Kingdom Culture – Unshunning

Kingdom Culture – Unshunning

Angry Teenage BoySome teens acted like young punks, making trouble with rebellious shenanigans.

I happened to stumble upon, “The Shunning,” an episode of the reality show, American Colony, which depicted what can happen in a Hutterite community when someone doesn’t fall in line. “If the elders find something that they don’t like, they are going to punish it, and that punishment is called shunning,” said Rita, a woman on the show.

Characters like Dwight Schrute on the comedy sitcom, The Office, poke fun at the practice of shunning. He cold-shoulders those he doesn’t like—shunning and unshunning at will, like a rejected thirteen-year-old.

Farm Field and FenceBut in Hutterite circles, shunning means you are barred from the colony and treated as if you were dead. The practice may be a last resort, but the loss of family, community, and financial security is severe for the banished person. There’s nothing funny about it.

On PBS’ American Experience, a documentary called, “The Amish – Shunned,” goes into great depth about it. Watch this short clip to get an emotional sense of the loss involved.

So basically, you’re all the way in—or you’re out.

man driving wagonGrowing up in the Midwest, I was fascinated with people groups who lived a simpler life separated from American culture by geography and lifestyle. We encountered Amish people from time to time in their horse drawn buggies.

Later in college I studied the Hutterites. They “reside in agricultural colonies called Bmderhofe, and practice a highly conservative Christian way of life. They are isolated from more modern communities surrounding their enclaves, decline involvement in political issues, and are strict pacifists. Crime is almost unheard of and transgressions against one another are highly discouraged. The society requires every individual, child or adult, to give up selfish motives for the good of the group.”[i] Family life is traditional, but the community owns all land and properties, and colony leaders handle the money.

An amish farmland in Pennsylvania.My thesis paper examined the mental health of Hutterites because mental illness in their colonies was statistically rare. What did they do differently compared to general society? Like Rosetans, they didn’t have to fret about job security or mortgage payments. Other than God, community was and is their safety net. I learned that when a member was determined mentally ill, he or she was not ostracized. In fact, the community embraced them even more.

Since then, other studies reveal a different picture. While severe mental disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar are few, depression is prevalent in Hutterite communities.

Laura Wilson's amazing photography of the Hutterite communities in Montana

Laura Wilson’s amazing photography of the Hutterite communities in Montana

In general, some depression is caused by chemical imbalances. Other depression is circumstantial—death of a spouse, job loss, moral failure. Yet, research shows a strong link between suppressed anger and depression.

In Hutterite communities, the high standards for good behavior might create anxiety and anger in some. Inner tensions rise when a person can’t or won’t conform to the expectations of others, especially in a close-knit community.

And so among the Hutterites, the mentally ill are embraced, but the rebellious may be shunned—even though there’s an overlap called depression.

Burned MatchOn Kenny Wollmann’s blog, Ask A Hutterite, he writes, “Shunning is a parting of ways between the church and a wayward or unrepentant member. At its best, it is a mechanism by which a believer can be restored to full membership within the body of Christ. At its worst, it is a soul-crushing device that an ungodly or unwise leader can use to manipulate the people he has been charged with pastoring.”[ii]

Families and church communities can be toxic when relationship is based on conformity.

Black Womans BurdenBut Kingdom Culture is different. Jesus is the great Unshunner.

He upended the “separateness” of Jewish tradition by conversing with a Samaritan woman, hanging out with tax collectors, and touching lepers. He didn’t corner or condemn people except for hypocritical church leaders. And He didn’t sidestep sin. Yet He came to give us a living, breathing look at the love of God in the flesh.

John Wimber

John Wimber

John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard movement, came from an unchurched background. Entering church culture was a shock. Why did people change their voices to sound overly nice, after yelling at their kids in the parking lot?

As a Christian, Wimber was passionate about the lost, the unlovely, and the downtrodden street people. He invited them to church. Amazingly—they showed up, and they were not yet clean or sober.

Homeless in depression.Then one morning a long-time church member confronted Wimber in a hallway. “You’re wrecking our church!” she spouted. Wimber answered calmly saying—isn’t this what we’re supposed to be doing? Bringing in the lost, the hurting, the needy, the sick—the shunned of the world?

Unshunning. For those of us who grew up in the church, it may take some practice. I’m interested in your thoughts…

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[i] “Mental Illness in a Multicultural Context,” by Pauline Agbayani-Siewert, David T. Takeuchi, Rosavinia W. Pangan.

[ii] https://askahutterite.com/2012/06/26/reflection-american-colony-episode-2-the-shunning/

More Than Wheaties

More Than Wheaties

Mr. W is a grade school teacher. When I knew him, over twenty years ago, he was witty and fun and adored by students and parents alike. His classroom was orderly, and his pupils appeared happy and successful.

Interaction between teacher and children, funny class in schoolI asked him one day—“How do you do it? In a growing culture of disrespect, how did you foster such a great attitude in your students? What’s your secret? Do you eat Wheaties for breakfast or something?”

“That’s easy,” he said. “I’m not Mr. Nice Guy for at least the first two weeks of school. I’m very strict. Yes means yes, and no means no—right away. If I say something and a student isn’t responding, I’m moving in his or her direction. I don’t raise my voice or get rough. Yet in short, I’m establishing my authority. Once that’s in place, the rest is easy.”

At least that’s how I remember his answer.

angry tutorAnother friend of mine graduated with a degree in Elementary Ed and took her first teaching job in a small town. She was kind, smart, and organized, but that didn’t seem to matter. The kids plowed right over her. She could not sustain any authority. My frustrated friend changed careers.

Since the turbulent 60s, “authority” has had a bad connotation. As writers, we are instructed to avoid an authoritative tone because it sounds condescending. Better, they say, to have a come-alongside voice. While this may be true, whatever happened to a wholesome view of authority?Continue reading

Empty Pockets

Empty Pockets

Mystify, arouse, and confuse me

Shatter all my plans and illusions

That I might lose my way

Don’t let me see the path or the light

Until I am ready to be led

To the harbor of the poor and willing heart

When there seems to be no remedy for darkness

Don’t fear to sink into it

Let God reveal Himself in all things, thru faith

And trust is my gift back to you, God…

 –Kevin Prosch, from “Every Ray,” Palaquin

Wendy Alec

Wendy Alec

In, Visions From Heaven, Wendy Alec recounts her conversations with God following a devastating two-year illness, which led to her husband’s abandonment.

Wendy and her former husband, Rory, started GOD TV, Europe’s first Christian television network. They had just signed on to work with Mark Ordesky, executive producer of Lord of The Rings, to make an A-grade secular blockbuster film from her end-times book series called, Chronicles of Brothers.

A week after she started working on the screenplay, she was hit with gastroperisis, a virus that damages the vagus nerve and causes intense and unending nausea. The condition was so rare that medical treatment had only been experimental.

iStock_000039953360SmallFeeling nauseous from morning until night, she began losing weight at an alarming rate. She sought healing prayer, medical advice, specialists, naturopathic help, experimental treatment ideas and drugs, but nothing abated the distress of being chronically sick every day and not knowing if it would ever end.

Her children and husband were bewildered and angry.

They lived out of their suitcases.

Their pets were kenneled for an entire year.

They abandoned their home for an entire year.

Her ministry with GOD TV seemed all but over.

The movie production came to a screeching halt.

And eventually her husband left her for another woman.

Trapped in a debilitating illness, she had lost everything.

She wanted her life to be over.

God had been her all in all, but now she was reeling with abandonment. That was the hardest part.

GodYet God was there the whole time. As the grip of her disease began to loosen, she had vivid conversations with Him in the night. God talked to her about the great sifting of His people, beginning with Job and Peter. That faith is proved genuine and strengthened beyond measure in these times. Or not. That people who come through it are prepared for a weighty “mantle” of responsibility and authority for the end-time season that is upon us. He answered her questions with tenderness and compassion.

Still, the trauma of her experience remained like a deep scar. She feared she would never feel safe again. How could such a bad thing happen to her when she had set her love on God?Continue reading