Scott A. Bessenecker - Living Mission: The Vision and Voices of New Friars

W hen Slumdog Millionaire won eight Oscars in 2009, millions of Americans watched as the kids who had shown us the horrors of slum life celebrated their newfound fame. Oliver Twists in an image culture, they stood on the world stage as icons of a new reality. Somewhere between social studies class and the daily newspapers, most of us had missed the most significant global demographic change in modern history: for the first time ever, most of us live in cities. What is more, a full third of our worlds populationsome two

In his book Planet of Slums , Mike Davis defines a slum as an urban area characterized by overcrowding, poor or informal As a definition, its accurate. But most of us could not imagine itcouldnt feel our stomachs turnuntil we saw slum life played out in front of us in the tortured memories of Jamal Malik. A movie caught us up to speed on reality. Then the very children we had watched running through crowded streets, falling into sewage, begging for food and running for their livesreal kids from a real slumwere standing on a stage in tuxedos, grinning ear to ear and celebrating their newfound fame. The next day they all went to Disneyland. A trust fund was established, their families moved out of the slums, and they lived happily ever after.

Or so the story goes. But is the good news for the global poor really the promise of Disneyland and a trust fund?

We are both part of new monastic communities in inner-city neighborhoods in the United States. Having grown up in the hills of Western North Carolina and East Tennessee, we came to the city with questions about how to follow Jesus when the name Christian didnt seem to make much of a difference for how most folks actually lived. We met Jesus in people who were strangers to ushomeless friends, housing activists, Catholic nuns, the grandsons of slaves. Together, we found a way of life that gave us hope. God was doing a new thing. Here was good news.

We shouted the tidings to friends from back home and fellow students from the suburbs: another way is possible! Inspired by downwardly mobile saints like Francis and Clare, we cast off worldly ambition and embraced lives of simplicity, living among the poor. Our neighbors became our teachers. But theres nothing holy about poverty, they said. No need to make a vow, except for the promise to care for one another. Walking with friends who wanted out, we started to dream together: what could this place become if we stayed here together?

Reading the Bible in this new community, we rediscovered an old, old story. It had been there all along, but somehow we had missed it. From the very beginning, the God who is a community of persons had longed for community with us. When we failed to trust, seeking instead to go it alone, fellowship was broken. Adam and Eve hid from God. Cain killed Abel. The beloved community was fractured, marked by divisions of injustice. And yet, God did not give up. Beginning again with one family, God worked in Israel and in Jesus to bring us together around the table where, even in the presence of our enemies, God fills our cup to overflowing. This is the good life we were made forthe kind of life that lasts forever.

This is the gospel weve learned in community. But when we look around, we also have to admit that everyone is not at the table. Dinner at the Rutba House or a block party on Potter Street matter little to Jamal Malik. For the two billion people who live in the slums of megacities, our gospel sounds like a story from a faraway land. They might as well dream of Disneyland.

If our story is not true for brothers and sisters in the slums, though, it cannot be true for us. The story we read in Scripture is a global story, and the church was an international institution long before globalization. Truth be told, Western Christianity exported an impoverished version of the Christian story that has left many people believing the Good Book is a bad book and the Good News is a lie. We have over-evangelized the world too lightly, our friend John Perkins likes to say. Its true. What it means for Western Christians is this: we cant reimagine the church without rethinking Christian missions.

This is why were so grateful for our friends whove written this book. They represent a movement that is taking seriously what it means to be Gods people in the world of Slumdog Millionaire. Like ours, their journeys grow out of a dissatisfaction with the promises of the stories they grew up in. But they do not end there. Their imaginations have been sparked by conversations with brothers and sisters who are living not only in extreme poverty but also in the midst of vibrant revival movements. Their vision has been complicated by strangers who want some of what theyve left behind and despise some of what theyve thought they needed. But most importantly, their hope is shaped by a story that doesnt end with Disneyland for a few but with good news for all, as the systems of this world become the kingdom of our God.

Our world has changed. Christianity is changing too. But our God is faithful, inviting us again to enjoy the endless journey of life together with friends and strangers who make up our new family.

Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

About the Contributors

Ash Barker is international director of Urban Neighbors of Hope. Hes written many books, including Make Poverty Personal and Surrender All.

Scott Bessenecker is associate director of missions for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. He is the author of The New Friars and How to Inherit the Earth.

David Chronic lives in Romania, where he serves as regional director of Word Made Flesh for Europe and Africa.

Derek Engdahl is general director and field director of Servant Partners (www.servantpartners.org). He lives in Pomona, California.

Craig and Nayhouy Greenfield together established Project Halo and Big Brothers and Sisters ministries in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Craig is international coordinator of Servants to Asias Urban Poor (www.servantsasia.org) and the author of The Urban Halo.

Viv Grigg coordinates the Encarnao Alliance of urban poor movement leaders. He is the author of many books, including Companion to the Poor and Spirit of Christ and the Postmodern City.

John B. Hayes is general director of InnerCHANGE (www.crmleaders.org/ ministries/ innerchange) and author of Sub-Merge.

Phileena and Christopher L. Heuertz are coexecutive directors of Word Made Flesh (www.wordmadeflesh.org). Phileena is the author of Pilgrimage of a Soul; Chris is author of Simple Spirituality and coauthor of Friendship at the Margins.

Jean-Luc Krieg is field director for Servant Partners in Mexico City (www.servantpartners.org) and executive director of Transformacion Urbana Internacional.

Jos Peate-Aceves lives in San Francisco, where he serves as codirector of Communidad San Dimas for InnerCHANGE (www.crmleaders.org/ ministries/ innerchange).

Darren Prince is director of member formation for InnerCHANGE. He lives in London.

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A New Wineskin

Scott Bessenecker

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.

Charles Darwin

A s a young InterVarsity Christian Fellowship staff worker at the 1987 Urbana Student Missions Convention, I recall seeing what appeared to be a shabbily dressed homeless man in the VIP area of the auditorium. The man was mixing it up with suit-clad plenary speakers like Billy Graham and David Bryant.
How did he get into that secured area? I wondered. Later, as the guy mounted the platform to speak, I realized that the homeless man was George Verwer, founder of Operation Mobilization (OM). Like the organization he founded, Verwer was not so interested in external tidiness.