Spiritual Underground

To get a feel for the spiritual underground it is probably best to first visualize the spiritual overground, the highly visible, well-intentioned and well-established network of churches, ministries and institutions that are the face of Christianity to our world. In contrast, the spiritual underground is that less visible space, on the outskirts of Christendom, where unconventional and unlikely candidates do life and mission together in less-formal structures.

Historically, these misfits have been pioneers who have contended for authenticity, honesty and original thought. Although their efforts have seemed scrappy, they have been surprisingly consequential. Their forward-thinking has triggered new ideas and given birth to new initiatives. More often than not, reformations in the overground have been the result of provocation from the underground.

In recent history, the term ’underground’ has been used to describe the unregistered church in China. Because of the hostility toward Christianity, believers have two choices: to join the state-sanctioned church, which is closely monitored by the authorities, or to build community outside the approved system in order to stick with your convictions and not be forced into a position of compromise. In crude terms, overground versus underground has to do with the way we negotiate with power.

For two thousand years, overground communities have formed around theological beliefs. In a surprise development in the modern age, theology has taken a bit of a back seat to personality and production.

The underground is more sociological in construct with relationship being the primary draw. In recent years we have seen informal friendship groups morph into movements as friends have traded skills and teamed up around mutual interests. The net result has felt increasingly like the collaborative kingdom of priests that Moses spoke about back in the day.

Just as with athletics, where you can either ‘run track’ or ‘play team sports’, so it is with art and creativity. You can work alone or in cahoots with others. Because of the collaborative culture of the underground, our contributors are more likely to prefer working in team than alone. This has had a way of cultivating a vibrant sense of community in our ecosystem; not to mention the incurable ‘party spirit’.

As with everything in this life, there is very little that is straightforwardly ‘black and white.’ Nuance, contradiction and compromise abound. Therefore, it is worth noting that there are many who live and serve in the overground yet identify as underground. These are also welcome participants in this venture. That being said, there is a potential vulnerability in their engagement. With all the kindness in the world, we simply cannot afford to get drawn into a drama if their involvement with us in justice work creates problems for them at home base. If we were to get bogged down with these issues, we would lose our unique purpose.

Malcolm du Plessis