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Live Sent: you are a letter

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I recently received a copy of Live Sent - you are a letter to review for the Viral Bloggers program. I was struck by the message by the first chapter. It definitely has a Neil Cole, organic church feel to it, which I loved, but it really goes much more in depth than that. Jason Dukes challenges us to really change how we think about the words "church", "discipleship", and "evangelism." He really challenged me to rethink how I frame those words. Even though I would consider myself fairly progressive and emerging, it still really challenged me in my life. My wife was so excited to hear about it while I read it, that we read a few chapters out loud together to encourage each other.
This book really is a game changer for people. I have been looking for something like this to bridge a conversational void I have with many people. I think Jason puts his thinking in action and gives real direction on how to be neighborly, like Jesus, and missional. Not that he prescribes a recipe for success, but for me, a recipe for the confusing insanity that the Sunday driven "church" makes.
He helped me to make sense of much knowledge I already had between my ears and realize how to put in more into action. I would suggest this book to anyone who is desiring movement in their faith community, or who is really frustrated with the church as she exists. Jason Dukes gave me a reason to believe that we really can be the "church" without putting so much focus of being the church on Sunday morning for the "big show."

Chad Miller
[...]

This idea is so simple and yet so powerful. If we as Americans and others around the globe would see things this way what a difference we could make in our communities and our world. This author really makes us stop and think.

Sometimes an overarching metaphor organizing a work of non-fiction can feel a little trite or forced. I admit that when I picked up Jason Dukes' Live Sent: You are a letter and skimmed the chapter titles, I predicted the book would be a lightweight approach to the subject of missional living.

I was wrong, wrong, wrong. Dukes, a pastor, presents a valuable and eminently practical exploration of what it means to be sent by God into the life to which God has called you. He challenges, encourages and above all, simplifies the notion of mission in a winsome and accessible book. In some circles of Christianity, there is a lot of overblown, earnest and pompous talk about what it means to be missional. Dukes yanks the concept out of the think tanks and conferences and roots it firmly where it belongs - in God's heart, and in our lives:

"As His church, we have a responsibility to humanity to be God's letter of love. That's why He started this movement almost 2,000 years ago that He called "the church". So that we would love each other as He intended, as His family. And so that we would do more than "go to church", but rather BE THE CHURCH to the people we encounter everyday, loving them as He loves them."

In Duke's hands, the call to follow Jesus becomes revolutionary - as it should be. He tackles the purpose of church, knowing and being loved by the Sender, contextualization, hindrances, our spheres of influence, our understanding of the world around us, disciple-making, dropping our self-protective mechanisms, and some pointed (and necessary) words to pastors about their calling to equip instead of control. Dukes salts his book with lots of practical examples meant to inspire us to see ourselves as the living letters Christ's followers are meant to be.

One small beef - the book could have used a bit more gentle editing (there are a lot of words in "quotation marks"; this was a bit "distracting" for me). However, that small quibble does not negate the big value of this 139-page volume. You'll want to read - and live - the kind of Christ-follower's life Dukes describes in this book.

I can appreciate simple metaphors. I sometimes really enjoy little one-sentence summaries that boil down a complex idea into a quip. "Kill two birds with one stone" means "be resourceful" or "be effective" or something like that. "It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" means "it's not <em>impossible</em> but when you focus on money, etc it's more difficult to keep the Kingdom in your sights." To that end, I appreciated Jason Dukes book "Live Sent: You are a letter."
One concept that this book helped elucidate (nice, huh?) a little bit more for me was the semantical relationship involved in letter writing (and, by extension, Christian living): what I understand of myself as a letter or what's written inside me and how someone perceives me as a letter and (again, by extension) the author as a writer or how they interpret what's they're "reading."
What I mean is, I can think that I have the manifesto of God written in me but, if the language (and life) that is used to express the letter do not reflect the intentions of the writer than my letter gets misread. Conversely, I could be a pretty terrible letter and that's going to affect how people perceive me (as a Christian) and thus the God I claim to represent.
I appreciated that Jason didn't spend too much time defining the language, font, style, and layout that our letter has to be written. He was more playful than that.
All that being said, I have to say that I think that this book was too long. The simplicity of this metaphor could have been accurately represented in fewer pages. I'm saying this not because I wanted to read less but because there was a significant amount of time spent being somewhat tangential. In some books, that sort of stream-of-consciousness is appropriate and makes the writer more familiar. It kind of detracted from the message for me.
As always, I'd still recommend reading this book. Jason seems very well grounded. His life, mission and message are appropriate and timely. Today, many people are getting "Dear John" letters from God because of who they are. Let's be more "John you are dear to me" letters.
Christ's peace and God's shalom.

[...].

Really enjoyed this book. It was one of those great ones that help you put life, your purpose, your work, and who you are supposed to be pleasing into perspective.
Thank you for writing it!
Gratefully,
Christy

Years ago I had the privilege of teaching Jason Dukes when he attended Union University. In an Advanced Greek class his exceptional analytical skills and knack for crafting clear, creative sermon outlines (we traveled the exegetical road from translation all the way to how we might communicate the text) stuck out as unique. Now the tables are turned and Jason teaches me in the pages of this book. Weaving an extended metaphor, he uses "Letter" imagery to help us think in fresh ways about what it means to be Christ-followers in community. The metaphor is especially apt, for letters have primarily to do with communication and relationships, two key dynamics at the heart of the biblical vision of what it means to be "church." Time and again in these pages I was helped out of "thinking boxes" into fresh trails for reflection. I highly recommend this book for both church leaders and learners generally. Its incarnational message can certainly help us morph into living letters (2 Cor. 3:2-3) the world desperately needs.

I feel that I have been truly blessed by having the opportunity to review this book. Jason tells us to think of our lives as if they are letters to each other. Are you living as a letter from God?

Most often, we only live that way when we are around other Church people or at Church itself. We tend to slack off when we aren't even thinking about it.

Think of when you compose a letter to a relative or friend living far away. You spend lots of time thinking about what to say and how to phrase it. Yet you live your life with very little thought put into it.

Live Sent teaches us how to live mindful of God's messages and love. People learn of God's love by "reading" you. Are you writing a letter that can easily be misconstrued?

I loved the unique approach that Jason took.

In conjunction with the Wakela's World Disclosure Statement, I received a product in order to enable my review. No other compensation has been received. My statements are an honest account of my experience with the brand. The opinions stated here are mine alone.

American Christianity has its share of language problems: We use similar words but mean different things. This ongoing battle of words is not-so-much a matter of doctrinal integrity as it is the consequence of operating with a living language. Words come and go, and the words that stay change meaning!

Nowhere is this more evident in today's conversations than when it comes to the word missional. Just a few years ago it was a cool term used exclusively by hip pastors who wore jeans with their shirt-tail out.

Then consultants picked it up and started using it as a strategic planning term to challenge the churches who were merely surviving to learn to thrive by becoming more missional (implying one could be missional at some level, and only survive - not something the original authors foresaw!).

When a new word is a challenge to understand, I go to the science of etymology - the history and evolution of words.
This is, at the most foundational of levels, what Jason Dukes has done with the book Live Sent. Rather than attempt to define missional he defaults to describing it with two, simple-to-understand, foundational terms: "Live" and "Sent".

Sent is a past-tense word... it assumes action already taken. Dukes assumes God has already taken action. It is not a question of whether or not the Church (including your Church) will be sent... we are sent! It's done.

This contrasts with the mind-set of a Church that sees itself as a sending agency - find the few missionaries among us and send them, vocationally. We are not missionaries, we support missionaries.

Dukes illustrates, instead, that the Church is not a sending agency rather we are a sent people. We are the missionaries. His challenge to his readers is: live sent!

The metaphor is simple - the Church is the people... the people are letters... these letters have been written and sent by God into the world where they live. Now, live (present tense) like a letter, from God, already sent.

This challenge is not left as empty words hanging in space. Dukes provides honest conversation about bumps in the road and practical solutions forged in the actual experience of the Westpoint Church where he serves as a member of the pastoral team.
He uses a variety of categories of Church life to illustrate how you/I, living as sent letters, is completely different than you/I sending letters (representatives, missionaries) out. He addresses items like the gathering, intimacy with our Father, hindrances to living sent, etc.

Inspiring stories, honest dialog, clear explanations, and practical solutions... this is a must read for any Church seeking to embrace what it is to be missional.

Live sent is simply Dukes way of saying we are all to live on mission all the time as we go through life. He's challenging the paradigm of missions being primarily project- or numbers- driven. I like his attempt here too.

The book is simple, straight-forward and easy to read. He makes his case clearly and consistently.

It's a little wordy at times and reads somewhat like a sermon series. But if you are teachable, you will end up appreciating the reminders anyone.

I liked the stories in the last chapter but wish they had been spread out like one per chapter (at the end).

The whole being a letter idea was a great image. Well-done, Jason. Could be a great church-wide campaign theme too.

First-time author Jason C. Dukes has a heart and passion for the message he presents in his book *LIVE SENT: YOU ARE A LETTER. Jason challenges us to stop thinking about the Church as a particular time or meeting place. We ARE the Church, and Jesus told us to "go forth," not try to get everyone to come to us. Also, being the Church means doing so every minute of every day--meshing our lives with everyone around us, caring for each other, striking up conversations, doing life together. One of my favorite of Jason's metaphors compares some of us to e-mail drafts: "saved but not sent." That's challenging. What good is an unsent message?

Although Jason's message is heart-felt and also extremely important, I imagine that his communication style is probably best in one-on-one conversation or in his teaching. I personally felt distracted by his overuse of quotation marks and very informal style of writing. It felt more like I was reading a blog or an e-mail. Of course, since the emphasis was on our being letters, maybe this was appropriate. Still, the grammatical errors, repetition, and asides made the book seem like it wasn't properly edited. Then again, we don't worry about all those things when we write or read letters and e-mails.

Overall, I liked this book, mostly because I feel strongly about the topic. I greatly appreciate Jason's heart and ministry, and I am encouraged and challenged by the practical suggestions and stories he shares in LIVE SENT. This book would be great for Small Groups to read and discuss together.


*This book was given to me for review by The Ooze Viral Bloggers.