The "Jesus Freaks" We Met...

After the first day of training, Ben was invited (along with Ron and I) to come meet some young people who are planting “faith communities” with a movement called The Jesus Freaks, International, in places like Germany and Israel. Originally, the movement began with a bunch of punk-rockers who decided to follow Jesus, and who were motivated to reach out into the drug-culture to help others, and so they have a very “non-traditional” look and feel that was actually really edgy and fun. Miokol, one of the leaders, had Rob Bell hair and glasses, and a ring in his lower lip, and was exceptionally thoughtful and honest about the challenges they’ve engaged in planting (through “viral” means) several dozen communities throughout Germany, and was equally quick to share the successes as well as the failures. It was pretty hard not to like them immediately, and we all laughed hard as Simon, one of Miokol’s ministry partners said with a wry smile when we walked in (in thickly accented German), “oh no… Americans… now I’ll have to watch my language.” I laughed and said, “hey, don’t put yourself out on my account”, to which he instantly responded with a string of deliberate profanity that went on for the better part of a minute. For some reason, it was hilarious hearing a German guy cuss in English words about the challenges of ministering to the punk-rock and drug-cultures of Germany as they plant faith communities in that context. They were also trying several Shane Clayborne-esque experiments in “authentic community” where they rent a flat and try to incorporate at least one homeless or drug-addict by inviting them to live with them. They said that the results have really challenged their assumptions about such people, but also challenged much of their theology as people in those contexts “grow, but don’t always grow in the way you would think. My friend still does drugs… he still gets high… and he still runs sound for us at worship. But we think it would do more damage to him to ostracize him for his drug use, particularly when he is genuinely trying, than to continue to embrace him. Plus, even though he struggles, he has a unique ‘in’ with people who are still trapped in that culture as well.” The whole reason for their being in Budapest is to be mentored through a network of European church planters, and I was significantly encouraged by my time spent with them and their unconventional, unorthodox and unabashedly authentic perspectives.