I started really considering a possible prophetic gifting a couple of years ago. I started noticing that I tend to be a questioner, an agitator, a disturber. I liked to ask lots of questions about why we do this or that- what is the purpose? what are we trying to accomplish? are we accomplishing that? I started to agitate people by challenging them in little ways, and disturbing them by offering up other possibilities.

I like to challenge and question the status quo. I do it all the time. Why do we need to do that? or do it that way? Why do we assume that we have to do things like everyone else? I’m an idealistic and visionary person, too, which made it even harder. I would come up with high ideals and strong visions of what might be possible, and then I would question why the church wasn’t doing that. I wanted churches that would change the world, that would stand with the poor and oppressed, that would live radical lives following Jesus in the midst of modern-day America. I wanted radically faithful churches that glorified God and expanded his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. And I would challenge, challenge, challenge.

The status quo has always seemed like the enemy to me- the thing that gets us stuck in ways that don’t get us anywhere. I hate being “safe” or “comfortable” and those things seem to go along with being in the status quo. Jesus seemed the farthest thing from the status quo- God come to earth as a human?!?- and it makes sense to me that his followers shouldn’t seem to fit the status quo either. We should be different than the world step out of the status quo, both in terms of the American dream and the America church (that has been co-opted by that dream) and be little Jesus radicals in this world.

In churches I tend to be asking questions that no one else asks. I tend to see problems when everyone else thinks things are going fine. I tend to challenge things that seem perfectly normal.

And I always want to go further or faster or more radical. I want to take it to the limit.

Some of this is very dangerous and I’m going to blog later on my attempts to be prophetic… um, how should I say it… responsibility? Doing more good than damage? But some of these prophetic traits- being a questioner, a disturber, a agitator, and pushing hard against the status quo- I can say that those are deeply ingrained into my being without any doubt. I cannot escape them, and they are sure hard to turn down.

I think some of these things go together. I think prophetic people tend to be “gut” people. Hopefully it stems from knowing God’s heart, but they have strong gut reactions to things that are wrong. I think this also leads many prophetic people to be justice-oriented people because their gut reactions to the injustices of this world are so strong they know they need to do something about it. I can say this is true of myself. I think prophetic people also tend to be a little more on the radical side. They don’t mind being on the margins and may even feel called to call out to the church from the wilderness, “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” I think that prophetic people are probably willing to be radical and a little crazy in their attempts to rail against the status quo. I also know this to be true for me.

On the down side, prophetic people can lack compassion and grace. They can hold truth to a higher esteem than relationships and therefore do a lot of damage. They can be a little unforgiving to those who do not meet their idealistic standards. They can do more damage than good. They can be self-righteous about knowing what is “right”. They can be judgmental and condemning. I also know quite a few of these to be true for myself, and again, I’m going to blog later on what I plan to do about them.

My heart burns for the kingdom of God on earth, for God to be glorified in this world through the Church, for God’s people to be faithful disciples of him and only him. And out of these deepest yearnings comes what I think may be a prophetic voice…

edit: So…. is this being prophetic? Is being an agitator status-quo questioner necessarily or even possibly a prophetic act?  I think yes, it definitely is a possibility to be prophetic through questioning and agitating, but those acts are definitely not necessarily prophetic. I think for them to be prophetic they have to be deeply rooted in a revelation from God instead of in our own wishes, desires, dreams, or stubbornness. Is the prophetic person calling people or the church to God’s ways or to their ways?

So, since I don’t have a picture on this site, I should let you know that I am white. I grew up in the white-middle-upper-class-suburbia of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I had a few good friends who weren’t white growing up, but for the most part I lived in a very white midwestern culture. It wasn’t until college that I tried to change that and have worked hard to live a more multi-cultural life. I won’t get into the details of my long cultural/racial journey here, but I do have to say that this website made me laugh. Stuff White People Like.

The funny thing is how many of the items on the list are right-on for Mike and I. (I’ve listed some below for you.) I’m white and I like being white. I also like being around lots of people who aren’t white, and while some things have changed (I cook mostly Mexican now) some things haven’t (#87 Outdoor Performance Clothes- what can I say? I love REI and Patagonia!)

So some samples for you that are right-on:

• #1 Coffee
• #6 Organic Food
• #7 Diversity umm…. yeah
• #12 Non-profit Organizations work for one
• #13 Tea
• #14 Having Black Friends ok, i admit it!
• #18 Awareness although I don’t believe it will fix too much
• #23 Microbreweries love them!
• #28 Not Having a TV how in the world did they know?
• #32 Vegan/Vegetarianism also dead-on
• #44 Public Radio i listen all day… probably has to do with #28
• #48 Whole Foods and Grocery Co-ops to get #6
• #60 Toyota Prius although i want an electric smart-car or twike more
• #61 Bicycles this would probably be my “save from a fire” item
• #62 Knowing What is Best for Poor People ouch but probably true
• #64 Recycling
• #75 Threatening to Move to Canada often
• #82 Hating Corporations and i love “no logo” and “adbusters”
• #94 Free Healthcare
• #100 Bumper Stickers got a bunch on the Civic

So, there you have it…

When people think of “prophets” they may think of prophecies that predict the future. I used to think that was what the spiritual gift of prophecy is- some divine knowledge of future events. In some way that may be correct; God can give someone knowledge of the future to share with others. Really, though, prophets are people who know the mind of God on issues affecting the church and who speaks these things of God into a community to bring growth and transformation. They may not know anything about future events, but they

To get a better idea of what modern day prophets may look like, it makes sense to look to the new testament. It seems like there is a difference between prophets in the old testament and the spiritual gift of prophecy in the new testament. In the OT, prophets spoke with the full authority of God. They were direct mouthpieces of God, being able to say “thus says the Lord…” with full divine authority. Their words were God’s words and became scripture. To disobey their words would be to disobey God.

New testament prophecy seems to be a little different… perhaps a little less divine or less authoritative. The spiritual gift of prophecy seen in the NT seems to be revelations from God spoken by the merely human prophet. In 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 Paul says “Do not despise prophesying, but test everything; hold fast to what is good.” It seems that if prophecy can be questioned, it is probably not the authoritative word of God but the word of God filtered through people. Paul repeats this theme in 1 Corinthians 14:29, “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.” I know these scriptures are ripped out of context, but the theme seems to ring true to the overall NT. The spiritual gift of prophecy was given to many in the Church at Pentecost (see Acts 2:16-18 ) and seems to be a widespread gift to many rather than to a few select mouthpieces of God. So prophecy today should probably be treated as it was in the NT. It should be tested against the bible by the Church, but taken very seriously as a revelation of God given to a member of the Church. To someone with the spiritual gift of prophecy, it may be seen as a great gift or as a burden.

A prophet in today’s church may be someone who is a questioner, a disturber, or an agitator. They may feel that God is calling them to give the church a new direction or to return to faithfulness. This may lead them to disturb the status quo and challenge the church body to move in new directions.For these reasons those with a prophetic function within a church may get marginalized or cast out of a church. Like those in the OT, using the spiritual gift of prophecy may be seen in high regard by some and despised by others.

Hope you enjoy this FABULOUS prophet picture. Don’t worry, there is more where that came from!

So I may totally be wrong, but I’m starting to believe that God made me with a little bit of a prophetic edge. In Ephesians 4:11-13 Paul writes:

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Now I hate ripping verses straight out of scripture with no context, so go ahead and read Eph 4 on your own, but I think you’d agree with me that Paul is talking about different giftings people have in the body of Christ to build up the church body.

Some great missional church people, Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, have termed these giftings “APEPT” (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers) and talk about the concept in their books. In an effort to show churches the path to returning to a more missional first-century-church way of being, they criticize the modern church for focusing mostly on pastoral and teaching leadership and missing out on apostolic, prophetic, and evangelistic ministries. They say that most of the APE people can be found hanging out in para-church ministries or overseas missions while PT people are in local churches. They say that the church needs all five giftings to be effective in the mission and ministry of the church.

We reiterate our belief that only when all five are operating in unity or harmony can we see effective missional engagement begin to occur. Pastors and teachers have had more than their share of responsibility in church leadership. It’s time for the recovery of some sense of balance.

Just to give you a little clearer picture of what all the APEPT leadership functions mean, I leave you with some definitions from “The Shaping of Things to Come” by Frost and Hirsch:

• Apostolic function: usually conducted translocally, pioneers new missional works and oversees their development
• Prophetic function: discerns the spiritual realities in a given situation and communicates them in a timely and appropriate way to furuther the mission of God’s people
• Evangelistic function: communicates the gospel in such a way that people respond in faith and discipleship
• Pastoral function: shepherds the people of God by leading, nurturing, protecting, and caring for them
• Teaching function: communicates the revealed wisdom of God so that the people of God learn how to to obey all that Christ has commanded of them

Next time I’ll explore what being prophetic might mean. In the mean time, enjoy the ridiculous picture that I found when I google imaged “prophet”. Nice find, hey?

I tend to a be a “delayed gratification” kinda person. Which means i like to leave the better stuff until later so I have something to look forward to. So this year Mike and I waited until the first week of June to take our vacation, even though we are moving in July to California.

We went to three places- Madeline Island (Big Bay State Park), Pattison State Park, and my grandparent’s cabin. We camped at both Big Bay and Pattison and then stayed at my grandparent’s cabin the last few nights and sought refuge from the rain there. It was a chilly camping trip (most days had highs in the 50’s or low 60’s), but that also meant our campgrounds were all nearly empty.

Mike and I like adventures. We like going exploring and we like experiencing new things. We like getting away from our lives but also getting away from the comforts of our lives (like a warm place to stay), and we don’t like spending a lot of money on vacations, so camping fits us pretty well. Some day I would like to go on an even more “roughin-it” vacation with Mike- maybe a hiking/backpacking trip in Northern California or a biking/backpacking trip up the coast. There is just something about shedding your stuff and setting out with just the bare necessities and seeing how you do out there.

So we hiked to waterfalls and along the coast of Madeline island. We splashed in the water and spent and hour looking at pretty stones. We spent nights huddled for hours around our campfire because it was too cold to be away from it. We made pudgie pies over the fire and hot cocoa on our campstove. We biked into town and got to ride a ferry. We visited Duluth, a place where I lived for a summer and haven’t seen in 4 years.

I love camping because it helps re-center you. Who are you when you are away from all your stuff? Away from your schedule? Away from your home? Away from your commitments and responsibilities? Who are you really? Shed your life for a week, pick up a sleeping bag and a tent, and head out into the wilderness… it’s a great place to be reminded of who you really are.

Lately I have been thinking about what we are saved for. What is the purpose of salvation? What is God trying to do by offering us salvation? I think too often we see salvation as the goal, but maybe it is just a first step to a much much bigger goal.

When salvation is the goal, we see the purpose of salvation as creating more people who can go out and save more people. Come to Christ, then turn around and go save some other people! The end goal is probably hoping that we can reach enough people through multiplying those who are saved until the whole world is saved and the great commission is completely fulfilled.

Others see the purpose of salvation as making disciples. We want to save people so they can become full followers of Christ. Maybe we hope for “personal transformation” or “personal healing” for those who come to Christ and then pursue Him through discipleship. We want to make disciples all over the globe, so we save people so they can become full followers of Jesus.

Others may have some sort of “community” emphasis on why they save people. Salvation is seen as the entrance into genuine community with fellow Christians and with God. People need to be saved so they can join into the Church (universal) and be in a community of Christians. We need to save people to expand the Church, or to create more churches.

These all seem to fall flat to me. We can’t just be saved to save others or we will just have a bunch of “converted” people all over who can say they believe in Jesus and are headed to heaven, but maybe not much else. Nor can we say we save people to make disciples, or we may have a whole lot of Jesus following people all across the world, but in (probably) individualistic ways. Nor can we say that creating Christian communities are they goal of saving people, because what is the purpose of a Church that simply creates more saved people?

I don’t know if you are following me up to this point, but my question is…

Saved for… what? Discipled for… what? Creating churches for… what?

What is the purpose of expanding the number of saved and discipled people now involved in Christian communities?

I think the answer has to lie in the Kingdom of God. That we are saved, discipled, and formed into communities to become little outposts of the Kingdom of God all over the world. We are to be places where God reigns, where lives are lived according to God’s wondrous ways, where love, justice, and compassions radiates out unstoppably. Where the poor can come and receive unbelievable hospitality and care. Where the sick can be healed. Where the outcast can find a home. Where the oppressed can find an advocate. Where the sorrowful can find hope. We are to become a force in the local society, just like Jesus was a force in his, seeing the worth of those around him and the beauty of creation, while at the same time casting out the evil, righting wrongs, and redeeming all things. We are to be mysterious points of light that draw people in, and places of repentance and grace, where we can be made new. We are to shine like cities on a hill, to be salt and light, to be miraculously different. We are to be places of radical selflessness, generosity, and love. We are to be places where people can come and experience Jesus in the flesh through us. We are to be outposts of the bright Kingdom in a dark world.

So we need to be evangelistic, so we can then create more disciples that join into Christian communities that are places where God reigns… the outposts of the Kingdom of God.

This past week I spent in Pasadena, CA, interviewing for a possible part-time youth ministry job. Mike and I are headed out to Pasadena in July so I can attend Fuller Seminary. I spent a lot of time interviewing for the job but was able to catch some time around the seminary to take care of housing, advising, financial aid, and even got a chance to sit in on another class.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to get out of my seminary experience and why I am going. I know seminary doesn’t really get you ready for ministry as much as it gives you a lot of information that will hopefully help you as you actually practice ministry. I know that seminary is just another piece of the puzzle, something that builds on all the experience I have already had, something that may answer some of my big questions and fill in my blanks of knowledge, and something that may give me a new framework to keep building my experience in the future.

I also have a few fears as I go into seminary:

1) The Christian Bubble. Going to seminary, with a whole bunch of “super-Christians” and living in seminary housing so that they live next to me scares the crap out of me. If I work for a church, how much deeper I will be diving into the Christian Bubble- the place where you are in a weird Christian subculture, talking about Christian things with your Christian friends. I don’t know how seminary, seminary housing, and working for a church will allow me the time to really get out of the bubble. I’m afraid a few years from now I will be changed for the irrelevant worse having spent so much time in the bubble. I’m not quite sure what to do about this one in this stage of my life, but I think one of the above three may have to change so I can have a little bit of my life outside the bubble. My dream? A housing co-op with non-Christians. Know of one in LA? let me know.

2) Cynicism. It seems like seminary is an easy place to become cynical. As you learn more and get into the dirty history of the church, it seems inevitable to start to develop a sense of cynicism. I’m afraid I will develop a “I’ve seen it all” attitude where it becomes hard to see anything as truly authentic and not just another program or strategy. With cynicism you lose a sense of joy, playfulness, and trust, and I don’t want to leave seminary with wariness and cynicism.

3) Thinking not Doing. Seminary seems to be a great place to think, write, and reflect, but a difficult place to do. I’m afraid of spending too much time developing my theology and thinking, but not enough time acting upon it. I’m hoping that seminary is a formational and not just educational process for me, but I know that I will constantly have to fight against the tide to put what I learn into practice in daily life. I am hoping that working in ministry part-time while in school will help me both learn in both formal and practical ways, and give me a good balance between thinking and doing.

4) Competition & Comparing. This seems like an odd one, but I am afraid that there is a sense of competitiveness between people at seminary. It seems that any time you have a school full of people who all want to do the same profession, it will lead to a sense of competitiveness between those people. I am also afraid of spending time comparing myself to others… “wow, that person can really preach…”, “jeez, how did they get so much experience so young?”, “dang, I wish I had thought of that…”. I want to spend seminary becoming more of me, and not feel like I need to be more of what I see around me. I also know that I may feel like I have lost a uniqueness about me by entering into an environment where so many people want to do the same thing that I do. I think I will have to rest in my own calling to ministry throughout seminary so I don’t get swept into any feelings of competition or comparison.

5) Becoming a “Pastor”. Lastly I am afraid that seminary will put a greater gap between me and the rest of the world. All the sudden you are not even just an average-joe Christian but a “pastor”. Eeek! Even in the Christian bubble, there seems to be a certain stigma that pastors a higher echelons of Christians. I am afraid of increased stereotypes that I am even more “judgmental”, “irrelevant”, and “sheltered” since I have gone to a “special Christian school”.

I don’t know which of these fears will be true issues in seminary or which issues will simply not be issues for me when I get there. Just realizing these fears gives me hope that I can be watchful for them and overcome them if they come up. Fears may not even be the right word, but more “things to be watchful for”. I’m very hopeful for my seminary experience, but also going in cautiously, knowing that if I am not careful, I may come out with a lot more information but not the person I want to be.

“Anarchy” is from the Greek anarchos, from an- “no” and archos “ruler.” Anarchism, fundamentally, is a basic opposition to any concentration of power that imposes a will upon a human being, to any kind of rulership. We see this every day in our lives- from bosses or teachers, to governmental rules, to controlling relationships. Any time you have to do something or someone will impose consequences on you, you are being ruled. There are many different forms of anarchism, but the basic just of it is opposing the concentration of power that imposes rule on someone.

There are a few things anarchism is not. (A) Anarchism is not (necessarily) violent. Most of us think of violence when we think of anarchism, but since anarchism includes not imposing your rule on someone else, it should (theoretically) be more peaceful. Many anarchists try to use violence to bring down those in power, but I believe they are just trying to use violence to bring more power to themselves, so I reject this kind of anarchism. (B) Anarchism is not chaos. We often think that if there is no central power chaos will ensue. Many anarchists strive for an ordered and peaceful way to live, just without any source of power trying to enforce that order. Anarchism is a move from a hierarchy-based authority to decentralized authority marked by consensus decision making. It is a new order, not the lack of order.

Now, I am not actually an anarchist. I do not believe that our government can dissolve and an utopian anarchist society can begin. We are simply too greedy and too power hungry to make this work. Anarchism is a theoretical idea to me, more than a possible reality. I do not think we can create an anarchist society with no state, no organization, no hierarchy, and no authorities that is actually livable and practicable.

I much prefer the term “Christarchy” to anarchy. Christarchy is the combination of the words “Christ” and “anarchy”. The “an” in “anarchy” means “no”, but I do believe in a ruler, and that ruler is Christ, so the term “Christarchy” means much more sense. Christ is the ruler of all things. I am not an anarchist, but I do strive to be a Christarchist- someone fully under the rule of Christ.

The biggest outcomes of being a Christarchist in my life are resisting my impulses to collect power and instead trust that God is in control. My attempts to collect power is an attempt to gain control because I doubt that God is in control. In trusting God is in control, I also seek a society where power is shared, where no one is oppressed and everyone is seen as equal. Where we don’t try to power over each other but instead interact with each other in voluntary submission to one another. Letting go of power and submitting ourselves to others requires the power of Christ- and therefore is something I think the Church can attempt to do much more than the larger society.

Being a Christarchist also means a profound change in the ways I view politics. I used to put my hope in the government in making changes towards bringing about the kingdom of God, but I now see that that is false. Christ is the divine ruler, and my hope lies in Him, not in my government. The government may make some good and some bad decisions, but the kingdom of God can only come through Christ. I believe that Christ will use the Church to do his good work on earth. I have given up lobbying government, believing in politicians, and even in voting, and instead have put my belief in the ultimate rule of Christ. My hope is in Christ, through the Church, not in our government. The government will continue, and I will submit to it, but I will also subvert it. (Hopefully more about this in later posts.)

I think if the American Church embraces Christ as their true ruler, we will begin to step out of the American empire, (and yes, I believe that we are living under an empire, much like the early Church lived under the Roman empire) and we will begin building an alternate society, a new way, as a witness within the American empire that another way is possible. This is my biggest hope. That the Church can move out from the middle of the empire, to the margins where it belongs, and where it can once again become a prophetic witness to Christ and his kingdom. I think Christarchist ideas can help us get there. They can help us see that the empires of this world stand in opposition to the kingdom of God. Government policies, economic systems, and prevailing social and cultural values can be critiqued by the kingdom of God. If we take ourselves out from the rule of the world and put ourselves under the rule of Christ (Christarchy), we can begin seeing both the good and the bad, the beauty and depravity, of the worldly empires. We cannot see this as clearly when we are living under them and giving them authority in our lives.

If we rule out violent anarchism, there remains pacifist, antinationalist, anticapitalist, moral, and antidemocratic anarchism (i.e., that which is hostile to the falsified democracy of bourgeois states). There remains the anarchism which acts by means of persuasion, by the creation of small groups and networks, denouncing falsehood and oppression, aiming at a true overturning of authorities of all kinds as people at the bottom speak and organize themselves. -Jacques Ellul “Anarchy and Christianity”

Now, I did an awful job at explaining Christarchy, so I leave you with some resources of people who really get it.

Blog series:

Anarchism, Christianity, and Prophetic Imagination by Jason Barr

Website:

Jesus Radicals

PDF pamphlet:

Radical Hope: Anarchy, Christianity, and the Prophetic Imagination.pdf

Books on Christian Anarchy:

Anarchy and Christianity- Jacques Ellul

Jesus for President- Shane Claiborne

Secular Anarchism:

CrimethInc

Anarchism- Guerin

Finally, I leave you with the “?” at the end of the title of this blog post. I leave it there because I haven’t gotten this think all figured out. I sway, I change my mind, I second guess myself, I don’t know how it all works yet, I find myself contradicting other things i believe. The question mark means I’m not sure yet. I think I’m on to something, but I’m not fully there. So comment, question, and maybe we can just find some truth together.

Ok, so I hate making plugs for money, but this is SO COOL.

I work at a social service agency in the city of Chicago called Christopher House. I work in a after-school college-prep program for low-income students, grades 8-12. Almost all of our students will be first-generation college students when then finally get off to college. We do tutoring 4 days a week (gotta get those grades!), college visits, mentoring, parent workshops (gotta know how to get there!), and fun activities together. We have 50 students in our program who all hope to get to college one day, and we try to help them through all the obstacles that stand in their way.

One of the awesome things we do each year is take five girls and five guys from our program on a summer wilderness trip called Big City Mountaineers. I’m leading the girls trip this year and we are headed to the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota for 8 days away from civilization. We will be canoeing, portaging, and camping in the middle of nowhere. Now I love to camp, but this is the hard-core kind. We’ll be pumping our own water, digging our own toilets, cooking our own freeze-dried food, and carrying everything we need with us for 5 days. On the trip the students grow so much, from facing their fears and solving conflicts to being a leader and dealing with personal struggles.

The cool thing is that BCM (Big City Mountaineers) offers these trips to us for free. The students and agency volunteers (that’s me) get to go for free. BCM also supplies all the supplies for the trip (tents, sleeping bags, canoes, clothes, shoes, food, equipment, etc). As you can guess, they need to raise a LOT of money to make this possible. Christopher House has been doing this for years, and will continue to bring new students each summer. Even though everything is free, I want to help them raise some money to keep putting on these trips.

So, if this sounds awesome, you can check out my website here if you want to make a donation. Again, I’m not raising money for myself- I already get to go for free- but think it would be cool to raise some money for BCM in thanks for all they are doing for our students. You can also check out the BCM organization at their website.

I’m pretty excited about this one. On my favorite website and everything. Although most of the other stuff is more interesting, it’s nice to get in there a bit!