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St. Francis of Assisi:
The Wild Side of Mission
by Cadet James Thompson

St Francis is a colourful figure of church history; perhaps we could call him a wild spirit. He was a party boy growing up. He was the son of a rich man, and therefore lacked nothing. He would drink, eat, sleep and meet with women. Even his conversion was wild. He threw off his clothes and did a nudie run! Then as he matured his life continued to become more wild and bizarre with ecstatic experiences in the presence of God, miracles and wacky behaviour. The Franciscan movement was wild as well as it spread uncontrollably. This is the wild side of mission.

St Francis has often been upheld for his peace towards all men and animals, and a large portion of his wild life has been glossed over. Pope Benedict XVI has commented that, “The saint should be remembered for rejecting his early days as a "playboy" as much as his later days as a nature-loving pacifist.”[1] That’s right, St Francis needs a makeover. As we look deeper into who St Francis was and what made him tick we will discover some amazing mission lessons that are still applicable to us today.

To begin this makeover we need to go to the wild side of St Francis spirituality. St Francis has a long history of supernatural spiritual encounters. Lifting people off the ground with his breath, talking with the apostles Paul, John and Peter, even John the Baptist and the virgin Mary, meeting with God face to face, talking to animals who would then obey him, healing, deliverance and all sorts of signs and wonders, and perhaps his most noted sign, the stigmata. But what do these supernatural encounters have to do with the mission of St Francis?

These experiences remind us that true mission comes from a relationship with God. This cannot be understated; so much mission comes about because we think it is a good thing to do. However, St Francis mission came from a real life encounter with a living God. The church has trouble mobilising people for mission and often turns to guilt trips and rosters in order to get people on board. However, the principle we are taught here has little to do with such superficial expectations and turns whole-heartedly towards a true experience of God. Therefore, mission starts with an encounter with the living God.

“Most High and Glorious God,

lighten the darkness of my heart

and give me sound faith,

firm hope

and perfect love.

Let me, Lord, have the right feelings

And knowledge,

Properly to carry out

The task you have given me.”[2]

This may seem simple and it is. However it has a huge range of implications that impacts upon the structure of missional movements, our engagement with the world, and our own character formation. All of a sudden the pastor of a church has lost his/her role. No longer is it up to the priesthood to do everything, it now turns to everyone living a specific lifestyle.

STRUCTURE OF MISSIONAL MOVEMENTS

The first place we must look at is leadership. Who is in charge, who keeps an eye on what is happening, and who is leading the way? These days we are taught to take control of where we are going and make sure we get there. However, St Francis had a very different style of leadership, it was wild, the movement was free to go where it wished. Southern comments that Francis had very little idea about leadership or organisation, he just went with the flow![3]

Can you imagine how this would scare Francis’ superiors? The hierarchy would certainly want control of their own church. St Francis was loyal to his superiors yet at the same time he was a little bit wild, a loose cannon perhaps. Take this example, “We ought also to deny ourselves and to put our bodies beneath the yoke of servitude and holy obedience as each one has promised to the Lord. And let no man be bound by obedience to obey any one in that where sin or offence is committed.”[4] Although there is submission to authority there is also a chance of rebellion if we believe God is telling us to do something different…

However the St Francis and the Franciscans had an ability to settle down within the framework of an ecclesiastical organization and as they preached they insisted upon obedience to the Pope and Bishops.[5]

However, the Holy Spirit was their leader. In fact, for the Franciscans, “The path they wished to follow could only be followed instinctively. As soon as it was thought about and pursued in an organised way it raised problems of insuperable difficulty.”[6]

Whenever the move of God was attempted to be controlled by the people, it failed. The Dominicans were around the same time as the Franciscans, they were almost the opposite. They were well organised, they had higher standards, and had a careful campaign planned out for the Christianisation of Europe. However the people found the Franciscans far more appealing, and the Franciscans grew far more rapidly than the Dominicans.

This wildness of this organisation continued, the Franciscans had lower educational standards. Yet they had immense success and universal appeal. It was a nightmare to the rich if you want to be a Franciscan but to the poor it was a haven as they received a place and purpose within community![7] Not only that but Francis and his people had to rely on people for everything. They had no money or possessions. “Their whole way of life depended on their association with the town, and this determined the direction of their later development.”[8]

What amazing principles we can learn from St Francis the leader! Here we learn that true mission is directed by the Holy Spirit and as a result mission can be messy and can seem out of control. However we learn that submission to authority is essential but at the same time only if it is inline with Gods will. He also teaches us that our own plans and ideas are not always in line with God plans. Above all St Francis teaches us that a relationship with God, where we hear from God and then obey is essential if we want to get mission right. But beware, if we follow this teaching our mission will be wild.

ENGAGEMENT WITH THE WORLD

“He would encourage them to despise the world and with serious words urge them to the love of God.”[9]

St Francis teaches us how to engage in the world today. In his time monks were known for despising the world and therefore left to seek solitude in deserts, caves and generally away from people. However St Francis was a social butterfly! Although he urged his followers to despise the world, his approach was not removal but engagement. He urged his people to engage with people by loving them. On top of this we also know that he is the patron saint for nature.

What did he mean by despise the world then? To St Francis to despise the world meant to despise the worldly passions that wage war against our soul. Here St Francis teaches us that we must aggressively guard our heart against worldly passions for power and wealth, instead lower yourself, live simply, sacrificially and in poverty. Deny yourself. St Francis teaches us that true holiness does not mean removal, but engagement through love.

Another important teaching is how St Francis preached the gospel. Many people have attributed the saying, “Preach the gospel at all times, if necessary use words,” to St Francis. However there is no evidence that suggests he did say this.[10] However it is true, St Francis always preached with his actions. However, his preaching with his words often is overlooked.

St Francis was a wild preacher, he preached everywhere and to anyone. He preached in streets, castles and in the forest. He preached to the young, the old, the rich and the poor, even the opposing Sultan in the fifth crusade! Not only that but he preached to wolves and birds! We are taught that we must preach with power and boldness without forgetting that we are preaching the gospel of peace.[11]

Check out this wild testimony of the power of his preaching; “At the prompting of the Holy Spirit preached so miraculously and amazingly that he seemed not a man but an angel. For his heavenly words seemed to shoot like sharp arrows from the bow of divine wisdom; they penetrated the hearts of all so effectively that he converted a mighty crowd of men and women from a state of sin to tears of repentance.”[12]

Again we see that St Francis mission begins and ends with a relationship with God. This power was not his own, but came from spending time in the presence of God. We would do well to remember this and do likewise!

CHARACTER FORMATION

The way Francis lived his life, modelled after Christ, seems ridiculously impossible for Christians today.[13] Can you imagine living in extreme poverty, owning nothing, begging for all your food, meeting with angels, dead men and God Himself in dreams, visions and totally whacked out experiences? It all seems too much to handle, its too wild…

However, St Francis is not a prophet of doom, rather he shows us what a Spirit filled life looks like. Here we remember that true mission starts at conversion and if we want to know God better we must spend time in the ‘secret place’ allowing God to transform us with His presence.

There are so many stories that highlights how valuable St Francis saw spending time with God. One time St Francis was staying at a Friary, a young boy knowing that St Francis would leave in the middle of the night to speak to God, tied a cord to him so that when he awoke he would too. The boy secretly followed St Francis into the woods and when he got there he heard a number of voices speaking to St Francis. Upon this the boy fell into ecstasy and had a glory fit, when St Francis returned home he had to carry the young boy home!

This story is just one example of the prayer time that he would have. There are numerous more that teach us about meditation, repentance, and supernatural encounters. Nothing could be more wild than speaking with angels, dead men and God Himself. However, this teaching does not tell us to search for such manifestations, rather it speaks to us of intimacy with God. It speaks to us of communication with God. And as we spend time with God we too will have our character transformed by the presence of God. And as this happens, mission will naturally flow from our renewed selves.

CONCLUSION

Thus concludes our make over of St Francis. By looking at his life and leadership we learn valuable lessons about mission. We learn that mission begins with a relationship with God, and that this relationship with God directs where we go and what we do. Such a wild agenda means trouble for the hierarchy as they soon discover that they are no longer in control. Instead we learn that the Holy Spirit is our leader. We learnt that every time someone tried to control the movement they failed. The educational standards were lower, but the movement grew stronger and more quickly as people did not rely on their abilities but on God. We were taught how to engage with the world, to despise it, not to remove our selves from it, but in engage in it with it love for others. This love for others manifest itself by a lifestyle of constant preaching with our words and actions, both in the power of the Holy Spirit which we get from deep intimate times with God. And so we complete a full circle and come back to the first lesson we learnt from him, mission begins and ends with a relationship with God. Such a simple message, but will we take heed?

Bibliography

Books

Bader, W. (1988). ‘The Prayers of St Francis.’ New York. New City Press.

Court, S. (2005). ‘Revolution.’ Vancouver. Credo Press.

Crowder, J. (2006). ‘The New Mystics.’ Shippensberg. Destiny Image.

E.M Blaiklock & A.C. Keys. (1985). ‘The Little Flowers.’ London. Hodder and Stoughton.

McManners. (1990). ‘The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity.’ Oxford. University Press.

Southern, W. (1970). ‘Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages.’ Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.

St Francis. ‘Letters to the Faithful.’

Journal Atricles

Moses, P. (2009). ‘Mission Improbable: St. Francis & the Sultan.’ Commonwealth. New York. Vol. 136, Iss. 16; pg. 11, 6 pgs.

Sweas, M. (2006). ‘Extreme Makover.’ U.S. Catholic. Chicago: Nov 2006. Vol. 71, Iss. 11; pg. 10, 1 pgs

Sweeney, J. (2008). ‘A Mended and Broken Heart: A Life and Love of Francis of Assisi. Conversations with St. Francis.’ The Christian Century. Chicago: Vol. 125, Iss. 23; pg. 37, 3 pgs

Internet

McCloskey, P. ‘Great Saying but Tough to Trace.’ www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Oct2001/Wiseman.asp