In The Shaping of Things to Come, authors Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch propose that the postmodern society around us in the West is no longer able to be reached by the traditional Christendom model of church but rather must be reached through a missional church movement (30). In Part One (chapters 1-2), the authors define the Christendom model as a concrete notion of church that has been around since the emperor Constantine. This model is marked by distinct buildings, liturgies, and clergy (27). By contrast, the missional church model is marked by an incarnational shape, messianic spirituality, and apostolic leadership (26). In Part Two (chapters 3-6), they go on to describe in more detail the shape of a missional church, beginning with the theological basis for incarnational church: Christ himself (54). They go on to discuss multiplication (89), cultural relevancy (87), contextualization (106), and the power of stories to speak to the postmodern soul (128). Part Three (chapters 7-9), talk about what a Messianic spirituality would look like, by examining the Hebraic worldview (149), action as a sacrament of worship and evangelism (171-172), and evaluating the tools our churches to use to see what message is really being communicated (188). Finally, in Part Four (chapters 10-12), the authors spend time unpacking a non-hierarchical, Ephesians 4 style of leadership called APEST (apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, teachers). They discuss where it comes from in scripture (207-208), why it works (214-216), and how imagination plays a role in this shared leadership (226-227). They end with talking about how the model of church described in this book will be organic (257), reproducible (260), and sustainable for reaching the West for Christ (263).
This was a difficult book to get through. It isn’t a difficult read, but the concepts are challenging and at times upsetting. In the end, while I found a few takeaways that I can apply to my life and ministry, I mostly walked away from the book with questions and concerns.
To begin, I did come away with a couple small takeaways. One thing that I would like to try to implement into my ministry comes from the section in which the authors were discussing the shape of the missional church. They talk about “centered” sets and “bounded” sets. The idea of a bounded set is that it has walls and fences around to keep the “flock” in and the “others” out. This keeps the flock safe, but it also makes it so that the others are clearly not welcomed. A centered set, on the other hand, has no walls or fences, but instead has a freshwater well dug in the middle. The flock can wander around but will always come back to the well. In addition, the others may be drawn to the well along with the flock. The authors propose that the Christendom church, with its defined buildings, liturgy, and clergy, tends to be more like a bounded set and that if we would set ourselves up to be a centered set, we would be more missional and more effective (68-71). I want to find ways to meaningfully engage not-yet-Christians in my community, drawing them into my established communities of Christians, in a way that doesn’t have to involve the church building. Things like movie nights, game days, and other activities like that can get my not-yet-Christian relationships mingling with my Christian relationships. Like the well at the center of the pasture, Jesus needs to remain the center of whatever these interactions end up being like. With Jesus as the center, there is room to welcome a wide variety of people into my circles.
Related to this point, it is worth mentioning that I appreciated the way they talk about those who do not know Jesus. Rather than calling them “non-believers,” the authors refer to them as “not-yet-Christians” (70). I love this way of talking about it. This recognizes the journey that each person is on, that there is work God is already doing in their hearts and lives, and that no person is too far to remain outside the flock. It holds out hope. I am trying to implement this small change in my vocabulary. It encourages me to treat everyone around me not as “in” or “out” but as people on a journey toward Jesus.
I have walked away from this book with a million questions and concerns about the content. On the whole, I disliked this book, and I’d like to unpack some of those areas of concern and disagreement here. First, the book has a very harsh tone from beginning to end. The authors sound excessively judgmental toward the Christendom-style church. They display an all-or-nothing attitude toward the difference between missional and Christendom churches: either you are missional, or you aren’t. For example, the authors say, “the death of Christendom and emergence of postmodernism and the new global culture have highlighted the bankruptcy of the existing church and its inability to have a positive effect on Western society” (86). In addition, throughout the book they speak of it as a “revolution” (31) and “foundational changes” to the way we do church (26). I don’t believe this kind of harsh tone is appropriate in a book written by Christians for and about other Christians. Furthermore, I don’t believe it has to be an all-or-nothing switch like they propose in order for churches to have missional effectiveness.
Allow me to share a brief personal example. About halfway through the book, I hit a personal low point where I was becoming highly disillusioned with and critical of my local church, because by the definition in the book, my church is not missional. We display all the marks of a traditional Christendom church, consistently portrayed as bad and ineffective in the book. As I hit this low point, God graciously provided a church experience through my college group where I was reminded that elements of the missional church are present. A Christendom-model church is not necessarily dead or ineffective just by nature of being traditional in style. It is possible to display elements of missional church housed within the structures of Christendom and be effective in mission. This personal experience undermined some of the harsh and stark claims of the authors for me.
A second point of contention with the authors is that they don’t lay down good boundaries for how far a church should go in being incarnational and contextualized and still be Christian, still be a church. They define the core of the church as being any group that focuses on community with one another, communion with Christ, and our commission in the world (103). While this sounds good in theory, the practical examples they give seem to emphasize the community with others to the point of losing the sense of communion with Christ. They ended up feeling like example of social clubs rather than churches. When dealing with contextualization, it is easy to cross a line and stop truly being a church. I would have appreciated more time spent unpacking contextualization safeguards.
The final point of disagreement that I will mention here is that I felt that the authors presented the missionary task as completely on our shoulders. At one point they say, “we do wholeheartedly believe that the future hope of Christianity…is directly linked to our ability or inability to become a dynamic mission movement in our day” (222). I was very disappointed with the way that the power and purposes of God are left out of the picture. The mission of the church is an extension of God’s mission, and therefore, even if we fail in the responsibilities he has given us, God’s mission will never fail. God will accomplish his purpose, with or without us, our strategies, and our plans for creating a movement.
I think that this book is helpful for thinking through different ways that the mission of God’s people could be incorporated into the life of the church and of individual Christians. I think the harsh tone of the book is largely unhelpful to their point and to the edification of believers who are reading the book. It would be essential to read this book with someone else to help counter the feelings of disillusionment and criticism that could creep in. Frost and Hirsch make helpful points and observations but couching it in a gentler tone would have been more successful.
Frost, Michael, and Alan Hirsch. The Shaping of Things to Come. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2013. 2nd ed.