Exiles.

Book Review.
Frost, Michael. Exiles. Living missionally in post-Christian culture. Hendrikson Publishers. 2006
M.F.- Professor of Evangelism and Missions at Morling College in Sydney, Australia.
Comment. Henry.
Scripture is quite clear in explaining that as Christ-ones this earth is not our permanent home. As a matter of fact we are like exiles, away from our home. This concept is basic to Michael’s explanation of ‘missional living’ which is the challenge for us in our post-Christian culture. He speaks strongly to the underlying tendency for us to seem very ‘at home’ and comfortable in our ‘exile’. This book “captures the intensity, anger, wonder, heartache, clear-sightedness, and hope so many of us share in this moment of in-betweenness”. (Brian McLaren).
Christendom is over and we need to get used to it. “We have been building churches for an era that has slipped out from under us.” (7) Living in post-Christendom is rally a form of exile. As exiles we are driven by “dangerous memories, dangerous promises, a dangerous critique, and dangerous songs”. (10)
Jesus was the ultimate exile and we need to follow his model portrayed in the gospels. “Jesus thrives in his host empire while always maintaining an appropriately godly distance from it.” (38) His exile was climaxed by his death and resurrection.
Living missionally means living incarnationally. This happens primarily in “third places- the bedrock of community life”. (57) Practice the presence of God, i.e. Brother Lawrence. When we do this “the proclamation of Jesus will naturally flow from the living of an incarnational lifestyle”. (74) This a paradigm shift in evangelism.
Authentic exiles have given dangerous promises. There is the promise of authenticity which separates them from a “world of hyper-reality”. (81) This is a real challenge in an unreal world. Being perceived as not being real negates our witness. We are introduced to the concepts of “community cf communitas” (111) Communitas is experienced in a “luminal state” Victor Turner. E.g. the comradery of soldiers in battle, Four Mother’s Movement in Israel, etc. Communitas grows out of mission.
A group of believers will be a church or begin to church (verb) when they are “Trinitarian in theology, covenantal in expression, catholic in orientation, and missional in intent”. (146) Through shared meals and hospitality a strong impact can be made on those of our ‘foreign empire’. Our (secular) work has a great potential for impacting our ‘empire’.
We have an obligation “to censure the empire for its complicity in injustice, oppression, and environmental destruction”. (203) Corporations and globalization are examples of such ‘targets’. “There is at present no one expression of Christian environmentalism.” (235) History demonstrates that societies that ignore and/or abuse the environment do not survive, e.g. Khmer Empire of Cambodia.
We have an obligation to speak out against those who inflict injustice against the marginalized, through abuse and killings. The Voice of Martyrs, etc. are examples of those who speak out. To remain silent about martyrdom is criminal.
We need to have a strong stand on what the chief end of man is and how that is reflected in our lifestyle. “For the follower of God, duty is a delight.” (284) Our worship should reflect our love for God without drawing undue attention to ourselves. There can be no place in our worship for a ‘romanticized love for God’.
As exiles “our home is that place of reconciliation with God made possible by Jesus’ work on the cross and his resurrection”. (327)