Off-Roads Disciplines by: Earl Creps

Off-Road Disciplines

Off-Roads Disciplines (O-R D) is an exploration of variegated disciplines both personal and organizational leading to unity of discipleship among the church and a culture with differing philosophical worldviews.

Earl Creps is a researcher of postmodern thought and practice with specific emphasis on the role that it will play in the mission of the church. He offers O-R D as a guide to new spiritual disciplines to be implemented in order to fulfill the mission of the church in a postmodern culture.

The first reflection point I want to discuss is the area of measurement. Dr. Creps discussed the very modern approach of measurement, counting chits to see if we are achieving success. The challenge came in determined the why of our measurement. As a church planter I am seeking to establish an assimilation process. This reading challenged me to think about the way we measure assimilation. Discipleship is based on the mission that Jesus gave the disciples in Matthew 28. The mission is making disciples. Measurement can distort the mission if it measures how many people are sitting in the Sunday morning service or Sunday school class. These measurements are not same as measuring whether or not we are measuring the growth as a result of mission. Without questioning why the numbers are what they are, we can not really measure our success in accomplishing the mission.

The second area of reflection is found in the quote, “Grace is free, mission is not.” There is a cost involved in living the mission. The example of Paul and Timothy comes to mind as an example given in the book. Timothy went to great lengths to become relevant to the world around him in order to accomplish the mission of Christ. Enduring circumcision as a grown man was no enjoyable circumstance, and yet he endured it so that he could openly minister to both Jews and gentiles. We are responsible to engage our context to openly accomplish the mission. I was challenged as to what it was costing me to accomplish the mission. Are there things in my life that automatically separate me from the mission? Could some of them be religious traditions that are not necessarily biblical Christianity? What are we willing to pay in order to accomplish the mission? Some would say that we should beware of compromising our principles and beliefs. I am not contending a compromised Christianity, but rather questioning whether there are “principles” and “beliefs” that are not biblical to begin with. Is it possible that we have gotten so used to doing Christianity in a way that separates us from truly doing what God has called us to do. For instance, I moved two years ago and at the time of my move I could not tell you my neighbor’s names. I was ashamed of that and determined to view the move as a missional experience to make Disciples of Christ. I got to know them quickly and established good relationships with them. One of them noted fairly early on that he wondered where I was all the time, because I was never home. “Never home” was viewed by him as not with my family, not enjoying life. Where was I? I was at church, doing church stuff. I was leading a drama team, going to board meetings, and participating in “Family night” (that really only separated the family into subgroups, and did not do ministry to families). I was spending just about every evening with church people, and had no interaction with anyone who had not yet become a follower of Christ. Are the things listed above bad things? No, that is not the point. The point is that doing good things was keeping me away from really accomplishing the mission among those who needed the church to be in their neighborhood; leading me to the conclusion that the church is better at being the church when we are not at church.

Finally, the issue discussed on page 171-172 of the book made the whole read worthwhile to me. Many younger ministers who desire to be missional and not interested in the traditional are contemplating their future with the A/G. I recently had a conversation with a guy who resigned himself to stay with the A/G but only in a loose affiliation, because he felt that any tight alliance would hinder him and me from remaining missional. I think the way that Dr. Creps addresses these issues is vital for our fellowship to come to grips with. I think that we have a stronger chance of being missional if we will unite and move together toward mission. That will require some changes in the current leadership structure and style among our pastors, but ultimately has a greater result than dissolution.

I loved this book. It was a great and challenging read. I have recommended it several times, because I believe that it provides a map of sorts through territory that many pastors I know are not really ready to walk through. If we are going to make disciples in the future, we need to be ready to go new places to do it. I have completely read this book in its entirety.