Jesus informs the mission and the mission informs the church.

In an effort to illustrate this, consider the spontaneous expansion of the New Testament Church and the expansion of the Church in China. In 100AD, in a Roman Culture of nearly 40 million people, there were approx. 20K followers of Christ. In 300AD, in a Roman Culture of nearly 60 million people, there were approx. 20 million followers of Christ.

What happened? How did they do it?

In China, there were several Jesus-movements that were virtually exterminated throughout the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Under the Mao regime, Christianity was obliterated, professional clergy were killed, Bibles were burned, buildings were converted for use by the state. Today, there are 130 million followers of Christ and rapidly growing.

What happened? How did they do it?

My response this morning: “Well naturally, when there is persecution, the church grows.” That is true to a point, but it wasn’t what enabled the spontaneous expansion.

What enabled the spontaneous expansion is that everything was refined and simplified. For both ages, Jesus was placed in the center of what it meant to be Christian. Who Jesus was informed what it meant to be the church. All of the structures and systems were eliminated. People had to begin taking the initiative for their own spiritual formation, in community (never alone: they risked their lives to do this together). Community (people expressing common thoughts, feelings, etc) changed to Communitas (friendship that readily adapts when necessary). Theology was simplified to “Jesus is Lord.” Everything else was fringe and took a new shape/direction. “Jesus is Lord” in turn informed the mission of the church. Their mission (informed by Jesus is Lord) was no longer to create or sort out the best system; their mission (informed by Jesus is Lord) became the redemption of the world. The mission, informed by “Jesus is Lord” then informed what it meant to be the Church. This changed the way they lived and the Church became known as a force through which God began redeeming the world–no matter what it cost. I wonder what the Jesus they worshipped, who was redefining everything, looked like…

If it is true that Jesus informs the mission, which, in turn, informs the church, then what does the Jesus that informs the American church look like? Perhaps we need to start by assessing what the American church looks like (what is central to us? we can tell based on our expectations of the experience of “church”). The face of our iconic Jesus might be revealed and it might scare us.

Thoughts?