Michael
Frost - Hendrickson Publishers
"This book is written for those Christians who find
themselves falling into the cracks between contemporary secular Western culture
and a quaint, old-fashioned church culture of respectability and conservatism."
Our situation is
much like that of the Jewish exiles in Babylon.
Just as Jerusalem
was finally razed in 587BC so Frost says
"Christendom is over and we need to get over it"
We are conscious of
the humiliation of God's people in the eyes of the society amongst whom we now
live. a society where "Christianity is believed by many to have been tried
and failed."
We now find
ourselves caught between the temptation to sink roots deep into the foreign
soil of the 'host empire' and the desire to retreat into the comfort of
a Christian ghetto and spend our energies lamenting or trying to restore the
temporal cultural supports of Christendom.
The
book is an exhortation to resist the inclinations to assimilation or fruitless
lament for past glories and to embrace a robust, confident Christ-centred faith and lifestyle, lived boldly
together right under the nose of our host culture. Frost divides the book into
four sections
Firstly we are
called to rediscover DANGEROUS MEMORIES.
Jesus' example is
brought sharply into focus as we see how Christians have often been so intent
on demonstrating Jesus' divinity that we have stripped him of his real
humanity. Thus we end up placing him so far out of our own context and
experience that he no longer presents an achievable model of Christlikeness.
We must follow Jesus
example by taking our faith outside of
the boundaries of closed religious contexts into the public spaces of our
society and seek to practice his presence in our daily living (c.f. Brother
Lawrence).
In the second
section Frost calls us to make DANGEROUS PROMISES. To seek authenticity in our
relationships within and beyond the community of believers; modeling the
transforming power of the gospel in grace, mercy, forgiveness and service.
The
sociological idea of communitas is explained in some detail. In simple terms this is the bond
created when groups share in action towards a common purpose. Frost argues that
mission is the central and most powerful expression of worship. Christian communitas is created as bands of
believers discover and actively pursue God's grand missional purpose.
Frost gives examples
from Sudan & China of how small Christian communities have reproduced
themselves dramatically without buildings, formal organizational structures
or trained leadership. Although he does
not believe that formal structures are inherently wrong, he suggests that
reliance on them is limiting growth: "We are not fully realizing our
calling to be the church of Jesus Christ as long as we rely on money, buildings
and paid experts"
Other dangerous
promises we should make include committing ourselves to generosity and
hospitality as well as hard work in the host culture particularly in the God
inspired realms of creativity/building, naming/renaming, truth-telling and
healing.
Thirdly we are
invited to engage in DANGEROUS CRITICISM of the 'host empire'. Daniel remained
resolute in his faithfulness to God and yet he thrived in the foreign ungodly
society of Babylon. When called to interpret the writing on the wall, he
faithfully declared God's message of judgment on King Belshazzar. Frost calls
believers to cry out in exposing the injustices around them. He writes at
length about how international corporations and institutions often maintain
rich nations' power and wealth at the expense of poorer countries. Whether one
accepts his political analysis or not it makes for very challenging reading.
The next area where exiles are called to speak up is against the damage being
caused to the created environment. Once again what he says is challenging and
controversial. The final dangerous
criticism we must engage in is drawing attention to failure of the 'host
empire' to recognize Jesus Christ as Lord of all and speaking out about the
rights of persecuted believers. The accounts of persecution and abuse of our
brothers and sisters is moving though I was somewhat surprised that he focuses
on Darfur for one of his case studies since my information is that very few
Christians live in that particular part of Sudan.
Finally in a section
entitled DANGEROUS SONGS we are led to think carefully about what constitutes
genuine worship. This includes time we spend together as the church but also
everything else we do. Frost has his own go at stating man's purpose: "The chief end of man is
to please God." He has quite a bit to say about what we should and
shouldn't sing and is particularly scathing of 'Jesus is my boyfriend' type
songs and spirituality.
It is very hard to
do justice to the scope of this book in a short review. It is certainly a very
provocative book. Its calls for radical Christian living and reinvention of the way we do church. I came away from it with a sense of need to respond its challenges and
wondering just how our largely acculturated and inward looking churches can be
made to sit up and face the challenges of living as exiles.
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