Exiles by Michael Frost

Over the past 4 or 5 months we have both been reading Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture by Michael Frost – another good book that we’d recommend. In a nutshell the book explores ways of being church, or communitas, in a post-Christendom western-culture dominated by consumerism, isolation and indifference, where the church too often harks back to the ‘good old days’.

Frost talks of ‘exiles’ that have left ‘the church’ out of frustration and boredom and are heading out into what he calls the third places of their communities instead (the 1st place being our home, the 2nd our work, and the 3rd, increasingly in the West, often being bars/cafes or I think they could be social/interest groups, yet for Christians the 3rd place is usually restricted to ‘church’):

“Exiles have figured out that churches don’t value people who won’t turn up for every meeting, attend every event, and locate all their significant friendships within the congregation. They have decided to slip away from the ever-spiralling vortex of so-called Christian fellowship. It sucks you in demanding everything of you, leaving you completely socially disconnected from your neighbours, your community. And it won’t be appeased by a half-hearted allegiance. It demands your all, always… Exiles, having read the dangerous stories of Jesus, have decided that the best way to do the Lord’s work is to follow him out into the third places in their community.”

The strongest theme of the book for us explored what it would mean for these exiles to live missionally in a host empire. Frost advocates the ideas of communitas – an intense community spirit, the feeling of great social equality, solidarity, and togetherness – and liminality as ways forward. Alan Hirsch (who co-wrote The Shaping of Things to Come with Micahel Frost, and whose book The Forgotten Ways apparently explores these ideas further) says:

“…the related ideas of liminality and communitas describe the dynamics of the Christian community inspired to overcome their instincts to “huddle and cuddle” and to instead form themselves around a common mission that calls them on a dangerous journey to unknown places – a mission that calls the church to shake off it’s collective securities and to plunge into the world of action, where its members will experience disorientation and marginalization but also where they encounter God and each other in a new way”

The first two sections of Exiles (Dangerous Memories and Dangerous Promises) are the strongest, but later, in the final part (Dangerous Songs), Frost also helpfully tackles the issues of ‘Exiles at the Altar’, speaking out against what can probably be best summed up by the ‘My Jesus, My Boyfriend’ phenomenon of modern worship, and questions the modern church service in a broader context.

Exiles is a book well worth exploring – especially for those wanting to journey into church at the edge and explore emerging ideas of being missional in a post-Christendom culture.