In the Live Dead Journal Dick Brogden discusses three types of martyrdoms. The green martyrdom comes from the stories of the Irish. The Irish established missional monasteries. These monasteries weren’t to get away from the world but to invite the world in. Their monasteries would be built in a compound style. They planted flowers and gardens, built roads and bridges, brewed ale, and shared it liberally. They shared life with all. The good, the bad, and the ugly parts of life were shared together.

Travelers were invited into the compound as guests. They could eat with the monks, stay in the guest house and learn from the monks. The monks absorbed the travelers into the life of the community. They welcomed the lost to belong before they asked for a change in belief.

Christianity’s biggest downfall in the West is its lack of community. When we ask for individual decisions we also inadvertently invite people into an individualistic discipleship. For Muslims coming out of communities, this just doesn’t work. We ask them to commit to Jesus… and then leave them alone. Maybe we disciple them an hour a week, have them in church an hour a week, but the rest of the time they are on their own. No community. If someone comes out of a community because that community rejects them based on faith, there needs to be a new community to welcome them in!

Brogden calls the Irish evangelism the green martyrdom because there is still death. There is death to self to live in community. The Red Martyrdom asks you to lay your life down for Jesus. The Green Martyrdom requires laying down of your will for one another. This makes the Green Martyrdom much harder.

Living dead is found in Green Martyrdom.