Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture

If you sometimes feel like the desire and passion to live like Jesus puts you in unusual places doing His work and you wonder if this is "authentic", this is the read for you. I do church every Sunday, but I do more church outside of church (hiking trails, gay bars and events and business networking events) and, not only am I not alone, I am in a group of exiles who worldwide are trying to follow what Jesus would be doing were He here. He is not here in the flesh and expects us to carry on. I am an exile and I felt encouraged and unified by reading this book.

I have been a Christian for over 50 years. But for many years I have felt like an outcast by the leadership of the Christian community. I got great comfort from reading this book and connecting with the fact that there are millions of people around the world who are returning to true message of Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself was an "exile" and went to the masses with His message, instead of employing the "come to us" philosphy of the modern day church. Michael Frost does an outstanding job of telling you where the modern church is going wrong and helps you to find the pathway to the missional movement.

Michael Frost is a naturally gifted communicator. He is also the Vice Principal at the Baptist College of NSW (Morling College) and there he heads up the Centre for Global Mission and Evangelism. He has written several books before although has come into international prominence through the book he co-authored with Alan Hirsch, The Shaping of Things to Come. If you are a thoroughly Christianized church going person (who for example enjoys visits to local Christian bookstores), then maybe this book is not for you. (You probably should read it but I don't want to be the one who made you mad or upset or confused) This is a strong book! But it is a truthful book and a necessary book. I can say and mean with confidence that it will either be your kind of book or it won't - there won't be many people in between! Frost has written it particularly for those who are trying to follow Jesus but find themselves on the margins of the church or for those who simply tried church and eventually gave up - therefore it is written for many, many people! The book is broken into four sections (Dangerous Memories, Dangerous Promises, Dangerous Criticism, & Dangerous Songs). The first half of the book is particularly brutal on the traditional, solid church at times but then again it isn't written for that wing of God's people. At times I struggled with his inability to find anything good with the form of church I have been in for most of the past 20 or so years (and I could name worthy things that the church has contributed in areas of justice, local charities, community, youth housing, youth work, family counseling, education, theological education, etc) but this is a prophetic book and the argument and experience of many needs to be heard. Anyway, I sense that these comments are more about helping vocalize the real experiences of many then writing off the whole institution! Frost even says that at one point. Frost's interest lies with those who want to missionally engage with a Post-Christian world rather then a Christendom past. It is a wholesome, intelligent and challenging read. It calls the reader to follow Jesus with authenticity and relevance and is the fruit of many conversations and experiences by the author in this reality. If you are an exile then this will generally be one of those books that are a bit like `coming home'. If you are in a solid church and happy with it then you will really, really struggle. You will want to throw it across the room or write all over certain pages in parts. But read on and listen to it. This is a wonderful attempt at hermeneutically reading the idea of the missional church through the lens of Post Christian culture. And that is the order that we should do our theology if we are serious about mission. But it will also explain why some of your friends have left church. And if you are a church leader (like me) then read it if for nothing else as a great guide towards pastoral care for those w

Michael challenges some of the very foundations of churchdom - and builds up the concept of having to live our lives out as Christians in the world in which we live. He might offend those who hold the existing church patterns closely, but he will certainly encourage those who want to live as Christ lived.

I understand why some reviewers prefer the first half of the book to the second. And I too wonder whether Michael Frost gets a little too prescriptive in some of his second-half pronouncements. Here's why I forgive and welcome those pronouncements: First of all, he's made it clear enough in the earlier pages that we're not to use his opinions and guidelines as a substitute for the work of making our own. Second, the issues he lists are not "liberal talking points," but concrete examples of applied discipleship. We may very well come to different conclusions, but at least we are watching someone try to say what being an exile means with very concrete examples. We wouldn't disagree (or agree, as I often do) if we didn't have some raw material to work with. For example, I think that his critique of the corporation is valid and worth considering by Christians who are active in the business world. Such Christians might be able to offer a good corrective to Frost's critique, but where else would they have even read such a critique (aka an invitation to dialogue) from an evangelical source? I think his comments on the exaggerated importance of the weekly gathering, and on the vapidity (to put it charitably) of much praise music goes a little over the top. But I'm a grown-up; I can handle a passionate commentary, agree with some of it and disagree with the rest. To those who haven't read the book yet: I highly recommend it, in part as a good extended sermon, and in part as a catalog of neglected dimensions of discipleship, some elements of which will resonate with you more than others. (The chapter on environmental stewardship is a more comprehensive summary of the issues involved than I've seen in other evangelical sources.) The "catalog" aspect is argumentative, as others have noted, and somewhat slow going, but every topic is worth considering, even if not all at once. I deeply respect the author's effort to make these real-life dilemmas of authentic discipleship accessible to his readership; the problem isn't what he says, it's how to keep the conversation going, with urgency and affection and honest conflict, beyond the fixed covers of just one book.