Posted 904 days ago
From the introduction - The New Conspirators Book
The following is part of the introduction of Tom Sine’s new book The New Conspirators
Click here to read the full introduction.
Joining the Conspiracy of the Insignificant
In spite of the fact that our world is changing at blinding speed and the church is going through some very tough times God is still at work in ways that aren’t always immediately apparent. For some reason, God seems to delight in conspiring through the small, insignificant and ordinary to renew the church and transform the world. Eugene Peterson wrote, “The metaphors Jesus used for the life of ministry are frequently images of the single, the small and the quiet, which have effects far in excess of their appearance: salt, leaven and seed.”7
Nearly thirty years ago I wrote a book called The Mustard Seed Conspiracy to explore an idea out of the teachings of Jesus:
With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which when it is sown, it grows up to becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade. (Mark 4:30-32)
I was taken aback by the hundreds of people who wrote in response to the book. Their letters described a host of creative ways in which they took the risk of discovering how God could use their mustard seeds to make a difference in the lives of others. Some started building homes for Habitat for Humanity or formed Mustard Seed groups on their university campuses to reach out to the poor in their communities. A few started larger ministries such as Christmas Cracker, a British organization that raised large amounts of money for the poor abroad. The Mustard Seed Foundation in the United States provides start-up grants for new ministries all over the planet.
Both the world and the church have changed enormously since 1981. But God’s strategy hasn’t changed. Jesus let us in on an astonishing secret: God has chosen to change the world through the lowly, ordinary and insignificant. This should give us all hope.
Changing the world through the conspiracy of the insignificant has always been God’s strategy. God chose a ragtag group of Semite slaves to be the insurgents of a new order. God sent a vast army to flight with three hundred men carrying lamps and blowing horns. God chose a shepherd boy with a slingshot to lead his chosen people. And who would have dreamed that God would choose a baby in a cow stall to turn the world right side up?
Paul reminds us that “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He choose the lowly things of the world and the despised things-and the things that are not-to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him” (1 Cor 1:27-29 NIV).8
Shane Claiborne quotes British songwriter Martyn Joseph as he writes about the quiet revolution of Jesus:
“What a strange way to start a revolution . . . And what a strange way to end a world tour.” We worship the seed that died. The revolution will not be televised. It will not be brought to you by Fox News with commercial interruptions. . . It will not be sandwiched between ads to accelerate you life or be all you can be. There will be no re-runs. The revolution will be live. The revolution will be in the streets. The revolution will be cleaning toilets and giving another blanket to Karen. The revolution will not be talking about poverty in hotel banquet rooms. It will be eating beans and rice with Ms. Sunshine and watching Back to the Future with our neighbor Mary. Get ready, friends…God is preparing us for something really, really-small.9
This book is an invitation to become a part of something “really, really small,” a quiet conspiracy that is destined to change our lives and God’s world. We will particularly focus on what God is doing through the emerging, missional, mosaic and monastic streams of the church. But we are all invited to join the creative edge by more fully discovering how God might use our mustard seeds to be a part of this conspiracy of compassion and hope.
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