Covenant Community
YesterdayMay 25 at 12:48pm
Lingenfelter’s Covenant Community and Christ in Mission
A good starting point to discussing Lingenfelter’s “primary outcome for covenant community” is to define covenant community. In citing Reverend Brent Bickhart of the Covenant Community Church of Lake County, Boyd (1998) noted that a covenant community is not “a church that is top-heavy with politics and bureaucracy, but one that has a simple structure” where the priority is for the church “to reach the unchurched and not to just be the hot church where people go when they are not satisfied in the church they are presently attending.” Here the key word is “unchurched.” Lingenfelter referenced two important stories that can substantively highlight the dismal outcome if the unchurched is not brought into the fold of Christ. The narrations behind Jim, the manager of intercultural community work in New Guinea in 1995, labeled as the Strawberry Project and Galen and Kate in Eurasia on a Church Planting mission, validate Lingenfelter’s claim that a covenant community cannot be characterized by an exclusive focus on the “project game” but, instead, must be working toward making the “unchurched” see the Christian in their work.
Jim was successful in transforming a local strawberry business into a profitable one that benefited the locals. What he was not doing that a covenant community must do was that he did not let the locals see the value of not “cheating” (p.69). It was culturally acceptable that they cheat. In the case of Galen and Kate in their attempt at Church Planting, they succeeded in making disciples out of their Singaporean followers and others but failed in making leaders out of them. The overarching question is why? The response will take us to who is the ultimate example of a good Christian leader. In Mark 10:45, it is written: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jim left the strawberry locals and Galen and Kate could not hold on to their members because of they (Galen and Kate) was the vision of everything that they wanted and not how the community must be shaped. It was about their “project game” and Lingenfelter is absolutely on target that such behavior only courts disaster when Christ is not the mission.
In the First Baptist Church of Boynton Beach, everything it does is suffused with Christ; He is the common denominator in every activity. Nothing is isolated in theory. Christ is the “project game.” A ministry is a platform to demonstrate a covenant style relationship with Christ. Regardless of who is granted leadership, it must not be a leadership that evolves over time, but leadership that remains constant within the leadership image of Christ. At the Kids Ministry of First Baptist Church of Boynton Beach, I lead by serving, and in that service I let all my followers share the value of Christ, and that it is no different from how I experience Christ in my life. I strive to create one Christ-like image of Christ in the Kids Ministry, and that cultural differences can all be fused into what Christ represents: Oneness. Everyone lives and breathes the biblical paradox of leader and servant at the same time.
From the failures of Jim, Galen and Kate in only focusing on their “project games” and not “Christ in mission” it becomes obviously and lucidly clear that covenant community allow teams to work more effectively in the long run. As long as Jim, Galen and Kate were there to manage and oversee operations, things were doing well. This was all in the short run. Covenant community is not defined as a short term or short run existence but one that serves its members permanently by aligning them with Christ. Therefore, covenant communities will ensure members free themselves from their cultural, isolationist behaviors and embrace a lasting communal togetherness. When Jim left the strawberry growers, they reverted to their cheating ways which is what they knew to do best in business. Had Jim shifted the focus from simply running a successful business to running a business based on Christ in mission, then the strawberry would have been a long term success story for the locals in New Guinea. This did not happen. The business collapsed when he departed. In addition, a covenant community does not impose its authority over authors; it is not dictatorial or authoritarian. It is a community built on Christ. When it functions and presents itself with such transparency then it will prevent any conflict from occurring as in the case of Galen and Kate where members abandoned and broke away to form their own community. Christ is about oneness and breaking away works against this. The covenant community certainly insulates against all of this which is why it is the best long term direction for any church to model itself after as it evangelizes the mission of Christ.
References
Boyd, B. (1998). “Covenant community is ‘church done differently.” ProQuest: Retrieved from https://www-proquest
Lingenfelter, S.G. “Leading Cross-culturally: Covenant Relationships for Effective Christian Leadership.” Retrieved from https://app.wordsearchbible.lifeway.com/workspace.
MacDonal, J.B. (2018). “What is Jesus’ core teaching on leadership?” Retrieved from https://www.biblicalleadership.com/blogs/jesus-on-leadership/
Read Less
4:24pmMay 26 at 4:24pm
The case study of the infamous wasted strawberries is a great example of how a western believer, with the best of intentions, saw a problem and moved ahead unilaterally to solve it. Strawberries were regularly wasted when they could have been sold to improve the lifestyle of the local believers. Instead of Jim’s idea being welcomed and appreciated, his task of organizing people into a cooperative market was met with resistance at every turn, revealing a very deep-seated clash of values (Lingenfelter, 2008, pp. 67ff). One can almost feel Jim’s frustration when he was thwarted by the norms of self-interest and dishonesty, when his desire was to help. Regardless of Jim’s motivation, his focus on profit caused him to miss an opportunity for the believers to live out their identity and potential in a Christ centered community. By changing his focus, Jim would not condone ungodly values. He would begin to pave a path where those values could surface and be addressed in the context of compassion, forgiveness, and overall godly mission. Leadership is essential for any community to develop a body of Christ mindset.
In describing what that focus shift might look like in my own ministry context, I would like to go back a few years when I oversaw and was the primary teacher in a home church Bible fellowship. Over the years, we became less focused on reaching others with the gospel of Christ and found ourselves falling into a predictable routine. I personally enjoyed the opportunity to regularly teach. It was the main way I contributed to those who attended. I was good at it, so it was easy for others to default to me. At the same time, I became frustrated with the lack of contributions from others and their apparent inward focus. I knew I was part of the problem but seemed to be batting close to zero to make valuable changes with anything I tried. It was really that experience that prompted me to continue my studies in Christian leadership. Lingenfelter has added more insights to my understanding. My vision needed to be one that reflected our calling as the body of Christ, members in particular, honoring one another, each one making unique and invaluable contributions (King James Bible, 2009, 1 Corinthians 12:12-27).
Like any group of people, this home church was multi-cultural because everyone came with different expectations and values. Instead of moving ahead on my assumptions, I would have served the group better had I asked questions about how each person saw him or herself in the body of Christ and what we could do together so that we would all have opportunities to utilize our gifts. Dialogue could include exchanging thoughts on our purpose and mission and how best to fulfill those. That might have included exploring the home church structure with a willingness to adapt it if it had become mutually unsatisfying. Having come out of a tradition that emphasized high quality teaching as the way to know God, I allowed it to become the primary task, when, in reality, it was only part of the overall picture. As I think back on some of the group, I can anticipate that there would have been more emphasis on sharing time together as a family outside of the meetings and in meaningful and heartfelt times of corporate prayer. The joy of being together would have been fruitful for all of us.
In the short run, developing a covenant community is time consuming and frustrating for results- oriented people. Making rules and establishing procedures seem to be more expedient. However, compliance is short-lived and does not empower others. By developing a covenant community, we are acting more as the body God has called us to be, with Christ as the head. I think of the cells in our physical bodies. Each one must do certain things to maintain its own life as well as contributing to the overall well-being and life of the system to which it belongs. Developing a covenant community is built on trusting God. There is no guarantee of obtaining the results we think we want. However, we cannot accomplish God’s vision alone. Love always takes more time and involves more risk. It is worth it because love draws others to God and His Son. Humility, meekness, patience, and loving forbearance will forge a bond of peace that will supersede cultural and theological differences (King James Bible, 2009, Ephesians 4:1-3).
References
King James Bible (2009). R. L. Allan & Son Publishers Ltd. (Original work published 1839)
Lingenfelter, S. G. (2008). Leading cross-culturally. Baker Academic.
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