Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Complete Foreword by John Smith

Follows is the complete foreword of 17 Irritating Laws of Followship:Rediscovering what it means to follow the radical Jesus which is due for release mid-October. The foreword was written by John Smith; significant Australian evangelist and pioneer of Christian social justice around the world. John was responsible for starting God's Squad Christian Motorcycle Club in the late 60's, (an international organisation now of which he is still International President); and Concern Australia, a Christian social justice organisation based in Melbourne which commeced it's work during the 1970's. John is still a vibrant and sought after voice and speaks regularly around the world on issues of Christian faith in gloal political and social justice contexts.

FOREWORD

Not many stand up comics are orthodox and innovative at the same time. Mark is solid in his biblical orthodoxy but delightfully disturbing, and against the ecclesiastical government of the hour. But then when you write about the Jesus view of the world, you must be conserving ancient values and rebelling against popular opinion at the same time. That style brought Jesus’ short career to an abrupt end. This is an age of celebrated narcissism in the marketplace and the church. Mark has no more time for these aberrations than Jesus did.

Rather than a sustained argument, this is an exhilarating collection of very readable, somewhat contentious, but certainly exhilarating thoughts, on a wide variety of very relevant subjects related to true discipleship. Or maybe we should say that discipleship includes an authentic commitment to Jesus’ radical way of seeing the world in its current state. That means being part of a resistance movement that believes Jesus was right, and anything contrary to his example is wrong.

I like controversy. I hate writers pandering to the line of least resistance. I need more conversation with my friend concerning leadership. I once attended a conference entitled Every-one’s a leader. Frankly it was nonsense. I was glad to conflict just a tad in my mind with this. Because one is outstanding in performance does not necessarily equate with leadership. It meant that Mark had my attention and made me think again. Having said that, I recognize his primary point is a great insight. Mark’s proposition that at a discipleship level one never graduates from following behind Jesus is a rarely understood reality. Discipleship in ancient times was somewhat similar to true apprenticeship. The master teacher was always the master even if the apprentice had learned his lessons excellently. Following Jesus is forever. There is no graduate certificate, just a life-long commitment to emulate the master teacher.

Leadership is often displayed in contemporary preaching and tele-evangelism as a self-indulgent privilege – an ambitious climb to commanding influence and corporate success. Successful religious leadership is increasingly displayed as justifiable first-class air- fares and conspicuous housing and market driven consumption. Mark has rightly called us to get our hands dirty for others, to accept self-denial as a part of discipleship, and the see-saw of success and suffering as part of reality in a broken world.

Certainly his concept of followship, not just fellowship, is a stroke of brilliance. Follow me is a repeated challenge in the Gospels, yet most conservative Christians seem to think Ye must be born again is the only thing Jesus said. Mark calls us to follow Jesus, not just boast a revivalist experience. Issues that we often avoid are exposed with humour, courage, engaging story-telling, and clarity of mind. This is a necessary and stimulating read. If all it does is place Jesus in the centre of life’s ambitions and contradictions it will be worth considerable effort entailed in such broad strokes of his artistic brush.

John Smith
St. Martin’s Church
Collingwood, Victoria

Friday, September 12, 2008

Book Launch

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to the discussion forum for 17 Irritating Laws of Followship. Please feel free to read, discuss and post your questions and comments as we go.

The book will be officially launched in mid-October.

Until then, enjoy reading the posts that will begint o apear in the next week or so. And stay tuned for a special, never-to-be-repeated pre-release purchase offer for the book.

Cheers and Peace,

Mark G