We will be posting a series of interviews with the speakers for The Born Again Church Tour 2008 beginning this week. Our first speaker featured is Rose Swetman, Pastor and Missional Entrepreneur in the Pacific Northwest. I have had the privilege of attending her local congregation on a Sunday after visiting the location for a few Off the Map events. Rose impresses me as a bright, passionate, and generous woman. She will be speaking in both Seattle and Los Angeles.

Elizabeth: Rose, what inspires you to participate in the Born Again Church Tour 2008?

Rose: First off, I don’t know that I have missed many OTM Live Events. The events are not only a ton of fun but stretch my thinking. The good thing about being stretched is you end up somewhere you haven’t been before and that’s a good thing. I think this particular Tour is going to do just that–stretch our thinking about the things we (the church) focus on, and how to look at the issues we face as followers of Christ at the dawn of the 21st Century both here in the U.S. and globally. I am constantly challenged to reflect on the state of Christianity in the context of our world and ask the question, “what does it mean to be faithful during this time?”

Elizabeth: Why do you care what outsiders think about Christianity, Christians, The Church?

Rose: I care deeply about what outsiders think of all of the above because I think Jesus is the best thing that could happen to anyone. How Christianity is perceived, how Christians live their lives and how the Church functions tell “a” story of Jesus.  Unfortunately, that is sometimes the only way the story of Jesus gets portrayed.  I think OTM (not sure about this) coined a phrase “free Jesus” which is part of the mission of OTM: to get another story out - about Christianity, Christians, and the Church - that looks a little more like the Jesus we follow. The Born Again Church Tour will help us look honestly at how we (Christianity, Christians, and the Church) are perceived by outsiders.  Walter Brueggemann in his book “The Prophetic Imagination” tells us the role of the prophet is to criticize and dismantle the human regimes that alter the story of God and then they are to energize toward the new reality that God wants to bring in. In this sense OTM has a prophetic voice to the church that is both criticizing and energizing.

Elizabeth: Tell me briefly about one significant relationship you have with someone who does not self-identify as a Christian?

Rose: I have a friend that I met two years ago. She leads a non-profit agency in the host community where our faith community is located. We have great conversations, she mentors me in non-profit work and she is struck by our faith community’s continued collaboration with her organization to serve and develop relationship with the under-served in our city. I have grown to love this woman. She is brilliant, she is a servant-leader and she is very spiritual. Unfortunately because of her own upbringing and many unfortunate experiences with Christians she is very suspect of Christianity.

Elizabeth: In what ways do you think people who are not Christ-followers care about the work you are doing?

Rose: We have found that by birthing a non-profit organization out of our faith community we have had many, many people interested in our work. They support the work with their time, talent and money. Many of these people care about giving and making the world a better place. I don’t know how many of them would have ever attended a church but they seem to not mind coming to our facility for different events that are geared toward serving the community.

Elizabeth: Please share some of your thoughts on diversity and tolerance in relation to Christianity, Christians, The Church?

Rose: I don’t know that I can speak to much of this.  Our faith community is not very ethnically diverse. Our diversity shows up more in socio-economics or conservative/liberal (don’t like that description but don’t have a better description of what I am trying to communicate) ways.  We have done a lot of talking about diversity.  We know we have not even put our toes in the water to begin the change that would need to take place for our faith community to be ethnically diverse. I do know that we strongly believe and try to live out a “centered set” way of belonging to our community. We have practiced and put into the very fiber of our community the reality that you can “belong before you believe” and I think we do a pretty good job of living that out.

Elizabeth: Describe some of your hopes and dreams for the local expression of the body of Christ that you are connected with as well as the body of Christ in America and the world?

Rose: I like Lesslie Newbigin’s statement that the best hermeneutic of the gospel is living, breathing local congregations that practice good deeds which creates goodwill which eventually leads to good news. (paraphrased)

I’m looking forward to hearing more from Rose Swetman. Get your tickets today to The Born Again Church Tour 2008 nearest you!