Barefoot Church

Now, I would be amiss to not acknowledge where I first heard of the words barefoot church and how they’re placed together.  A wonderful author and speaker named Brandon Hatmaker wrote an incredible book entitled; you guessed it, Barefoot Church.  It was such an encouragement to me as well as many others I’m sure.  If that wasn’t enough, his wife Jen then came out with a book entitled 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess.  I haven’t read his wife’s book but I am assured by many people that it is well worth the read and simply hilarious and convicting at the same time.  Needless to say, I look up to both of these individuals and especially as a couple of what I want my future marriage to look like.  Obviously it won’t be in the same capacity, but they are inspiring as a couple who has made a significant difference in their views on Jesus and the church and actually changed as a result and helped others do the same.  First starting with their home church but then to other churches across the Western world including my own and I’m very grateful to them for sharing their lives through their books and talks.

Anyways, the whole premise of Brandon’s book is that he and his wife heard a sermon by Shane Claiborne one night.  Now, if you’ve ever heard Shane speak, you know that he has a certain way of making you feel extremely uncomfortable and at the same time challenging you to grow deeper in your relationship with Christ and others as a result of that primary relationship.  As the story at the beginning of the book goes, Brandon and his wife had just bought each other brand new cowboy boots or maybe just really nice boots, I can’t remember to be honest.  Either way, it just so happened to be that Shane had asked a local homeless ministry what they most needed right at that particular moment.  They replied that homeless people always were in need of new shoes.  It turns out they wear out often if you wear them all day every day and walk everywhere you go.  Anyways, Brandon and Jen were a little reluctant and regretful at first that they had worn their nice new boots.  Later on though, they were really humbled as their whole world had been turned upside down.  That was a defining life moment for them and their soon to be new ministry.

 

As a side note, I remember the first time I heard Shane speak at a National Youth Worker’s Convention.  I was really inspired by what he had to say and as a result bought several copies of the book they were selling at the event entitled The Irresistible Revolution.  I thought that naturally all of my friends should receive a copy of the book so they could be impacted in the same way I had been.  Let’s just say that it ended up some were impacted while others said they loved the part where it said Jesus was a human and had bowel movements just like the rest of us.  Sometimes certain books just connect better with certain types of people I guess, right?

In addition, I have followed Shane ever since, reading almost everything he has written as well as watching some great documentaries that he and some friends put out under the heading Another World is Possible that deal specifically with poverty, war and the environment I think.  He puts out a ton of great stuff and many people hate him for bringing a different perspective.  This is pretty common in the faith; someone comes along with a view that threatens the status quo and theology of the day and he’s instantly labeled a heretic.  Whether it was Martin Luther, Galileo and Copernicus, MLK Jr. or whomever, the dominant majority of Christians generally don’t like it when someone comes along and interrupts the status quo of faith that they have come to stake their lives on. 

He and Tony Campolo, another heretic of today that I love reading and listening to, recently came out with a new book entitled Red Letter Christians that I want to get my hands on and even read the first four chapters in Barnes and Noble before I left.  At this point though I just can’t justify anymore book purchases until I read through some of the ones I already have either in print edition or on my Kindle.  I tend to read halfway through most books, but I haven’t even managed to do that much in many of my newer book purchases.

Sorry for the rabbit trail, I tend to do that when I blog for some reason.  In addition to writing the Barefoot Church book, a group then took that book and turned it into something called The Barefoot Church Primer that my community group was privileged to go through.  It is a difficult read to say the least, especially if you grew up in the church and were used to small groups and youth groups focusing on Bible studies almost solely and missions as a side note if addressed at all.  In the primer, it challenges you to do several things.  Sometimes it challenges you to make dinner for your friends who don’t know Jesus.  Other times it encourages you to think of existing ministries or programs that are already doing things in your community that you have a heart for.  Brandon says it might just be better to come along someone who is already involved in a community service as opposed to starting a new one altogether.  Obviously, there are pros and cons to either starting something new or joining an already existing ministry or program, but joining, God forbid, a secular organization, who is involved in a social justice issue might do more to help your witness than recreating the wheel and using additional funds for the same thing.

One of the few places that I haven’t been barefoot in Yangon happens to be where we gather for church.  This strikes me as weird to say the least.  We are barefoot in our homes and workplace, but not at church.  I can only assume it has more to do with practicality than with anything else, but it confuses me nonetheless.  Let me admit to you that I am a big fan in tearing down the artificial walls that we have created distinguishing between the secular and sacred.  Everything is sacred, the Jewish people didn’t know the concept of a spiritual life versus the rest of your life, as if it could be compartmentalized and only brought out for special occasions and with certain people.  We are to do everything unto the Lord, whether that is drinking coffee in the morning, praying or working.  Brother Andrew referred to it as “practicing the presence of God.”  I love that idea.  If you’ve never read the book, he says that even washing the dishes can become a sacred act depending on Who we choose to focus on while we’re doing that job or anything else.

As I break this down further, this concept of everything being sacred and not just our so called spiritual lives, allow me to include something before going much further.  I am not in any way trying to disrespect what others believe in regards to their spiritual life.  I’m simply trying to persuade people to think of their spiritual lives in a more all-encompassing way.  We are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices after all, right?  Jesus is reconciling all things to Himself, right?  Alright, with that in mind please oblige me to walk further along this road.

If we only address the spiritual side of people and neglect all other parts of them, we are doing them and ourselves a terrible disservice.  This is bad theology in the least and quite damaging in the worst.  Rwanda was considered a great example of how evangelism had spread successfully throughout a nation.  Then the genocide happened.  If our evangelism efforts are primarily concerned with the afterlife and where you go after you die, then we are leaving out a huge part of the gospel. 

Jesus came to bring good news to the poor, set the prisoner free and make the blind see.  He didn’t simply come to rescue us from this world so that we might spend eternity with Him when we die.  He is very concerned with our lives right now and even expressed this concern when He teaches His disciples to pray along the lines of, “Your will on earth, as it is in heaven.”  The false dichotomy expressed by this line of thinking is concerning to me.  Of course, I could be way off there since I’ve heard that view expressed by many people who have various advanced degrees from seminary.  I’m sure they could quote a million and one verses to support the fire insurance gospel, but I think they’re missing the heart of the matter. 

I can understand that emphasis from various scriptures, but I’m more than a little concerned that condemnation is being used to convert people when God said He sent His one and only Son to save the world.  He then goes onto say He did not come to condemn the world but to save it.  Telling people they’re lying, thieving and an adulterous people may have some short term success but it’s hardly a way to keep a disciple close to Jesus.  Jesus usually saved those harsh words specifically for the Pharisees anyways, which should be of major concern to me and other people who teach from the Bible by the way. 

The Old Testament prophets said those exact words in relation to Israel; Hosea was even commanded to redeem his prostitute wife to show how God redeems His people Israel.  Keep in mind this was in relation to Israel though, not America or any other current day country.  Prophets are still needed to speak against governments to be sure as well as churches but I’m pretty sure prophets are usually sent to rebuke God’s chosen people, right?  Again, I could be way off there due to previously mentioned reasons.

Love God and love others is misunderstood as loving others means primarily to worry about their eternal salvation as opposed to loving them in the here and now, right where they are.  Jesus will not ask us if we shared the Biblical gospel with others when we face judgment as one of my friends suggested in a status update.  He will know however what we did to the least of these and as a result what we did to Him.  Then He will separate the sheep and the goats accordingly.

With all this in mind, what should our emphasis be as a barefoot church?  Should we focus on meeting felt needs as was the case in the social gospel?  Should we focus on sharing the gospel as we understand it, focusing not on physical needs but spiritual needs as some argue fairly convincingly?  I happen to believe we need to focus on meeting the needs of every person in relation to what those needs are.  Some people need bread because they are physically poor.  Others need to hear that Jesus died for them because they are spiritually poor.  We are all poor on some level though, we need to start from that understanding.  We are all broken in some way, trying to make our way back to oneness with God through Jesus.  Ultimately, we must realize that some are called to plant the seed, some are called to water the seed and more importantly Jesus causes the plant to grow.  Sometimes planting and watering look different, but in every case we need to be careful to express that Jesus’ burden is light instead of making others twice a son of hell as ourselves.

In conclusion, being barefoot reminds me of many childhood memories but even some in college and afterwards.  I can remember going barefoot in a state park in college and persuading my friends to do the same as we threw a Frisbee around.  The grass felt incredible to say the least.  It isn’t like the Florida grass that I’ve grown accustomed to over the past 8 years.  It’s soft and makes you somehow feel more alive than usual.  The same can be said of how the sand at Siesta Key Beach feels between your toes when you’re able to get away on a weekend day or night as I often prefer due to the lack of people.  Being barefoot reminds us of what it feels like to truly be alive.  Whether that’s in regard to our individual lives or our lives corporately as the church, being barefoot breathes life into our parched lives.  May we remember to live barefoot, both literally and figuratively, both individually and corporately, both personally and publicly.