ReJesus - Hirsch and Frost

I just finished Hirsch and Frost's new collaborative effort, "Re-Jesus; A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church" and thought it was a fun, challenging, and insightful read.

Throughout church history there have been many "back to the foundations" type movements. The church heritage that I come from (Restoration Movement) was one of these. These movements emphasize the throwing off the unhelpful layers of church tradition and practice that have built up over the years and get back to being a New Testament Church. Part of this is a result of a general naivete of what the first century church looked like (have they read 1 Corinthians?). But part of it is a genuine desire to clear the way for people to know Jesus and to not be hindered by the crap that can get in the way.

In a sense this is what Hirsch and Frost have attempted to do in ReJesus. The difference however is their starting point. Many "back to the beginning" movements (and many of us pastors) start with making changes in or adjusting our ecclesiology. The authors take things back a few steps and start with Christology which they contend must be prior to our missiology or ecclesiology. And it is for this reason that I think they are on to something that, while we'll always be readjusting and recalibrating, would bring powerful change and break down some of the barriers for people trying to find their way back to God.

To read a sample chapter click here. 

Some other sites of interest:

Alan Hirsch's Blog

Michael Frost's thingy.