Life On The Vine

My devotional life and understanding of church has been enriched by Philip Kenneson’s Life On The Vine: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit in Christian Community. Kenneson is convicted that the church in the United States is seriously ill and aims to accurately and honestly provide both a diagnosis and remedy. He believes that “it is quite possible for the church to be both growing and yet not bearing the fruit of the Spirit. What is happening in many cases is that the church is simply cultivating at the center of its life the seeds that the dominant culture has sown in its midst . . . . The church that is being cultivated in the United States looks suspiciously like the dominant culture rather than being an alternative to it” (1999, 11-12). The question is not simply “Is it bearing fruit?” but “Is the fruit that the church is bearing the fruit of the Spirit?” (1999, 15). For example, the rates of divorce and premarital chastity do not significantly vary between Christians and non-Christians (1999, 16). Christians are frequently “pledging allegiances to Christ with their lips while engaging in practices that cultivate a quite different set of loyalties, dispositions and convictions” (1999, 29). They are like ancient Judah who partially followed God but also served the gods of the nations around them. Jeremiah wrote that they “turned their backs” to God but “not their faces.” Only when they were in deep trouble would they say to God, “Come and save us!” (Jer. 2:27).

Christians held captive by the assumptions of the dominant culture must seek liberation. But this is not easy. First, Christians do not realize the extent to which their behaviors, values, and assumptions are formed by the dominant culture. Second, intentional nurturing of the soil and plants is imperative if distinctive Christian fruit is to spring forth from the soil of American culture. As an old farm boy, I learned to expend much time and effort weeding and fertilizing tomatoes, green beans, and corn but whenever I left the garden unattended, weeds flourished and smothered the crops that I had intentionally planted and nurtured. The good fruit must be tended and nurtured; weeds spring up almost without effort because the environment in which we live is conducive to their growth (adapted from 1999, 30).

Kenneson rightly suggests that Christianity, if it is to distinctively grow in the soil of American culture, must reflect the character and mission of God “uniquely embodied in the person of Jesus Christ” and much less perfectly “in the life of that community animated by his Spirit” (1999, 32).

The church is often like the vineyard bearing bad fruit that is soon to be discarded (Isa. 5:1-7). But our hope is in God, who prunes us so that we might become faithful and bear the fruits of God (John 15:1-5). After describing the divine character of the nine fruits of the spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23, Kenneson explains why Christians have difficulty implementing them. His chapter headings illustrate the difficulty of living Christianly in a non-Christian American context:
* Cultivating Love in the Midst of Market-Style Exchanges
* Cultivating Joy in the Midst of Manufactured Desire
* Cultivating Peace in the Midst of Fragmentation
* Cultivating Patience in the Midst of Productivity
* Cultivating Kindness in the Midst of Self-Sufficiency
* Cultivating Goodness in the Midst of Self-Help
* Cultivating Faithfulness in the Midst of Impermanence
* Cultivating Gentleness in the Midst of Aggression
* Cultivating Self-Control in the Midst of Addiction

While Kenneson’s Life On The Vine does not deal with church planting, many lessons can be learned about this ministry. We no longer live in a world where people ascribe to basic Christian values. Church planting which focuses on meeting people “where they are” is doomed to synthesize the values of the dominant culture with those of Christ. We must, therefore, seek a new and different way of church planting, one which primarily looks to God for its identity and purpose and then incarnationally contextualizes these missional perspectives in local cultural contexts. This missional church understands itself as a community of disciples on a pilgrimage through life helping each other to be Christ’s disciples and encouraging others to join them as they journey through life to heaven.

Imagine the life in such a counter-cultural church:

Spiritual formation: Every member is passionately, whole-heartedly pursuing full devotion to Christ. Their very lives exist in relationship with God.

Community: Christians are nurtured in Christian community to grow as disciples of Christ. They are not mere spectators.

Lay Equipping: Leaders are equipping “God’s people for works for ministry” (Eph. 4:12).

Evangelism: Christians make disciples through personal relationships, through intimate spiritual friendships.

Multicultural: Christ breaks down racial and ethnic barriers so that planted churches are “red and yellow, black and white.”

The Strong in Christ Serve the Weak: The Church compassionately cares for the children and the poor.

Kingdom: The church is a unique community, formed by the calling and sending of God.
Missions: Christians are passionate about God’s mission to the nations.

These types of emergent churches are even now being planted by those of a missional heritage. For example, Mission Alive (http://www.missionalive.org/) exists “to discover, equip, place, and nurture church-planting leaders who will plant missional churches in suburbs, city centers, and poverty areas with unbelievers as the primary target.” Mission Alive is...
"Missional people,
planting missional churches
because of the mission of God."

Works Cited

Guder, Darrell L. 1999. Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Kenneson, Philip D. 1999. Life On The Vine: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit in Christian Community. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Little Baby Eva

Becky and I are very proud of our children. They are a blessing to us in many ways. One of course is the blessing of grandchildren. Below are pictures of Eva, born June 29 to Jonathan, our son, and his wife Nichole. Actually, Nichole did most of the "bearing" although Jonathan cheered and emphathized from the side-lines. Becky is currently in Louisville, KY, helping Nichole and Jonathan in any way she can. She especially takes care of Eva big brother Eli, who is one year older.

I am always amazed at how our children and their spouces become our teachers. Jonathan teaches me about truck driving, Nichole about politics, Ravi about computers, Rebecca about sensitivity and compassion, Deborah about math and life organization, Chuck about painting, and David about patience and life focus. I wonder what our grandchildren will teach us!! It is a great time to be alive.

Experiencing New Life

In a space of one year and four days we have seen the birth of three grandchildren! Our son Jonathan and his wife Nichole have just had a baby girl. Their son Eli (one year and three days old weighing 26 lbs) has a little sister called Eva weighing in at 6' 11" and 19 1/2 inches long. On Aug. 31, 2004, our daughter Rebecca and her husband Ravi had a little girl named Anjali. We are experiencing the awe of new life!

Oh, the mystery of life! After conception in heart and body, 40 weeks of body changes, and final labor, a little child—unable to adequately take care of herself—is birthed. And at birth, the immense task of feeding, nurturing, educating begins.

Last week we also experienced a birthing experience in Mission Alive. Three church planting families were invited at the exit interviews of our Discovery Lab to become church planters to plant churches with us in Austin, Denver, and Dallas. A fourth family was asked to work on some personal aspects of their lives as they transition into church planting. We were also privileged to work with our sister organization Kairos to assess one of their families who will work with a church in Oregon in a process to become church planters.

New church planters have been birthed. Like children they have a long way to go. But it will not be long until they have children themselves. Church planters become part of a heritage of equipping other church planters.

Paul said to Timothy, “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Tim. 2:2).