michael frost, co-author of the shaping of things to come has a new book out – exiles: living missionally in a post christian culture. i was thinking a while back that i didn’t really want to read any more books on emerging church and all that. and when this arrived it was also over 300 pages! but because i loved the shaping of things to come, i soon picked it up to read. and i am glad i did…

it is a really good book. i tend to think that different parts of the world have different things to give to each other and the thing that my friendship with mike and some of the other guys downunder has given me is a challenge about being missional. when mike and alan visited the uk they gave us the gift of a kick up the missional backside. he draws on walter brueggemann to use a framework for the book that says that exiles will rediscover the heart of their faith as they recollect dangerous memories, practice a set of dangerous promises, offer a dangerous critique (of the empire), and sing dangerous songs. this framework is a really neat way of talking about things – i can imagine it being the framework for courses or communities reflecting on what they are up to and this book being a useful text to help people reflect on what it means to follow christ in this day and age. for a group wanting to start something new you could do a whole lot worse than read this book and talk about it down the pub before praying and dreaming and launching out together on something new.

mike is a great story teller and the book is scattered through with wonderful illustrations and stories – i don’t preach that often but i’m sure many of his illustrations will be appearing in sermons round the world! there’s a lot in the book but a few things i enjoyed in particular…

the section on third places – this builds on the ideas around proximity spaces in the previous book. but it is a very simple idea – get into spaces that are not work, or home but third spaces where people meet to chill and relax and relate (cafes, galleries, bars, gyms etc) and be there with people. he suggests that most christians are too busy with church activities to hang out in these third places and a rethink is probably needed.

he expands a lot on communitas as a model of community that has a mission task rather than community for community’s sake. i have always been part of the anglican church and the uk scene is quite shaped by that in terms of mission shaped church, alt worship, fresh expressions so i quite like a take from someone who really isn’t that bothered about any of that – i found it refreshing.

and he has a good section on what makes a church or missional comminty more than just a bunch of people meeting together. he suggest that trinitarian theology, covenantal expression, catholic orientation (i.e. connected to the whole body of christ), and missional intent are the four criteria. this chimes in fairly well with my own thoughts. i wonder if there is something about sacramental life that is also part of the mix (breaking bread together and so on). i remember a discussion when we set up the web site emergingchurch.info about what constituted an emerging church – we never published our thoughts as we figured it was too early to nail anything down but our ideas then were around bottom up/grass roots as opposed to imposed from above, trinitarian theology, connection to the wider body of christ and at least moving towards some form of sacramental expression.

i was touched by the section on worship – it amazes and encourages me that alternative worship (one of the gifts from the uk church to the world perhaps?) has inspired others round the world.

i also love the sound of the community mike is part of – smallboatbigsea – gathered around a shared ethos/rule and set of practices BELLS. i could really imagine being part of it. it seems quite close in thinking to mark berry‘s fledgling community shaped around the story of st brendan. it’s strange/good to see parallels in different corners of the globe albeit worked out in very different creative ways.

mike blends a love for earthy, human community, a passion for mission, a passion for christ, concern for justice and the creation, creativity in all things (food, worship…), a desire to see an end to dualism (faith split off from areas of life and culture), great storytelling (you can tell he is an evangelist at heart), a healthy disdain for some of the baggage of church practices but a love for it nonetheless, and a whole lot of nous and wisdom. great book mike – thanks…