Hauerwas And Willimon: A Religious Analysis

American culture seems to be enraptured with immigration and the value of the immigrant in the life of society. Immigrants have, since the beginning of our nation, the power to transform the face of our society. In the same way, the church when it radically lives out the Gospel as embodied in the life of Jesus can not only transform American culture, but change the whole world. This potential impact of a faithful church in the world is why Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon write Resident Aliens as a critique of modern culture and ministry while providing a call the church to live as an alternative community. Hauerwas and Willimon provide a vision for the restoration of the church as a vibrant community standing firmly in the faith through
the nourishing of souls in a way that the world is powerless to do. Resident Aliens has several major themes that are vital to the overall vision presented including the contrast between modern culture and the church, the power of being rooted in the story of God, a new vision for Christian ethics and practical application to help realize this alternative community. In the opening chapter of Resident Aliens Hauerwas and Willimon write, “The world was fundamentally changed in Jesus Christ, and we have been trying, but failing, to grasp the implications of that change ever since.”1 This serves as the backdrop against which the premise of the critique of modern culture and the church is set.
The predominate culture has infected the church to the extent that the church and its mission has often been shaped as much by the world as it has been by God. Again Hauerwas and Willimon state, “Whether they think of themselves as liberal or conservative, as ethically and politically left or right, American Christians have fallen into the bad habit of acting as if the church really does not matter as we go about trying to live like Christians.”2 The alternative to the dominating narrative of modern culture is found in the narrative of the story of God. As Hauerwas and Willimon write, “Story is the fundamental means of talking about and listening to God, the only human means available to us that is complex and engaging enough to make comprehensible what it means to be with God.”3 Through story God's people are set free from the narrative of a world dominated by sin and empowered to live out a Christian ethic that stand is stanch opposition the the ways of the
world. This Christian ethic dominates the majority of Resident Aliens. The Christian ethics that Hauerwas and Willimon advocate are learned in the context of a community that lives out the implications of their salvation in light of God's grace. The church must be an example, as Hauerwas and Willimon write:
The only way for the world to know that it is being redeemed is for the church to point to the Redeemer by being a redeemed people. The way for the world to know that it needs redeeming, that it is broken and fallen, is for the church to enable the world to strike hard against something which is an alternative to what the world offers.4

Christian ethics then become a way of seeing before doing, not a matter of saying what is right or wrong but rather helping others see the difference. This is the very essence of God's call to His people to be witness of His grace, to shine Christ's light in the darkness, and to be the embodiment of the coming Kingdom. The concluding chapters of Resident Aliens turns the focus to ministry leadership. The dynamics of ministry are quite complex and as such Hauerwas and Willimon pay careful attention to define “successful ministry” and the characteristics of the leader of such a ministry. Vocational ministry is not just helping people, as Hauerwas and Willimon write:
Being a minister (like a pastor), is not a vocation merely to help people. We are called to help people 'in the name of Jesus.' And that's the rub. In fact, we are not called to help people. We are called to follow Jesus, in whose service we learn who we are and how we are to help and be helped.5

Therefore, missional leadership is about authentic faithful discipleship to following Christ in the leaders life. From this devotion the leader call the community to dwell in the story of God and let it shape them and out of this molding to “learn who we are and how we are to help and be helped.” Consequently, successful ministry is measured by our discipleship, not our helping people. Resident Aliens serves at the practical vision of the alternative consciousness advocated by Walter Brueggemann in his book The Prophetic Imagination.
Hauerwas and Willimon, first writing nearly ten years after Brueggemann, make an important contribution to the conversation by taking the biblical vision articulated by Brueggemann and giving practical path for the church to follow in embodying the alternative consciousness of God's people as the living embodiment of His Kingdom here on earth. Through the critical lens of Resident Aliens the church is empowered to see the contrast of the world through its unique ethics and realize its as the witness of God's faithfulness in His ongoing work of salvation for all creation. Resident Aliens is successful in sounding an alarm for the church and providing a clear vision for the church to return to its vital place as a faithful community set apart for the work of
God.