Authors Hugh Halter and Matt Smay have provided readers with something genuinely helpful in their book, The Tangible Kingdom (to be released April 2008). Halter and Smay draw upon several years of working with church leaders and church planters with the desire that churches become more missional and incarnational in their approach, regardless of whether that church is a mega-church or a house church. Perhaps more importantly, Halter and Smay have seen these principles at work in their own faith community in Denver, Adullam.
One of the things I appreciate most about The Tangible Kingdom is that, although it is clear that Halter and Smay come from a more emerging church perspective, there is no attempt to propose that this is the correct or only perspective. In fact, the authors go out of their way to be inclusive and hopeful for all churches seeking to be missional and incarnational in their focus. This bridge building not only serves them well in this book, but is a model of valuing and encouraging both sides of this often contentious subject.
The book begins with the story of a young woman, Fiona, a waitress in an Irish pub in New York City whom Halter befriends while leading a Church Planting Seminar. In a scene reminiscent of the woman at the well, Fiona greets Halter on his second visit to the pub by introducing him to the bartenders and other wait staff with the words, “This is the guy I was telling you abo
ut. You have to hear how he talks about God.” The conversations which ensue last through the night and reawakened in Halter the need and desire to be more deeply involved in the lives of people who quite possibly would never seek God in a more traditional church setting. And in the process, rediscovering that God’s desire for the church has always been that she would take the gospel to the people, rather than waiting for them to come to the church.
While the stories are stirring and truly inspiration, one of the most helpful things for me was something the authors call “The Missional Pyramid”. Taking the structure often found in churches relying upon a more attraction model, Halter and Smay quite literally turn things on their side. By doing so, I found they made a convincing argument for church as a missional people of God, coming alongside of Sojourners (Tangible Kingdom speak for those who are ”temporary, spiritually curious but disoriented God seekers”), without simply adopting the position of the culture as a whole. Another excellent conversation was contained in chapters dealing with being an incarnational community. It seems to me that the authors correctly identify individualism, consumerism and materialism as some of the primary barriers to authentic community. For them, Tangible Kingdom is an outgrowth not only of an incarnational / missional focus, but of an authentic community of Christ-followers who have these values at the core of their being.
The book closes with an admonition from the authors,
“Please don’t try to duplicate our story. We suggest you start by finding the Fionas in our world and love them until the Kingdom starts to unfold.”
Amen.
