If you want to find a gathering of prophets within the North American church today, look no farther than the Christian Community Development Association. Founded by John Perkins and others. You can read more about their vision here.

I attended the national CCDA conference this past week in Minneapolis, and it was a rich time of theology, inspiration, and rubbing shoulders with everyday believers that are radically living out the gospel of reconciliation and justice.

There were some fantastic plenary speakers, and one talk in particular given by Chris Rice and Emmanuel Katongole offered some profound insight that applies to the  “Releasing the A.P.E.” context as much as it does to the work of reconciliation, which was the theme of the CCDA conference this year.

Here are their three essentials, taken directly from their talk. Most of the content is theirs, and I have interpreted it within an A.P.E. lens.

New Creation

Our work is centered on the invitation into a new world. This is what Paul is singing about when he says, “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come…” (2 Cor. 17). This new creation revolves around Christ, in Him, through Him, and by Him. It happens through an exchange, the old order given for a new one. We don’t accomplish it, we embrace and receive it.

The new creation is evidenced in a life transformed and under new leadership through accepting Christ. It is also evidenced (or should be) through the radical community of believers, living transformed lives together, and transforming the world around them. This new creation is the inspiration for us apostles, evangelists, and prophets. We all are called to be its ambassadors…representing it, inviting people into it, entrusted with it, and offering a glimpse of the new creation through us.

I love the focus on this new creation, because ultimately this is what all our A.P.E. effort is towards. Evangelism, apostolic activity, prophetic voices are not the end in themselves. They are movement towards the new, redeemed creation that God is building as He reconciles all things to himself.

Lament

This might be an unusual characteristic to seem essential to our work, but I have come to believe that it is one of the most important characteristics of my faith and therefore ministry.  Lament is the reality that we are living in a Kingdom that is already here, but not yet fulfilled. The ability to include lament into our lives and ministries means that we let ourselves long for what hasn’t come yet of God’s Kingdom, His power, His saving grace in people’s lives. It is a gift to us, because as scripture shows us, God’s journey with creation is full of lament… but also full of hope. They go hand in hand.

Without experiencing lament (sorrow, dissatisfaction, questions, even anger) at the way things are, we cannot fully receive God’s dreams for how things should be. I see this lament displayed in different forms depending on what you’re A.P.E bent is.

Evangelists tend to lament at the spiritual brokenness and lost-ness of people in the world.

Apostles lament is usually at what does not exist yet: churches planted, leaders developed, God’s mission lived out in the world.

Prophets lament the broken systems in the world: injustice, oppression, selfishness and greed, and the Church corrupted by the world.

These overlap and interweave, but they are all a lament for more. And when we lament, we come to the end of ourselves, the end of our own vision, our own effort. We lose hope in ourselves or our programs. Then, and only then, can God come in and carry us forward on His strength, on hope that is found in Him alone.

Spirituality for the Long Haul

This last characteristic helps us as (busy and driven) ministers of the gospel root ourselves in a spiritual life that will carry us through to the end. People rooted in a spirituality for the long haul recognize a few key things:

• We are first and foremost saved people, not the saviors.  This is important in the work of evangelism, church-planting, or community development. The Holy Spirit saves and transforms people. Like Jesus reminds the disciples when they returned from being sent out, we rejoice that our names are in the book of heaven. This doesn’t mean that we don’t do anything, it just helps us remember what we celebrate, rejoice, and ground our identity in.
• Thus, we operate out of a culture of grace: driven by joy and gratitude at what God has done for us. This allows us to do evangelism, church-planting, or community development from a place of abundance, instead of a weary, controlling, or judgmental posture.
• We follow God’s command to “Be still, and know that I am God.” We are not called to be busy and know that God is God. We root ourselves in silence, solitude, and prayer so we can know God and hear His voice.
• Extravagant action cannot be separated from extravagant devotion. Substitute whatever you do or are called to most. For myself, I need to be reminded that extravagant justice cannot be separated from extravagant devotion to Christ. All my action and activity means nothing if I am not developing a deeper love for the person of Jesus. If at any point our outward activity is more than our activity towards the Lord, we are on dangerous ground.

What about you? Which one of these three characteristics challenges you the most?

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