Mike King

The Teaching of the Twelve - Blog Tour

In the new book The Teaching of the Twelve: believing & practicing the primitive christianity of the ancient didache community, Tony Jones is doing what Tony Jones does best – making something like the Didache (pronounced Did uh KAY) accessible and relevant for today.  He has done this with You Converted Me: The Confessions of St. Augustine and in many ways throughout his book The Sacred Way: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Life.

So starts the Didache, considered one of the most important non-canonical documents in the history of Christianity.  Those who have tried to “label” and “dismiss” Tony Jones will have a hard time believing that Tony would be so interested in a text that starts out, “There are two ways, one of life and one of death! and there is a great difference between the two ways.”  But, he is, and so we reap the benefit.

The Didache is a small text about half the size of the Gospel of Mark. The Greek word didache means “teaching.” Strong scholarship places the origin of the Didache between 50 – 70 AD.  around the same time frame that the synoptic Gospels were being written. This jewel from our Christian archives is literally titled Teaching (Didache) of the Lord through the Twelve Apostles to the Gentiles.   The Paraclete Press, the publisher of The Teaching of the Twelve asked me to participate in a blog tour and post some thoughts from Chapter 6 - Living in Community.  This chapter in Tony's book corresponds with chapter 6 through 15 in the Didache.

The Didache is a fascinating peek into a community of Jesus followers who are attempting to give order and provide meaning to the way they live their lives together.  These chapters deal with the way the ekklesia, today translated "church" in the New Testament, was to order their lives together in some very practical ways.  More specifically, it can be considered a "rule of life" for the Didache community.  This is very interesting to me because Youthfront (the youth ministry organization I lead) has been engaged, for several years, in defining a Way of Life and we are in the final stages of this process. 

The concern of this section of the Didache is the “particular practices that constitute the rhythm of life for the gathered community. Instructions about eating sacrificial meat, baptism, the Eucharist, prayers, and welcoming wandering prophets and teachers ensue.”  The detail of the practices of this first century community of Christians in comparison to our current practices of baptism, fasting, prayer and Eucharist our astonishingly fascinating.

There are many things in the Didache that will stir up a plethora of reactions among Christians across the wide theological spectrum of current North American Christianity.  If you want dogmatic clarity, you can find it among this ancient community of Christians. “You shall not murder a child, whether it be born or unborn (2:2). " My child, don't be a liar, since a lie leads to theft.  Don't love money or seek glory, for these things lead to thievery (3:5)"

But the Didache is also filled with amazingly beautiful ambiguity and practicality, "Let your alms sweat in your hands until you know to whom to give them (1:6)."  How's that for stewardship?  Christianity would be much more fragrant in the complexity of our culture, if the instruction from the Didache 6:2 was practiced by Christians and Christian communities.  "For if you are able to bear the entire yoke of the Lord, you will be perfect; but if you are not able, then at least do what you can (6:2)."  Tony does an excellent job of letting the text of the Didache speak for itself but he also provides commentary that helps the reader contextualize this ancient text with current realities. “Had we heeded the Didache’s advice to ‘do your best’ in these issues, we might not have had the ideological battles that have so hurt the proclamation of the gospel.” Pg 97.

If you are passionate about living in an authentic missional community of Christ followers, I highly encourage you to devour The Teaching of the Twelve: believing & practicing the primitive christianity of the ancient didache community.

Connect to the rest of the Blog Tour here.

 

 

The Teaching of the Twelve: Believing and Practicing the Primitive Christianity of the Ancient Didache Community

I will be posting on Tony Jones new book within the next 36 hours.  Check out the blog tour on this book.

The Teaching of the Twelve: Believing and Practicing the Primitive Christianity of the Ancient Didache Community

Between Cross and Resurrection: A Theology of Holy Saturday

Between Cross and Resurrection: A Theology of Holy Saturday is a profound work of theology written by Alan Lewis, professor of theology at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.  I have been planning to read this book during Holy Week for almost a year.  I have to commend myself for such a great idea.  This book is transformational in the deepest ways.  While writing this book Lewis experienced his own “Holy Saturday” through his struggle with cancer resulting in his death.  Between Cross and Resurrection is having the same overwhelming impact on me as Jurgen Moltmann’s The Crucified God. Between Cross and Resurrection is a powerful and comprehensive theology of Holy Saturday.  While reading this book I find myself often overcome with emotion over the life-giving meaning that comes from meditating on the Cross and Death of Jesus.  Lewis’ theological work leaves me astonished with the Love of God and the reality of Christ’s Resurrection. 

The Invention of Air and Youth Ministry...

My son Daniel reads, for enjoyment, the kind of books that only a graduate class for credit necessitates I read.  One of his latest fascinations is the book The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson.  The book focuses on the life of Joseph Priestly, a little known but highly influential thinker, comrade and friend of better known Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.  The book chronicles the paradigmatic shifts initiated by Priestly and the profound impact he had on the founding of our country and the influence he had on science, religion, politics and much more.  The amazing thing is that most people have never heard of him.  Priestly, more than Jefferson, Franklin or any other early nation-building leader initiated innovation and shaped the emerging environment of the infant nation of the United States.  And yet, very few people know of him.

In the introduction of the book Johnson writes, "In their legendary thirteen-year final  correspondence, reflecting back on their collaborations and their feud, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams wrote 165 letters to each other.  In that corpus, Benjamin Franklin is mentioned five times, while George Washington is mentioned three times.  Their mutual nemesis Alexander Hamilton warrants only two references.  By contrast, Priestly, an Englishman who spent only the last decade of his life in the United States, is mentioned fifty-two times.  That statistic alone gives some sense of how important Priestly was to the founders..."

The book documents how Priestly went about changing the conversation and initiating change.  Many founders were more interested in making sure they received credit for their contributions and desired to build their names, Priestly was more interested in being a change agent and didn't care who got credit.  Priestly fueled ideas and conversations that others benefited from but careful historical review reveals who the real innovator was. 

A couple of fascinating things about Priestly's mode of operation.

1)  He led innovation by not just focusing on one field, a specialty (think youth ministry) but by a broad curiosity of multiple fields including politics, physics, education, religion, the arts, etc. 

I believe that the most effective youth workers and ministers are those who are well rounded, living full and robust lives.  We must be curious learners and seek to live life to the full.  To engage young people in Spiritual (Christian) Formation is not just about teaching them some Bible stories and a few spiritual disciplines.  Formation of disciples of Jesus Christ is about helping young people become fully human in all the ways God intends for them to be. 

2)  Ideas and innovation do not surface without nurturing an environment for them to emerge.  "Necessity may be the mother of invention, but most of the great inventors were blessed with something else: leisure time." 

In the world and culture in which we live (think North American culture but also our Church cultures) the emphasis is often on performance, getting stuff done, adding to our list of accomplishments, etc. we don't really value a sustainable rhythm of life and growth.  How well do we do with having Leisure, time to think, time to BE, as a part of our Spiritual Rhythm of Life?

3) Priestly and his friends met together regularly to exchange ideas and dialogue. 

"On alternating Thursdays, a gang of free thinkers – eventually dubbed “The Club of Honest Whigs” by one of its founding members, Benjamin Franklin – met at a coffeehouse, embarking each fortnight on a long, rambling session that has no equivalent in modern scientific culture. (The late-night bender at an industry conference probably comes closest: the sharing of essential, potentially lucrative information while stimulated by the chemical cocktail of caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine.)  Boswell visited the “Honest Whigs” on occasion, and he had this to say of the experience: It consists of clergymen, physicians and some other professions … (including) Mr Price who writes on morals … we have wine and punch upon the table.  Some of us smoke a pipe, conversation goes on pretty formally, sometimes sensibly and sometimes furiously: At nine there is a sideboard with Welsh rabbits and apple-puffs, porter and beer." pg. 17, 18.

Very interesting.  My first thought... Do you have other youth workers that you are meeting with on a regular basis to discuss ministry and life?  How about other forums to broaden your conversations with those from other fields and disciplines?

So the big question, do you want to make a name for yourself or make the world a better place?  Sometimes, you can do both but, more often, I think we would do better to stay focused on being human beings who are trying to live full lives with others who we can share life and explore ideas with. 

Dear God grow in us a curiosity for learning and discovering what real living in the way of Jesus is all about.  Help us to engage in youth ministry in ways that invite young people into the compelling, profound, and beautiful story of what it means to truly be the people of God participating in your mission for the world.  Amen.

Tribes

 I'm a sucker for Seth Godin's bestselling leadership booklets, like The Dip, Purple Cow and now Tribes.  Godin has assembled a network, a very large tribe, of thinkers and researchers who feed him excellent content and ideas.  Seth's blog has more than 10,000 subscribers on Bloglines.  Seth is a futurist, a subject that is a passion of mine. 

Godin describes a Tribe as any size group of people connected to each other, a leader and an idea.  Tribes are nothing new and have been around since the dawn of time.  However, new technologies and new sociological realities are reshaping how tribes form, the scope of tribes and the potential of tribes.  Leaders of tribes are not longer defined by titles and hierarchies.  In healthy tribes, the more leaders, the better. 

Godin's Thesis:

    "* For the first time ever, everyone in an organization--not just the boss--is expected to lead.

    * The very structure of today's workplace means that it's easier than ever to change things and that individuals have more leverage than ever before.

    * The marketplace is rewarding organizations and individuals who change things and create remarkable products and services.

    *  It's engaging, thrilling, profitable, and fun.

    *  Most of all, there is a tribe of fellow employees or customers or investors or believers or hobbyists or readers just waiting for you to connect them to one another and lead them where they want to go."

I think this book has a lot to say about how we lead churches, ministries and how we engage in youth ministry.  I am especially inspired by Godin's challenge to rethink leadership and the courage required in lead change.  He declares, "trying to lead everyone results in leading no one in particular."

He writes quite a bit about the difference between Faith and Religion and how falling in love with Religion and systems (the way we have done it) leads to stagnation and the inability to grow, learn, discover and thrive...

Great Scot

I tell people constantly that want to know about my theology that I think I'm most closely aligned theologically with Scot McKnight. 

Scot McKnight is a highly respected New Testament Scholar, an authority on early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. He is the Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies at North Park University (Chicago, Illinois). McKnight obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Nottingham.  I had a the wonderful privilege to hang out with Scot during the National Youth Worker Convention in Pittsburgh a couple of weeks ago.  Scot's latest book called The Blue Parakeet has been the book I have been recomending to everyone.

Today, Scot made some positive comments about Presence Centered Youth Ministry.  Scot's blog is now hosted on Beliefnet and is called Jesus Creed.  Scot's blog is read by a gazillion people.  Here is what the Amazon rankings for Presence Centered Youth Ministry look like a couple of hours after Scot's post.

#4 in	Books > Religious Studies > Theology > Pastoral Theology
#10 in	Books > Ministry & Church Leadership > Youth Ministry
#46 in	Books > Ministry & Church Leadership > Ministry

This gives new meaning for me to the phrase ...GREAT SCOT!

Pauline Principle of Discernment

In The Blue Parakeet, Scot McKnight talks about the Pauline Principle of Discernment (I Corinthians 9:19-23) and the role it should play in how we read Scripture today.  Paul was a master adapter of the "good news" wherever he went.  Paul knew the Story of God at work in the world, as set forth by the Scripture, so well that he was able to discern how to live out the gospel effectively regardless of what cultural setting he found himself in.

"Culturally shaped readings of the Bible and culturally shaped expressions of the gospel are exactly what Paul did and wanted.  That's exactly what Peter and Hebrews and John and James and the others were doing.  Culturally shaped readings and expressions of the gospel are the way it has been, is, and always will be.  In fact, I believe that gospel adaptation for every culture, for every church, and for every Christian is precisely why God gave us the Bible.  The Bible shows us how." pg 206.

McKnight describes an overall Pattern of Discernment in this way -> we listen to God speak to us in our cultural setting, in the world in which we live, from God's Word, we listen, we discern through the Holy Spirit and through the context of our church community, how to determine a pattern of living in our world today.  We read Scripture with Tradition, not through Tradition (Traditionalism) in order to move forward with truth in the world in which we find ourselves.

Scot McKnight

One of the highlights in Pittsburgh last week at the National Youth Workers Convention was getting to hang out a bit and converse with Scot McKnight.  I say that because Scot is someone that I believe I most resonate with Theologically.  Scot's seminar on Atonement Theory was excellent.  I just finished reading A Community Called Atonement.

I've started The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible this week while on vacation.  So far, it is a great read.  However, I think I'm saying that because it affirms the same things I have been thinking and saying.  We do tend to gravitate toward people who agree with us.  Nevertheless, I'm still telling you to read The Blue Parakeet.

I wrote in Presence Centered Youth Ministry about the distinction between Tradition and Traditionalism.  Tradition being a good thing and Traditionalism being a bad thing.  Scot looks at this distinction as it relates to how we read the Bible.  Here are some of Scot's thoughts on how Traditionalism negatively impacts how we read scripture.

"Step 1:  We read the Bible.
Step 2: We confront a current issue and we make a decision about an issue--like baptizing infants or adults--or we frame 'what we believe' into a confession, a creed, or a doctrinal statement.
Step 3: We fossilize our decision and it becomes a tradition.  (Somewhere around here we become absolutely convinced our tradition is a perfect interpretation of the Bible.)
Step 4: We are bound to our tradition forever.  (It is now traditionalism.)
Step 5: We are bound to read the Bible through our tradition.  (Somewhere around here we become convinced that God's Spirit led us to our tradition and that it is nothing less than an accurate, God-prompted, don't-question-it unfolding in history of what God's Word says.)
Step 6: Those who question our tradition are suspect or, worse yet, kicked out of our church.  (Somewhere around here we become ineffective in our world and become increasingly cantankerous about how the youth are wandering away from the faith.)" pg. 32.

Way too many '20 somethings are experiencing Step 6 right now within the North American Christian culture.  Blue Parakeet presents a robust way to engage in Scripture as God's Word that unleashes the power of the narrative, a way that sparks the creative imagination of those who seek the spirit of truth in the pages of the Bible.  My passion is to see young people fall in love with God through Truth embodied, our Lord Jesus Christ and to have their imagination fired by the Holy Scripture which will unfold to them in a compelling way the Story of God and the Mission of God (missio dei) at work in their world. Anybody else out their reading this or plan to?

Sacred Life

I collaborated with several others on a book entitled, Sacred Life: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Living that was released this week.  I wrote specifically about the formational role of Pilgrimage.  I am excited about this book because the target audience is late adolescents (ages 16 - 26).

Here is part of Barefoot Publishers  description, "Many ancient Christian practices might not be well known or commonly practiced in your local church. You may have never heard of some of them before, but these spiritual disciplines have been a vital part of the Christian faith for centuries.

As a handbook to the spiritual practices and prayers of the early Church, Sacred Life will challenge you to take part in an experiment in discipline. These spiritual disciplines will allow you to experient God's grace in new and profound ways, moving you forward in the journey to become more like Christ."

A Failure of Nerve

"When things are going really well, watch out." Edwin Friedman.

I have been reading Friedman's book A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix.  Friedman, who died is 1996 was way ahead of his time in applying systems thinking to leadership.  This book is ranked #3 on Amazon's list of Leadership books.  Friedman states that there is an intense environment that exists throughout our culture which is sabotaging leaders who step out to really lead in these turbulent times.  He calls it a "leadership-toxic climate."  Our government, churches, organizations, schools, etc. want "status quo" managers.

"Friedman's insights about our regressed, "seatbelt society," oriented toward safety rather than adventure, help explain the sabotage that leaders constantly face today. Suspicious of the "quick fixes" and instant solutions that sweep through our culture only to give way to the next fad, he argues for strength and self-differentiation as the marks of true leadership. His formula for success is more maturity, not more data; stamina, not technique; and personal responsibility, not empathy."

Here are a few other quips from Friedman;

*    Playfulness can get you out of a rut more successfully than      seriousness.
      
*    Triangles are the plaque in the arteries of communication and stress is the effect of our position in the triangle of our families.
      
*    If you are a leader, expect sabotage.
         
*    The colossal misunderstanding of our time is the assumption that insight will work with people who are unmotivated to change.  If you want your child, spouse, client, or boss to shape up, stay connected while changing yourself rather than trying to fix them.

Friedman focuses on the emotional processes that exist within any system - family, church, etc.  He defines the leadership needed for a functional system.  One of the great reminders for me, (which I write about extensively in Presence Centered Youth Ministry but is easy to lose focus on) is the essential activity of a leader to nurture and prioritize their own development and growth.  A true leader is one who is self-differentiated and not unhealthily enmeshed with the group, church or organization they are trying to lead.  Friedman says, "A leader must separate his or her own emotional being from that of his or her followers while still remaining connected.  Vision is basically an emotional rather than a cerebral phenomenon, depending more on a leader's capacity to deal with anxiety than his or her professional training or degree.  A leader needs the capacity not only to accept the solitariness that comes with the territory, but also comes to love it.

Make sense?  Do you accept and love the place where you find yourself seated at the feet of Jesus as an apprentice of the Master?