Missional Community: Chemistry

One of the relatively new buzzwords in American Christendom is “missional community.” It is one’s sphere of daily influence. For academicians, it is often their department. The MC ‘movement’ seeks to help believers recognize the people around them everyday as their mission field, and to approach those circles as an embedded missionary.

Just as a missionary to a remote African village seeks to become part of the community first, to learn the language and customs, then integrate the Gospel into it, so should each of us. The advantage we have is that we are already part of that community. We are tied by threads of commonality, whether it is by vocation, hobby, family status, neighborhood, carpool, or whatever binds our various circles together.

Happy Birthday!

I am very excited to celebrate one year of The Scholar Redeemer. There have been readers from 72 countries totaling nearly 11,000 views of 349 posts. By far, the most popular topic was the Professor Martin Gaskell court case. Topics have ranged from meditations, devotions and random thoughts, to observations of education in general and higher ed in particular, to government interactions with education, to the educational culture to apologetics to science/faith issues and so on.

It has been a faith journey for me personally as well. Many have asked how I am able to write something every day. Often I’d sit down, usually late at night, wanting nothing more than my pillow, to face a blank screen. Without any ideas jumping to get out, I’d simply pray for God to direct my thoughts and show me things from the day that might inspire, encourage or challenge folks.

Two Minds Diverged in a Culture

The longer I am in academia, the more I see just how different of a mindset there is between ‘ordinary folks’ and ‘movers and shakers.’ This difference in worldview is there independent of the presence or absence of faith.

Both groups are acutely aware of the difference between them, and both tend to look upon the other disparagingly. The ‘movers and shakers’ (academics, politicians, etc.) are viewed by ‘ordinary folks’ as ‘elitist,’ and ‘out of touch with the real world.’ The ‘ordinary folks’ are viewed as simpletons, hics, seeing in black and white what is really shades of gray, ‘nuanced’ and ‘complex.’

Wild, Orderly Beauty

A theme in recent posts has been the wildness of God. It hasn’t been a deliberate theme, but just what I’ve been thinking about. The irony of His wildness struck me anew today as Scripture also declares how He is a God of peace and not confusion, about Paul’s call for orderly worship (same passage), His precise instructions in the Mosaic law and designs for the Tabernacle Tent and Temple. No wonder we think of Him as ‘civilized.’ But is it really any surprise that He defies our descriptions and understanding?

Similarly, it is profound to me that beauty is so important to Him. Whether we talk about the raw, wild beauty of a mountain vista or a great storm viewed across a Kansas plain, or the beauty of a well laid garden or clean lines in a edifice, there is beauty both in order and wildness.

In the same way, think of the incredible variety of foods, tastes, flavors, smells and colors around us—the koala bear eats exclusively eucalyptus, and we get everything from pub grub to Tex-Mex to Provencal cuisine and more.

Our beverages refresh us from crisp cool water, to fine aged wine to teas, coffees, and so on.

We could have ‘dog.’ Instead, we have Chihuahuas to Great Danes.

Sure, many of these examples arise through human action, but that adds to the wonder—He gave us both the resources and the creativity to discover and create.

My favorite singer, Rich Mullins (RIP) once mused that from a practical, survivalist standpoint, music is a complete waste. It serves no real purpose other than enjoyment of our spirits.

Our academic fields of study have done a pretty thorough job of turning wonder into dry jargon and statistics. In bringing order to our understanding of Creation, we often lose the wildness. No wonder (so to speak) our students are primarily interested in one number, their GPA. Numbers are how we measure success, when inspiration and passion would be more called for, even in math.

What drew us to our respective fields? Where is the wonder in our disciplines? If inspiration and passion are caught, not taught, where does that leave us as scholar-teachers? Join me in praying for the Scholar-Redeemer to breathe life into our academic endeavours.

SDG

Welcome Fellow Cats!

Let's face it--us academicians tend to be like cats. We're independent and tend to be loners, so ministering to us as a group tends to be like herding cats. Some of this seems outwardly imposed by the various demands we face by our classes, research, service, administration, family, and possible outside consulting or other obligations. We get in a rut, and tune out extraneous things, even when we sort of want to be involved, out of the fear of adding 'one more thing.'

We tend to get our spiritual encouragement on the run, and much of our information off of the web. That's where the Scholar Redeemer comes in--to address issues from a Christian, academic perspective, and to facilitate an online community for us. While this blog is targeted for faculty, it is open to academic staff, graduate students, undergraduates and, well, anyone with an interest in this breed of feline.


The title is a play on words from the book of Ruth--the kinsman-redeemer, a title often used in referring to Jesus. The higher education system is one of the most influential in the world, and those of us in it have been particularly blessed with contributing to that influence, and like all worldly systems, is in need of redemption by Christ. As the ultimate professor, teaching all of humanity about Himself, he is the Scholar-Redeemer.

Please join in through comments and emails. If you find this helpful or encouraging, please tell others.

Soli Deo Gloria