after ninth grade, barely literate. When he was old enough he joined the Marines, but his antisocial behavior continued. He was court-martialed and given an undesireable discharge. He developed a violent personality.

He married, not for love but for companionship. He and his wife had two children, but he was abusive to his family. He left when his wife insisted that they separate. Even though he continued to live in the same city as his mother and family, he rarely saw them. Like his mother, he drifted from job to job, unable to keep one for very long.

This person was born in a small English village near London, the youngest of three brothers. He was born into a distinguished family. His mother, father, and grandparents were noted writers, philosophers and scientists.

He was sent away to boarding school at age 14 when his mother died. While at the prestigious Eton College he suffered an eye disease which left him nearly blind. His sight improved enough for him to attend Oxford University. This intelligent student declared himself an agnostic and had no use for religion. He graduated with high honors at age 22.

During the years of World War I he decided to give teaching a try but was considered by some students to be an incompetent and hopeless teacher who couldn’t maintain discipline in his classes. Thereafter he worked at various jobs, including farm laborer, finally settling in with publishing work.

At age 25 he married and had one son. A couple of years later, after his first novel was published, his writing expanded to include poetry, short stories, drama, essays and additional novels. As a well-known writer he traveled in Europe and Central America, finally settling in Hollywood, Calif., with his wife and son. Here he worked as a screenwriter while continuing to publish novels and other writings.

While in southern California he became interested in vegetarianism, meditation, eastern mysticism and was well-known for advocating and taking hallucinogens. His application for U.S. citizenship was rejected because he declared himself a pacifist who refused to take up arms to defend the U.S.

He was diagnosed with cancer at age 66 but continued to write and lecture on human potential for three years. He rejected religion as “horrible fooleries” and “gratuitous folly.”A biography written by his wife describes his last hours. On his deathbed and unable to speak, he made a written request to his wife for a massive injection of LSD. She obliged and gave another injection a couple of hours later. Shortly thereafter he died.

This lad was born into a secure home in Ireland; his parents were church members. His older brother was his lifelong closest friend. The first 10 years were happy—summer vacations at seaside resorts, bicycling in the countryside and visiting friends.

Their house was full of books, and the parents read to the boys during their early years. At age four this boy was an avid reader of Beatrix Potter; the tales stirred his imagination. At age five he wrote his own stories.

He was home-schooled until age 10, when his mother died. Then their father sent the boys to a boarding school. Here things began to unravel. At age 12, with no supportive parents or friends nearby, he was subjected to atheistic teachers who encouraged him to question his faith. His questions turned to doubt, and soon he declared himself an atheist.

At age 19 he joined the army and was commissioned a second lieutenant. He saw active duty and was wounded in battle. He returned to Oxford University and graduated with highest honors at age 24. Two years later he returned to teach philosophy and literature.

As a university professor he became close friends with several Christian colleagues. They challenged his atheism. Because of his respect for them, this professor listened carefully and thought about their comments. Finally, at age 33, he became a Christian. Over the years he published many writings: scholarly and popular essays, novels, a space trilogy, children’s stories and books about the Christian faith. Many of his readers became Christians.

So, what do these three stories have in common? Where do they intersect? They come together in a strange and interesting manner on a single day: Friday, November 22, 1963.

On this day, the 24-year-old man man in the first story climbed the stairs to the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas, Texas, where he worked. At 12: 30 p.m., Lee Harvey Oswald looked through the scope of his high-powered rifle and fired twice, killing President John F. Kennedy.

The person in the second story, Aldous Huxley, is best known for his novel Brave New World, a grim cynical picture of a future world based upon his vision of where social and scientific trends will lead in the future. On this day he died at 5:21 p.m. in a drug-induced state. He was 69.

Across the Atlantic, in his home just outside of Oxford, C.S. Lewis died on this same day. He was 64. Because headlines around the world focused on the assassination of the American president, very few people were aware that a person who had so significantly influenced Christian thought and encouraged positive change in so many lives had died.

On this day three men each made a choice. One chose to kill another person. One chose to reject religion and leave this world in a drug-induced state. And one passed into eternity declaring in his numerous writings that Christ was the center of his life. His words continue to lift the hearts of many: “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

A single day in November 1963 is a reminder that every day is a choice. We can fill each day with positive or negative values, attitudes and experiences. Joshua 24: 15 encourages us to “choose you this day whom you will serve.”

Christ’s resurrection provides a cure for what ails us

By Pierre Gilbert

The notion of Christian “apologetics” derives from 1 Peter 3:15 and properly refers to a coherent presentation of the Christian faith: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”

Beyond the negative connotations the word “apologetics” may have, Christians should always be ready to explain why they are filled with hope even in the face of suffering and death. Followers of Christ too often forget that they have the only cure for the terminal illness that afflicts us all. Christians should indeed be the most joyful people on earth.

But many who identify with the Christian faith increasingly apologize for that very same faith. Less than a year ago, Reverend Gretta Vosper, an emerging leader in the United Church of Canada, published With or Without God, a book in which she argues that all references to Jesus and the resurrection should be excised from the Christian faith and replaced with what she considers to really be at the center of Christianity, i.e, a renewed sense of optimism and belief in the human spirit.

This is how an article entitled “Taking Christ Out of Christianity,” published in the Canadian national paper Globe and Mail, puts it. “That triumphal barnburner of an Easter hymn, Jesus Christ Has Risen Today – Hallelujah, this morning will rock the walls of Toronto's West Hill United Church as it will in most Christian churches across the country.

“But at West Hill on the faith's holiest day, it will be done with a huge difference. The words ‘Jesus Christ’ will be excised from what the congregation sings and replaced with ‘Glorious hope.’

“…Generally speaking, no divine anybody makes an appearance in West Hill's Sunday service liturgy…. No petitionary prayers (‘Dear God, step into the world and do good things about global warming and the poor’). No miracles-performing magic Jesus given birth by a virgin and coming back to life. No references to salvation, Christianity's teaching of the final victory over death through belief in Jesus’s death as an atonement for sin and the omnipotent love of God. For that matter, no omnipotent God, or god.”

For those who make theology their business, there is nothing new here. Vosper is simply stating a little more loudly what many other church leaders in the United States, Canada and Europe have been saying for years. That there is a fundamental problem with the Christian faith and that problem is the biblical understanding of the person of Jesus Christ.

But let me be candid. The Jesus of the New Testament is a tad embarrassing. He demands exclusive allegiance from his followers. He speaks a great deal about sin and judgment. He has much to say about truth. Not just your truth or my truth, as we so often do these days, but absolute and overwhelming truth. Truth that shines in your face and burns your eyeballs.

The Jesus of the Bible makes us cringe. He makes us feel uncomfortable the way a badly behaved child embarrasses his mother at the grocery store. And so we apologize.

Sadly, but not unexpectedly, many reproduce today what has been done in every generation since Jesus came to earth: We either try to change who Jesus claims to be, or we attempt to make him disappear altogether. Who Christ is has always been the major battlefield of the Christian faith. In comparison, everything else is small potatoes.

Those who are offended by the Jesus of the Gospels but still wish to retain some trace of Jesus increasingly present him as a beautiful composite painting: He is peaceful and gentle like Gandhi, green like Al Gore, friendly and cuddly like Barney. A Jesus fit for our times. I call him Teddy Bear Jesus.

You’d think Teddy Bear Jesus would be a good seller. That people would rush to churches where they preach him. Right? Wrong! Churches that preach Teddy Bear Jesus die, and their communities die with them. Overall and globally, churches that preach Jesus the redeemer thrive.

Who is Jesus? Is he the redeemer of the world before whom all knees will one day bow, or is he a cuddly and lovable version of Barney? Let me be blunt. There are two reasons why Teddy Bear Jesus, just like Barney, is and will always remain a fictitious character. The first is logical. The second is historical.

As for the logical objection, C. S. Lewis said it best: “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher but a lunatic, on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg” (Mere Christianity). “Either he (Jesus) was a raving lunatic of an unusually abominable type, or else he was, and is, precisely what he said. There is no middle way” (The Problem of Pain).

The claims of Jesus

How can there be no middle way? Very simple. It has to do with what the historical records tell us about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. If the New Testament records are accurate and trustworthy, as they have been shown to be, it is impossible to reduce Jesus to a gentle teacher. Not because he was not in some sense just that, but because of the kind of claims he repeatedly makes about himself, claims that would sound utterly outrageous and preposterous in anybody else’s mouth.

John 14:6 says, “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”

John 5:24-25 (NLT) says, “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life. And I assure you that the time is coming, indeed it's here now, when the dead will hear my voice—the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live.”

As Lewis says: “There is no middle way. If the records make the first hypothesis unacceptable, you must submit to the second.”

Ultimately, Teddy Bear Jesus must remain but a figment of an overactive postmodern imagination on account of a particular historical claim that points to the single most important event ever to occur in human history: the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately not everyone fully recognizes the earth-shaking significance of this claim. I was about 10 years old, and I was listening to a radio talk show on Saturday morning just before Easter. The question was straightforward: Would it change anything to your faith if it could be proven that Jesus did not rise from the dead?

Most callers were adamant. The discovery that the whole thing was just an elaborate hoax would have no impact on their faith. Most people just could not see why anyone would hold such a minor thing against such a good man.

Frankly, this notion that the resurrection makes no difference to the Christian faith is as goofy as a Doberman sporting a ballerina outfit.

Faith's foundation

While Christianity boasts a wonderful set of inspiring teachings, the resurrection of Christ has and will continue to be the absolute foundation of the Christian faith. Whether it actually occurred or not makes all the difference in the world. As Paul writes, if Christ did not rise from the dead, then we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world (1 Cor. 15:19).

If Christ did not rise from the dead, everything we are and do as Christians is meaningless! Every church is just a huge and pointless waste of money. If Christ did not rise from the dead, it is the end of all things. It is the ultimate proof that this world is without purpose. A cruel joke perpetrated on humanity. A world without certainty, coherence and without rational explanation. A cosmic accident of infinite proportions.

If Christ did not rise from the dead, the universe is just one humongous tepid soup that inexplicably managed to grant us life, consciousness, love, friendship and beauty for what really amounts to one fraction of a second, only to let us fall back into the primordial stew never again to rise.

In spite of what secular ecologists might believe, death is not natural. We resent it, because deep down we know we were meant to live forever. But there is a way out. Jesus Christ is the first of a great company of men and women who will also rise from the dead and who will live forever in a new world and with a body that will never be sick or grow old.

For those of us who are followers of Christ, this promise must motivate us to live each day in the service of our Lord as best we can. Until the kingdom is ushered in, we are dying anyway. We might as well live and die for something worthwhile, even if one day at a time.

Over 30 years ago, on a cold Wednesday evening in a church basement, I decided to enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ. It was the most important decision I ever made. A decision I have never ever regretted. It changed my life in ways I can barely describe, and it will forever affect me in ways I can’t even imagine yet. He is risen indeed!

“But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life” (1 Cor. 15:20-22, NLT).

A prodigal son finds Jesus

“I love you,” I said as he walked out the door. He turned toward me and gave me the nod. “Later,” he said. I watched him through the window until he was out of sight. It was the last time I would see my 20-year-old son.

Later that day I left for the coast with some of the women from our church, The Bridge Bible Church in Bakersfield, Calif., while the guys headed to M24, a men’s retreat at a ranch in the hills just outside town. This was going to be a “manly retreat” with fishing, motorcycle riding and shooting guns. The men of our church were asked to invite any man, saved or not. In addition to the guy stuff, they were going up to the mountain to worship God and to reach out to each other with love and encouragement to live their lives as men of God. It was my husband’s first retreat.

My husband, Bryant, had been transformed by the amazing grace of God just nine months earlier. For nearly 20 years Bryant had been held captive by the sin of anger and drugs. The wounds in our family were deep, but God’s healing love was doing a mighty work in my husband and also in our children and me. Natalie, our daughter, was being transformed by the power of forgiveness and our son, Nick, well, he was watching.

Nick…I loved him deeply and unconditionally. He had begun to walk down the same road his father had been down. My heart ached watching him feel so lost. I prayed for Nick faithfully and my hope never wavered that God would reach him someday. Nick's dad invited him to join him and our son-in-law, Rodney, at M24. Nick was drawn to his dad's walk with God, and followed him up to the mountaintop.

Peace on the mountain

Later I heard the stories of Nick's mountaintop experience. How my Nicky found peace, of the glow on his face as he felt forgiven and set free. How he sang praise to Jesus and that as he left for home on his motorcycle he said, “It was the best 24 hours of my life.” This prodigal son once was lost but now was found!

My Nicky opened his heart to Jesus on the mountaintop and then met Jesus face to face on the way back down. He was in a motorcycle accident and died a few hours later.

Saturday, May 31, 2008, was the day Nick began the eternal chapter of his story. The next morning was Sunday. As I sat with my heart broken and my mind in shock, I asked Bryant, “What now?” My husband looked at me, paused only a moment and then stood and said wholeheartedly, “We go worship Jesus.” My husband who was once so lost himself had been found. Bryant, now truly a man of God whose new life led his beloved son to the mountaintop where he found and worshipped Jesus, was now leading me in my sorrow to worship Jesus.

The moment we walked into our church that morning, I knew that this was where God was going to pour out his comfort to our family. Many of the men who had shared the experience with Nick on the mountaintop and the handful of men who had been on the accident scene with Bryant were there that morning. A special bond had formed between the men of our church.

Our pastor, Jeff Gowling, gave a powerful message that Sunday asking the question, “Is God still God no matter what?” It is a message I have listened to a dozen times, and each time the answer remains: Yes, even though he took my son, God is still God no matter what.

Praying for open hearts

Pastor Jeff came to our home the following day and walked us through planning a memorial service. We knew Nick had many unsaved friends, and both Bryant and I wanted the gospel to be preached at his service. Our hope was that hearts would be opened through preaching the gospel. We prayed, “Please God, even if it’s just one.”

The plan was to preach the gospel boldly, clearly and without compromise. The church made “salvation packets.” At first they made 20 and then decided to have crazy faith and make 50, just in case.

The memorial service for our Nick was amazing! It is a day that comes to me in bits and pieces—it is just too overwhelming as a whole. Over 650 people gathered to honor Nick and comfort our family. As I watched the slide show of our precious son’s life, a million memories flooded my heart...a beautiful baby, a sweet brown-eyed little boy, a young man grown so tall and handsome. Our hearts grieved the loss of a son, brother, grandson, uncle, nephew, cousin and friend.

And then we worshipped Jesus! Our entire worship band played at the service and we raised up holy hands and worshiped with our whole hearts, praising our Savior and King. Then Pastor Jeff spoke with the power of heaven, telling of the saving grace and love of Christ. Pastor Jeff lifted Jesus so high there was no heart that couldn’t see him.

Miracles and lessons

And then a miracle happened—not just one, not 20, not 50 miracles. As Pastor Jeff invited people to open their hearts to Jesus and find the same peace with God that our Nick found on that mountaintop, 100 people stood and came forward to receive Jesus.

The months that followed Nick’s death have been filled with the ache of loss. There have been many tears, yet God is still God no matter what and bigger than the hurt. We as a family and a church family have learned the power of our transformed lives.

We’ve learned that the unsaved are watching and that living out our faith will draw people to our Savior, just as my husband’s life drew Nick to the mountain. We have learned the power of preaching the gospel boldly and without compromise as Pastor Jeff did. And in telling of my Nicky being saved just hours before he went home, we are able to speak of the importance of being ready to meet Jesus face to face.

When my final chapter here on earth is written and I see Jesus face to face, my question there will not be “What now?” for I am confident I will be worshiping Jesus eternally. Instead, my question will be, “Please, can I hold my baby boy now?”

Lori Astle is a florist and owner of Cinderella Flowers in Bakersfield, Calif., and the joyful grandmother of two-year old Emily and a grandson to be born this summer. Lori and her husband renewed their wedding vows in January 2009 on the occasion of their 25th wedding anniversary. Readers interested in hearing the Sunday morning message Jeff Gowling preached at The Bridge Bible Church following Nick Astle’s death can listen by clicking here.

The young cowboy never made it to Mongolia, but others are taking his place around the globe

But Curtis never made it to that remote mission field. The 26-year-old died Sept. 21, 2006, six days after the fall. When he passed into heaven, Curtis was surrounded by family and friends who mourned his death. Since the tragedy, some of their grief is being transformed into joy.

Even amidst the “why” questions of some and the lingering sadness of many, Curtis’ family and friends are discovering how many lives Curtis touched with Jesus’ love—and how his death is inspiring others to share Christ in Mongolia and elsewhere.

Curtis’ overriding desire was to humbly glorify God and the saving work of Jesus Christ without bringing attention to himself, say many people in his family and community. This unassuming attitude radiated from his love for people and a gift for communication in many settings.

Building God's kingdom

He worked with farmers on the plains, studied at Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kan., earned an agricultural education degree at Fargo, ND, served on short-term missions in Latin America and Russia, ministered as a youth pastor in his home congregation of Harvey MB Church and worked at Christian camps for kids. All the while, he built up God’s kingdom without building up himself.

In fact, no one knew the extent of Curtis’ influence until he could no longer speak of it. The week of his death and in weeks following, dozens of people from Harvey, throughout North America and around the world came forward through a Web site, e-mails, letters and calls to share Curtis’ impact.

“God could have taken Curtis right after the fall out there in the field, but the six days he lived gave us all time to understand how many lives he impacted,” says his grandmother, Delores Lautt, whose just-published book, Curtis: Beloved Servant, chronicles his life and death. “When news of Curtis spread, so many people from so many places sent e-mails describing how he had impacted them.… But we never heard all this from Curtis. He didn’t talk about how he served God. He only talked about the God he served.”

Bryan Lautt says his son Curtis desired to be an anonymous tool in God’s hands. “He had a degree in agricultural education and was approached by many schools asking him to teach agriculture,” he says. “But he turned them all down. His real passion was to be in ministry, and to do it behind the scenes. Once I introduced him to some folks as our congregation’s youth pastor. He said, ‘Don’t do that anymore, Dad. I just want to be a regular person relating to regular people. I can get so much farther in sharing Christ with people when I don’t have a title.’”

"This is not right" 

The irony is that while Curtis wanted to remain anonymous, the story of his tragic death has spread far and wide. Randy Friesen, MBMS International general director, says, “When I first heard of Curtis’ death, I said to God, ‘This is not right,’ It is hard to get people to go to Mongolia, and here was a young man who was willing to go and who had gifts that fit so well with the needs there. Then I felt God asking, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ I knew right then I needed to invite others to take (Curtis’) place.”

In a heavenly twist of events, Curtis, asked to take someone else’s place in Mongolia, is inspiring other young people to take the place he never occupied. For example, at a mission rally in Saskatoon, Sask., where Friesen issued this call to Mongolia, Katie Housek came forward, indicating she wanted to be one of those to take Curtis’ place.

Katie, a horse trainer, joined the first “Nomad” short-term mission team to Mongolia in 2007. She returned to the nomadic people to lead a team in 2008. Katie, currently on staff with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Olds (Alberta) College, plans to return to Mongolia with another team in July 2009.

“I was really hit hard by Curtis’ death, and I prayed people would be raised up to go to Mongolia in his place,” she says. “But as is often the case, when you pray for God to do something, you are the one he is calling to do it. Here I was, a young Canadian, who had no amazing skills but who felt called to go to a remote, near-impossible situation. But I’ve learned that God works his awesome miracles when we have nothing but him.”

Kindness and live in action

Joshua Nightingale, a 16-year-old living with his missionary parents in Brazil, is another young life Curtis deeply impacted. In a Feb. 26, 2009, e-mail sent from Brazil, he writes: “I met Curtis three years ago as we traveled around the Midwest to get support for starting a camp here in Brazil. While we were in Harvey, I went to his house a couple of times. He had me help with the training of his favorite horse. It wasn’t so much what we talked about, but what he did. He took a lot of time out of his day for me. Kindness and love were expressed in each of his actions.

“The true significance of this time didn’t hit me until after he passed away. When we returned to Harvey, Mr. Lautt took a day off to spend with me.… He talked to me about Curtis’ dreams about Mongolia and told me that it was my job, and people like me, to do what Curtis was about to do.”

Joshua continues, “In summer of 2011, I am going with MBMSI to Mongolia to tell the nomads about the love of Christ.… I am not planning all of this in obligation of Curtis’ father, but because it is what the Lord wants me to do. The Lautt family was the vehicle for his message. Curtis Lautt was a great man; I hope to be a lot like him, and I can’t wait to see him in heaven.”

Taking up the call

Katie and Joshua and others are needed in missions, Friesen says. God needs people for whom missions is not a place but a way of life—an attitude modeled so well by Curtis. “We are currently praying for and mobilizing a long-term team in Mongolia,” Friesen says. “I doubt if we would be mobilizing teams for Mongolia in the way that we are if it had not been for Curtis’ passing. He refocused our attention on the cost of following Jesus to the least reached. Many others are taking up that call today.”

Friesen prays this unfolding story encourages us to realize that God redeems everything we invest in his kingdom—including a mission call that seemed to end too soon.

“I most want the legacy of Curtis to cause people to ask, ‘God, are you calling me to go?’” says Friesen. “God isn’t looking for people with ‘big’ skills as much as he is looking for those who are willing to let him be a big God.

“When I first met Curtis during short-term mission trips, what impressed me most was that he was an ordinary person. He was sincere, thoughtful, faithful and personable but not flashy,” says Friesen. “He was an ordinary person who had a deep faith in an extraordinary God and his saving work in Jesus Christ.”

The story of a Ford Focus, faith and friendship

 

Kim’s Story

It was Christmastime, and I was busy. Busy with children, work, shopping for presents and memorizing music for choir. I love Christmas, but it is a demanding time of year. In the midst of this hectic time, my neighbor and fellow church member, Leon Gamber, asked if I needed help with my residential cleaning business.

Did I need help? Yes. Did I want to take the chance on a stranger? Not really. But as Leon told me about Melissa, something told me to give her a try. It wasn’t what Leon said, but the look on his face. She was a good girl, Leon said, and she needed a break. I trusted him, so I told him to tell her to give me a call.

Melissa called the next day. I’ll never forget her words: “I’m desperate.” Desperate. Have I ever been desperate for money? I can honestly say no. We agreed to meet.

After getting to know each other over a Dr. Pepper, we decided to try working together for a couple of weeks. During the first week, Melissa either borrowed a car or was dropped off. I asked her about her car. “I don’t have one,” she said. “I did have a nice little car. Paid cash for it. Then an uninsured driver hit me last May and totaled it.”

She began to cry. “I need a car; I need a job. I can’t get a car because I don’t have a job; I can’t get a job because I don’t have a car.” The tears flowed. She told me, “It seems like ever since my mom died a year ago, my life has fallen to pieces.”

How much can one person endure? A young mother of two, going through a divorce, her mom suddenly dies, uninsured driver totals her car. A little voice within said, “Someone needs to help her.” But I didn’t have the time. I was too busy.

The next morning, the radio DJ was asking, “What’s your Christmas wish?” While others called in wishing for a Wii, a TV or a new doll, I called asking for something huge: “I am wishing for a new car for my new friend Melissa.” The radio station said that they would put it out there and see what happened.

A few minutes later, a woman named Shauny from another church in the community called the station to say that a car had been donated to their church. Maybe we could make it work. I said a quick, “Thank you, God, for hearing my prayer.” When I met with Shauny and we talked about the car, reality hit. This car was 30 years old and had been sitting in a field for three years. Back to square one.

“Don’t give up.” That little voice was a little louder. Maybe God had a different plan. Maybe God wanted me to work harder on this wish. I began to pray in earnest about it. Could I actually find a car for Melissa?

I had never done anything like this before. This was huge. I didn’t have the time to do this. I prayed more and listened to my heart. Melissa needed help. I recalled her words: “I’m desperate.” I knew what I had to do: Give it to God.

With the help of Tom Voth, pastor of caregiving at my church, we contacted Sunday school classes to ask for help. I told everyone I met: people at First MB Church, neighbors, clients, even my dentist. If they couldn’t give a monetary donation, would they please pray about it? Shauny was my encourager. She continued to help me and sought help from her church’s benevolent committee. The rest, as they say, is history.

Contributions began to pour in, some large, some small. My motto was, “Not many of us have a lot of money, but a lot of us have a little. Give what you can.” And give they did. Dozens of people donated.

I also received suggestions for finding the car. I contacted Goodwill and a local car dealership. Nothing. Then I got word about a car that was a good possibility. The asking price was higher than I ever dreamed we would get. But it was such a nice car: a 2002 Ford Focus in good condition.

Again, I gave it to God: “Lord, you know how much money we need. I know that you have the perfect vehicle for Melissa. You know and see all. Please, just show me the way.”

By Dec. 31, we had collected enough money to purchase that beautiful little car. And we had enough money left over to take care of tags, taxes and insurance, plus a gas card. Is God good? Does he hear our prayers? Yes!

I truly believe that God placed this young woman into my life for more than one reason. She needed me to restore her faith in humankind. But much more than that, she needed me to restore her faith in God. This experience also has restored my faith that God truly hears our prayers. When we ask specifically, God takes care of our needs. I could not have done this without God’s leading and guiding.

When I told Melissa about the car, and she heard the whole story, all she could say was, “You bought me a car? Who does that? No one has ever done anything like this for me before. You bought me a car?”

I quickly told her, “No. I didn’t buy you a car. God’s people bought you a car. I was just the foot soldier.” Then, to say the least, we both cried.

Interestingly enough, through this whole story, I was still busy. This adventure took priority over everything else. Still, I got everything done. Presents were purchased, music memorized, tree trimmed and work completed. God gave me the strength and the energy to complete my tasks and to fulfill a need for someone who had been a total stranger. This was, without a doubt, the best, busiest Christmas ever.

 

Melissa’s story

To make matters worse, I had been without a car for eight months. A year ago, I had purchased the nicest car I had ever owned: a 1997 Chrysler. In May, an uninsured driver ran a red light and totaled my car. A car is such a simple thing we often take for granted. It was unbelievably hard getting back and forth to work, taking my kids to school, feeling as if I had no independence whatsoever. I felt I didn’t have any place to turn.

God always seems to provide a way through my times of struggle and grief. I started working for Kim, an amazing woman who has her own cleaning service. Kim helped me every day without realizing it. I saw God’s love in her. Her warmth and love lifted my spirits daily. She always seemed to really listen, and she comforted me when I was down, like a mother. She kept saying, “You need a car, girly!”

Then one day, Jan. 7, Kim called to say she would come and pick me up. We were not working that day so I was a bit confused, but I waited for her at my door. We drove to a home on the west side of Wichita and pulled into the driveway.

Kim parked the car and told me that it is such a pleasure to work with me. With tears streaming down her face, she said, “You see that car over there? It’s yours!” She dangled the keys in front of my face. “It’s yours!”

I started crying immediately. “Are you serious? What? Why would you do this? For me? I don’t understand.”

I listened as she explained that she had organized donations and that the church family had reacted with generosity and love. I thank God every day for that love, generosity and compassion to help a single mother in need. God is good all the time.

Kim West and her family attend First MB Church, Wichita, Kan. She says this experience has opened her eyes to God’s goodness in other areas of life and inspired her to plan a summer volunteer experience. “I will never question that little voice again, nor will I put it on the back burner,” she says. “I’m not too busy to help someone.”  

Melissa Grube still works for Kim. What started as a two-week temporary job has turned into a regular part-time job and the two have become good friends. “With this new car, I have a new beginning on life,” she says. She is enjoying her new independence and ability to “be there” for her family.

Today it is not just foreign missionaries who interact with people who have religious beliefs very different from ours. People speak 100 different languages in the city where I live. In this new proximity to various religions some Christians feel less comfortable affirming that Jesus is the way of salvation. Now, however, is a time we need more Jesus, not less.

For instance, in a multicultural setting we need to use more than just one explanation of how Jesus’ death and resurrection provide salvation. We need to follow the example of the preachers and writers in the New Testament who, depending on the context, used different images to proclaim the saving significance of the cross.

The New Testament boldly proclaims salvation through the cross, but offers little explanation of the mechanics of how the cross saves. Theologians, however, have worked at the explanation for centuries. How does the cross save us? For the first thousand years of church history theologians commonly answered the question by explaining that on the cross Jesus entered into the depths of the devil’s domain. Then the resurrection displayed that the devil was unable to keep Jesus in his grasp. The cross and resurrection were God’s victory over death and the devil.

We can affirm this explanation. It is built on a strong biblical foundation. The main problem is that it does not say enough. We need more. It would be a wonderful explanation of the cross to share with someone who feared death or to proclaim in a cultural setting where people feared evil spirits. But it lacks a point of connection for a person ridden with guilt or carrying a burden of shame.

Rather than trying to squeeze the deep power and broad meaning of the cross into one single explanation we would do well to treat it like a many faceted diamond. Victory over the devil is one facet of God’s saving act; other facets will display other realities and provide additional meaning. The New Testament takes this multifaceted approach. It uses multiple images to communicate that Jesus is the one way of salvation.

Recent experiences remind me of the need for a multifaceted gospel. Tuesday I stood in the county jail waiting for inmates to come to the weekly Bible study I lead. A man in a holding cell called to me and asked me to pray with him. He explained that he had only seven days left in jail, but had just gotten in a fight with another inmate. I prayed for him, and continued talking with him through the crack in the door.

Knowing a guard might come any minute to move him I asked directly, “Do you feel guilty?” He said, “Yes.” I asked if he thought God would forgive him. He responded, “I don’t know.” I began talking to him about the cross, about how it was the worst thing humans could do to God—actually kill God incarnate, kill the Son of God. Had he done anything that bad? How had God responded at the cross?

I told him that on the cross Jesus said, “Father, forgive them.” God would forgive him too. I told the inmate this was a prayer I could not pray for him. He needed to confess and ask God for forgiveness. Just as I asked, “Would you like to pray now?” a guard came and took him away.

Last week a Japanese man told me that gospel presentations that talk about sin and guilt confuse and frustrate him. He does not understand them. So knowing he was from a shame-based culture, I talked about the cross in terms of shame. We talked about feeling rejected and disgraced because of ways we had fallen short of others’ expectations and feeling that same alienation from God.

I then talked about how on the cross Jesus, in our place, bore the shame we deserved and how we can have a restored relationship with God free of shame. He not only understood the words, he drank them in like a thirsty plant.

As you talk with others about the cross and resurrection I invite you to join me in using the full richness of the multifaceted gospel. Today we need more Jesus, not less.

Will we open ourselves—and our churches—to our neighbors?

by Don Morris

Janna, my wife, went for a walk on a very warm day last spring. When she returned to the house she realized that she had locked herself out. To add to the drama, it had been just days since Janna had undergone triple bypass heart surgery, the battery on the cell phone she was carrying was dead, and I was a hundred miles away, on my way home from a church planter assessment in Missouri. Janna was getting hot and thirsty—not good following major surgery.

They couldn’t find a way into the house, and what happened next was providential. As they waited for me to get home, our young neighbor began to share with Janna that he and his wife were struggling in their marriage. There were tears in his eyes as he opened up to Janna, and it became obvious to her that we now had a God-ordained opportunity to be directly involved in our neighbors’ lives.

Do Christians still have the opportunity to be agents of change in our troubled world today? Some say things have gone too far in our post-Christian culture. They cite moral decay, the economic meltdown and recent legislation regarding prayer in public schools and government funding for abortions in other nations, and so on and so on as reasons why Christians perhaps should just give up.

It can be tempting to isolate ourselves from the world around us, but then what happens to people? If we throw in the towel when it comes to evangelism and building the kingdom of God, what happens to the people who don’t yet know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?

I am convinced that we should be witnessing and sharing about Jesus in the same manner that first century Christians did. When the early church numbered only a few thousand believers, what did they do? What happened in the early church so that a couple of centuries later there were millions of believers?

History gives some answers. God used persecution, today known as the Diaspora, to spread the early followers of Jesus throughout the region. God did not allow his followers to remain content in their own little world of Jerusalem. Instead, God used these believers by spreading them out into the surrounding cultures. And they did an amazing thing in the new cultures in which they found themselves: They shared their lives with others. The early church shared the gospel, in all its power, with people. These early believers didn’t water down God’s message; they spoke God’s truth even if it was offensive.

Then these new churches sent out church planters to spread the gospel even wider. These early believers couldn’t keep from wearing on their sleeves their unwavering faith in Jesus. Their passion caught fire—person by person—and it spread like wildfire. And what a raging inferno of faith in Jesus it became!

Early believers lived the call of Jesus, and it resulted in the world being turned upside down. Today we would say that the early believers lived as a “missional” church. They shared the life-changing message of Jesus, lived in community together, grew in their faith and did all they could to connect with God and their culture in every aspect of their lives. They were on a mission, living as missionaries in their own cultural setting. They took the message of Jesus to the people; they did not wait for people to come to them.

While the word “missional” has been misused and misunderstood, it is a valid way for us 21st century Christians to live. Why? Because being missional is what Jesus called us to. I am absolutely convinced that the return of Jesus is coming soon, and yet no one but the Father knows exactly when this will happen. What we do know is that until Christ comes, he tells us we are to “be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning” (Luke 12:35).

Yes, our world is changing in many ways. But even in change, an enormous impact for the kingdom of God is possible. You and I can be a vital part of God’s work when we form meaningful connections with those around us, witnessing boldly to our coworkers, in our neighborhoods and to anyone we meet concerning the miracle God brings when he changes our lives.

People in our neighborhoods will not come to our churches simply because we offer great programs, outstanding music or exceptional preaching. They will only come when they see the wonder and power of Jesus lived out in us. Only when they have really, truly witnessed Jesus will they want a taste.

As God’s people, we possess the exciting, rewarding and awe-inspiring privilege of helping broken people find Jesus. I want to be part of seeing more come to know him. I want to be “on mission” for Jesus.

As director of Mission USA, our national Mennonite Brethren church planting effort, I want you to know that as we plant new churches across America we will plant missional churches. These new Mennonite Brethren congregations will proclaim the whole gospel in all of its power. We won’t water it down and we won’t just hint about Jesus. We won’t create enclaves of self-focused Christians.

We will proclaim Jesus as the giver of life. We will proclaim the Word of God. And we will plant churches that connect in service to their communities. We will create bodies of believers that take an interest in the spiritual condition of their neighbors and that speak boldly that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).

We will be Mennonite Brethren, living in a broken world, that know there is one who can heal anyone’s brokenness. We will be living as missionaries in cities all over this country. We will do all we can, with all we have, until Jesus comes back or he calls us home.

Back to our neighbor: Although the wife ended up leaving the home, over the past several months, on several occasions, we’ve been able to pray with the young husband and speak openly with him about the power of prayer and how Jesus can heal. He now comes to us when he’s going through a difficult day. We have a relationship where he knows he can trust us to speak truth to him.

Being missional people is this: Living as Jesus calls us to live, connecting with our culture and helping and serving our neighbors. It is boldly speaking about our Savior and sharing with others how they can know him too. These simple, intentional efforts can and will result in the church being a powerful, amazing force in the life of America. I invite us to dedicate ourselves to a passionate, active, missionary lifestyle wherever we live—until he comes.

Don Morris is the director of Mission USA, the church planting and renewal ministry of U.S Mennonite Brethren.

Genesis 6 outlines God’s mission in the world

In 1982, we packed our belongings into a Ryder truck and our children into our Mercury Zephyr station wagon and moved to Houston, Texas, to plant Mennonite Brethren churches. With a deep conviction that God had called us to this ministry, with the affirmation of the church we had been serving and with the blessing of denominational leaders, we threw ourselves into starting churches. Three years later we had ministered to over 1,000 people but had not formed a congregation, and the denomination decided to withdraw from the project. We were left to figure out exactly what God was up to. It was time for a heart-to-heart talk with God.

Like Moses in Exodus 5:22-23, I had questions for God. I had been faithful to God’s call. I had listened and been obedient to his promptings along the way. I had been faithful to my wife, kept honest financial records and given my all for the sake of starting a church. But God had not kept his end of the deal. He had not done what only he can do to make the group of people to whom we ministered into a church. Why? Shaking my clenched fist in God’s direction, I yelled, “God, what are you doing?”

I think Moses is asking similar questions the day he has a face-to-face, no-holds-barred talk with God. Moses had been faithful to God’s call. He left his home and goes back to his people with a clear understanding of what will happen: Moses will ask Pharaoh to let the people go, and then Moses will lead them out of slavery and into a land of freedom and plenty.

Not as planned

I believe that Moses saw himself as participating with God in carrying out God’s mission in the world. He was a “missional” leader in every sense of the term. God wanted something done on earth, and Moses understood that he was called and sent by God to accomplish it. This is what a missional leader is: Someone called and sent by God to accomplish the purpose of God on earth.

The question for us to answer is: What does God want to accomplish? Usually we assume that the missional activity of God in the world has something to do with redemption—often personal redemption—and begins with and is tied to the work of Jesus on the cross. I believe God’s design includes redemption but that it also goes beyond deliverance.

Each time I hear the term missional, I think back to my Old Testament theology course at MB Biblical Seminary, taught by Elmer Martens. I can still hear Dr. Martens say, “Our pivotal text is Exodus 5:22-6:8. It is the only place in the Scriptures where God is asked, ‘What are you doing?’ and in which he answers the question directly.”

In his book God’s Design: A Focus on Old Testament Theology, Martens writes, “My claim is that the overarching theme of the Old Testament is God’s design, a design that incorporates four components: deliverance, community, knowledge of God and the abundant life. This design is articulated at the exodus, implemented and tested in the monarchy, reaffirmed in the post-monarchy period, and continued into the New Testament.”

God answers Moses

After reiterating his promise to Moses that deliverance will take place, God attaches a name to himself, describing who he is: “I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD” (Exod. 6:6-8).

God intends to bring his people out from under the burden of the Egyptians, to make them his own, to have them know that he is God and to give them a land. These are the four-fold purposes of God that flow from his identity and describe what God has been doing, is doing and will do in the world. The activity of God in the world is to bring deliverance, to form community, to know God and to provide a quality life.

We can trace these four themes throughout the various periods of biblical history, including their fulfillment in Christ and his church and culminating in the end with the heavenly kingdom. Throughout history God has been delivering people and forming them into community. He desires a relationship with them and reveals himself to them in various ways so that he can provide an abundant life for them.

Participating with God

Missional leadership is influencing people towards this end. It is not enough to proclaim the provision of God for salvation. We must communicate and demonstrate that which Jesus proclaimed—the kingdom of God. As Richard Halverson, former chaplain of the United States Senate once said, “Christianity began in Palestine as a relationship, moved to Greece and became an idea, went to Rome and became an institution, then came to America and became an enterprise.” It is time we go back to Palestine and offer Christianity as a relationship, a relationship that brings deliverance, forms community, knows God and provides a quality life.

As I think back on the ministry in Houston that took place in the church that never came to be, I now realize that we were missional. I am convinced that the kingdom of God was proclaimed and received. We were participating with God in his activity in the world, bringing deliverance, forming community, knowing God and providing a quality life. When we first moved to Houston, we defined the church as “people, equipped to serve, meeting needs everywhere in Jesus’ name.” In the purest sense of the word, this is the mission of the church.

Missional leadership understands that the church is not the end but the means—it is a catalyst for the kingdom of God. The church in America needs to recapture the purpose of God as described in the exodus event. We need to enter into the story and discover how to serve and lead in today’s society.

Jules Glanzer is president of Tabor College, the Mennonite Brethren college in Hillsboro, Kan. Glanzer, a 1978 graduate of MB Biblical Seminary, served as a church planter and pastor for the Mennonite Brethren and Evangelical Covenant denominations before moving into higher education.

Glanzer says this about the word "missional": The term “missional” first appeared in 1907 in the Oxford English dictionary. Since then it has had a variety of usages. Parachurch organizations are often called missional organizations. For others, it refers to a method of consulting churches to become relevant—becoming a missional church. Still others use the term as a technique of evangelism—being involved in missional activities. And some refer to missional as the umbrella of the various disciplines of study, as in the mother of theology. Recently some Protestant denominations have begun referring to God as a missional God. Most interesting is that Anabaptists have always understood the church as being missional.

Does my church have “bug light” theology?

"Bug light" theology

More than attracting new faces

Going out to sow

The early church

Trailhead Church sails with a mission

Search and rescue vessels share the harbor with other ships, including cruise ships. A cruise is all about having a good time, and the voyage as well as the ship’s amenities are part of the vacation experience. The crew works hard to entertain the passengers and give them a good time. After all, these customers have paid a lot of money and want to be taken care of. The passengers seem to enjoy themselves, but after a week of going port-to-port, people are ready to get back to “real life.” And after the ship completes its circle, they do just that, a bit fatter than when they came.

I have nothing against cruise ships. In fact some day I hope to sail on one. But when it comes to doing church, I want to be part of a congregation that is focused on saving the lost rather than entertaining the found.

At Trailhead Church we certainly don’t have it all figured out. But I think that if our fledgling community of roughly 100 people has something to offer, it involves the importance of being focused on mission. What does it mean for a group of Jesus-followers to think and act like a church on a mission, or better yet, like a church of missionaries?

We believe that God is a missionary God, that he is actively working redemption locally and globally by drawing people to himself and that being redeemed is the absolute best thing that could happen to a person—and indirectly to a city. We believe that the church is God’s “Plan A” for reconciling lost people, that Jesus has called his followers to be missionaries and that following Jesus in this way magnifies God’s glory and increases our joy.

We believe that Trailhead exists “to help lost people find life in Jesus Christ.” Our approach is relational rather than programmatic, organic rather than top-down and incarnational—we go to people—rather than expecting people to come to us. We work hard to ensure that every position we create, every program we start and every dollar we spend clearly contributes to this mission.

We also believe that there is more than one way to be “lost” and alienated from God. For some, it’s by breaking all of God’s commands and charting one’s own course. For others, it’s by keeping all of God’s commands as a way to earn something from God and ultimately control him.

We envision, dream and work toward a three-fold vision: becoming 1) an authentic community 2) of healthy, growing people 3) living in the way of Jesus, each of which uniquely contributes toward being a people on mission. Here’s how this plays out for us.

We believe that the church is not a building or a set of programs. The church is a community of people following Jesus for the sake of others. Corporate worship gatherings are an important thing we do—but are not what we are. Trailhead consists of 13 small group communities that meet regularly, share meals, study and apply the Bible and do life deeply together, practicing the “one anothers” mandated in Scripture.

But if these small groups are the church—and they are—then ultimately these groups exist for the sake of those outside of Trailhead. We believe that we witness individually and corporately, as our small groups live out kingdom values of love, mercy, generosity, grace, compassion, justice, forgiveness, etc. We desire that our groups be as inclusive as possible, living attractive, Jesus-saturated lives under the noses of those who are far from the Lord, allowing our friends to see, smell and taste the kingdom.

What a joy it’s been to see many of our friends repent of their sin, put their hope in Jesus and begin following him as a result of God’s grace and their involvement in our neighborhood small group. We’re finding that creating authentic community helps us carry out our mission, and carrying out our mission helps create authentic community.

We want to become increasingly like our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that all of life is sacred, which means that physical, relational, emotional, social and intellectual growth is spiritual growth. As we walk in relationship with Jesus, he makes us more whole/holy, changing us from the inside out into people who treasure him over all things. Then, we’re better able to love God and love others, which includes pointing them to Jesus.

God is transforming us in his image, not so that we can live happy, clappy lives but so that we can be his hands and his feet in a lost and broken city. And the incredible thing that we’re finding is that it works the other way too: Embracing our role as missionaries leads to growth. There’s something about following Jesus into risky, adventurous, “sweaty-palm” situations of mission that is essential to our growth.

Unfortunately, if we’re not willing to think beyond daily devotions, “going to church” and perhaps joining a small group, growth often doesn’t happen at all. Becoming more Christlike helps us carry out our mission, and carrying out our mission helps us become more Christ-like.

We believe that following Jesus means embracing the posture of a servant. In Denver, where 90 percent of people are either un-churched or de-churched, we believe that we must roll up our sleeves and demonstrate to people that we care and that we want to be a blessing in our neighborhoods and in our city. One of the ways in which we do this is serving together as a church on the second Sunday of every month, which we see as merely a different form of corporate worship.

This commitment to service has been a “win-win-win-win” situation. Serving helps take the focus off of us; it demonstrates to cynical and suspicious neighbors that God and we really do care about homelessness, injustice, poverty, orphans, widows, etc. Service gives people an opportunity to use their gifts, and it serves as an incredible “front door” into the Trailhead community.

At our last service project, four families that we are getting to know joined us to make and serve sandwiches for several hundred homeless people. Each of them had a great experience and now know several other Trailhead families. So we’re finding that living in the way of Jesus helps us carry out our mission, and carrying out our mission is central to living in the way of Jesus.

We recently surveyed our congregation and found that a vast majority feel that they are experiencing deep, spiritual friendships at Trailhead; are growing spiritually; are serving within their area of giftedness. And they have said that the single most exciting thing about Trailhead is a clearly articulated and biblical mission and vision.

Although we’ve got miles to go, we’re seeing people who have no interest in religion meet Jesus and give their lives to him. Marriages are being reconciled. We’re seeing real needs in our city being met, all of which cause God to look like the treasure that he really is. I find no greater joy than in seeing friends find life in Jesus, and I look forward to the day that Trailhead reproduces itself by planting more gospel-centered, missionary churches here in Denver.

I don’t think any of us, in our heart of hearts, will give our lives to a “cruise ship” mission that is ultimately about ourselves. I know that I want to lead, serve and be led by a community that embraces a “search and rescue” mission that transcends my preferences and me and draws me into the grand story of redemption that God is telling and in which God is inviting us to play a part.

But becoming this kind of church involves more than tweaking our programming, having a “missions emphasis Sunday” or preaching a missions sermon series. It means backing up and honestly addressing questions like: Why does our church exist? How effectively are we carrying this out? What is so good about the Good News to me personally? When is the last time someone met Jesus and had his or her life turned upside down by God?

And the answers to these questions might require us to find the courage and conviction to chart a different course. While that course will be both risky and costly, it is the only mission to which I want to belong.

by David Faber

Since discovering the Touch of Swiss bakery in Stevensville, Mich., our family regularly stops to buy pastries, and then we drive to a secluded park overlooking Lake Michigan and enjoy our sweets while looking out over the lake. If we had stayed on the interstate and never explored this town, we would not have found Touch of Swiss. Our annual road trip to visit my parents would be faster but less rich.

Travelers taking road trips have two choices. We can identify our destination, plot the fastest route, usually involving primarily interstate highways, and reach our goal in the most efficient way possible. Or we can take state highways and county roads—what author William Least Heat-Moon calls the “blue” highways—and see parts of the country (and visit bakeries) that efficient travelers all too often miss.

I see myself as a blue highway traveler, but in reality I am, more often than not, an efficient, interstate traveler. Short vacations and long distances overcome my hope of wandering leisurely.

Sometimes in our study of the Bible we are confronted with a similar pair of choices. We can read the parts of Scripture with which we are familiar and which we know have a powerful spiritual impact. Or we can wander through some of the less familiar parts of the Bible and see what we discover. “Blue highway” Bible study may provide a slower path to growth, but it can be deeply satisfying.

My first experience with blue highway reading came in college. The professor asked our class to read the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew and to make whatever observations we thought relevant. One student noticed that five women are mentioned: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, the woman who “had been the wife of Uriah” and, of course, Mary (Matt. 1:6, TNIV).

Why does Matthew include these women? They aren’t necessary for the genealogy; Jesus’ ancestry is through the men. Why call attention to Tamar? You should read her story in Genesis 38. Among other things, she pretends to be a prostitute, sleeps with her father-in-law and bears his child.

And what about Bathsheba? By referring to her as the woman “who had been the wife of Uriah,” Matthew calls attention to the scandal of King David’s affair and his murder of Uriah.

As I thought about these questions I was reminded that God works through people on the margins, not only through people of power. I realized that people whom the dominant religious tradition would reject or even cover up are part of God’s way of working in the world. I hope that this has opened me to see God working in people whom I would have otherwise rejected. And my life has been enriched by this awareness.

If I had not been invited to do some blue highway reading, I would have skipped the genealogies to get to the stories surrounding Jesus’ conception and birth. And I would have been poorer for it.

I invite you to join me in blue highway reading. Here are a couple of suggestions for your trip.

Slow down. You can’t go as fast on a county road as you can on the interstate. When you slow down you start to see more. Slowing down can help us take in new places and can help us see familiar places more clearly. When you see more, you ask more questions, and questions can lead to insight. Slowing down can stir your imagination. As I drive through a small town, I wonder what it’s like to live there. As we read slowly we can put ourselves into the story and wonder about the event of which we are a part.

Take along a guide. A guide, especially someone who knows well the area you are visiting, can help answer some of your questions and can point out places you may want to explore further. Ask your pastor or e-mail a professor at MB Biblical Seminary or one of the Mennonite Brethren colleges about a reliable guide to the part of the Bible you are exploring.

Take along a visitor. Perhaps this visitor is someone who has a very different background from your own. Often such a person will see things that you have overlooked or see the same things from a different perspective. Conversations with disciples from other religious or ethnic traditions can open up the Bible in profound ways.

Blue highway reading does not fit our busy lifestyles. But it provides an opportunity to explore some hidden wonders in the Bible. And you may find yourself returning to some of those spots over and over again to enjoy the view they provide of God and God’s work.

Questions from “blue highway” texts

By Joanna Felts

Test your knowledge of little-known Bible stories and characters with these 10 questions. Answers follow the questions. 

Questions:

1. What “problem” do Eldad and Medad have? What was the response of their leader?

2. What woman calls her husband a fool and lives to tell about it

3. When does a donkey have the last word?

4. Who is the “Mother of Israel?”

5. Who was responsible for the first court system in Israel?

6. In one biblical passage a woman is described as a prophetess and a garment keeper. Who is she and what is unique about her recorded words?

7. What man, at the age of 85, asks for a mountain and sets out to conquer it?

9. Christ-followers were not always known as Christians. What name did Jewish leaders first give this group of people?

1. Numbers 11 tells the story of Eldad and Medad, elders in the Israelite camp. They somehow do not make it to the gathering of the elders in the tabernacle at Moses’ direction. However, they are filled with the Spirit of God and they prophesy in the camp. Those zealous for Moses’ leadership ask Moses to make Eldad and Medad stop. However, Moses is not worried about his position and instead says that he wishes all of God’s people were prophets and able to prophesy God’s Word.

2. 1 Samuel 25 tells the story of Abigail who was the wife of Nabal, a name that means “fool.” She intercedes for her foolish husband to David and succeeds in convincing David not to destroy Nabal and his household. Instead, God himself destroys Nabal and Abigail marries the future King David.

3. Numbers 22 tells the story of Balaam, a man who is not an Israelite but who acknowledges that God is very powerful. While he does not believe God to be the only true God, Balaam is willing to do what God wants, especially if he can get something out of it. His donkey, however, has no trouble seeing God or obeying him. God uses the donkey to convince Balaam to do what God asks of him.

4. Judges 4 and 5 tell the story of Deborah, a prophetess chosen by God to judge Israel. Under her tenure, Barak and Deborah take on the army of Sisera while Jael is acknowledged for killing Sisera himself. During the song that follows the victory over Sisera’s army, Deborah is given the title “Mother of Israel.”

5. Exodus 18 shows that Moses has his hands full. He spends every day sitting in judgment over the people of Israel and the Scriptures point out that this happens from morning until night. However, his father-in-law, Jethro, encourages Moses to teach capable, honest men how to do this work so that his load will be lighter. Only the most difficult cases are then brought to Moses, setting him free for other kinds of leadership in Israel.

6. Huldah’s story is found in 2 Kings 22:12-20 and 2 Chronicles 34:22-33. She serves during the reign of Josiah. She never speaks without giving credit to the Lord as the author of the news she bears.

7. In Joshua 14:6-15, Caleb reminds Joshua of the promise of Moses. Because Caleb is faithful to follow God and stands against the other 10 spies as recorded in Numbers 13 and 14, Moses promises that when land is given out in the Promised Land, Caleb will have his own portion. After 45 years of waiting on that promise, Caleb claims the hill country of the Anakites for his own. At the age of 85, Caleb drives the Anakites out and settles his family in the land of Hebron.

8. Joshua 2 and 6 tells the story of Rahab’s conversation with the spies and the subsequent fall of the city of Jericho. Rahab tells the spies that the city of Jericho is in terror over the Israelites because of how the Lord opened up the path of dry land through the Red Sea 40 years earlier.

10. John 1 records the fact that John the Baptist went about preaching, gathering disciples and baptizing. In John 4, the Pharisees have begun to hear rumors that Jesus is gathering even more disciples than John. However, according to verse 2, Jesus does not actually baptize these followers; instead, his disciples baptize them.

Joanna Felts is a freelance writer living in Fresno, Calif., with her family. She is the author of CL Discussion, an online study guide to use with CL feature articles.

A look at Mark 5

By Pierre Gilbert

What is this story all about? Is it a recipe to cast demons out of people? Mark himself provides a clue in the preceding chapters. The stories he reports in chapters 1-4 all emphasize one thing: the authority and the power of Jesus Christ. If we are going to give the immediate context any consideration then we have to recognize that the primary focus of Mark 5 may well be to illustrate the overwhelming power of Christ.

So they arrived at the other side of the lake, in the land of the Gerasenes. Just as Jesus was climbing from the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit ran out from a cemetery to meet him. This man lived among the tombs and could not be restrained, even with a chain. Whenever he was put into chains and shackles—as he often was—he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to control him. All day long and throughout the night, he would wander among the tombs and in the hills, screaming and hitting himself with stones (NLT).

Jesus’ arrival in the region of Gerasenes is no accident. He appears on the scene because there is a man in great need, and because it provides an opportunity to demonstrate that he has power over all. So far, Jesus’ ministry has been quite effective, but does his power extend beyond his own backyard? The only way to test him is to get Jesus out of his neighborhood and put him face-to-face with a most formidable challenge.

Jesus’ incursion in pagan territory is theologically very significant. It loudly proclaims that God’s offer of salvation is not limited to the Jews or any particular class of people. The worst of pagans can be the object of God’s love.

Verses 3-5 symbolize the extent to which a human being can be affected by evil. These verses describe a man who is alienated in every possible way. He is alienated from himself, his family and the rest of human society. He is completely out of control, and no one can do anything for him.

When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him. He ran to meet Jesus and fell down before him. He gave a terrible scream, shrieking, "Why are you bothering me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? For God's sake, don't torture me!" For Jesus had already said to the spirit, "Come out of the man, you evil spirit." Then Jesus asked, "What is your name?" And the spirit replied, "Legion, because there are many of us here inside this man." Then the spirits begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place. There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby. "Send us into those pigs," the evil spirits begged. Jesus gave them permission. So the evil spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd of two thousand pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake, where they drowned.

In verses 6-10, Mark notes four actions to show that at the sight of Jesus the man regains some measure of control.

He sees Jesus.

He runs to Jesus.

He falls on his knees in front of Jesus.

He shouts at the top of his voice.

The royal title the demons use to refer to Jesus underlines their utter powerlessness in the presence of Jesus. The lie that these evil entities have overwhelming powers is being unraveled. The demons know that this is “game over.” They are simply negotiating the terms of surrender.

In verse 9, Jesus asks the demon to identify itself, not so much to gain control over the creature as to demonstrate the extent to which this man had come under the control of these beings. The immediate response from the demon further underlines Jesus’ absolute authority.

In contrast to the popular belief of the time, Mark emphasizes in verses 11-13 the very limited range of freedom these spirits actually enjoy. They need permission to enter into the pigs. Taking possession of the pigs is not something they can do on their own authority.

While this text confirms the existence of demonic spirits, their power is extremely limited: 1) a “legion” of demons, possibly 6,000, is not sufficient to completely strip this man of his dignity; 2) the pig-demon ratio (2,000 pigs to 6,000 demons) sends a very subtle message about the real power of these demons. To an audience that believes in the overwhelming power of demons, we have a situation where three demons are insufficient to keep a pig from drowning itself and the demons with it.

The pig incident is no doubt on the strange side of the reality spectrum. But it was critical it happened this way, for how else would people know that this man was indeed under the influence of real demons? Jesus is not just a good psychologist. This man was under the dreadful influence of a legion of demons. The drowning of the pig herd is the incontrovertible demonstration of the overwhelming power of Jesus—not even an army of demons can stand in his presence.

The herdsmen fled to the nearby city and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. Everyone rushed out to see for themselves. A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, but they were frightened when they saw the man who had been demon possessed, for he was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane. Those who had seen what happened to the man and to the pigs told everyone about it, and the crowd began pleading with Jesus to go away and leave them alone.

Jesus’ intervention does not meet with the grateful response one would expect. It is irrelevant that the “demoniac” is sitting, clothed and in full control of himself. The “village idiots” are very upset by the economic cost of this good deed. They want Jesus to leave. They would have preferred to see the demon-possessed man remain in his miserable condition than to see him saved. At the cost of a herd of pigs per man, salvation is just too expensive.

The “village idiots” just don’t get Jesus. They never do! This is Mark’s way of reminding us of a very sobering truth. There is one thing over which Jesus has no ultimate authority and that is people themselves.

As for the man, he is no longer mad. The redemption brought by Jesus affects every aspect of this man’s life: spiritual, mental, physical and social.

When Jesus got back into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go, too. But Jesus said, "No, go home to your friends, and tell them what wonderful things the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been." So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to tell everyone about the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them.

What can we learn?

• Something is wrong with human beings. This story shows the extent to which evil can affect human beings. The debilitating impact of sin and evil on human nature is beyond self-help books and pop psychology. In our ever-renewed rush of good will and naivety, we too often forget the extent to which men and women can be damaged by evil. Because we forget, we too often prescribe sugar pills to people who need spiritual cancer treatment.

• Sin and evil ultimately result in human alienation. Alienation from ourselves, from others, and God.

• The universality of salvation. The story of the demoniac man clearly teaches that God intensely wishes to bring salvation to all men and women, regardless of where they are, who they are and what condition they are in. But God does not only wish to reach, he actually does it. Jesus did not wait for this man to come to his neighborhood. He actively sought this poor soul. This is the story of God seeking humanity. From the very beginning, God has been calling on men and women to turn to him.

• The social cost of redemption. This text reminds us that there is often, most often in fact, a social cost to the redemption of men and women. God provides the foundation for redemption, but it takes the involvement of real men and women in the lives of other men and women to bring about the emergence of the kingdom of God in the human heart. And that is sometimes costly in terms of human and financial resources. Why? Simple! Keep reading.

• God works in partnership. God has chosen to establish his kingdom by working with human beings (1 Cor. 3:9). God never does by himself what he can do in partnership with men and women.

• Redemption. Redemption impacts every aspect of a person’s life, but it affects first and foremost the inner person. If there is no transformation of the heart, the rest is superficial. Mere reform, but no transformation. True redemption begins in the heart of the person and then extends outward into the community.

In conclusion, I want to highlight two fundamental truths that this story reveals. These are truths the “world”—that which is opposite of God and his work—has hidden and is still attempting to hide at all costs. For were we to see them plainly, they would transform every person that comes into contact with them and, in time, transform the whole world.

Regardless of what evil has done to a human being. Regardless of the extent to which a man or a woman has given himself or herself to evil. Regardless of the grip evil may have on a person, God has an infinite ability to reach into the human soul and bring redemption. No one is beyond the reach of God. Absolutely no one!

This truth implies that we should never give up on anyone or on Christ’s ability to redeem even the most unlikely of candidates for salvation. God can reach into the soul of the drug addict. God can reach into the soul of the most hardened criminal. God can reach into the soul of a child born with Down syndrome. God can reach anyone.

Here is the second truth that, as far as the “world” is concerned, must never come to light. Here is the truth that countless human ideologies forever seek to hide from us. Here is the truth that the intellectual elites tell us is a lie, at best an illusion: We are free.

Regardless of what life has thrown at us, we are free. We are free to turn to God and be healed. No demon, no degree of evil, no amount of abuse, nothing can keep us from turning our face to God and crying for help. The biggest lie is that we can’t.

Hope can shine through in the darkest places. There is only one thing that stands in the way of our redemption and that one thing is our own free will. Christ can overcome all obstacles but one: Our own unwillingness to accept his invitation.

By Jason Hiebert

Non-Christians often think of the Bible as a dull, dry book about a stern, unsmiling God. Even Christians don’t recommend it for the laughs. We talk about how the Bible nourishes, strengthens, teaches and comforts us. But we never talk about how it entertains or amuses us. We agree that the Bible testifies to God’s love, compassion, sorrow, anguish, anger and joy—but does it reflect God’s sense of humor?

Certainly, God has a sense of humor. After all, it was God who gave me a nose big enough to hold spare change. That same God knows what it is to laugh at humanity. This is not laughing in a mean-spirited way, but laughing in the way we chuckle at the foibles of old friends or laugh at ourselves. This is also the laughter that challenges our powerful, uncompromising views (like the quote by Whitehead above) of how the world is and ought to be.

For instance, take the image of the prophet. The prophet is someone you look up to: John the Baptist preaching repentance in the desert and Jeremiah warning of disaster and mourning the destruction of Jerusalem. The prophet is bold, powerful and righteous. But sometimes the prophet is Jonah.

Jonah runs from his assignment and when he finally does preach to Nineveh, his sermon is as anemic as he can make it. This prophet is reluctant, apathetic and indignant. The capstone of the story is when God spares the city. As you read Jonah 4:1-4, can’t you just picture it? Jonah, with his arms crossed and lower lip turned out, stamps his foot and fumes at a God who could dare to be so forgiving. The author is almost daring us not to laugh at the picture of a tiny, self-righteous prophet.

Sometimes the Bible’s humor is almost too risqué for church. One example is Naomi’s plan to find a husband for Ruth, a foreign widow coming to Israel who is very much the outsider (Ruth 3:1-4). The strategy is this: Ruth will wait until Naomi’s cousin Boaz has worked all day and had his fill of food and drink. Then she will go lie down beside him, uncover his feet and sleep there until morning. Once Boaz wakes up, he’ll take care of everything.

If you don’t get the punch line, it might help to know that in ancient Hebrew culture, “feet” can serve as a euphemism for genitalia. So Ruth waits until Boaz has finished eating and drinking, and then she goes and uncovers his “feet.” And when he wakes up, sees himself uncovered and a woman sleeping beside him, he will assume he must have done something last night to obligate himself!

In this story, the foreign woman—the outsider—is the hero, and she “wins” by tricking the Israelite man – the insider – into thinking he’s slept with her. Is it right? No, but…well, it is kind of funny.

A similar example, but with the imagery in reverse, can be found in Judges 3. Ehud, the judge, gains a private audience with Eglon, the enemy king. Ehud kills Eglon with a surprise attack, locks the door to the room and escapes to safety. A thrilling story, but how does Ehud buy time to get out of enemy territory? The Bible says that when Eglon’s servants found the door locked, they thought he was “covering his feet.”

Again, this is a euphemism: They thought he had dropped his robes (“covered his feet”) and was using the toilet. And so they waited for him to finish. And they waited. And waited some more. In fact, the Bible says they waited until they were embarrassed for him.

Picture it: The boss is in the bathroom, and the servants are all whispering to one another.

Coming at the height of the action narrative, this comical aside seems to throw a little Austin Powers in with our biblical James Bond. What kind of hero gets away by hiding the body in the john?

Jesus uses humor in his teaching, but his humor is often more pointed than that of Judges, Ruth or even Jonah. This is because Jesus is often joking with somebody specific in mind, and his target is almost always a group of legal experts (the priests) that is challenging his teachings and actions.

The best example of this is found in Mark 11:27–12:40. Jesus is in the temple courts with his disciples. It is almost Passover, and the place is packed with people from all over the known world. Jesus has been making quite a bit of noise over the past couple of years, and so the Pharisees and other religious leaders think this might be a good time to show this country bumpkin how the big boys in Jerusalem play.

As this group of important men strides purposefully across the temple grounds, more than a few heads turn to follow them. A small crowd stops to listen when the priests begin to talk with the wandering preacher and his group of Galilean followers.

First, the priests challenge Jesus directly. By what authority does Jesus teach? The typical answer is “I studied under Rabbi So-and-so,” but everyone knows Jesus hasn’t had any formal training. As soon as he admits it, the priests will shame him and run him out of town.

But when Jesus brings up John the baptizer, another rebel, he turns the tables on them. He gets the priests to admit that they don’t recognize spiritual authority even when it is completely obvious. Perhaps a few of the more insightful bystanders catch Jesus’ point and suppress smirks.

Jesus then tells the story of farmers who rent a vineyard and rebel against the rightful owner. They beat, shame and kill his servants and his son. The farmers are punished, and the vineyard is given to others. Jesus doesn’t name any names, but everyone knows that the vineyard is Israel, and the farmers are the religious leaders. Now everyone knows what Jesus is implying. More than a few jaws are hanging slack—this fellow has some real chutzpah to challenge the priests on their home turf!

Jesus caps the argument by asking the Pharisees, “Haven’t you ever read the Scripture that says…?” Of course they have read it! Their job is to read the Torah, determine what the laws and passages mean and provide a framework for living within the requirements of the Law. By suggesting that they might not have read the text, Jesus underscores his actual point: They read the entire Torah over and over and over again, but never understand it. Unable to mount a comeback, the religious leaders slink off and regroup.

The legal experts come back later with a tricky question about taxes. Should Jews pay Roman taxes? They expect that Jesus will give an answer that they can either use to discredit or imprison him. Some of the people notice that a second confrontation is brewing. They sidle close to hear Jesus’ response.

Although the Pharisees intend to trap Jesus in his answer, he skips through the question and pulls them into their own snare. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s,” he says. Now you tell me: Did Jesus say “yes” or “no”? Everyone knows the question is a trap, and everyone knows Jesus has just scored another point. By now, people are probably turning their heads so the priests won’t see them laughing under their breath, but it’s obvious.

The Sadducees have one card left. It is a very thorny theological problem, stemming from one of the Jewish laws: If a man dies without having children, his brother is to marry his widow and have children with her, in his name. So if there are seven brothers, and they all marry the woman in turn (but none of them fathers any children by her), who will be her husband in the afterlife?

Jesus’ reply here is even harsher than what he says earlier: The priests don’t know the Scripture or the power of God. They are oblivious to the kind of life God provides, God’s power and God’s plan for humanity. Now the crowd doesn’t even try to stifle their laughter. The priests realize that they won’t be able to catch Jesus in his words, and they back off to consider other methods.

Don’t get me wrong—Jesus is completely serious in everything he says and does. But there is a way of joking that is appropriate and necessary, even at the most serious times.

No, let me correct myself: Humor is necessary especially at the most serious times, because it takes just a little wind out of our sails and reminds us not to take ourselves too seriously. Like Whitehead, we all tend to make powerful, uncompromising statements that feel definite and concrete. But the humor in the Bible reminds us not to trust in our status as the prophet, the insider, the judge or the expert. I know when I read these stories, they give my ample nose a good tweak.

Jason Hiebert is a 2007 graduate of MB Biblical Seminary. He lives and works in Fresno, Calif., where he and his wife, Ilone, attend The Grove Community Church.