[RC] Evangelicals and prophets

[BILROJ via Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community]

Christianity Today
 
 
Do Evangelicals Have Room for Prophets?
Canon Andrew White lives  dangerously for God. Why we need more leaders 
like him.
Gary  Burge/ May 6,  2014


 
 
_Andrew  White_ 
(http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/topics/w/andrew-white/)  is a favorite 
speaker at Wheaton College, and he was with us again  last 
week. He is an Anglican priest whose parish is in downtown Baghdad. Yes,  
Iraq. He's affectionately called the "_Vicar  of Baghdad_ 
(http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/may-web-only/andrew-white-being-jesus-in-kill-zone.html
) ," and it's a rough job: In the past ten years, some 1,200 of his  church 
members have been killed. When he travels on pastoral visits, he is  
accompanied by a couple truckloads of armed guards. Just in case.
 
I've heard Canon White address our students now three times. And  in every 
case he ends the talk with his pastoral mantra. The students know it so  
well, they finish it before he can. 
White tells how many times people caution him while he's in Iraq.  They say 
"Take care." It annoys him; taking care is the last thing he wants to  do. 
So he thunders to all 2,600 of our students, "Don't take care . .  ." and 
they chime in: "Take risks." He currently has a Wheaton graduate  as his 
personal assistant. One of my students, Sally, may join him this summer  as an 
intern. Imagine telling your parents that your 2014–15 summer internship  will 
be in Baghdad. "But don't worry—the church will supply armed  men."
 
As I walked back to my office after another Canon White chapel, I  began to 
think about risk-takers and how important they are to the vitality of  the 
church, or any organization: a ministry, a college, perhaps any gathering  
that desires to have vision. We need risk-takers. Sometimes they're called  
prophets. Andrew White is both a risk-taker and a prophet. And like most  
biblical prophets, he lives large—and dangerously. He is quite happy to speak  
boldly and forthrightly about what he believes. He is not a cautious man. 
It seems most organizations have a variety of leaders who serve  somewhere 
along a continuum between what I call "custodians" and  "prophets."
 
Custodians and Prophets
Let's be clear: Prophets can be annoying. They look at the status  quo and 
wonder why it can't be different. They are impatient for change and are  
driven by a vision for something better, something clearer, than the rest of us 
 normally see. Perhaps like the biblical prophets, they are driven by a 
vision  for justice or compassion or righteousness that compels them to take 
risks in  order to sound the alarm or heighten the community's consciousness. 
They like  change. And they work even subversively in order to enact it. 
Some of our  greatest social reformers—Wilberforce, say, or King—were 
prophets. The same is  true within the church. In their day Luther and Wesley 
were 
nothing less than  prophetic.
 
Custodians, meanwhile, maintain the order of things. They keep the  lights 
on and the trains running on time (the very trains the prophets use  daily). 
They value tradition and prefer a social environment where everyone  shapes 
himself or herself around a mission that has been working smoothly for  
years. They are risk-averse. In fact, they hire professional "risk managers" to 
 keep an eye on things. For custodians, change is less an opportunity than 
it is  a threat. They look at the status quo and see first what they like 
and easily  describe its critics as cynical or unhelpful. And yes, they do not 
like  prophets. Custodians may want to build an expensive new building; 
prophets may  ask why that money isn't given to the poor or sent to Nigeria 
instead.
 
Prophets at the extreme end of the continuum can be unhelpful,  even 
destructive. Custodians at the other extreme will easily fossilize an  
organization. Healthy organizations need both. They need the stability,  
restraint, and 
caution of the custodians, as well as the vision, risk-taking,  and energy 
of the prophets. Someone once told me: Steve Jobs at Apple? A  technology 
prophet. Bill Gates at Microsoft? A technology custodian. I value  both 
companies. But it was Apple that changed the world. I wonder if Microsoft  
keeps 
the world going round.
 
 
However, when prophets and custodians work within the same  organization, 
they have to figure out how to forge a constructive, helpful  relationship. 
Leaders who eventually become presidents, CEOs, editors, and lead  pastors 
assume a role of preserving the legacy of the institution they serve.  They 
are now in management. They understand the cost of upsetting the  constituency 
(or the congregation). They know how much easier it is to lead  without 
prophets distracting them. And they are often constitutionally cautious  and 
careful. It's not that they dislike change; they just change things  slowly.
 
 
Prophets, on the other hand, push. They make proclamations. And  quite 
often they are right. But quite often the vessel they sail in cannot  handle 
how 
they'd like the boat to change course. Custodians need to avoid  silencing 
their prophets. Prophets need to keep from subverting their  custodians. 
Take Risks for Jesus
I suspect that all of us, with our unique temperaments, could  place 
themselves somewhere along the spectrum. And to some degree it has to do  with 
our 
tolerance for risk and the experiences that have shaped us over time. I  
also suspect that churches and Christian organizations cultivate cultures of  
risk or caution as well. They are either environments that celebrate the  
prophetic spirit, or places that celebrate that things haven't changed for a  
hundred years. 
 
When I imagine the prophetic church I think of Saddleback or Willow Creek,  
or ministries like World Relief or _Venture  International_ 
(http://www.ventureint.org/) . Each of these is willing to take on front-edge 
issues  
courageously. In fact, their members expect occasional surprises from their  
leaders. They like to be pushed into new, uncomfortable territory. Christian  
colleges likewise produce distinct cultures that are either custodial or  
prophetic. And the students they graduate often reflect those values.  
This is our dilemma. We need Canon White to remind us to throw  caution to 
the wind. To "take risks" in the name of Jesus so that the world will  be 
confronted with the gospel, even in the dangerous places. But we also need  
leaders who will mind the home front. Who build the institutions that will 
last,  the kind of institutions that send money to White when his struggling 
Baghdad  parish needs support.
 
But the problem is this: So often Canon White (and his friends)  are 
welcomed among us as visitors. We celebrate them as speakers. We enjoy their  
embarrassing eccentricities. We cheer when they describe their risk-taking  
lives. We laugh when they poke fun at the powers-that-be. But we are also happy 
 
to see them go. It is the rare and remarkable custodial institution that  
welcomes them in, gives them a home, and encourages them to truly be who they 
 have been called to be. Or that doesn't just relegate them to the  margin.
 
Which made me think about Jesus. And Canon White. Jesus likewise  lived 
large and dangerously. He also spoke to matters that made the custodians  of 
his world uncomfortable. And in the end, inevitable conflict ensued. 
Evangelicals are excellent institution builders. We can look back  at our 
history and point to risk-takers and claim them in our heritage. And  there 
have been moments when we have truly moved our society into better places,  
particularly in the past 20 years. But this is probably less common than we 
like  to admit. We have tended to shy away from the prophetic voice for 
reasons I have  never understood. It's rare that we take risks that raise 
social 
concerns or  justice issues or put our supporters in an uncomfortable place.
 
I walked from our "Canon White" chapel last week with a cluster of  
students. "Best chapel ever." "I love it when he comes." "I wonder if I could 
be  
his intern." "How far is Baghdad?!" This generation is eager to meet 
prophets.  And follow them. It is our job to keep that voice alive within our 
ranks, 
to  open our ministries to them, and to recognize the important role they 
play. 
Gary M. Burge is professor of New Testament at Wheaton College.  He is the 
author of numerous books on the New Testament and the Middle East, and  is a 
regular speaker at churches and conferences. Only his dean knows how he  
should be located on the custodial/prophetic  continuum.

-- 
-- 
Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community 
<RadicalCentrism@googlegroups.com>
Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism
Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org

--- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
"Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email 
to radicalcentrism+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.