Radical Sending: Go to Love and Serve

by Demi Prentiss, J. Fletcher Lowe

As congregations explore their emerging visions, they need support in “equipping the saints” for their day-to-day lives and ministries beyond the doors of the building. The Dismissal ― “go in peace, to love and serve the Lord” ― becomes as important as the Eucharist in feeding the people for the journey. But churches often fail to focus on this baptismal calling to “go” into the worlds of work, family, and community. This book fills that void, focusing on how the baptized become “go-ers,” providing practical and tested ways of fulfilling that calling. Go to Love and Serve builds on and complements the work of Stephanie Spellers’ Radical Welcome , which called congregations to move beyond diversity and inclusion to be places where the transforming gifts, voices, and power of marginalized cultures and groups bring new life to the mainline church. Each chapter is followed by discussion questions for use with small groups or for personal reflection.

192 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2015

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

"One image that may be useful is that of the church as a base camp...The church is a base camp in which a community of people gathers to reflect on life, be reminded of their identity, and make plans for exploration. From there, each person goes out during the whole week to take on that part of the mountain that is theirs to explore. The base camp exists to serve the climbing team. In itself, it is neither the goal of the expedition nor the mountain itself. The value of this image is that it affirms the importance of the community...but does not mistake the institution for the central reality. The hikers don't exist for the good of the base camp. The base camp exists for the good of the hikers."

Quote in book by Presbyterian pastor Steve Jacobsen.

I'll start this review by quoting a quote from this book--which is basically what our two intrepid authors do throughout this slim volume: string up quotes to give the book a certain vibe (like Christmas lights in a dim Mexican restaurant). They take Rev. Jacobsen's "base camp" metaphor above and never let it go. The book is repetitive: All witty puns or strained conceits or "sage" advice will be repeated. There are whole chapters identical in content. Let me just note that the base camp of this book is sloppy and trashy. Prentiss and Lowe could have used a good editor--hell, they should have used an editor.

The bigger issue I had with Radical Sending was its embrace of privilege and entitlement. Lowe's big contribution to the book is how he visits his congregants in their working world--and all of them are wealthy and white-collar. No one washes dishes. No one grooms pets while side-hustling steak-knives. Even though Prentiss and Lowe start a chapter with an excellent quote from Martin Luther: "The housemaid on her knees scrubbing the floor is doing a work as pleasing in the sight of Almighty God as the priest on his knees before the altar saying Mass," we never hear from any housemaids or blue-collar laborers in the course of the book. Rather, Lowe suggests ministers collect business cards after visiting CEO's, managers, or lawyers for a "bag lunch" and a discussion on how Christianity helps them terminate people with dignity or be "nice."

For me, this focus on material success cheapens the church, besmirches the message. Yes--we should all go out and "serve the Lord" after church. Yes--ministers should take an active interest in preparing laity to be ambassadors of Christ in the workplace. But that's all people--especially those who are not CEO's or lawyers. This book is the wealthy patting the backs of the wealthy. If you're marginalized or (gasp!) poor, what are you even doing in Lowe's congregation?