Exiles

Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture

Michael Frost, in his book Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture argues that the church has to recognise that they are no longer living in the powerful positions in society, but are really exiles living under a powerful empire.

“So, this book is written to those who feel like exiles in a post-Christendom era. If you are like me, you have no stomach for calling the church back to the old ways that were developed during Christendom. … How will we practice our critical distance from our context? How will we express our radical promises to this world? As mentioned earlier, we must begin by casting ourselves back to our most wonderful, but dangerous, memories. We must begin with the example of Jesus himself. Before we begin strategizing or scheming, we twenty-first century Christians most reposition ourselves chiefly, first and foremost, as people of the way of Christ.”

He outlines four ways in which the ‘church in exile’ is able to give voice against the current ‘empire’. We have 1)dangerous memories, 2) dangerous promises, 3) dangerous criticism, and 4) dangerous songs. We are, argues Frost, fueled by the memories of what God has done in the past. Our ability to continue our action in the world, a world which is no longer amenable to our faith, comes only when we remember the actions of God in the past. After remembering God’s incredible actions in the past, we can have faith in the incredible promises that he has given us. Trusting in these promises allows us to provide criticism to the empire in areas which do not fit up to these promises. Finally, our journey toward realising these promises will be accompanied with the songs of longing and hope that have fuelled countless revolutions in the past.

I agree with Frost’s assessment of the Church no longer as the powerful player in an increasingly secular society. I also agree that we need to find other ways to engage the culture around us. The current relationship between the Christian faith and wider culture is probably the closest it has ever been to the early church, a relationship of tension if not outright hostility. For us to witness to the amazing, life changing power of Christ, we need to draw on all of the things that Frost discusses.

However, there are a number of times that I found it difficult to figure out if the ‘exiles’ Frost was referring to was all believers, or simply those who have left the traditional structures of the church. Numerous times it almost seemed as though Frost was addressing believers who had left the church as ‘exiles’ while the ‘empire’ included the traditional forms of Christianity. This, I would argue, is a poor construct of the current state of the Christian faith. We need more unity, not more disunity.

That being said, I was fed by Frost’s commitment to authentic growth and interaction with the culture in which we live.

In all our talk about exiles in a post-Christendom empire, we must not lose sight of the fact that we indeed have found our way home, led there by our trusted guide and Saviour, Jesus. Even though our culture has drifted as far from the things of God as had Babylon or Rome, our citizenship belongs across the Jordan. We carry home in our hearts. For our home is that place of reconciliation with God made possible by Jesus’s word on the cross. and in his resurrection.

Too often Frost forgets this fact and talks as though we are still waiting for our return home. We are never really exiles. Given this fact, Frost offers a great resource for those who are looking for a way to understand the shift within Western Christianity, and have a strong response to the culture.