Though I sincerely appreciate, and to the best of my ability, constantly make use of the work of scholars, I write and seek to contribute to our conversation as an evangelistic practitioner. As a working pastor, I see a large and important connection between getting the Gospel right and getting the Gospel out. (See last page for details about Todd Hunter)

Thesis

My basic thesis is that something went drastically wrong when a reductionistic rendering of the Gospel got married to the American marketing machine

This reductionistic bullet point version of the Gospel (for whatever it gained in ease of communication and giving alleged certainty) has lost the ability to be compelling or winsome in contemporary society. I also wonder if it was ever right or an adequate telling of what God was doing for humans in Christ.

Proposal

I propose the telling of a fully orbed story as a preferable way to improve the state of the evangelistic enterprise. I propose that this story be told early, during the evangelistic part of one’s conversion. My long experience with the church growth and seeker movements suggests to me that the crowd-to-core and evangelism-to-discipleship models can be improved upon. This can be done without a wholesale rejection of the good things those movements gave us.

It will require more than fine-tuning (because important theological issues are on the table), but less than throwing the whole radio away. Here is the important point: one’s soteriology and eschatology will naturally give rise to a way of doing evangelism and church. In thoughtful settings, form always follows function.

Thus, if we view the gospel to be, “say this prayer so that when you die, you can go to heaven,” it will naturally lead to one way of doing church. Cradle to grave programming to warehouse people until they die is usually what follows. This view makes discipleship optional, something serious Christians might do.

The effects of living in a wrong story are devastating to our churches. Countless thousands of well-intentioned pastors are left to try to disciple people who have no intention of ever seriously following Jesus or practicing their religion. The church is in serious trouble when discipleship (apprenticeship to Jesus) is viewed as extracurricular or optional.

In the Divine Conspiracy (58) Dallas Willard asks three questions that penetrate to the very heart of the matter: “Does the Gospel we teach and preach have a natural tendency to cause the people who hear it to become full-time disciples of Jesus?” Would those who believe it become his apprentices as a natural next step?” What can we reasonably expect would result from people actually believing the substance of our message?”

The Power of Story

I need to say a few more things about the evangelistic power of story before we move forward. First, let me say a word to those who are suspicious of story as a postmodern Trojan horse designed to obliterate truth.

Everybody loves a good story and God’s is the best. But more than that, story has a more powerful impact today in postmodern evangelism than mere propositions. I don’t mean to say that facts, beliefs or data don’t exist or that doctrinal propositions are totally out the window or unimportant. I am speaking in relative terms. The most important issue I have in mind with the use of story is to make sure that we are not giving reductionistic, contextless snippets about “how to go to heaven when you die” versus the Gospel according to Jesus (Mark 1.14-15), the Gospel of the Kingdom. Jesus’ story is large and all encompassing. It holds the potential to become the organizing principle and force for someone’s life.

When I speak of story, I have in mind how one lives out the implications of the fact of the atonement/gospel, not so much one’s theory of the gospel/atonement. If my memory is correct, the church didn’t even have an agreed upon, clear theory until Anshelm, but many people managed to follow Jesus just fine. Again, in saying this I am not saying that beliefs are unimportant. One could not follow Jesus into the Gospel of the Kingdom if they had seriously polluted beliefs. It would be like trying to play football through the beliefs of soccer or rugby.

I, too, hold to the importance of substitution, but I acknowledge that there are other (not necessarily contrasting, but augmenting and legitimate)

in-the-pale views, which could also (better?) lead to discipleship to Christ because they fill out the story. Thus I see more going on at the cross than mere substitution.

On the cross Jesus is Lamb, but also model and teacher for the servants of God. He is humanity (Adam and Eve), Israel and the church as God intended it. For all the last 400-500 years of trying to nail down a theory, we missed that Jesus himself-virgin birth, life, ministry, teachings, crucifixion, burial, resurrection, ascension and present day ministry at the right hand of the Father-the Christ event-is the atonement, not merely one thing he said or did. This is important because it gets to the root of our lack of imagination for walking in the Kingdom on the other side of conversion. Let me illustrate.

Think of a thermometer, negative numbers on the bottom; zero in the middle and positive numbers at the top. Contemporary Christians are pretty clear about how our negatives or demerits are taken care of-justification through faith by the grace of God. But how does one move on from zeroed accounts in heaven to discipleship? Contemporary Christians are often paralyzed by fear of works, legalism or religiosity. I would assert that we move on the same way (unmerited grace) and through the same power-the Holy Spirit. We must be clear here: there is something for us to do; but it is simple cooperation. It is not meritorious.

Perhaps a rhetorical question would help clear our thinking: “Who do you suppose appropriates more grace in a God honoring way, someone who merely experiences forgiveness or someone like the apostle Paul (cf. 1 Cor. 15.10; Phil. 3.4b-17)?” But we must have a vision to emulate Paul and this brings us back to story and the need to fill in, where necessary, our understanding of all the implications of the gospel/atonement.

This is the crucial point-people actually live from a sense of story, not from bullet-points to which they gave mental assent. We live from our imaginations, shaped by a story. Eugene Peterson perfectly captures my view and its practical, daily importance in his introduction to Matthew in The Message:

The story of Jesus doesn’t begin with Jesus. God had been at work for a long time. Salvation, which is the main business of Jesus, is an old business. Jesus is the coming together in final form of themes and energies and movements that had been set in motion before the foundation of the world.

Matthew opens the New Testament by setting the local story of Jesus in its world historical context. He makes sure that as we read his account of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we see the connections with everything that has gone before. Fulfilled is one of Matthew’s characteristic verbs: such and such happened “that it might be fulfilled.” Jesus is unique, but he is not odd.

Better yet, Matthew tells the story in such a way that not only is everything previous to us completed in Jesus, we are completed in Jesus. Every day we wake up in the middle of something that is already going on, that has been going on for a long time, genealogy and geology, history and culture, the cosmos-God. We are neither accidental nor incidental to the story. We get orientation, briefing, background, reassurance.

Matthew provides the comprehensive context by which we see all God’s creation and salvation completed in Jesus, and all the parts of our lives-work, family, friends, memories, dreams-also completed in Jesus. Lacking such a context, we are in danger of seeing Jesus as a mere diversion from the concerns announced in the newspapers. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Postmodern people seem to intuit that if there is a God, faith in him must be dynamic, interactive, participatory and communal. This is especially true when contrasted with the gospel of “heaven when you die.” Remembering Willard’s questions, one can see how the bullet point approach is often heard as nothing less than a standing invitation to omit Christ from our actual life.

Maybe a good way to get at this would be to ask, “How can we make our now-life eternal. I do not mean this in a Pelagian way; I do not have in mind forgiveness of sins. I’m thinking that God and his rule, reign and realm are eternal. So, to the degree we enter his story now, by faith, through grace, we are entering the eternal and thus making our now-life eternal. I think this is a compelling way to talk about what it means to be a Christian. I believe this, when heard, would be far more compelling than the gospel according to Buddha, Dr. Phil, Oprah or Gandhi, etc.

Are Metanarratives Power Games?

Now let me say a word to the other side, those of you who have legitimate, heart-felt sensitivities to postmodern concerns over metanarratives as power games. My concept of story is not based on any desire whatsoever to dominate another. I am a firm believer in giving others freedom. I see it as a divine trait. For instance, in the parable of the tenant farmers (Matthew 21.33)

God is depicted as going away on a journey. Thus, God gave Israel space to become the kind of people they chose to be. The same characteristic can be found in Jesus’ dialogs with people like the rich young ruler, the woman caught in sin and Nicodemus, etc. God does the same for everyone today.

Rather than trying to win something or control others, I am trying to inflame, inspire and empower others (if they have “ears to hear”) with the only story adequate to human need, potential and divine design. No other story addresses us in as comprehensive and for our good a way as the unfolding drama of God. I found a quote the other day that might help you grasp my intentions:

If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather the wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea. -Antoine de Saint Exupery

Only a story, God’s comprehensive Kingdom story, can produce such yearning in our churches.

Sorry for the long preliminaries, but I felt we needed to address these concerns. With the above in mind, let’s take a look at two different stories about the gospel, ask which one gets the gospel right, and which one would most naturally lead to getting the gospel out.

The Story: The Gospel According to Jesus

Please look at Mark 1.14-15, it says, “Come forward; say this prayer [giving loose, usually non-reflective, uncritical mental assent to a set of bullet points outlining one theory of the atonement] so that when you die you can go to heaven.”

It’s not what the text says, is it? Yet a Jay Leno “Man on the Street Interview” and most evangelical pulpits would lead us to believe that that is our Gospel-our story. Is it winsome? Compelling? Adequate? True?

Let’s try Jesus’ version: He said, the good news of God is that. “The time has come. The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe this good news.” What is different about Jesus’ telling of the story?

The Gospel is not, of first importance, all about us. It is of God. It is about his ever-unfailing plan for man. It is not another consumer item to acquire, securing us a blissful happy-ever-after eternity. It is about the present reality, through the person of Christ (not simply something he said or did), of the Kingdom-the rule and reign-of God.

What did Jesus (The Door, The Gate, The Way into this remarkable new opportunity) want us to do as actors in His story?

First, repent; examine our whole way of doing life. He wants us to think again, have a second thought, review our sense of story, and determine if we are living in God’s Story. Second, he wants us to believe. This is not mere cognition or mental assent. Rather, it means to place our confidence in something; to act and live as if we actually trust it is true (cf. Matthew 7.24-27).

Jesus’ Gospel is an invitation into the Kingdom of God-the realm in which what God wants done is done. He is offering us a different kind of life. Eternal life is not spatial (out beyond the stars somewhere), nor is it chronological (out there waiting for us when we die). It is qualitative and it can begin now! When Jesus asks us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him, to lose our life in order to find it (Matthew 16.24-25), he is showing how to give up an inferior life outside the Kingdom for a superior life in it.

In contrast, in the first telling of the Christian story, our actual real life never comes into view. It is a story about death. Doing a little English exegesis on the sentence makes this clear: “…so that when you die…” Should we then be surprised by the statistics Barna, Gallup and sociologists of religion give us, telling us that there is very little difference in the practices of Born-Again Christians and The World? In the reductionistic telling of the story, the church has no possible imagination for life in the Kingdom. On that telling of the story we are left to spend most of our time, money and energy trying to interest the uninterested who fill our chairs or pews.

Apprentices of Jesus in Missional Communities

The central theological tenant for a community of disciples/students/apprentices has to be the Gospel according to Jesus-the Gospel of the Kingdom. People in such communities joyfully accept Jesus’ offer to die to their old inferior life of the kingdom of the self and to receive and enter into the vastly superior life of the Kingdom of God. In Kingdom-oriented communities, the kind produced by hearing and living in the Kingdom story, members are self-consciously seeking to become the kind of persons who are able-naturally, easily and routinely-to announce, embody and demonstrate the reality of the Kingdom. If our churches are going to move in this direction, this is the story they need to hear/re-hear and be evangelized into.

These people, of course, do go to heaven when they die and not because of the work they are doing for God. They go there because of the unmerited favor of God in Christ who did for us, in our place, what we could not do for ourselves. But going to heaven is not the goal for a Christian-it is the destination. The goal is spiritual formation in Christ, continuing the non-unique/non-salvific aspects of Jesus’ work as the true representation of humanity, Israel and the church.

Perhaps our evangelistic question should change from, “If you were to die tonight, do you know where you would go?” to “If you were going to live tomorrow, whom would you follow?” “What would you do?” What is the basic and fundamental story around which you are organizing the living of your life?”

To get the discussion started, let’s contemplate two implications (there, of course are many) for each version of the Gospel story:

The Gospel of Going to Heaven When You Die

I believe something really bad happened when a reductionistic version of the Gospel was linked to the American marketing machine. Marketing requires branding, slogans and catch phrases. This process gave us the very famous bumper sticker Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven. Really? JUST forgiven? Nothing more? No wonder we have lost any compelling sense of participation in an on-going, unfolding story.

If our story is all about death and eternity (usually thought of in spacial or chronological terms), then certain forms of church naturally emerge: “Cradle to Grave” programs to interest the uninterested and keep them warehoused in the church until they die. Christ as Teacher for a new way of Kingdom life is lost; He begins to exist in our imagination as merely the Lamb. People fail to take Him seriously.

The Gospel According to Jesus: The Gospel of the Kingdom

We are caught up into a large, all encompassing story; the story Adam and Eve, Israel and the Church were always intended to live in. It is a huge privilege (cf. the pearl of great price and the treasure hidden in the field). And there are serious ramifications for choosing to live outside God’s story see parable of the tenant farmers).

Choosing to say “yes” to God and his story of interacting with a people on earth, (“the cooperative friends of Jesus”) naturally involves our whole life. When we switch stories we, like Michael Jordan when he decided to play NBA basketball again, naturally decide to do whatever it takes to fit our life into the new story. We work out, eat right, practice, etc.

In the first story we’re suspicious of or fear any effort on our part. It seems religious, legalistic or, for us Protestants, it’s “Catholic.” In Jesus’ story it is natural and easy (“my yoke is easy; my commandments are not burdensome”); these works are not meritorious for going to heaven when you die; they are not used to be seen as righteous before God or man; they are works of wisdom. They are what the saints have always done to cooperate with God’s grace in order to live in His story (1 Corinthians 15.10).

Living in God’s story, we are naturally otherly, outward and missional. That is the nature of our Triune God. It was how Adam and Eve were designed to live (Genesis 1.28). Israel was chosen not unto privilege, but unto cooperative work with God (Genesis 12.1-3; Isaiah 42.5-7). The Church stands in the same story and prophetic tradition (Matthew 5.13-16; Luke 9.1-6; 10.1-24; Matthew 28.18-20; John 14.12; Acts 1.8; Revelation 22.5-6).

June 2002 (about Todd Hunter)

I put PostModernMission on the Internet with the modest goal of friends not losing track of me during my journey from the Director of the VineyardUSA to my new role with Mark Priddy (allelon, pronounced a-LAY-lone [ ] ). I am now a church planting coach, consultant, speaker/teacher, writer and also a pastor in Christ Community of Faith (a Vineyard) in Orange County, California.

Well, the transitional journey has been fun; full of great conversations with new friends and has been some of the most satisfying work I have done in twenty-five plus years as a Christ-Follower. I have discovered more deeply than ever that I love interacting with people over important Kingdom issues. I guess I really am a hybrid: leader-teacher-coach-spiritual friend-pastor.

Over the last eighteen months, I have had conversations with hundreds of different people regarding the current cultural shifts and its implications for doing church. I have coached fifty plus new church planters in various denominations. Sometimes I feel like I am the hub of “think-tank” feeding our mutual learning to all the other “spokes” who are wrestling to find a fresh, fully obedient, Gospel-of-the-Kingdom oriented way of being church.

I initially thought and have kept thinking that at some point either Allelon or Christ Community of Faith would get a website up and that PostModernMission would either go away, or simply point to a new website. Having such a humble focus and purpose for PostModernMission-and being so busy with my first loves of people and new/important concepts-I have let PostModernMission drift from my mind.

Recently, a few faithful friends who value my work, thinking and writing, have encouraged me to do a little work on the site.

As a start, I’ve posted a few new articles I’ve written for various occasions. You can read or download them at no cost. They will bring you up to date with the development of my thinking as I work with my local community of faith and many church planters around the United States, and worldwide.

Please feel free to stay in touch, or to interact over the articles. You can reach me at .

I may seem a little “Luddite” (18th century English protesters against technological progress) with reference to the website, but I am very quick (unless I am gone) to answer emails. I like the telephone better and like meals together best of all! If it would be good for you and the Kingdom, let’s connect.

Much love in Jesus, Todd Hunter PostModernMission/allelon Christ Community of Faith Yorba Linda, California

Related Articles:

• Leadership Skills: Tools for Policy Impact (brilliant!)
• Pastor Burnout Statistics
• Stress and Burnout in Pastoral Ministry: A Prologue
• Leadership for success
• Tribes: we need you to lead us

This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.