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"Sometimes you just can\u2019t avoid reading a book, whether you want to or not. For me, a book about the gospel mandate to reach the poor, The Irresistible Revolution, by Shane Claiborne, just can\u2019t seem to stay out of conversations. I\u2019m trying to figure out if I should read it.\n\n\r\n\rMy litmus test is taking the form of one simple question: What does Shane Claiborne want me to do? It\u2019s a direct route to the heart of the matter, a pragmatic approach that helps me gauge what people think the work is saying, and sometimes that\u2019s more important than the work itself.\n \nMy first answer came from one of my missionary friends whose modern take on monasticism led him to the House of Prayer in Kansas City. You could say he has a vision for serving the poor of the earth. I heard about Shane\u2019s book from him first and asked him point blank, \u201CWhat does Shane Claiborne want me to do.\u201D\n \n\u201CRelocate to the abandoned places of empire and be salt and light there.\u201D Do what? It turns out \u201Cabandoned places of empire\u201D is a Shane-ism for \u201Cinner city.\u201D \n \nI next asked, \u201CShane Claiborne wants me and everybody to move to the inner city?\u201D His answer: yes. He said in the first century nearly all Christians were urban Christians; the movement broke out in urban centers because that\u2019s where everybody lived. He had a point.\n \nA few days later, a 50-year-old pastor friend of mine flew in for a few days. He spent decades of service within a mainline denominational structure before he struck out to reach his community through a more organic approach to ministry and a more authentic approach to faith: he started a cell-church, the first of its kind in the college town where he ministers, and it gives him more impact with his laity and more time with his adopted daughters (the youngest of his five children). His ideologies are a far cry from the emerging movement, but he is an open thinker and longs for a manifestation of God. After I shared that I was reading a few, mostly conservative (and mostly dead) Catholic authors, we talked about the latest book that was \u201Cmessing with his stuff\u201D\u2014you guessed it, Revolution by Claiborne\u2014for the entire 45 minutes from the airport to my home. Near the end, I popped the question: What does Shane Claiborne want me to do?\n \nHe said, \u201CClaiborne wants you to open your bible, read the words of Jesus and take them literally.\u201D I did the math and understood that Claiborne was probably highlighting the \u201Cfeed the poor\u201D verses. My friend was really provoked by Claiborne\u2019s emphasis on the way Christianity shifted the boundary lines of nationality. If I am a believer in Christ and an Iraqi is also a believer, then we are truly brothers and our allegiance to one another comes long before our allegiance to our respective countries. \n \nAnother friend of mine was coincidently reading Claiborne. He recently relocated his family do a different part of the country so that he could devote more time to them. He loves Jesus and is making enough money to comfortably support his family in a quaint town in middle-America. I drove out to his house in a new development, and we had coffee while we hashed out Claiborne\u2019s ideas. Deep into the conversation I asked, to help us both clarify, \u201CWhat does Shane Claiborne want me to do?\u201D\n \nHe said, \u201CI think Shane wants you to rub shoulders with the poor; because they\u2019re everywhere.\u201D He\u2019s in the throes of considering how to make his life look less like the American Dream, and more like a witness of the Kingdom of God. To talk to him, he and his wife strive to pray together regularly and to serve everyone they come in contact with. He\u2019s got a vision to see pastors in the area develop genuine unity like John 17 insists. But now, since reading Claiborne\u2019s book, he\u2019s wondering if that\u2019s enough.\n \n We talked way too long and stayed up way to late, and at the end agreed to read each other\u2019s book recommendations. Driving home, I realized that the message the book was sending was consistent: take Jesus\u2019 exhortation to minister to the poor seriously and as the central tenet of a Gospel Lifestyle. And what Bible-believing Christian couldn\u2019t use to hear that once a month? However, authors, pastors and Christ-followers face the same challenge while attempting to rally the Church, which is to avoid the temptation to carry the revelation to its own logical end where it becomes merely their own interpretation, their own take on what Jesus is asking people to do. If it\u2019s truly the Word of the Lord it will feel more like a piercing sword than a grinding axe. But I guess I\u2019ll have to read to find out.\n \nDig Deeper:\n John 17\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.relevantmagazine.com/reject-apathy/poverty/features/1335-what-shane-wants>