2. 2

3. But how?

4. Four Challenges
1. Historical
2. Doctrinal
3. Liturgical

5. Four Challenges
1. Historical
2. Doctrinal
3. Liturgical
4. Missional

6. Must mission mean competition?

8. THE WORLD FAIR OF RELIGIONS
My friend and I went to the fair. The World Fair of Religions.
Not a trade fair. But the competition was fierce, the propaganda
loud.
At the Jewish Stall we were given handouts that said that God
was All-Compassionate and the Jews were his Chosen People.
The Jews. No other people were as chosen as they.
At the Moslem stall we learnt that God was all-merciful and
Mohammed is his only Prophet. Salvation comes from listening
to God’s Prophet.
At the Christian Stall we discovered that God is Love and there
is no salvation outside the Church. Join the Church or risk
eternal damnation.

9. On the way out I asked my friend "What do you think of
God?" He replied, “He is bigoted fanatical and cruel.”
Back home, I said to God, “How do you put up with this
sort of thing? Don’t you see that they have been giving
you a bad name for centuries?”
God said, “It wasn’t I who organized the fair. In fact, I’d
be too ashamed to visit it.”
-- Anthony DeMello

10. Competing nations ...
Competing gods
10

11. Competing nations ...
Competing gods

12. Gods of domination,
conquest, and empire ....
2
Gods of resistance,
differentiation, and
freedom ....

13. Gods of the oppressors
2
Gods of the oppressed

14. VIOLENT GODS
2
WHO DEMAND HUMAN
(CHILD) SACRIFICE

15. Our god(s) versus your
gods ...
Empires and gods ...
Emperors as gods ...
Anti-idolatry as identity
preservation ...
Mission
and colonialism ...

16. Mission as
proselytism, pacification,
assimilation
Catholic (Spanish, French, Portuguese, etc.)
Protestant (British, Dutch, American, etc.)

18. Indonesian tea, rubber, and
peanuts

19. Mission as
proselytism, pacification,
assimilation
(often unrecognized, but still
real)

22. QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.

23. From this vantage point, Christianity has nothing –
absolutely nothing – to teach Indigenous people about how
to live in a good way on this land. In fact, Christians have
only demonstrated that there is something profoundly wrong
with the cosmology and worldview behind more than five
centuries of carnage—carnage that has yet to even slow
down. Christians have so much negative history and dogma
to overcome within their own tradition, I do not believe the
religion is even salvageable. The world is deep in the throes
of an ecological crisis based in Western economies of
hyper-exploitation. The planet will not survive another 500
years of Christian domination.
- Waziyatawin, PhD, 2012

24. From this vantage point, Christianity has nothing –
absolutely nothing – to teach Indigenous people about how
to live in a good way on this land. In fact, Christians have
only demonstrated that there is something profoundly wrong
with the cosmology and worldview behind more than five
centuries of carnage—carnage that has yet to even slow
down. Christians have so much negative history and dogma
to overcome within their own tradition, I do not believe the
religion is even salvageable. The world is deep in the throes
of an ecological crisis based in Western economies of
hyper-exploitation. The planet will not survive another 500
years of Christian domination.
- Waziyatawin, PhD, 2012

25. Dirty Energy

26. Clean Energy Conversion?

27. Mission as proselytism,
pacification, assimilation ...
Converting Mission to clean
energy ...

28. words from vincent
donovan

29. “‘…do not try to call them back to where
they were, and do not try to call them to
where you are, as beautiful as that place
might seem to you. You must have the
courage to go with them to a place that
neither you nor they have ever been
before.’ Good missionary advice, and a
beautiful description of the unpredictable
process of evangelization, a process
leading to that new place where none of us
has ever been before.” - Vincent Donovan

30. Caves of
Ellora
30

31. The Caves of Ellora
As the child of a missionary in India,
who was the child of a missionary in India,
who was the child of a missionary in India,
I have
a lot of India
in my soul/marrow/terra forma.
I breathed
the ancient heritage of India
when I was three.
I learned Marathi.
I ate jalebes.

32. . . . and, then I got older
and went south
to Tamil Nadu
and Kodaikanal
to boarding school near Madurai.
I visited,
as a child,
the caves of Ellora.
I didn't know what to make of them,
then.

33. Hindus and Sikhs and Buddhists and Jains
all carving caves
next to
each other
in ancient times . . .
side by side.
(unknown)

34. clean energy mission
34

35. Embodiment of Christ

36. the mission of vocation:
sending people out to do their daily work
with uncommon love ...

37. the mission of example ...
modeling another economy,
another way of life

38. Solidarity with the Victim &
Vulnerable

39. Witness ...
Withness -
Mission of Presence
“Transgressive” friendship

40. The mission of presence

41. After Indira Gandhi was shot [by a Sikh extremist], two or three
thousand people were killed in twenty-four hours in the riots that
followed. Mobs rampaged through streets looking for Sikhs to murder.
Dave convinced Tony, a friend , that it was their job to go out and save
these Sikhs. Finding a besieged house, they put themselves between
an armed mob and a Sikh family and saved them from certain death.
He is ordinary, yet believes ordinary people should take extraordinary
risks to confront the cruelty in our world."
Drug addicts in India
Mentally handicapped in Brisbane
Solar energy cooperative
Interfaith networks
41

42. the mission of the new evangelism:
Proclaiming Jesus’ good news of the
kingdom, reign, commonwealth, or
dream of God
Calling people to rethink everything and
learn/follow a new path

43. QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Ivan Illich (Austrian
former priest,
philosopher, social
critic, 1926-2002)

44. Neither revolution nor reformation
can ultimately change a society,
rather you must tell a new powerful
tale, one so persuasive that it sweeps
away the old myths and becomes the
preferred story …

45. … one so inclusive that it gathers all the
bits of our past and our present into a
coherent whole, one that even shines
some light into the future so that we can
take the next step…. If you want to
change a society, then you have to tell an
alternative story.
- attributed to Ivan Illich (Austrian former priest,
philosopher, social critic, 1926-2002)

46. The World
Runs on
Stories.

47. SOME ARE
DANGEROUS.

48. Some have
THE POWER
TO HEAL AND
TRANSFORM

49. Prosperity
Equity Security
Societal System
Think of our Societal
System.

50. It runs on a story … a framing story.
Prosperity
Equity Security
Societal Machine
FRAMING STORY

51. SIX FRAMING STORES TYPICALLY
DIRECT HUMAN SOCIETIES:
1.THE DOMINATION STORY:
PEACE AND SECURITY
THROUGH BEING IN CONTROL
“If only we were in charge!” (Empire)

52. 2. THE REVOLUTION STORY:
PEACE AND SECURITY
THROUGH VIOLENT
OVERTHROW OF
OPPRESSORS.
“If only THEY weren’t in
control!” (Revenge)

53. 3. THE PURIFICATION STORY:
PEACE AND SECURITY
THROUGH NAMING,
BLAMING, SHAMING, AND
EXCLUDING A DANGEROUS
MINORITY.
“If only THOSE PEOPLE would change -
or disappear.”(If only a minority would
change.) (Scapegoating/Genocide)

54. 4. THE VICTIMIZATION STORY:
PEACE AND SECURITY (and
identity) THROUGH
PRESERVING THE MEMORY
OF A PAST INJUSTICE.
“If only our oppressors would be
brought to justice.” (If only the
majority would change.)
(Alienation)

55. 5. THE ISOLATION STORY:
PEACE AND SECURITY
THROUGH WITHDRAWING
FROM THE CORRUPT,
DOOMED MAJORITY.
“If only we could be left alone to
be ourselves by ourselves.”
(Elite/elect remnant)

56. 6. THE ACCUMULATION
STORY: PEACE AND
SECURITY THROUGH
ACCUMULATING
POSSESSIONS IN A
COMPETITIVE ECONOMY.
“If only we could buy, enjoy, and
stockpile what we desire.”
(Economic Advantage)

57. DOMINATION PURIFICATION
ACCUMULATION
VICTIMIZATION
REVOLUTION
ISOLATION

58. DOMINATION PURIFICATION
CONFLICT!
ACCUMULATION
VICTIMIZATION
REVOLUTION
ISOLATION

59. In Jesus’ day, these stories were at work.
1. Domination story = Caesar, Pilate
(with Sadducees and Herodians)
2. Revolution story = Zealots
3. Purification story = Scribes and
Pharisees

60. 4. Victimization story = Galilean
farmers, Samaritans, “sinners”
5. Isolation story = Essenes
6. Consumption story = rich
landowners, stewards, “Gentiles”
Are they at work today?

61. Domination: Us over them
Revolution: Us versus them
Purification: Us versus some of us
Victimization: Us in spite of them
Isolation: Us away from them
Accumulation: Us competing with
them.

62. Jesus came with a very different
story: the good news of the
kingdom of God. (“News” is a true
story … and good news is a story
of peace and joy.)
It invited people to join anew the
story of creation … or to join the
story of New Creation.

63. The good news/story of creation
called people to see God as the
Protagonist or Hero of the
story.
It called them to become
productive characters - not
villains, and not victims either.

64. good news
regenerative community of creation
reconcile with God, neighbor, and
enemy.
repent defect join
peacemakers

65. Domination: Us over them
Revolution: Us versus them
Purification: Us versus some of us
Victimization: Us in spite of them
Isolation: Us away from them
Accumulation: Us competing with them.
Creation/New Creation/
Reconciliation: Some of us for all of
us.

66. NEW CREATION/ RECONCILIATION
DOMINATION PURIFICATION
HOSTILITY
ACCUMULATION
VICTIMIZATION
REVOLUTION
ISOLATION

67. NEW CREATION/ RECONCILIATION
DOMINATION PURIFICATION
ACCUMULATION
VICTIMIZATION
REVOLUTION
ISOLATION

68. After John was put in
prison, Jesus went into
Galilee, proclaiming the
good news of God.
The time has come, he
said. The kingdom of God
has come near. Repent
and believe the good
news!
Mark 1:15

69. “Blessed are the
peacemakers.”

71. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a
means by which we arrive at that goal."
"Through violence you may murder a murderer, but
you can't murder murder.
Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can't
establish truth.
Through violence you may murder a hater, but you
can't murder hate.
Darkness cannot put out darkness. Only light can do
that..."

72. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"We will not build a peaceful world by following
a negative path. It is not enough to say we
must not wage war. It is necessary to love
peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate
not merely on the negative expulsion of war but
the positive affirmation of peace. We must see
that peace
represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody,
that is far superior to the dis-chords of war.

73. Somehow, we must transform the dynamics of
the world power struggle from the negative
nuclear arms race, which no one can win, to a
positive contest to harness humanity's creative
genius for the purpose of making peace and
prosperity a reality for all the nations of the
world. In short, we must shift the arms race
into a peace race. If we have a will- and
determination- to mount such a peace
offensive, we will unlock hitherto tightly sealed
doors of hope and transform our imminent
cosmic elegy into a psalm of creative
fulfillment."

74. ISA 2:2
In the last days
the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established
as chief among the mountains;
it will be raised above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.
ISA 2:3
Many peoples will come and say,
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths."
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

75. "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,so that we may walk in his paths."
The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from
Jerusalem.
He will judge between the nations
ISA 2:4
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the
ISA 2:5
LORD.

76. Gods of domination,
conquest, and empire ....
2
Gods of resistance,
differentiation, and
freedom ....

77. violent gods of the oppressors
violent gods of the oppressed
3rd
option
a nonviolent God of reconciliation
77

78. the mission of the new evangelism:
Recruiting people to join a global multi-
faith movement
A new paradigm for faith
A new way of life
A new understanding of God

79. 3rd The uniqueness of Christ:
He reveals
option a nonviolent God of
reconciliation,
liberation,
transformation,
new creation ...
Not a new religion:
a new possibility for a new
future for every religion.

80. 3rd
option
A call to rethink everything
(repent) ...
for every religion,
beginning with
Christianity.

81. A new vision for Christian Mission:
inspiring and mobilizing people to grapple
with our greatest global crises:
1. planet
2. poverty
3. peace
4. religion

82. luke 10:29-37
everyone is crossing roads

85. it all begins with crossing the road to get to
the other ...

86. Four Challenges
1. Historical
2. Doctrinal
3. Liturgical
4. Missional

87. A
Are

88. you

89. ready

90. to

91. cross

92. the

93. road?

94. 94