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Shane Claiborne espouses 'radical' faith Amy Forbus, May 1, 2007
COURTESY PHOTO
Christian activist Shane Claiborne spoke on April 9 to an audience at University Park UMC in Dallas.
By Amy Forbus Special Contributor
Shane Claiborne wonders how Christians got to be so, well, normal.
"Jesus was never doing anything normal," said Mr. Claiborne, noting that Jesus used common, yet surprising things like dirt and spit to bring about redemption and healing.
The author of The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical spoke April 9 at University Park United Methodist Church in Dallas.
Mr. Claiborne, who sports dreadlocks and wears clothes he makes himself, gave an hour-long talk, "Jesus Wrecked My Life."
In his early 30s, he's garnered a Gen-X following, those 40 and under, who have been drawn by his authenticity and creative exploration of the Christian faith.
Raised United Methodist, Mr. Claiborne helped establish a community of faith called The Simple Way a decade ago in Philadelphia. The group of young adults focuses on befriending and serving people who are living in poverty. Their mission is indeed simple: "To love God. To love people. To follow Jesus."
Born again -- again
He was invited to UPUMC -- where the nearly full house of mostly young adults also included everyone from younger students to retirees -- by the Rev. Rebecca Frank, senior associate pastor. Ms. Frank first heard of Mr. Claiborne a year ago, when a college student asked her if she had read his book.
"I was a little bit skeptical," she said, "but there seemed to be some growing interest among the kids and I thought 'I need to read this and see what's going on.' I was really taken by his experience, the combination of youthfulness and wisdom, and his ability to live church way outside-the-box and still come back to how important the roots of our tradition are."
When Ms. Frank introduced Mr. Claiborne, she hailed him as "provocative and winsome -- two words I don't think I've ever used before in describing one person."
Mr. Claiborne recounted his spiritual journey for the audience, telling them how he'd grown up United Methodist in East Tennessee, where attending various youth groups was the main social activity. Recalling his first exposure to an altar call at a youth revival, he talked of the excitement he and his friends felt in going forward to be born again -- so much that it became an annual tradition for them.
Eventually, though, he began to think, "There's got to be more to Christianity than getting born-again again every year."
"The church was teaching me what to believe, but not how to live. . . . It's a strange Christianity that's just about life after death," he said. "What we were really asking is, 'Is there life before death?'"
He also became disillusioned with the accumulation of wealth that he saw among fellow United Methodists. He left the denomination as a teen when the church he was attending spent $120,000 on a stained-glass window.
"Wesley would not have been happy," he writes in his book, citing Methodism founder John Wesley's emphasis on helping the poor. "The early church ended poverty. What gifts of God do we continually hoard for ourselves?"
Mr. Claiborne said he later spent some time at a nondenominational charismatic church before becoming disenchanted altogether with religion. But he still wanted to find out more about Jesus. His youth pastor suggested he try American Baptist-affiliated Eastern University in St. Davids, Pa., where Tony Campolo, an author, speaker and social-justice activist, teaches sociology.
The Simple Way
While studying at Eastern, Mr. Claiborne also spent time in community with the poor and needy of Philadelphia, and was arrested for defying laws against sleeping in parks and feeding the homeless.
Still wanting to do even more for social-justice issues, he and a few of his friends wrote to Mother Teresa requesting internships to work alongside her in Calcutta, India. When they failed to get a response from her ministry headquarters, they tracked down Mother Teresa's telephone number and were surprised to discover the elderly nun answered her own phone. The young adults ended up working in an orphanage and a home for the dying in Calcutta.
Back in Philadelphia, Mr. Claiborne and his friends continued talking and dreaming about another way of living life, and eventually founded The Simple Way.
Their community is a diverse group of people -- including a massage therapist, a few doctors and a chef -- who use their gifts to serve others. "They're coming to life in who God has made them to be," Mr. Claiborne said.
He adds that this kind of awakening can happen anywhere that Christians "stop complaining about the church we're disillusioned with and become the church we dream of."
Mr. Claiborne admitted that while hearing the name of Jesus still gives him a cozy feeling, he also feels a sense of risk that comes with knowing Christ: "When I hear 'Jesus,' I can't help but shiver a little bit because I wonder what he's going to get me into next."
He challenged the audience to live out a Christian life that stands in contrast to what the media often presents as a religious extremist. "I think the world is longing for Christian extremists for love and for grace," he said.
Ms. Forbus is the Digital Community Builder at UMR Communications.
COURTESY PHOTO
Mr. Claiborne, who sports dreadlocks and wears clothes he makes himself, gave an hour-long talk, "Jesus Wrecked My Life." 
Back in Philadelphia, Mr. Claiborne and his friends continued talking and dreaming about another way of living life, and eventually founded The Simple Way. 
