Barrett, Lois Y. (Ed.). (2004.) Treasure in clay jars: Patterns in missional faithfulness. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

This book edited by Lois Y. Barrett, director of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, is volume seven in a series. “The Gospel and Our Culture Series” was conceived and undertaken to engage the missional encounter of the gospel with North American culture.

The dominant metaphor of the book, treasure in clay jars, was taken from Paul’s affirmation of our role in spreading the gospel. In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul utilizes this metaphor to underscore human frailty as the medium for spreading the treasure of the good news of Jesus. The editor and other contributors to this volume astutely point out that churches are not identical, and the idea of clay pots having different patterns on them serves to remind us of this reality.

Treasure in Clay Jars was actually a follow-up project to the earlier work entitled Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America. The latter work highlighted twelve indicators as to whether a church was missional or not. But those involved in that initial project felt that it did not go far enough. What seemed to be the driving need for further work was specific encouragement for churches in the process of becoming missional. As a result, two questions served as the impetus for the present volume: (1) What in the life of the church indicates that a congregation is missional?; (2) How can our congregation find enough encouragement to move toward becoming missional?

In order to do justice to these two questions, one of the most endearing Pauline passages was chosen that focuses on encouragement: 2 Corinthians 4:1-16. “We do not lose heart” serves as an inclusion to draw all of the theological threads together regarding the nature of the church and its mission as the basis for a very real pastoral concern. “A proper, biblical ecclesiology looks at everything the church is and does in relation to the mission of God in the world” (p. ix). No greater pastoral climate for encouragement can exist than when the church “is and does” what it is supposed to.

I will list below the eight patterns that were discovered by studying nine separate congregations. These congregations were from various religious traditions such as the Reformed, Mennonite, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist. The authors maintain that having such a breadth of sampling made their discovery all the more credible when trying to ascertain the patterns of missional churches who were so very different in size, location, and tradition. Here are the eight patterns:

• Pattern 1, Missional Vocation
• Pattern 2, Biblical Formation and Discipleship
• Pattern 3, Taking Risks as a Contrast Community
• Pattern 4, Practices that Demonstrate God’s Intent for the World
• Pattern 5, Worship as Public Witness
• Pattern 6, Dependence on the Holy Spirit
• Pattern 7, Pointing toward the Reign of God
• Pattern 8, Missional Authority

There is a very helpful chapter at the beginning providing congregational
sketches of those churches who participated in the study. Then each succeeding chapter is a treatment of each of the eight patterns. One thing I found delightfully tantalizing for sermon ideas is that each of the eight patterns was connected to a phrase or verse coming from 2 Corinthians 4.

The last chapter is entitled “Embodying and Proclaiming the Gospel.” When I read this I could hear echoes of a dynamic and life-changing volume I read over twenty years ago by Darrell Guder, Be My Witness. He maintained in that work that “being a witness for Christ” involved being, doing, and saying the witness. This is the embodying and proclaiming aspect of the gospel. This final, concluding chapter is well written, but it is too much of a teaser. Only two small paragraphs on page 150 develop the topic of “The Biblical Understanding of the Gospel.” In my opinion, since the editor states on that very same page that all of the eight missional indicators are wrapped up in the single idea “the missional church proclaims the gospel,” specific treatment on proclamation and its content needed to be provided from the Corinthian correspondence.

In several places, the statement is made: “The missional church both proclaims the gospel and embodies the gospel.” In the concluding chapter this is again stated as the grounds for overcoming divisiveness. How appropriate to talk about Christian unity from the Corinthian correspondence! However, on this one page, the editor never once provides biblical guidelines from Paul’s work to make this a reality.

The overriding concern of this work is whether or not the local congregation is truly involved in the Missio Dei, the mission of God. Consider this magnificent reminder from the conclusion:

To be missional is a matter of the character of the church, what the church is, whose the church is. Mission is not just one of many activities of the church alongside Christian education, worship, and so on. Mission describes the nature of the church. Its education will be oriented toward proclaiming and being a sign of the reign of God. Its worship will be oriented toward proclaiming and being a sign of the gospel. Participation in God’s mission in the world will permeate the whole life of the congregation” (p. 151).

Here is why you need to buy this book: It resonates well with Restorationists’ attempts  to conceptualize and practice a biblical ecclesiology. What God’s intent is for the church is our territory. It is refreshing to see other believers ask the same questions about church that we have been asking for a long time. The attempt to recover a biblical ecclesiology is also familiar to our heritage, looking for Pauline principles to guide us in the quest.  If you do not have the other six volumes, this is the latest volume in the “missional church series,” and it is the best one to start with if you are interested in this material.

I would also add this book to my collection on ecclesiology because it will provide guidelines for two things you might need to consider for your own congregation: grist for lessons on congregational encouragement and an insight in how to create and construct your own congregational sketch. These two dynamics in the book are worth the price alone!

If you do purchase the book, here is what you will discover. You will find a complete description of each of the eight patterns of missional faithfulness specifically tied to a 2 Corinthians 4 phrase or verses. You will find a great concluding chapter on embodying and proclaiming the gospel that can serve for a variety of messages to be generated from the fine, succinct, and pregnant ideas. Last of all, you will find an Appendix that includes the methodology originally employed for churches discovering through the twelve indicators whether they were missional or not. These twelve indicators could be used advantageously in any educational setting in which church leaders of the local congregation seek to gain specific answers and insights into finding out their own missional status.

There are a few things that I wish the editor and other contributors had done. In the beginning there needed to be an entire chapter on the biblical text from 2 Corinthians 4 that provided an exegetical and biblical exposition of the inclusio. This is like pouring the foundation of a house. From such rigorous work, the writer would have been able to show, not merely assume, the connection between Paul’s pastoral concern and the missional patterns highlighted. They could also have shown that all of this was set within a strong Corinthian ecclesiology that would have given more clout and basis for the pragmatic aspect of this research and writing.

Also, I wish that one of the congregations that furnished a sketch would have been one from our Restoration heritage. I am not sure how much difference that would have made in the outcome of the research, but I find it amazing that a biblical quest for such a God-given perspective of the church would have bypassed us.

My own personal challenge is to read the other six volumes in The Gospel and Our Culture Network Series. They are listed below with dates of publication:

Brownson, James V., et. al. (2003). StormFront: The good news of God. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Guder, Darrell L. (2000.) The continuing conversion of the church. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Guder, Darrell L et al. (1998.) Missional church: A vision for the sending of the church in North America. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Hunsberger, George R. and Van Gelder, Craig (Eds.). (1996.) The church between gospel and culture: The emerging mission in North America. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Hunsberger, George R. (1998.) Bearing the witness of the Spirit: Lesslie Newbigin’s Theology of Cultural Plurality. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Van Gelder, Craig (Ed.). (1999.) Confident witness—Changing the world. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

I plan to read each of them this next year! I was unaware that this series existed. Abundant insights await in the current volume of Treasure in Clay Jars that helps ministers, elders, deacons, teachers, college professors, etc., to grapple with the tension between gospel and culture.