In my first post in this two-post series I brought up the oft-noticed problem that every church seems to have: What do we do with the “radicals” that scare everyone else in the church?

The overarching comment I made in the first post was that leaders tend to make one of two mistakes. Either they put up the “radicals” up in front of everyone, having them tell story after story (unintentionally telling everyone, “If you’re not this extreme, you’re probably not a ‘good’ Christian”) or for fear of the first thing happening, don’t do anything with them at all. Just ignore them. Most leaders I know do the latter.

The post explored the sociological reason this happens.

But that’s all setup, right? It’s time to actually explore the answer. How can we best empower these people? However, before we get to that, we probably need some definition of what I’m saying by “radical” because I suspect it means something different to me than it does to others who are reading this post.

I’m understanding a “radical” as someone who chooses to live out their faith in some of the most difficult, uncomfortable, pioneering and trying contexts because God has called them there. And doing so with joy. Are we all called to be open to living out our faith in those kinds of places? Absolutely. But not everyone is actually called to those places. However, it’s also not an excuse to live in compliant consumerism, with some skewed hybrid Prosperity Gospel (which seems to be a sort of syncretic Gospel so often prevalent in Western churches).

One other nuance I’d add that I brought up in the first post: I think the easiest way to see “radicals” is to see them operating on the most extreme edges of their 5-fold ministry base: Apostolic, Prophetic, Evangelistic, Pastoral or Teaching. Here are some historical examples for each of the 5-fold that I believe we’d probably consider “radical.”

EVANGELISTIC | The Celts
For several hundred years (particularly the 6th through the 8th centuries), the Celts were known as the perigrinati, “the wanderers for Christ.” They had a simple rhythm of life. Six months out of the year they planted their fields and harvested, the other six months they wandered throughout Europe, finding barbaric tribes, showing them Jesus, and starting village churches. Each one knew that to wonder into these tribes was to put their lives into the hands of God. Yet this was their way of life.

APOSTOLIC | John Wesley
While Wesley is known both for his large number of sermons and evangelistic outreaches, it was his ability to start things out of nothing, in extraordinarily difficult contexts, that really puts him in the Apostolic category. His class meetings, small groups and circuit riders completely re-imagined what the Early Church would look like in the 18th century. He had as many failures as successes and was doggedly disciplined in the way he led his life.

PASTORAL | Mother Teresa
It takes a special kind of person to serve the underbelly of the world each and every day. Not the worst of the worst of American society…but the dead in dying in Calcutta. That’s a different thing altogether. To do so with such grace, fortitude and resilience is simply remarkable. It didn’t hurt that she was also a quote machine. Perhaps the one that most gets at her pastoral heart was when she was asked how you know who,
when and how to help: “Do the thing in front of you.”

TEACHING | Charles H. Spurgeon
Regardless of what your personal persuasion may be to the teaching and theology of Spurgeon, there is no arguing this man was a teaching aficionado. And it’s not just the number of sermons that he wrote and delivered…it’s the sheer volume of how many of the many are still referenced to this day. It’s not like he had 5 sermons and those are the ones always quoted. It feels like they are all quoted!

PROPHETIC | The Moravians
Sure. Any number of people or movements we could put in for the prophetic. But I chose the Moravians because their prayer was for a prophetic re-awakening of the Church of Jesus Christ and they did perhaps the most difficult thing I can imagine: They committed to praying, unceasingly, until it happened. And happen it did…100 years after they began praying with the emergence of the Great Awakening. For the Moravians, they served as a prophetic witness to the greater church while never stopping to pray for and serve the wider church…and for most of them, they never saw the prayer answered in their lifetime. It was simply prophetic faithfulness.

Each of these examples gives us a window into the life of a mature radical. What I mean by that is that simply because you have a radical doesn’t mean you have a mature one, one that you’d like to see more of running around your church. In fact, I’d argue that most radicals are immature and it might be more harmful than helpful for you to empower them.

But notice what these mature “radicals” had in common:

1. They were committed to all aspects of the Christian life, not just the one they were most passionate about
2. They were held accountable and submitted to other’s authority and connected to a wider Christian body
3. Each of them served as a prophetic witness to the people of God about the heart of God
4. They didn’t expect the people of God to do exactly as they were doing, but did expect them to do something. They weren’t my way or the highway; but also asked for a response.

These seem to be some of the marks of a mature radical.

Whereas the immature radical is often marked by rebellion, a refusal to submit to anyone, is often impatient, believes their way is the only way and are generally committed to the aspect of Christian life they find most appealing. They can often be or comes across as arrogant and narcissistic.

So when we talk about empowering radicals, we are talking about either the mature ones or the ones open to learning to live into the marks of a mature radical. They must be committed to all three dimensions of Jesus’ life, not just the one they are about. It’s got to be UP (relationship with Father), IN (relationship with Body) and OUT (relationship with world). No shortcuts.

They must be submitted to someone or body of people. They can’t live in a posture of open rebellion. There is a famous verse that John the Apostle says: “If you can’t love men who you can see, how can you love your Father in heaven who you cannot see?” To me, the same is true of submission: “If you can’t submit to someone who you can see, how can you submit to your Father in heaven who you cannot see?” The submission and accountable piece is huge because it’s about character. Lasting, sustainable Kingdom breakthrough doesn’t happen without character. You are not an island, unaccountable to anyone but God. History tells us that often breeds cults.

Lastly, we recognize that not only do these radicals “do” something in advancing the Kingdom in a real way, they always serve as prophetic witness to the wider body. The key to this is not expecting everyone to live as they do, but expecting everyone to move further to the edges of what they are comfortable with. We don’t need everyone to start a movement of discipleship and mission; but we do need everyone to walk into the future of the church. We don’t need everyone caring for the dying in the slums of Calcutta; but we do need everyone caring for the last and the least. We don’t need everyone leaving fields and families in search of barbaric people groups; but we do need people always looking for Persons of Peace, those prepared in advance to receive the Gospel. We don’t need everyone to orient the entirety of their lives for 100 years around one singular prayer; but we do need everyone to hear the voice of God and respond. We don’t need everyone to write sermons that serve as commentaries hundreds of years later; but we do need everyone to be able to read and understand the Word and hold it forth as truth.

All of that being said…

I believe there are two things you can do to release and empower the radicals in your church:

1. First, invest into the immature radicals so they develop into mature radicals. Yes, this can be difficult. Yes, this can be frustrating. Yes, this may take some time. And yes, they may reject that investment (because it comes with accountability) and choose not to mature. But you need to try. One, because they are kids of the King and their dad is your dad. Two, because of what happens with the second thing they can do other than serve as prophetic witness. (see the next point)
2. Two, mature radicals have an unbelievable skill set. It’s like gold. They know how to do things that no one else know how to do. The phrase we at 3DM often use is unconscious competence. They know how to do things naturally without even having to think about it. It’s in their blood…in their spirits. They are brilliant at something and they can’t even help it! It’s amazing! And here’s the thing: If we can help them take the time to dial their skill set back to conscious competence, where they articulate what it is that they are doing and why it works, you can teach people how to do what they do!

It may not be as good as when they do it (and almost assuredly won’t be). But if I had to choose between ONE radical and ONE THOUSAND people + a mature radical…which would you pick?

If you can work with the mature radical, get them to lay out how they think, what they do by nature, allow them to work with the Early Adopters…you then get the Early Majority…and then the Late Majority…etc. It’s the same Diffusion of Ideas bell curve I discussed in the first post.

That’s the key.

If they are invested in, they can become the most important trainers in the world. They can exist as an island alone, or exist teaching in such a way that the multitudes will come to embody more of the life of Christ in them…both individually and collectively.