Surrender to Love: Why a changing church will bring great change

By Jarrod McKenna

Recently I received an email from a producer of a radio show after an interview I did regarding some of our activism. She wrote:

“The common thread that I noticed of all the callers was that you really got people thinking – even some of the more military-minded folks said things like “I can see where Jarrod is coming from”. And I have to say is that it was one of those topics that really got lunchtime conversation going here in the kitchen at the radio station, and lots of discussion with my friends, etc

What me and others liked most about your interview was it was not only balanced, solid and thoughtful but you approached it in such a humble and non-combative, non-patronising way; so I think even people who totally disagree with you wouldn’t feel threatened or belittled by your thoughts. Thanks for a great, thought-provoking interview.”

When I read those words I thought of the shift on the landscape of Australian Christianity that I feel privileged to be witnessing.  EPYC ran workshops with over 8,000 students last year and the qualities the producer named are the qualities of a growing kingdom peace movement in Australia that reflects the disarming [and empowering!] grace we find in Jesus. A movement of the Holy Spirit that is opening a generation to surrender to God’s costly, nonviolent, Calvary-shaped love and hunger and thirst for God’s healing justice.  A movement that refuses to let the Gospel be caged and tamed as if it was something less than Good News to our world at war; living through an unprecedented ecological crisis which comes at the cost of the poorest of poor. A generation whose heart is being broken by the pain of creation crying out for liberation, and being opened to the hope of the Good News of the Kingdom; that in Jesus, Heaven is invading earth. This year at the Surrender Conference this movement will continue to be manifest.

Some will be quick to say; “Jarrod, such movements have always been present in the church.” And while this is very true, I think there is something very promising in its maturity that is happening amongst a new generation.  In the past such movements have often been relegated to ‘radical ghettos’ on the fringes. In such isolation (and sometimes persecution) the temptation to allow our identities to shift from being radically in Christ to simply being ‘radical’ in comparison to others. Even the language of ‘radical discipleship’ has inadvertently fed into this unspoken understanding: there is ‘normal discipleship’ and then the more serious option for those inclined. As if our Lord Jesus said, “Ok, I’ve got two options; first package is the bare minimum discipleship, then for those who are really amped we have ‘the pick up your cross and follow me’ package.”  The danger is that identities have been formed in reaction to the “bare minimum” instead of being formed in communities of imitation to Christ. The fruit of this has been reactionary stances of Christians against “the mainstream church” where identities are formed in comparison to what we are reacting against. And while reactionary bitterness might be understandable, only entering into God’s grief and longing for the church (to be the church!) is transformational. If we follow Jesus, if we are obedient, if we show the world the grace God has shown us, we will be radical. The future of the Aussie Church is the church being communities of discipleship.

This was driven home to me last year after a young ‘alternative’ Christian leader found out that I would be preaching at one of Australia’s largest megachurches. His response was one of horror! Most interesting for me is what scandalised this brother. This person knew I had been involved in outreach work seeking to disarm and transform a militant Islamic group in Indonesia, who were said to have been connected to fundraising for the Bali Bombing in which a friend of mine was murdered in 2002. Yet God’s grace transforming terrorists wasn’t a stumbling block for this young “alternative” Christian. But God’s grace transforming a megachurch was a stumbling block. The horrific tragedy of Bali was somehow trendy to this guy; saving terrorists for him was “sexy”, “cutting edge” and “radical”.  But God’s grace transforming a megachurch wasn’t very “hardcore”. This for him was a scandal.

Yet I see movement who isn’t instead in being more “hardcore” or “radical” but in seeking first the Kingdom.  The world waits for the church to practice the scandalising, transformative, all-embracing love of God. We will need to show it to terrorists, to megachurch pastors, to each other and ourselves. Creation groans for an activism that loves its enemies. And the future of the Church in Australia is radically in Christ, receiving and practicing his costly, transformative, Calvary-shaped nonviolent love.

Jarrod McKenna is seeking to live God’s love. He’s an internationally sought after Evangelist, Peace and Climate Justice activist, social change facilitator and nonviolence trainer. He is a co-founder of the Peace Tree Christian Community, serving with the marginalized in one of the poorest areas in his city, heads up Together for Humanity in Western Australia (a multi-faith youth initiative challenging racism through mutual service), and is the founder and creative director of Empowering Peacemakers in Your Community (EPYC), for which he has received an Australian Peace Award for his work in empowering a generation of “eco-evangelists and peace prophets.”