radical reformission

Marlin asked if I had read Mark Driscoll's Radical Reformission which caused me to realize that I had failed to meet my goal of blogging at least about the books I read. Ideally I'd also like to blog the podcasts I listen to but that seems too lofty a goal. So, in an effort to redeem myself, here's some catch-up work on Radical Reformission (just in time for Driscoll's new release, Confessions of a Reformission Rev).

What I remember about Driscoll's book is that it started better than it ended. But in reflection, that could be because I'm still wired to find conclusion rather than today's intellectuals who seem to savor the journey more than the destination. My favorite part of the book was the introduction - seriously. In it, Driscoll reminded me of John Wimber's model of:

Message => Market => Method

The message doesn't change, the market does, and therefore the method follows in a way that communicate the absolutes of the message. Reformission, according to Driscoll, is a radical call for Christians and the church to recommit to living and speaking the Gospel, and to doing so regardless of the pressures to compromise the truth of the Gospel or to conceal its power within the safety of the church. He explains that reformission begins with a simple return to Jesus who by grace saves us and send us into mission. Jesus has called us to (1) the Gospel (loving our Lord), (2) the culture (loving our neighbor), and (3) the church (loving our brother). He then provides the following helpful "formulas".

Gospel + Culture - Church = Parachurch

In and of themselves, not bad but if disconnected from the church, leads to a false or incomplete salvation. They also tend to not reach the complete family unit or those outside their target group.

Culture + Church - Gospel = Liberalism

I presume I don't need to explain that one...

Church + Gospel - Culture = Fundamentalism

Inward focused replacing relationship with rules.

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