[the monkey and the fish] closing thoughts

by Dave Gibbons

I started writing The Monkey and the Fish about five years ago. It’s beautiful to see how the nomenclature and some of the ideas are starting to take root in the streams of American evangelicalism. Third culture is not just a fad, a cool thought, another ministry strategy, or some professorial droning. Third culture is part of the old and new realities of our world. It’s part of the old as evident in how God awakened third culture type of individuals to lead movements throughout the Scriptures. These were unique people who were able to weave in and out of multiple groups with adaptive skills. You look at Moses, Paul, and Jesus. They knew how to engage the bourgeois or the outcasts. They were liquid. Paul said, “I’ve become all things to all men. . .” Jesus said literally, “I’m the living water.” So third culture isn’t new. Bruce Lee didn’t originate the idea. Missiologists would call third culture “contextualization.”

In terms of the new realities, there has been a shift from hard power to soft power. The leader of the present and the future has this soft power mindset and skill. Hard power emphasizes military might or strength. Soft power is about the “influence of attraction” as Harvard professor Joseph Nye refers to it. Leaders like Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Billy Graham and President Obama embody soft power. And of course, there is no greater leader than Jesus who described himself as “meek and gentle”. Moreover, He was a friend of sinners, a lover of the misfits, the healer of the sick and the one who blessed his enemies. He entered multiple domains not as part of a visitation ritual but a way of life. It was painful obedience and adaptation.

Walter Brueggemann writes about orientation, disorientation and a new orientation when it comes to the movements of life as reflected in the Psalms. Basically, his premise is when one comes to the new orientation rhythm of life, this isn’t one going back to their original orientation but in fact, an entirely new place perhaps with some old characteristics. This is the age we live in now. It’s a new orientation, a new reality. Elements of the old are present but a different kind of terra firma now exists. Each generation’s task is to communicate the gospel in a way that connects with their generation. It’s an art and part of flowing with the Spirit.

The questions and principles raised in The Monkey and the Fish I hope will help to guide the church through the dramatic political, economic, cultural and religious shifts of our day and in the future. Thanks to Dan King and the crew for sharing their thoughtful reflections and insights! I loved your interactions!

May God allow us to be a part of that mighty river of radical love flowing with the nations and cultures of the world!

Dave

 

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[the monkey and the fish] chapter 7: ripples

by Mike Fullerton

Gibbons segues into this chapter from cWoWs with a quote from John F. Kennedy. It’s worth repeating a bit of it here,

“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

In chapter 7, Ripples, Gibbons brings together a number of church influencers to get their input and thoughts on four topics. The topics are 1) the third-culture concept, 2) crisis in the church, 3) other big issues facing the church and 4) third-culture ministry movements. The topics provide a tapestry for open discussion and thought provoking snippets from the participants. It would be interesting to gather some leaders in your own context and have the same topical discussion with them.

The participants that Gibbons connects with are amazing influencers in various spheres of the church today. A wide generational span exists and their backgrounds cover the globe. Brennan Manning (a personal favorite author and speaker), Jim Gustafson, Dave Brubaker, Benny Yu, Adam Edgerly, Mehta Kriengparinyakij, Steve Peters, Yo Warong, Jamie Strombeck and Peter & Patricia Dewitt are the willing discussion group. Gibbons explains they are each committed to Jesus-focused ministry. They love the gospel; they love the church and believe in her. They want to see the church thrive into the next century (pg. 153).

Each topic brings comments from this group that expresses a collective excitement for the cultural connectedness that we are beginning to see in the church. Each topic also highlights issues that must be addressed by the church. We get to see some pictures of people in the midst of living out what a third-culture church might look like. You will not see a model developed here to reproduce, but an encouragement to ask some questions of your neighborhood and city. When you ask these questions you may find in the answers some things you and the fellow believers you hang out with can do to live the gospel with this third-culture perspective in mind.

The chapter wraps up with a brief exercise and a prayer that is offered from the participants, however, the reader that is moved by the comments can very easily adopt this as plea of their own to God. Ultimately, the ripples that are created by a move in the third-culture direction by followers of Christ (and therefore the church) offer the freedom that Christ came to give us (Psalm 119:45, Isaiah 61:1, Luke 4:18 & 2 Corinthians 3:17 are cited by Gibbons, pg. 172). We do not need another church model, church growth book or church conference on how to repackage or re-imagine the Gospel, we just need to operate in the freedom we have been given by Christ to love our neighbors and make this our daily prayer and commitment. In doing this, the church (you and I), will begin to create ripples in the water that soon will become waves of change across the world.

 

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About the author:

Mike is married to Debbie and is the father of Emily and Zechariah. He attended Seattle Bible College, Regent University and Fuller Theological Seminary. He youth pastored for fourteen years in Everett, WA, just north of Seattle until he and his family moved to Washington, DC to start The Well, a church in the Georgetown area of DC. Mike spends his spare time rock climbing and bike riding. Mike’s journey has taught and is teaching him that a missional faith embraces God’s creativity, God’s call for reconciliation and God’s role as redeemer of the world.

[the monkey and the fish] chapter 6: cWoWs: everyone plays

by Jesse Giglio

This chapter repeatedly gave me goosebumps in the way only an encounter with complete resonance can.  Every other page had me thinking “yes, yes, yeah, right” almost to a fault as was difficult at times to actually slow down and read!

Dave Gibbons takes us the around the world and to the past, present and future addressing the need for church leaders to acknowledge the resource and necessity of its forgotten and neglected.  Its people.  Would be practitioners kept on the sidelines.  Weʻre taken on a story that begins in the 1500′s with the (r)evolution known as Martin Luther to the present reality of Los Angelesʻ “Skid Row”.  We hit the pubs of London and a party in Bangkok.  There’s voices being shared from Wall Street and JFK to Malcolm X and Rob Bell.  There’s Shakira, Kimera and Sequoyah…  all adding up to just the beginning.

Dave takes us through Third-Culture, providing examples that are more suggestive than prescriptive, customized with the ebbs and flows of the particular culture or subculture.  The stories serve less as new ideas but more as reminders of who we already are…or should be.

The chapter opens with the conflict and asks the question of,  “what is it about the church the prohibits liquid movement and open participation?”  Not a new question but not one that has been answered either.  Sometimes we need to keep asking the right questions until we get to the right answers.  The church is seemingly built on a system that prohibits liquid growth and prevents collaboration as well as, ready for this…community.  Yet we expect the behavior of the people to work contrary to the system we operate under.  Dave is asking us to move into systems without walls, places where “everyone plays”.  Spiritual work is not reserved for pastors.

We’re then shown, not told, a series of Third-Cultures initiatives flourishing here and abroad.  Each unique, each flowing with its respective culture.  Third-Culture expressions don’t come in a box and they canʻt be ordered online.

The chapter finishes having gone from big picture problem and big picture answer to calling out the artists necessary to create new life on the canvas known as the world.  These artisans are the new ABCʻs.

Artists: Prophets, Innovators, and Conversationalists

Businesspersons: Access, Networks, Fuel

Community-Development Specialists: The Builders

Pastors should be providing a platform for these personalities to create and flourish.  To allow the lines of critical disciplines to blur and for the history of humanity to be shaped by the work of Jesus therein.

Now itʻs time to go find the flow.

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About the author:

Jesse Giglio loves stories, at least good stories but then again thatʻs why we have bad ones…so we can tell. He thinks life is meaningful. Sometimes the way we live it is not. He’s a teaching pastor and mission architect in Southern California. But prefers activist and raconteur. His church isnʻt too big and isnʻt too small but itʻs not just right either. Itʻs probably a lot like yours.

Jesse Giglio Blogs

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[the monkey and the fish] chapter 5: three questions that become the answers

by Tom Wilhoit

My assignment was to read Chapter 5 of the book The Monkey and the Fish by Dave Gibbons.  The title of the chapter is “Three Questions that Become the Answers”.  I could relate to Dave as he shared about his excitement of hearing a guest speaker and anticipating what the speaker was to share on.  He wanted to walk away with a bullet list of ideas and concepts that he could immediately plug in and enhance his life and ministry.  However, the guest speaker didn’t come with answers but questions which kind of irritated Dave a bit until he realized that his answers were in the questions.  Dave explained how he learned then the art of asking the right questions in order to find the right answers.  I must admit that as I think about all of the things I am involved in as a husband, father, and pastor, it makes sense to really come up with a list of questions as to why am I doing the things I am doing and how does God want me to proceed from here. This thought provoking process can help us from just being busy to becoming more effective and fulfilled.  Dave went on to talk about current trends and how so many are going away from organized church.  It’s important during these times that we begin to consider our ways and how we can best reach this and future generations for Christ.  To do this effectively, Dave has come up with three questions that have become his foundation for life and ministry.

The first question is “Where is Nazareth?”  This is a question that may have been asked many times in Jesus’ times.  Nazareth was not a highlight for the sightseeing tourists of the day.  It was considered the place on the “other side of the railroad tracks”.  Yet, this is the place that Jesus chose to grow up in.  He chose to identify with the misfits and outcasts.  He did not look for the healthy and wealthy but for the down and outers.  Jesus reminds us that He did not come to save those who were well, but those who were sick.  This was the basis for his ministry.  Dave encourages us to consider the question, “where is our Nazareth?”  In other words, who are the down and outers in our city or region.  Who are the weak and least amongst us?  This does not just mean the physically poor and hungry, but those who are also poor in the spirit, those who, like the Laodiceans, feel like they have it all yet they are destitute, and they don’t even know it!  These are people that Jesus Himself would be drawn to.  1 Cor. 1:26-29 (NLT) reminds us that “God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important, so that no one can ever boast in the presence of God.  So this first question helps us begin the process of helping us establish if we are really doing the work of the Lord.  Sometimes it is so easy to minister only to those who step into our churches, people who look and act just like us.  It’s important for us to consider this question as we continue our ministry. 

The second question is “What is My Pain?”  That is, what is it about us that has caused us suffering?  Where have we felt injustice or been hurt?  Dave makes a great point in saying that people seem to be able to identify more with our pain and suffering than all of our great accomplishments or talents.  In my 25+ years of ministry I must agree with him.  People may not be able to relate to all the things that we do well but everyone has pain in common.  As I always say, we all have our sad stories.  We all can relate to one another in this way.  In fact, even as a nation, we seem to come together best through our tragedies.  Too bad that sort of unity does not last too long.  It is refreshing to see.  Christ Himself did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.  He chose the way of suffering. Most of the disciples also took the road of suffering.  Yet, in our generation, we pump out more books and sermons about how to have a prosperous life than ever before.  I am not advocating that we should all be poor but we must never neglect the importance of giving our all to Christ and that this sometimes brings us to the road of suffering and hardship.  Dave comments on how he is more equipped for ministry because of this road of suffering in his past.  For me, I can say the same thing.  I had an alcoholic, abusive father and had to endure wetting the bed until I was 15 years old.  I had such a hard time understanding this growing up.  But as I began sharing my testimony with young people during my later teen years I could quickly see how God was using this to bring many to Him.  I could tell you wonderful stories of how God has used my testimony to radically change people.  As we consider the question of our pain, remember that as we go through things in life, sometimes our hardship is God’s way of molding our hearts, or giving us opportunity to better relate to others.  The key however, is that we have allowed Jesus to heal us and to work through the pain, that we have not allowed the journey on he road of suffering to kill us.   I have seen so many who have endured hardship, yet, come through it for the glory of God and now they have such a great ministry because of this process.

The last question is “What is in My Hand”.  He relates the story of Moses in Exodus 4:1-5.  God asks Moses “what do you have in your hand?”  God goes on to perform miracles with Moses’ staff.  Yet Moses seems focused more on what he doesn’t have than what he does have.  I think we can all pretty much relate to this!  It’s so easy to say, “but God, it’s not fair!”  I have said that, not realizing the tremendous blessings that He has always given me.  Dave reminds us that “everything we need is within our reach and within His reach”.  It’s so easy for us to focus on what we don’t have for ministry.  We can quickly make out that list.  Yet, how often do we come to realize what He has given to us and how much have we done with what He has bestowed upon us?  “God takes what we have in our hand and turns it into something powerful to show us and the world that He is there and is working and is with us”. 

So the question comes to us, what is in our hand?  We must take personal inventory of what the Lord has already given us, and relate this to our life story as we minister to those in Nazareth all around us.  As I consider future pursuits in life and ministry I will try to be guided by these questions so that I stay close to the heart of God and that I can truly make an impact in my city for Jesus.  I pray you will also do the same.  May God grant you favor and wisdom as you follow Him with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength!

 

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About the author:

Pastor Tom Wilhoit is the husband to Rhoda, and father to Chandler and Summer. He serves as the Associate Pastor of Fellowship of Believers Church in Sarasota, FL. He is also currently acting as Youth Pastor, a former role of his that he particularly cherishes! He has a strong heart for outreach and reaching the lost and hurting, particularly in the beautiful city of Sarasota. And… he really likes hot chocolate.

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