I’m Moving…

For the sake of convenience for my DMinGML project, my blog is being moved.  You can access it now at:

http://williamwestfall.posterous.com/

David Beamer Condemns Ground-Zero Mosque (#dmingml) …where IS this country headed?

David Beamer, father of Todd Beamer (famous American who shouted “Let’s roll!” on United Airlines flight 93) speaks out against Islam and the proposed mosque to be erected on Ground-Zero.  What do you think?  Is he right?  Should America take an aggressive stance against Muslims?  If so, why?  If not, why?  Is this the only path Christians can walk, or are there other options?  Is this a political issue, or is it something that is better dealt with on another front?

What about Americans who choose to be Muslim?  Are they still Americans?  Beamer seems to think this is not possible…yet America is a country of religious freedom.

Where IS this country headed?  How do YOU see the future?

http://www.youtube.com/v/Bl6PIb8DuZw&hl=en&fs=1

Earth’s Edge Perspective…the view from where I stand ( #dmingml)

Sometimes the edge on which we stand can offer the best view.

Over the next three years, I’m spending significant time taking in the view from where I stand…I’ll be developing some resources for campus ministers.

As a part of Impact Campus Ministries [The organization I help to lead, ICM is a campus ministry planting organization.  We define success in terms of developing intimacy with God.  We’re committed to pursuing, modeling, and teaching intimacy with God on the college campus, and we’re convinced that campus ministry will be most successful when done using missional (contextually sensitive and God-driven) methods.], my task over these next three years is to develop (and begin to implement) a missional approach to campus ministry.  The college campus is a unique cultural context, and effective ministry to students will heavily utilize missiological methods.  Campus ministry IS “missions”!

As I move through this process, I’ll need your help.   I’ll often present new ideas, ask questions, and vocalize concerns.  Please recognize that I’m on a journey, just like all of you.  I’m in the process of being perfected, and will make plenty of mistakes along the way.  Mistakes don’t scare me though…I’m willing to venture out, and to learn from my mis-steps.

You can join me on the journey.  All of my research will be made public.  Visit the DMinGML website for details, and follow along here, on my blog.

I’m excited to see what God will do in campus ministry over the coming decade.  I firmly believe the college campus is the next great mission field that the Church will engage (once she more fully recognizes that “missions” begins at the end of her nose).  It’s thrilling to consider!

At present, here are some of the main topics I’ll be pursuing over these first few months:

• The historical context of campus ministry
• The possibilities for “Campus Culture-Mapping” (inductive research into the heart of a given college campus)
• The essential nature of working in community, as the people of God
• The foundational understanding of God’s mission to the world, and how that relates to the university context

May God be glorified in our discoveries!  And please remember, “missions” is all about going to the earth’s edge…starting with the one on which you’re standing!

The Casual Catalyst… (#dmingml)

Networking with other campus ministers (working in community) is an essential part of my three year project to research and develop a contextualized approach to campus ministry.  The Casual Catalyst Conference College Ministers Cohort will be an excellent place to start.

http://exploringcollegeministry.com/2010/04/28/casual-catalyst-conference-college-ministers-cohort/

Life Lessons from Favre

Favre, thanks for demonstrating how an individualistic and selfish approach to pre-season impacts the team. Nice 0-2 start.

…when necessary, use words. (#dmingml )

As I continue to read Hunter, and consider his recent book, “To Change the World,” I’m intrigued by his challenge to Christians: “…it may be that the healthiest course of action for Christians…is to be silent for a season and learn how to enact their faith in public through acts of shalom rather than try again to represent it publicly through law, policy, and political mobilization.” (p. 281) This brings to mind the famous quote, often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi:”Preach the gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.” I’m curious…what would a world, as Hunter proposes, look like in 10 years? 20? 100?

Interesting to ponder.

Your ability to change culture? “Doubtful” according to… #dmingml

As a part of the doctorate program I have recently entered into (George Fox’s Global, Missional, Leadership Doctor of Ministry), I’ll be writing a series of reflections on my reading.  Your interaction with my reflections will be a tremendous help to me as I try to apply to my specific ministry context (campus ministry) the ideas I am hearing.

To begin, today I will be taking a look at To Change the World, by James Davidson Hunter.

But before I address Hunter, I’d like to direct you to the blogs of my fellow students.  They will also be posting reviews and comments on these readings, and we will, together, be engaging in dialogue as a learning community.  Follow this link to www.dmingml.com to find access to the larger discussion taking place.

Now, on to Hunter…

Because To Change the World is divided up into three essays, I will dedicate three separate entries to his work, one entry for each essay, as well as a fourth entry to develop some practical applications for the campus ministry context.

The main question Hunter is asking, and addressing, is a simple one:  …how do believers live out their faith under the conditions of the late modern world? (p. ix)

Now, this question is not particularly new.  Throughout the centuries the Church has asked, and struggled with, the question of how to live in the world but not to be of the world (1 John 2), in their particular and peculiar contexts.  However, as Hunter will show, the complexities of our world have never been greater than they are today.  And in the midst those complexities, the Church is struggling to find unity in her response (for an insightful discussion on the division of the traditional church with the “Emergent” movement, for example, I recommend Belcher’s, Deep Church).  Thus, the question is a critical one for believers today.

In his first essay, Hunter works slowly, deliberately, and convincingly to critique current models of cultural transformation.  This is indeed an excellent place to begin formulating his response.  After all, as Hunter points out,

To be Christian is to be obliged to engage the world, pursuing God’s restorative purposes over all of life, individual and corporate, public and private (p. 4, emphasis mine).

And in engaging the world, Christians are ultimately hoping to transform the hearts and minds of people, and along with this to transform the culture, in such a way that reflects the goodness of God.  Hunter’s contention is that the dominant ways of thinking about culture and cultural change are flawed, for they are based on both specious social science and problematic theology (p. 5).

Through the use of both contemporary and historical examples, Hunter exposes the weaknesses of dominant views of cultural transformation.  In his opinion, culture is not changed from the bottom-up, or by individuals, or by purposeful planning (all elements of the “common view” that Hunter describes).  These methods, today largely pursued through the political system, simply have not proven to be effective in bringing about changes in society.  Rather, Hunter’s assertion is that cultural transformation is the result of top-down influences, initiated by society’s “elites” (those in positions of significant power), who are part of strong networks of overlapping interest groups, providing tangible expressions of their ideas.

In essence, Hunter believes that change does NOT come about through the impact of the transformed heart and mind of the individual, but through a complex array of factors, of which the individual is a very small part.  Indeed, he states that:

…it is not so much individual hearts and minds that move cultures but cultures that ultimately shape the hearts and minds, and, thus, direct the lives of individuals.  The movement between the individual and culture goes in both directions and perhaps moves even more strongly in the latter direction. (p. 45)

As Hunter draws this section to a close, he makes a strong case…the current ability of Christians to influence culture is “doubtful” (p. 92).

What do you think?  Is Hunter on to something?  Is the work of transforming culture about the individual, or is it about something larger?  Is it about both?  What role does God play in the transformation, or progression, of culture?

More to come on this topic next week.