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Dave Gibbons Blog Tour: Method vs. Message

Orginally published on Thursday, March 05, 2009 at 9:19 AM
by Todd Rhoades

Today is DAVE GIBBONS day here at MMI. Dave has written a great new book called The Monkey and the Fish. The Monkey and the Fish decodes profound shifts and events taking place in the world today due to globalism, multiculturalism and technology, and introduces an original approach to ministry, church, and leadership known as The Third Culture. The book title refers to an Eastern parable that will challenge you to reexamine fundamental assumptions of the evangelical movement, including erroneous interpretations that have made the church increasingly irrelevant in North America and the global village.

I recently had the opportunity to ask Dave this question about the book:

Dave, you mention that as the church, we cannot separate the 'what from the how, the message from the method'. How can the church start to become the hands and feet of Jesus when so many people 'on our own team' are communicating Christianity with a judgmental, 'better than thou' attitude?...

Dave answers:

Thanks for the great question, Todd… Yes, that is a great challenge! When I relate globally I usually say I’m a Christ follower rather than a Christian. There are elements within our cultural Christianity that is not at the heart of who Jesus is. As you travel, you begin to understand that the problem isn’t Jesus as much as it is the things we’ve added to Jesus and the gospel. When I lived in the south, I worked with children in South Carolina, I still remember a man saying if they (African American youth) want to go to church, tell them to go to that church (another African-American congregation) not this one (white church). Every culture has good and evil, even our current Christian culture. A practical help for many of us would be to live in a lower socio-economic environment for a few weeks or months. As you live or stay in that space, pray this prayer, “Break my heart with the things that Break your heart, O God.” (Bob Pierce, World Vision) That’s one of the reasons I chose to take my family to Bangkok for a year. It radically changed the way we live. Our eyes were open to our own pride, greed, self-centeredness and culture which frequently got in the way of being Jesus’ hands and feet.
You can find out more about the book (or better yet… order it...) here.

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There are 14 Comments:

Posted by Dan King

Thursday, March 05, 2009 at 10:55 AM

Great question, and great response from Dave! It seems important that more Christians need to have that kind of “eye-opening” moment in our lives. I am starting to prepare for a mission trip to Africa, and this is one of my biggest prayers… that God would just rock my perspectives on life. Good stuff dude! Thanks for sharing!
Posted by

Thursday, March 05, 2009 at 5:05 PM

“When I relate globally I usually say I’m a Christ follower rather than a Christian.”

I’m finding that this separation and delineation is becoming more and more poignant and widespread. And what I am getting is a feeling that there are marked differences in the theology, doctrine, and philosophy of a, “Christ-Follower,” versus that of Christianity. I’ll be doing some more research on this sometime in the near future to get some bearing on this to either prove or disprove my hunches. But, at the very least, it shows this sort of attitude of, “At least I’m not one of those Christians,” instead of reconciling things within the Body of Christ.

Anyone else get this sort of feeling? Am I alone here?

--
CS
Posted by

Thursday, March 05, 2009 at 7:44 PM

The American Church has become infected with “affluinza.” Until we’re cured of this sin that so easily besets us, we’ll continue to decline, just like a patient with a life threatening disease. Press on Dave.
Peace, BC
Posted by

Friday, March 06, 2009 at 7:26 AM

CS said, “Anyone else get this sort of feeling? Am I alone here?”

Your not alone. I actually wonder if this “innocent” change from Christian to “Christ-follower” might do more damage then good. People are smarter then that. I don’t think it’s possibe to clean the slate, change the name, and all is well. Christian in the NT was given a negative connotation but the NT Christians were instructed to stick with it.

Peter 4:16However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.
Posted by Dan King

Friday, March 06, 2009 at 10:07 AM

Regarding the references to 1 Peter 4:16, and the use of the phrase “suffer as a Christian”, I think that people may be getting too hung up on the literal English definitions of the words. The Greek word there ‘Christianos’ is translated in most literal translations as ‘Christian’, simply because it tries to find a one-word equivalent to translate to. The fuller meaning or translation of the word is actually ‘follower of Christ’.

With that said, there is a trend these days to separate oneself from the negative connotations that have developed around the term ‘Christian’. I agree that division amongst believers is not what Christ would have wanted. However, I don’t believe that movement is intended to CAUSE separation or division, but to actually (and simply) live more as Christ would have intended.

While I call myself a ‘Christian’ I do feel that it is perfectly legitimate to want to identify oneself with a statement intended to show their dedication to the Lord.
Posted by Brian L.

Friday, March 06, 2009 at 10:37 AM

Dan,

I would agree wholeheartedly.

When preaching I hardly ever use the term “Christian” except when I say things like, “If you call yourself a Christian, then you need to act like you actually believe what Jesus says and obey Him.”

The term isn’t meant to cause division, but to get past the baggage that the term has gotten over the years, and from the fact that there are many people who claim to be Christians but don’t actually believe or live for Him.

Actually, I prefer “disciples” over “Christians” because it gets across the point of following Christ a bit clearer. But that’s only my opinion.
Posted by Dan King

Friday, March 06, 2009 at 11:00 AM

@ Brian L.... Amen!
Posted by

Friday, March 06, 2009 at 9:25 PM

Dan,

Many believe the term Christian when it was first used wasn’t simply “Christ-follower” but was a derogatory word that meant
“little-Christs”. The use of the word was meant to mock the early believers. We know the believers didn’t create the term so it’s very possible this is true. If it’s true it would shed new light on the Peter verse, wouldn’t it?
Posted by Dan King

Friday, March 06, 2009 at 10:42 PM

JOB,
I understand that the term (however it was translated) was originally used in a derogatory way. But I don’t know that it sheds a ‘new light’ on it in the way that we are referring to the terms here. Regarding that verse, Peter is talking about (I believe) rejoicing in persecution.

I think that here we are talking about people wanting to move more to authentic Christianity and away from the ‘baggage’ of certain terms that Brian L. also pointed out. So I guess that I just don’t know that the reference to this verse is all that relevant to the idea that we are talking about.

I guess for me, the bottom line of what Dave Gibbons mentioned here is that (like it or not) there are elements regarding the perceptions towards Christianity (that Christians created themselves) that some people don’t want to associate with. Even in the first century church, Christianity thrived mostly because it did selfless deeds and rose above the negativity surrounding the terms. I think that is what Dave Gibbons was shooting for here. People want to rise above the negative perceptions, and present the world with a better way of life. And I guess the only thing that concerned me here was the criticism of people trying to do so…

Thanks for the dialogue!
Posted by

Saturday, March 07, 2009 at 12:35 PM

So in the future “Christ- follower” will need to be changed to something else, right? Unless we’ve perfected the faith and will no longer bring shame to the name of Christ ever again. Forgive me for thinking this through
Posted by Dan King

Saturday, March 07, 2009 at 5:04 PM

wow...... listen JOB, it was never my intent to be critical of you, but I feel like that’s how you seem to be taking it.

Ultimately I understand the intent of Dave Gibbons comment about being a “Christ follower” and I also notice that the author of this blog (Todd Rhoades also refers to himself in that way.

My response was really directed towards CS observation that it seems to reflect a different theology. I also prefer to focus on unity rather than the division that this conversation seems to be creating.

Sorry Todd…
I like the blog and all, but I may limit future visits and comments if it only contributes to division amongst believers. This was a nice post about the book. Let me know if there is ever anything that I can do for you. Thanks!
Posted by

Saturday, March 07, 2009 at 7:23 PM

Dan,

Just exploring the wisdom of this name change, anyhow I can see it’s not going to happen here.
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Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.