A Movement from the Margins, Part 2

By Jonathan Kindberg

To do great things for God we often assume that we need great resources: power, influence, renown, intelligence and have written best-selling books. But these kinds things are usually hindrances rather than aides to God’s work. God delights, rather, in using those who are unequipped and unresourced in the eyes of the world. Those who are powerless and weak; those on the margins ignored by the rest of the world and by the Church herself. These kinds of people he uses to fulfill his mission and do great things. Why? Because these are the kinds of people who recognize that they don’t have what it takes and that they must depend fully on God. Through this God shows himself to be great. This is the story, for example, of Patrick of Ireland. An uneducated, slave boy who encountered God in a powerful way, launched the Celtic missionary movement, and despite fierce opposition from the Roman church impacted all of Europe.

Many of the folks I minister are potential Patricks. As immigrants they are often ignored, invisible and powerless in a society that benefits from their labor and yet forgets the laborer. Many do not have legal status and live in fear of deportation and of the night. Often they come from humble origins in Mexico and have little resources or education. They did not go to Sunday school growing up (much less seminary) and are just learning the books of the Bible. They are often ignored and invisible to the Church at large. And yet many have a desperate faith in God and nothing left to lose. They are exactly the kinds of people God always uses to do great and amazing things: A potential movement from the margins.

Steve Addison in his book, Movements that Changed the World, describes the key elements of movements this way: “God takes the initiative and chooses unlikely people, far from the center of ecclesiastical power. He works to remake them from the inside out. He inspires innovative insights regarding his mission and how it is to be carried out. Biblical truths and practices are rediscovered. A growing band of ordinary people emerges who have a heartfelt faith and missionary zeal that knows no bounds. Despite opposition from powerful forces within society and the existing church, the gospel spreads into unreached fields. The existing church is renewed, and society is transformed.”

If this is the case then I have the responsibility to steward and encourage a potential world and Church changing force. There are present here the elements for a movement from the margins in the making. And there’s no doubt about it in this place, day and time: we need renewal and we need a movement.

May it be so. Come Holy Spirit.

God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. - Matthew 5:3 (NLT)

Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. - 1 Corinthians 1:27 (NLT)

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A Movement from the Margins, Part 1

By Jonathan Kindberg

One of the most satisfying and exciting aspects of my ministry has been discipling some new believers who I’ve tasked with going out on mission from the earliest days of their new walk with Christ. In each case God has met them in profound ways as they are sent out. In this I’ve sought to follow the pattern in Luke 9 and 10 of Jesus sending out his disciples.

Many might ask: Why did Jesus send out his disciples so quickly after they had begun to follow him? You can almost hear the complaints that immediately arose from the disciples:  “We are doing what? But, Jesus, we aren’t ready yet!”  or “Jesus we haven’t had enough training. What if we don’t know what to say?” And in reality they didn’t have enough resources and training… and this was exactly the point.

Jesus purposefully sent them without the resources they “needed:” “Take nothing for your journey,” he instructed them. “Don’t take a walking stick, a traveler’s bag, food, money, or even a change of clothes” (Luke 9:3). They had no resources and very little training. They hadn’t even been with Jesus for 5 chapters! But this he gave them: his own power and authority (9:1).

When we go out on mission something quite mysterious happens. We immediately recognize that we don’t have what people need. People bring their problems and pain and we don’t have the right answers or things to say. Immediately we recognize that we are empty people trying to fill others’ vacuous souls and we have come up dry. At that point, though, of recognizing our emptiness, a miraculous exchange occurs. God fills us, meets us at our point of need, so that we are able to meet the needs of others. We come to the end of ourselves and begin to depend on his authority and power to work in our own lives and in the lives of others.

Discipleship or spiritual formation without mission, even from the earliest stages of growth in Christ is incomplete to say the least. It is, as a friend of mine pointed out, a rediscovery of what it means to be truly human as God intended, a “being for the sake of others.”

Evangelical discipleship often emphasizes being “filled” which most often translates into a passive receiving of unidirectional teaching/preaching and a host of small groups, books and Sunday school classes. No wonder so many leave our churches looking for greener pastures and complaining of not having been “fed.” The problem often is that they have actually been “overfed” but haven’t been feeding others. Their hearts have become a stagnant pond of water without an exit strategy.

So what happens when these un-resourced, untrained disciples go out? By chapter 10, the 12 have suddenly become 72. A movement from the margins has begun.

In the next post we’ll talk about how movements usually begin in this way and are carried by the poor and outcasts of society, by those on the margins, and what one could look like here in Chicago started by Hispanic immigrants.

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Jericho Road Improvement Association

By Jonathan Kindberg

Almost every week this past summer someone from my congregation or someone I knew within the larger Hispanic immigrant community in DuPage County was arrested and faced possible deportation. Each time a flurry of phone calls, jails visits, attorney finding, money gathering, praying and waiting ensued.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said:”On the one hand we are called to play the good Samaritan on life’s roadside; but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.”

In other words it’s good to help people laying on the side of the road, but after doing this over and over you start realizing that it’s time to actually do some work on the road itself. So each week at Iglesia, during the prayers of the people we pray for: Comprehensive Immigration Reform. 
Below is the beginning of a post from undocumented.tv which shares the story of someone at my congregation who was arrested this summer.

I wrote here about 6 weeks ago about the frustration and heartbreak of watching a family in my neighborhood suffer after the father of the household was stopped for a questionable traffic violation and then was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on suspicion that he lacked legal status.  He was detained for a week in a county jail, which rents space (in exchange for a substantial economic benefit to the county government) to ICE.  Then, because apparently there was more bed space available elsewhere, my friend was flown from Illinois to Colorado, where he spent three more weeks in a detention cell operated by a private corporation, at the taxpayer’s expense…for the full article see: http://undocumented.tv/2011/blog/frustration-anger-hope-gratitude/

Juntos Como Hermanos

By Jonathan Kindberg

Juntos como hermanos, miembros de la Iglesia, vamos caminando al encuentro del Señor. Together as brothers, members of the church, we are walking towards the Lord.

This first verse of a song entitled “Juntos Como Hermanos” spontaneously arose during the ¡Caminemos Juntos! Consultation on Hispanic Anglican ministry and summarizes the feeling of those gathered together for two days on the outskirts of Chicago. For most, it was the first time they had met each other. Many came to the conference feeling isolated and tired and left energized and united on a common mission. Folks all the way from Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in Fresno, California, to All Nations Christian Church in New Haven, Connecticut came to talk about the potential and challenges of Anglican Hispanic ministry.
Our time together began with a charge from Archbishop Bob Duncan to have the Anglican church here on earth look like it will in heaven: diverse! We then heard from Fr. David Roseberry with Anglican 1000 and saw a video by Univision powerfully depicting the “New American Reality” of Hispanics in the United States. The U.S. census bureau estimates that by 2050 Hispanics will constitute 29% of the population of the U.S. and that minorities in general will be over 50% of the population. Another surprising statistic is that currently approximately 60% of Hispanics in the U.S. are English dominant.

Noteworthy was the address from Dr. Roberto Miranda, pastor of the congregation León de Judá in Boston and author of “En La Tierra de Los Peregrinos: La Iglesia Hispana Evangelica y Su Llamado Redentor.” His prophetic message was entitled:  the Hispanic Church as a Transformational Community (“La Iglesia Hispana Como Comunidad Transformadora”) and was based on the story of Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000. He stated that that Lord always delights to use the weak for his purposes and that, in his sovereignty, he has brought Hispanics with their strong faith to the United States to preserve and transform this country that is going down the path of secularization and materialism. He likened Hispanics in the Unites States to Moses growing up in Egypt unaware of his prophetic calling and invited us to awake to this prophetic responsibility and calling.
The conference ended with an ordination and confirmation service at Iglesia Santa Maria de Guadalupe, presided over by Archbishop Duncan. Catechist Fernando Moreno, from Iglesia del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus, a Greenhouse congregation in Chicago, was ordained a deacon and twelve youth from Iglesia de la Resurreccion and Santa Maria were confirmed.

Field Report from ¡Caminemos Juntos!

By David Roseberry

There is something awesome happening in Anglican1000. It is out of control!  Yes, that probably is a good thing to say about a movement.  Steve Addison in his book Movements that Change the World, writes that movements grow ‘at the edges’ of the organization and generally not from the center.  That means that a movement will not come from a ‘central headquarters’, but from the outer rims.

This is true of the efforts of Anglican1000 to support Hispanic church planting within the Anglican context in North America.  The vision of Anglican 1000 took hold at the recent convocation of Anglican Hispanic leaders and planters, a kick-start event called Caminemos Juntos (Let us Walk Together).  Approximately 50 leaders, clergy, laity, and a handful of bishops attended the two-day event outside Chicago.

The challenges for reaching the Hispanic population with the Gospel through the Anglican Church are quite complex.  There are first and second and even third generation issues.  There are self-perception challenges within the Hispanic culture itself.  It was clear from the presenters that the Hispanic people in the US and Canada see themselves as a culture and not a race.  Efforts to reach this culture need to be sensitive to a vast number of issues including the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, syncretism, immigration issues, and cultural definitions of family and church.
But make no mistake; ministry to the Hispanic community is an incredible opportunity for the Gospel of Christ.  Take a look at this video to get a sense of what might be possible for the Lord.

Insightful talks came from a number of Hispanic leaders around the country including Archbishop Robert Duncan, Gabe Garcia, Pdre. Alvaro Jinete, Dr. Roberto Miranda, and more.  We heard from people who are ministering among this population.  Some are rectors who have congregations that have started Hispanic works; some are stand-alone churches that minister in a mixed cultures.  Some are start-up house churches from the Greenhouse Movement; and some are new (or soon to be) church plants that have bi-vocational clergy. 
It is clear to me that there is a passion and solid base to see Anglican1000 take hold in the Hispanic Church-planting community.  I took the time to invite the leadership to attend the annual Anglican1000 Summit and give a major report on the work of these initiatives.