I don’t know how long the new site has been live, but Allelon, the Todd Hunter/Len Sweet/Dallas Willard-esque emerging missional church resource ministry, has a stunning new home on the web. Much to see and take part in.

From part 1 of Relevant’s interview with Dallas Willard:

[RM]: “So, are you saying we have a crisis of follower-ship rather than a crisis of leadership??

[DW]: “Now you’re going to get me in trouble. (Laughs) The fact of the matter is this leadership thing has just gone crazy. It is actually not from the Church, it’s a carry-over from the Culture and it’s one of the many ways that the modern church has bit and swallowed the contemporary culture whole. It is just shameless the way we go on about leaders and various kinds of figures. You’re absolutely right, it’s a crisis of ?follower-ship’ and of leaders themselves living as disciples and inducting others into discipleship, not to them, but to Christ. It’s just heartbreaking to see this thing on leadership and how this has progressed.

Words to take to heart. Leadership matters, but being a leader in the church is (or needs to be, if it isn’t) primarily a matter of being a follower of Christ.

Willard then proceeds to get oldschool on evangelical atonement theology:

[RM]: “Have we misunderstood what it means to follow Christ?”

[DW]: “Well, I don’t think we’ve misunderstood Him. The real problem is not misunderstanding Him, but it’s setting it [discipleship] aside as a requirement for salvation. Now, a few decades ago you had leading speakers for Christianity across the nation who would say things like, ?We’re not supposed to follow Christ, we’re supposed to trust Him’, and that meant not to trust His leadership and teaching, but to trust His death on the cross for the forgiveness of sins.

“What has basically happened is that the meaning of ?Trust Christ’ has changed. It has come to no longer mean trusting Him; it meant trust something He did. In that way, one theory of the atonement was substituted for the Christian Gospel. The results of this are that (now) discipleship is not essential, and people are not invited to become disciples.”

Indicting but true. I cannot think of any churches (other than the kooky-fundamentalist type) that are realling calling people to this.

At first blush, it sounds like a bad idea to challenge people up front with too much. Follow Jesus, pick up a cross, die to yourself, lose your life to find it - not exactly fun stuff to put on a “come to our church” postcard.

This is really what it’s about, though, and to whatever extent we continue to collectively and individually forget it, we’re missing out on what God intends, and we’re selling a product instead of offering a new way of life.

The interview is in three parts: part 1, part 2, part 3. Link via Ted’s comment here.

Part of Phil’s church did lectio divina on the OT passage where Elijah hears the still small voice of God in the wind (1 Kings 19). Earlier this year, my wife was in a choir, which I participated in for about a month, that did Mendelssohn’s Elijah, a moving, full-length oratorio (similar to Handel’s Messiah). This passage has special meaning for me because of the rehearsals, with hundreds of highly talented musicians harmonizing beautifully under expert direction.

At any rate, Phil’s reflection got me thinking about how we choose the scriptures we spend time in. Obviously, they have not done lectio on the whole OT up to this point, nor will they do the remainder. It’s a method used for specific, rich passages, not for comprehensive bible reading.

I started writing about this over at UrbanMonastery about a month ago. How do we read the Bible? It depends on what parts you’re reading. But my concern today is how we choose the passages to read. Is it a matter of rehashing the same “best” passages we were raised on, like Philippians 2 and Romans 8?

If we do limit ourselves to these old favorites, we will probably get a lot out of them, but we may also lose something valuable - fresh insights gleaned from passages no one has ever heard of. For all that The Prayer of Jabez (I would consider it unethical to post a link :-)) beat 1 Chronicles 4 to death, the publishing and devotional phenomenon illustrates how valuable obscure passages like this can be to our spiritual life.

In college, I had the privilege of sitting in class and attending church with some phenomenal professors like Dan Stockstill and John Fortner, who could make stories I’d never heard of come to life and open the way to spiritual depths I’d never experienced. But do we leave this gold-mining to experts like college professors? There aren’t enough of them, unless you live in a Christian college town.

Is it a matter of balance between comprehensive bible reading and devotional focus on special passages? If not, what? And should we expect and teach all Christians to read the bible comprehensively, or selectively?

Well, I’m (Aaron) thinking about buying a house. Without my permission and against my will something inside of me has really started to like Central Pennsylvania. Harrisburg, the state capitol and the city I live only 5 minutes from, is only 2 hours from my inlaws and 6 hours from my family, making a weekend at either doable. I’m also surrounded by dozens of state parks which allow me to do the backpacking and rock climbing that I love. I can (and do) walk or bike to work and church, allowing Andrea and I only to fuel up our car (we only have one) about every 2 weeks. I’m getting involved in the community. I’m an Advisor for Venture Crew 203, a BSA-affiliated outdoor club for young men and woment ages 14 to 20. I also just joined the Harrisburg Young Professionals, a group dedicated to making Harrisburg “a better place to live, work, and play.” These contacts in the community are giving me more and more opportunities to reflect the living Christ into the world. The people at our church are awesome too. I wish that they were more of the emerging type, but they definitely love and care for my wife and me. This place just seems to feel right. I’m thinking about buying a house.

So, all of you who have taken the plunge into home ownership… what advice do you have? This is a big deal and I want to do it right. At the moment Andrea and I are looking at some townhomes in the city. This would allow us to walk to even more places, still allow me to walk or bike to work (3 miles), and I would be living near thousands of ministry opportunites (from young professionals to the homeless). Thoughts? Please!

If I ever adopt a title for my role in our church, it’s going to be “sculptor of ecclesial paths.” I think Erwin McManus would be proud :-).

I hope Rudy won’t mind if I steal this post in its entirety:

Powell to visit Sudan’s Darfur to spotlight crisis
Thank God:

Powell will meet people displaced by the fighting, relief workers try to contain a humanitarian crisis, a cease-fire commission trying to stop the violence and top officials.

Asked what his message was for the government, Powell said: “Let the aid flow freely. Let humanitarian workers in. Use government forces and political influence to end the attacks.”

“The situation is so dire that if we were able to do everything we wanted to do tomorrow there would still be a large loss of life because of the deprivations that people are under,” he told reporters. “This is a catastrophe.”

Also, there is bi-partisan support for this move:

The Congressional Black Caucus on Wednesday rallied around a proposed resolution that calls on the administration to declare genocide was being committed in Sudan.

The resolution also calls on the administration to expose those who are responsible and urges the U.N. Security Council to authorize intervention.

“It is time for the government of the United States, the United Nations and the international community to call the atrocities of Darfur by their rightful name,” said Rep. Donald Payne, a New Jersey Democrat, in unveiling his resolution.

World Vision is receiving donations to provide food and supplies for Sudan refugees. Bloggers and Emerging Church friends, let’s give. The estimates vary, but many believe that we may have a major catastrophe on our hands, where hundreds of thousands could just die. We talk about what should have happened in Rwanda in the 90s. Well, this is happening in Sudan right now. There are ways to help besides giving cash, but people also need cash.

I hope you’ll join me in contributing to this dire need.

Michael Moore’s new movie has generated a great deal of interest and controversy:

Deborah Senn, who’s running for attorney general, wants you to see the movie with her. So do the ACLU, the 32nd District Democratic Committee and Congressman Jay Inslee.
Even before it opens tomorrow, Michael Moore’s Bush-bashing docu-satire, “Fahrenheit 9/11″ is being harnessed by Democratic candidates and liberal groups to raise money and rally the troops.

Some have bought blocks of tickets that they’re reselling to supporters to raise money. Others, such as MoveOn.org, are planning small-group “house parties” to talk about the movie.

Sound familiar? The article’s author thought so.

It’s akin to the way conservative pastors and religious organizations bought out screenings and encouraged parishioners to take in Mel Gibson’s violent and theologically controversial “The Passion of the Christ.”

One key difference in this case is that the tickets aren’t being given away; they’re being sold as political fundraisers, for up to $25 each.

My prediction is that the movie will be clever, raise important questions, and make many profound points, while being incredibly one-sided and critical without offering realistic alternatives. That’s what I thought of Bowling for Columbine - enjoyable, insightful, but kind of misguided.

As I’ve grown accustomed to living in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, one of the most liberal cities in America, I’ve grown somewhat used to living in the tension between liberalism and conservatism - both sides are partially right when it comes to issues like social justice, the environment, homosexuality, and homelessness. I sympathize with many elements of the common liberal viewpoint here, but I can’t reconcile them completely with what I know to be right. In other words, I’m not satisfied with ignoring those perspectives, e.g. the unjust difficulties faced by homosexuals, often at the hands of Christians like myself. But at the same time, I can’t just throw my hands up and say “whatever.” Nor should I have to.

From this week’s 850 Words of Relevant:

Many twentysomethings share Hohorst’s [an evangelical college student whose best friend is a lesbian] confused feelings, identifying neither with the very absolute, conservative Christian response to the issue, nor the permissive response of liberals. Brian Kay, pastor of Trinity Presbyterian San Luis Obispo, Calif., gave a thumbnail sketch of how the problem forms. “Young, media-exposed Christians read articles and watch TV journalism that seem to advocate moral permissiveness about issues which they, for biblical reasons, know they must disagree with. They know that their own views, however unformed, stand in contrast to the mainstream of American media culture, and this makes them feel awkward and somewhat self-conscious.

Kay said he emphasizes the “third way” of the Gospel as an anecdote that resolves this tension between liberalism and conservatism. “Jesus was more conservative than today’s conservatives, because He thought that no one at all escapes the just charge of being a great sinner (i.e., the sinners are not just the drug-dealers and pornographers, but also the decent upright citizens who you’d let baby-sit your kids, but who have the same heart of darkness as every other fallen person),” he said. “Yet, Jesus is more liberal than today’s liberals, since He is not scandalized by any kind of sin. Modern liberals are inclusive at the surface, but deeply offended and distrustful of people with traditional belief systems. These are the liberals’ pariahs, the one’s they smirk at, or, at best, patronize. But Jesus didn’t smirk at anyone - He earnestly dealt with people who were deeply different than Him - not to leave them where they were (which is also the liberal tendency), but in order to redeem them.”

I think this is somewhat along the lines of what Brian McLaren is talking about in A New Kind of Christian and its sequel. Conservatism is (as liberals often say) not compassionate enough and too intolerant, and liberalism is often, shall we say, slightly invertebrate and equally intolerant, though in the opposite direction.

Neither is good enough for me as a follower of Christ. There has to be more, has to be a third way that is better. Thanks for joining me as I try to figure this out.