Rob Bell - Love Wins

Judging by initial reviews, I thought my first response would be to shout, "Heretic!" Or perhaps to start a book burning drive. Or maybe to call for excommunication, boycotts and protests--you know, the things Christians typically do to their own these days.

But after reading Rob Bell's new book, "Love Wins," a few different responses welled up in me:

- I could relate to Rob Bell's heartbreak as he wrestles with the extreme suffering and brokenness of precious lives in a chaotic, fouled up, and corrupted world. He hurts for hurting people and he hopes God hurts for hurting people, too.

- I was delighted to see how he emphasizes the expansive grace and love of Christ--love that surpasses knowledge. The love of Jesus always surprises us, always exceeds our expectations, always breaks through the barriers we set up around it. And, unfortunately, we do set up barriers around it.

- I could hear how Rob Bell is struggling with the rationalistic structures of Reformed theology. From decision theology to double predestination and from lists of faith requirements to rationalistic clichés, his reading and study of the Scriptures have pushed him beyond what he's been told, into the uncharted territory of the mysterious and beyond-rationalism God doing things His way.

- I was sad to see that Rob Bell, in some cases, tried to discover the mysteries of God by going beyond what the Bible reveals and teaches, holding on to some magisterial-reason-based Reformed tenets and bending some Biblical themes.

- It delighted me to read an honest dialog about some big eternal questions.

- In a creative way, I could see Rob Bell reaching out to people disillusioned with the church, doubting God's existence, and disgusted with the way Christians behave. He emphasized trust in God and the need for a Savior. He identified that Savior as Jesus and dismissed the inclination of humanity to be all about self.

Was this book perfect? No. Was it perfectly orthodox? No. Was it meant to be? I don't think it was. I think it was meant to stretch the thinking of Christians who are making a mess of Jesus' mission here and now. I think it was meant to help hurting and broken people take another shot at God. I think it was meant to help Rob Bell work through some major doctrinal questions. I think it was meant to get people talking and blogging about what is true and what really matters.

I think it worked.

A Super-model of Mission

I confess: I watch "Celebrity Apprentice." I'm not sure why. I don't like the whining, the trash talk, or the spoiled celebrities. But something about it keeps me coming back. Last Sunday I saw one reason for watching. I saw a picture of what genuine mission is all about.

It all started when supermodel Niki Taylor and her team lost their task competition. What usually follows is a brouhaha in the boardroom with Donald Trump. Accusations fly. Cut-downs dominate. Arguing, crying, and merciless self-justifying assertions saturate the paneled walls of the Donald's inner sanctum of power.

But Sunday night was different. Supermodel Niki Taylor sat composed and confident. She said that her team worked together. Each person pulled her weight in the task. They did the best they could, but did not prevail in the end. With that, she let Donald know that she was the only one who could be held responsible for the loss. She should be fired.

And Donald fired her. The boardroom was quiet. Each member of her team could be heard saying, "What a class act." "That woman is pure class." Donald echoed the same sentiment. Then with head held high, Niki Taylor exited Trump Tower and returned to the life she loved as a hard working wife and mother.

Wow. What if the church behaved like Niki Taylor? What if God's people focused completely and wholeheartedly on the mission? What if it wasn't about arrogance or position or seeking personal status and adoration, but was totally about the sacred mission to reach the lost and broken with the wholeness and hope of Jesus Christ?

We have a problem with that sometimes. As church people, we let pride get in the way too often. We seek attention and adulation through our accomplishments. We try to be Luther-like by stirring up controversy so we can make our personal mark in history. We get arrogant about what is right. We covet power and positions of prominence. It's the dark side of the institutional church. It's sinful.

God declared in Isaiah 42:8, "I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another." You see, the glory will not be ours. We are the created ones. We are the clay. We are the servants. We were dead, but now are alive because of God's mercy and amazing grace.

With humble and repentant hearts, we are called to live transformed lives--no longer ourselves prevailing, scrapping, and fighting--but Christ alive in us. It's the life of Jesus. It's the life of love. It is patient, kind, not envious, not boasting, not proud, not rude, not self-seeking (1 Corinthians 13).

It's what Niki Taylor demonstrated on Sunday night: mission focus, mission humility, mission integrity, mission words, and mission deeds. Oh that each of us could be led by the Holy Spirit to give up our own glory; move away from our self-absorption, fear, and haughtiness; and move forward in the mission that matters. Oh that each of us might emulate this supermodel of mission!

A Deployed Church

Complete and radical change. Being totally uprooted. Sacrificing home and family. Risking life itself. Empowering young leaders. Trusting the people of the church to be the church. Total devotion to God's Word and readiness to sacrifice tradition. Always on the move, bringing Christ to every corner of the community and world.

Those phrases describe the DNA of Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.

In 1838, 1,100 Saxon Lutherans left Europe for the United States. They were on a quest for religious freedom, resisting the pressure to compromise Biblical teaching fueled by the Prussian Union. Only 750 of these daring and entrepreneurial immigrants made it to New Orleans. One ship was lost at sea.

After weathering their personal grief, the rigors of a new land, and their leader's corruption and sexual misconduct scandal, the group of believers did not collapse in failure and despondency. They grew stronger. Not yet 30-years-old, C.F.W. Walther became the leader of the group. He helped a Biblical model of church and ministry take hold among this group of Kingdom focused Christians.

What was important to this fledgling church?

Being People in Ministry and Mission: The church saw the danger of the old European hierarchical system. They followed the Biblical model of church and ministry, an active balance of people and pastors reaching out and serving.

Discipleship: Christian and theological education became a cornerstone of its existence.

Kingdom Unity: Walther's vision of a Lutheran Church across the United States resulted in the formation of the LCMS in 1847.

Kingdom Expansion: Loehe's "sent ones" (Sendlinge) set the pace for outreach, beginning with Native Americans and culminating in World Mission efforts of Lutherans that continue today.

The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod has been a deployed church from the beginning: Sent ones, sending more and more people--both young and old--to share the news of Jesus Christ and equip more missionaries for the Gospel. The LCMS is a deployed church: crossing the ocean and intent on infiltrating every corner of every land with ministry for Jesus Christ.

That's the church I know.

Complete and radical change. Being totally uprooted. Sacrificing home and family. Risking life itself. Empowering young leaders. Trusting the people of the church to be the church. Total devotion to God's Word and readiness to sacrifice tradition. Always on the move, bringing Christ to every corner of the community and world.

How are you doing as you are entrusted with that legacy in your community, for your state and nation, and for the world? How will you deploy your ministry in 2011?

Some churches are bringing church to nursing homes and youth shelters. Some churches are starting preschools in newly populated area. Some churches are implementing multi-site strategies. Some are planting new churches. Some are flooding neighborhoods with missional communities that form relationships and break through the barrier of the anti-institutional post-Christian culture. Ministry at local universities, the raising up of ethnic leaders to create a movement in another culture, Alpha groups that introduce people to the Christian faith--it's the DNA of the LCMS.

Complete and radical change. Being totally uprooted. Sacrificing home and family. Risking life itself. Empowering young leaders. Trusting the people of the church to be the church. Total devotion to God's Word and readiness to sacrifice tradition. Always on the move, bringing Christ to every corner of the community and world.

What's your next step?

What's Our Brand?

A few weeks ago I watched the very first Larry King replacement show hosted by Piers Morgan on CNN. Piers interviewed Oprah Winfrey. While I wasn't wowed by Piers, I was taken by one of his questions. He asked Oprah, "What's your brand?"

Piers Morgan pushed Oprah to respond with words and phrases like: Power, Influence, World Domination, Political Clout, A Network that Controls the World. Oprah wouldn't go for those. After being pushed to summarize her "brand," Oprah responded with one word:

Love.

She went on to describe her heartfelt hope that people feel loved because of who she is and what she offers. She wanted that love to be transmitted to others in an unbroken chain of "paying it forward."

Piers was shocked. He pushed back. But Oprah wouldn't budge. Love it was. That is what would define her to the world.

You probably see where I'm going. What if Piers Morgan asked the church what its brand is these days?

What might outside observers answer?

What might the church itself answer?

I wonder if the word "love" would come up at all?

Jesus made the brand He desired very clear: "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:34-35).

Read John 17 and you'll see Jesus' branding effort all over the place. Review the entire book of 1 John and see the direction the Scriptures send us. Take a look at the book of James and ponder how God wants our faith to be worked out in love.

But is love (Gospel love, the true love of God) really what we're about? Henri Nouwen said, "Power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life" (In the Name of Jesus, p.59).

In "The Divine Conspiracy" Dallas Willard commented that perhaps our outcomes are not in spite of what we do but because of it. Could the stalled and suspect church of the western world be an exact result of what we're making it?

What if the brand spoken of by Jesus took hold in our hearts and actions? What if love prevailed in congregations and communities? What transformation would take place? What new and exciting ministry would result? Who might be rescued from eternal death and live a lifetime of contagious love as they traveled the road to eternal life with Jesus?