Rethinking Denominations

January 5, 2009 | Filed Under ecclesiology, missional | 5 Comments

The past several decades have seen a seemingly endless obsession with trying to discover strategies to help denominations and congregations become more effective or successful. Consistent with the DNA of denominationalism, these strategies are usually defined with respect to carrying out the purpose of the church. To put it simply, in attempting to renew the church, you can’t get there from there. It is essential to probe deeper beyond the mere attempt to reclaim the purposive intent of the church.

The argument I am proposing is that the denominational, organizational church has focused more on matters of polity than on ecclesiology. This ends up making the operational ecclesiology of the denominational church more functional, or instrumental, in character. In contrast, the missional church conversation has reintroduced a discussion about the very nature of the church, its essence.

This conversation no longer understands “being missionary” primarily in functional terms, as something the church does, as is the case for the denominational, organizational church; instead, it understands “being missionary” in terms of something the church is, as something that is related to its nature. This represents a change of kind in the conversation about the church where ecclesiology is, once more, front and center.

Craig Van Gelder in “The Missional Church & Denominations”

What Does a Missional Church Look Like?

August 4, 2008 | Filed Under church, ecclesiology, missional | 5 Comments

A frequent priority of the local congregation is to attract people to come to the physical property of the church so as to inlcude the “pagans” in the life of the church. This model began with the Roman Empire, especially after Constantine’s conversion and Christianity became the official Roman religion.

Since that time, a “Constantinian Model” has led congregations to emphasize that what happens in the physical church building or service is “church.”

Consequently, congregations offer worthip services and education programs but are weak in ministry outside the church building.

Those who want to join the life of faith must leave their culture and come join us in our church. The church does not go to them. This “come to us” model functioned in the Western Church in the culture of Christendom. Without much effort, people came to our congregations and adapted to our culture. All too often, Western missionaries planted Constantinian congregations even in non-Christendom lands.

In every age, there are those Christians who see the Constantinian model as flawed. They see the incarnation of Jesus as a call for the church to leave its “safe” building and move into the world of those they are trying to serve. These missional Christians adapt to the culture rather than ask those outside the church to change cultures to find God. They also sense a call to communicate Christ in words and deeds of love.

In previous years, I invited people to church when I met them, thinking in that way they will hear the gospel. I began to see that I was giving the church an unfair advantage. I was asking them to come to my turf, where I was the leader, where I stand and speak while they sit and listen. It was a lack of courage that led me to rely on bringing them to a place where I was the boss and they were the servants. What I had to learn to do was speak the gospel on their terms — in their homes, in their boats — as a friend and as an equal. — Mark Peske, missionary to the Ojibwa.

It seems safer to remain in our congregations and hope people will come to us. Maybe the safest place for the church is to be where Jesus is.

– The Local Church in Mission: Becoming A Missional Congregation in the Twenty-First Century Global Context, Lausanne Occasional Paper no. 39, 2004

The Church Does What It Is

March 27, 2008 | Filed Under church, ecclesiology | 1 Comment

The church is missionary by nature, created by the Spirit to participate fully in the redemptive reign of God. The very existence of the church in the world creates a missionary condition. All that the church does in living its life and in carrying out its ministry is missionary by intent.

The church is missionary by nature because God through the Spirit calls, creates, and commissions the church to communicate to the world that the redemptive reign of God has broken into human history.

Because the church is the creation of the Spirit, its ministry is a work of the Spirit. The church’s ministry flows naturally out of its nature. This means that the church does what it is. . . . It is helpful to summarize the key elements of the church’s nature that have a direct bearing on the church’s ministry.

1. The nature of the church is defined by the mission of God in the world.

2. The nature of the church is the result of the redemptive work of Christ.

3. The nature of the church is holistic in relating redemption to all of life.

4. The church exists as a social community that is both spiritual & human.

5. The church exists as a full demonstration of a new humanity.

The attributes of the church’s nature determine the church’s ministry.

– The Essence of the Church by Craig Van Gelder

Darrell Guder & Incarnational Mission

February 7, 2008 | Filed Under books, ecclesiology, incarnational | 2 Comments

A few months ago a Professor at a local seminary shared with me that he was uncomfortable with my use of the phrase “incarnational mission.” He believed the phrase was not very useful, moreover, in his opinion its use minimized the significance of the incarnation event.

Following is an excerpt from an excellent little book (60 pages) by Darrell Guder titled “The Incarnation and The Church’s Witness” where Guder speaks directly to the meaning of “incarnational mission” as well as the “risk” involved in such language.

“By incarnational mission I mean the understanding and practice of Christian witness that is rooted in and shaped by the life, ministry, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The critical question that motivates this study is this: Can and should the unique event of the incarnation of Jesus that constitutes and defines the message and mission of the church have concrete significance for the way in which the church communicates that message and carries out the mission?

Understanding mission incarnationally . . . could prove to be a remarkably integrative way to approach the church’s missionary vocation. It could counter the typically Western reduction of mission to one of the many programs of the church. It could recast that mission as the definitive calling of the church. It could seek to read the biblical record in its own terms and to address serious problems in Western mission that have surfaced in this century.

Thus, the language of incarnational mission could be both constructive with regard to the biblical and theological understanding of message, and polemical with regard to the context and history of mission, especially in the Western tradition.

Just as any theological concept is susceptible to distortion, there are ways of misconstruing the linkage of Christian mission with the incarnation. It is possible to dilute the uniqueness and centrality of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ when his incarnation becomes a model for Christian behavior. A primary ethical or moralistic interpretation of the life of Jesus, such as was characteristic of nineteenth-century liberal theology, often downplays or dilutes the event-character of the gospel.

But it is that event character, the historical ‘happenedness’ of Jesus’ life, that both enables and defines Christian witness. As we seek to explore the missional significance of the incarnation, we need to resist every temptation to dilute the centrality of the incarnation event. The risk represented by the concept of incarnational mission is worth taking, I think, especially as we are challenged to develop a viable mission theology for the Western world, which by common consent is now a very challenging mission field.”

What Is A Missional Church?

January 31, 2008 | Filed Under books, ecclesiology, missional | No Comments

A proper, biblical ecclesiology looks at everything the church is and does in relation to the mission of God in the world. The church does not exist for itself, but for participation in God’s mission of reconciliation. “Mission” is not just an activity carried out by special people in faraway places. Mission is the character of the church in whatever context it exists.

This hasn’t always been the way Christians have thought about the character of the church. In Christendom (where church & nation/culture were hand-in-glove, and it was assumed that almost everybody was Christian somehow), the church’s mission only related to cultures other than the dominant culture.

This was especially the case in Europe and North America. But Christendom is dying. Our context in North America is more like the New Testament context of the church, where the church is on the margins, not at the center of society. The mission field is right around us, as well as around the world. We can no longer assume (if indeed, we ever should have assumed) that everyone around us is Christian.

Nor is a missional church simply a congregation with a mission statement. All kinds of organizations have mission statements, and not all of those mission statements are aligned with God’s purposes in the world.

A missional church is a church that is shaped by participating in God’s mission, which is to set things right in a broken, sinful world, to redeem it, and to restore it to what God has always intended for the world. Missional churches see themselves not so much sending, as being sent. A missional congregation lets God’s mission permeate everything that the congregation does — from worship to witness to training members for discipleship. It bridges the gap between outreach and comgregational life, since, in its life together, the church is to embody God’s mission.

- Lois Y. Barrett in Treasure in Clay Jars: Patterns in Missional Faithfulness

Temple Church vs. Tabernacle Church

November 19, 2007 | Filed Under church, ecclesiology, missional | No Comments

Over the past year I have been attempting to read through each book from the Gospel and Our Culture Series written or edited by such authors as Darrell Guder, Craig Van Gelder, George Hunsberger, Lois Barrett and others. Thus far my favorites have been “Missional Church” and “Confident Witness - Changing World.”

In additon to the book in this series I have also tried to find writings by each author that were pre - GOCN. One such book is “Be My Witnesses” by Darrell Guder. In chapter ten, titled “Correcting The Church’s Course” Guder offers an excellent contrast between what the church is and what it should be using the images of the Temple and the Tabernacle. He writes:

“With regard to the church’s interpretation of its role in history, I suggest that the church has developed, from early on, a “temple” interpretation of itself, whereas the biblical image of the church is more the “tabernacle” of the Old Covenant. The difference between these two images is profound.

The temple is an unmovable building, a center for religious activity, even a headquarters for a religious elite or massive building housing an organization whose commitment is to its continuation as it is. Temples often are walled compounds, separated from the world without, architecturally symbolizing a chasm between the so-called sacred and the secular. Temples can be places in which religion functions as an arcane discipline, reserved for the initiates. They are built to last forever, to resist change, to maintain their form and activity in as pure a fashion as possible.

Tabernacles, on the other hand, are a unique expression of a people’s faith. The “tent-church” of the Old Covenant was not permanent but moved with the people whenever they followed God’s leading into new territory. The furnishings of the tabernacle, and the acts of worship and community that took place there, constantly focused the people upon their God, his actions on their behalf, his presence in their midst, and his will and direction for their future. More>>

The Missionary Nature of the Church

November 6, 2007 | Filed Under books, dmin project, ecclesiology | No Comments

There is no other Church than the Church sent into the world, and there is no other mission than that of the Church of Christ. . . . If one wants to maintain a specific theological meaning of the term mission as “foreign mission,” its significance is, in my opinion, that it keeps calling the Church to think over its essential nature as a community sent forth into the world.

Seen in that light missionary work is not just one of its activities, but the criterion for all its activities . . . . It is exactly by going outside itself that the Church is itself and comes to itself.

- Johannes Blauw in The Missionary Nature of the Church

North America as a Mission Field

October 24, 2007 | Filed Under books, ecclesiology | 3 Comments

If the church takes seriously the fact that North America is now a mission field, this has tremendous implications for congregations. One of the most important implications is that many of the assumptions that have guided the development of the church over the past several centuries are now in need of critique and redefinition (e.g., denominations, individualism, and success).

Another implication is that the church will increasingly need to recognize that its own location in the present culture is no longer at the center, but at the margins. Being on the margins, however, can provide fresh opportunities for thinking about offering confident witness as the church.

- Craig Van Gelder in Confident Witness - Changing World

God’s Missionary People

October 18, 2007 | Filed Under ecclesiology, missiology, missional | No Comments

With increasing urgency pastors, missiologists, and theologians have called for redefining the Church’s nature, its mission, its reason for being, its relation to the Kingdom of God, and its calling in the world. It has become increasingly difficult to separate the “visible” from the “invisible,” the hope from the reality. These modern Bonhoeffers have convincingly demonstrated that the Church must live out its missionary nature in the here and now.

A new missiological paradigm in ecclesiology is needed so that we might see the missionary Church as an “emerging” reality which, as it is built up in the world, becomes in fact what it is in faith. By grasping and internalizing this new paradigm we will find our thinking about the Church and its mission becoming highly contextual, radically transformational, and powerfully hopeful, exercised with eternity in view.

- Charles Van Engen, God’s Missionary People: Rethinking the Purpose of the Local Church

Evangelical Conversion toward a Missional Ecclesiology?

October 6, 2007 | Filed Under dmin project, ecclesiology, missional | 2 Comments

Today I finished reading a essay titled “Evangelical Conversion toward a Missional Ecclesiology” by George Hunsberger. The essay is chapter four of Evangelical Ecclesiology: Reality or Illusion? edited by John Stackhouse. Dr. Hunsberger is Professor of Congregational Mission at Western Theological Seminary. He is also coordinator of the Gospel and Our Culture Network in North America.

I had the privilege of sitting between Dr. Hunsberger and Dr. Lois Barrett (also a contributor to GOCN) during dinner one evening last year when the GOCN annual conference was in town. I have since grown to appreciate Hunsberger’s insight and try to keep up on his numerous writings.

Here is a extended portion of the essay where Hunsberger presents a helpful summary of the continual stranglehold Christendom has on the church in North America. He then goes on to ask if evangelicalism’s emphasis on “missions” has made it more difficult for the church to grasp the “missional” purpose of why it exists. I urge you to carve out a few minutes to read his thoughts and tell me what you think.

Hunsberger writes:

The Reformers lived in what was still a Christendom world, and they continued to think and respond to issues of the nature and form of the church with assumptions inherent in that world. It should be no surprise that they did so. But it should surprise us that Christendom ways of thinking of the church still persist in our own time. Evangelicalism, no less than any other of the streams flowing from the Reformation, bears the stamp of the reduction of the church of the church to a place where certain things happen.

What was most lost to the church in the period of Christendom was its sense of missional identity. This pervasive eclipse of mission continued to be evident in the Reformational confessions. Wilbert Shenk summarizes (Write the Vision, p. 38):

Ecclesiologically the church is turned inward. The thrust of these statements, which were the very basis for catechizing and guiding the faithful, rather than equipping and mobilizing the church to engage the world, was to guard and preserve. This is altogether logical, of course, if the whole of society is by definition already under the lordship of Christ.

The gradual emergence of Protestant missionary ventures to newly discovered parts of the world (after a couple of centuries!) does not really contradict this assessment. What is new is that missions are organized apart from the magistrate’s initiative and sponsorship. From the time of the Reformation until the eighteenth century, this official direction and support were understood to be chiefly responsible for the evangelization of new regions. More>>

Rethinking Worship Evangelism?

September 21, 2007 | Filed Under church, ecclesiology, missional | No Comments

There is probably a good chance you have already seen this article from Sally Morgenthaler, author of Worship Evangelism. Morgenthaler’s article was first published in Rev! Magazine but recently was offered on the Allelon website as well as this month’s Next Wave ezine.

I used a portion of Worship Evangelism as part of the curriculum for a course on Worship from 1999 to 2003. I appreciated her emphasis on challenging seeker targeted churches to rethink performance based “worship” to that in which seekers would sense and experience the presence of God. Morgenthaler challenged church leaders to consider the evangelistic potential of authentic worship.

However, today Morgenthaler has become increasingly uncomfortable with the “worship-driven subculture.” She has become convinced that the focus on culturally relevant, authentic worship has been at the expense of understanding and living the Christian faith with a missional perspective.

I would recommend reading the entire article on one of the sites linked above, but here is a sample of Morgenthaler’s struggle: More>>

The Trinity & Missional Ecclesiology

July 20, 2007 | Filed Under dmin project, ecclesiology, kingdom of God, missional | 1 Comment

In an excellent article in Word & World Journal titled “Rethinking Denominations and Denominationalism in Light of a Missional Ecclesiology” Craig Van Gelder discusses the significant developments in the past few decades in trinitarian studies regarding an understanding of mission, specifically in the area of ecclesiology. He highlights two streams within trinitarian studies that inform this conversation, and ultimately inform our understanding of the genetic code of the missional church. Here is a portion of the article: More>>

The Mission Shaped Church Interview

July 16, 2007 | Filed Under church, ecclesiology, missional | No Comments

Alan Roxburgh interviews Rev. Graham Cray, a bishop in the Anglican Church in the UK and the chair of the working group who published the “Mission Shaped Church” report which is available for download at Fresh Expressions. Bishop Cray talks about what is happening in the UK around fresh expressions of church and how they are trying to connect with the “de-churched.” He also discusses how a sense of collaboration is developing as older churches are learning and working together with newer churches. The interview is only 11 minutes long and can be viewed here.

I Long For A Church That …

June 22, 2007 | Filed Under church, ecclesiology, missional | 1 Comment

Back in February of 2005 Brother Maynard from Subversive Influence shared an excellent post titled “To Clarify This Journey.” It was republished a month later at emergingchurch.info. In the post Brother Maynard shares nine characteristics that he longs for in the life of a faith community. How deeply do these points resonate with you? What would you add to his list? More>>

Missional Meanderings

May 22, 2007 | Filed Under church, ecclesiology, leadership, meanderings, missional | No Comments

Here is an excellent article on the importance of teaching theology from a missional perspective by Dr. John Franke, Professor of Theology at Biblical Seminary. The article focuses on the implications of understanding Christian theology as a discipline that should assist the church in it’s missional vocation.

Drew Goodmanson presents a couple of outstanding posts on developing a “triperspectival ecclesiology.” The first post is here. Second post is here. A follow up post on missional leadership is here. Be sure to examine the diagrams with each post. How do you see these diagrams assisting the formation of your community? How do they help you communicate?

I found the possibilities of this event very interesting in light of several conversations we have been having about the need for some sort of missional order.

Does individualism pervert the gospel? Getting the Gospel right by Scot McKnight.

In small group ministry as well as house/organic expressions of church people inevitably ask “what to do with the kids?”

Finally, here is a nice resource of seminary courses from Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis. There are nearly a thousand free resources available for download in mp3 or pdf files.

Why Plant New Churches? #3

May 10, 2007 | Filed Under church planting, ecclesiology | No Comments

Do we really need to plant new churches? Aren’t there enough churches already? Why don’t we focus on the existing churches that are struggling to survive?

Here is reason number three:

Reason 3: Church Planting is a Good Way to Reach Different Cultures and Sub-Cultures

I believe that when we allow our Christology (the Person and work of Christ) to determine our missiology (the way we attempt to connect with people who are far from God) which in turn determines our ecclesiology (the form and function of the church) we will see a wide variety of new churches planted that will connect and reach people groups that would otherwise be un-reached. Simply put, we need all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people; and that happens best when we plant new communities of faith.

The “System” is Flawed

April 16, 2007 | Filed Under ecclesiology, leadership | 9 Comments

This morning (Sunday) the pastor of a large church where my family and I attend two or three times a month resigned after confessing an adulterous relationship with a fellow staff member. It was an enormous blow to everyone. If there was one pastor among the group of churches where I work (as a Church Planting Strategist) that I thought “had it all together” it was this pastor. In every area of ministry he seemed to always do the right thing. Over the past 17 years he led the church from a group of 75 to a church with an attendance of over 5,000. The church is a full blown PDC model with six services including one on-site video venue and two regional campuses. More>>

God Who Sends: A Fresh Quest

March 28, 2007 | Filed Under books, ecclesiology, missional | No Comments

I have been reading an excellent book by Dr. Francis DuBose titled “God Who Sends: A Fresh Quest for Biblical Mission.” The book was published in 1983 when Dr. DuBose was professor and director of World Missions Center at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. In the preface of the book DuBose writes:

“This work is a comprehensive and systematic study of the biblical concept of the sending aimed at a better understanding of biblical mission. . . . The title “God Who Sends” was chosen because God as Sender is the basis of all the Bible has to say on the subject. The subtitle, “A Fresh Quest for Biblical Mission,” reflects both my desire for a more satisfying theological understanding and my realization that this can only be a quest, not a final word on the subject.”

In chapter 3 DuBose presents a survey of the theological sending passages within 7 Scriptural categories: the Pentateuch, the Historical Books, the Poetical Books, the Prophets, the Gospels, the Book of Acts, and the Epistles and Revelation. In coming days we will discuss the key passages that DuBose surveys and consider how they ought to inform our own “quest for biblical mission.”

Missional and the SBC

February 20, 2007 | Filed Under church, ecclesiology, missional | No Comments

Dr. Ed Stetzer, Missiologist and Research Team Director at the North American Mission Board gave a presentation at the Baptist Identity Conference last week titled “Toward a Missional Convention.” Here is the pdf file of the paper that he presented and a link to the audio.

Stetzer tells it like it is in Southern Baptist life, I just hope people will really listen to what he has to say. Here is just a taste of what he shared:

We can no longer continue trying to reach North America with “one-size fits all” methods and an inward denominational focus. The shift toward a missional SBC will consequently necessitate a change from the way many churches are doing ministry.

Baptist have a choice - we can argue about whether we’ll use the noun “missionary” or the adjective “missional,” - or we can recognize that a lost world needs us to stop arguing about nomenclature and obey Christ’s commands. Simply put, it does not matter what you call it, it matters that you do it. And we are not doing it.

Furthermore, many young leaders, who have been alienated and marginalized, are not pining away hoping that the SBC will welcome them back. Many of them have moved on to networks and other partnerships where they can get on mission instead of getting into an argument. The result of this phenomenon has become the “elephant in the room” for Southern Baptists.

There is a reason so many churches are forming networks - they are doing so because they do not see ours as their best investment of time and energy. If our seminaries do not teach cultural engagement, our agencies primarily espouses strategies from a past era, and our associations reject anything that does not look like a tent revival, it will be little surprise that our young leaders consider us out of touch.

The Forgotten Ways

February 14, 2007 | Filed Under books, ecclesiology, missional | 1 Comment

So far I have throughly enjoyed Alan Hirsch’s “The Forgotten Ways.” I find his insights on the nature of the church refreshing and challenging. I am just over half way through the book and most every word resonates deeply with me. There has been a good bit of dialogue over the book over at Jesus Creed as Scot McKnight works through the book one chapter at a time. Additionally, there is a short yet helpful interview with Hirsch at Becoming Missional. Also check out Hirsch’s website for more information on the author and on-going discussion on “The Forgetten Ways.”

From Sending to Being Sent

February 11, 2007 | Filed Under ecclesiology, missional | No Comments

The basic definition of the church is “the people of God who are called and sent to re-present the reign of God.”

- George Hunsberger, The Gospel and Our Culture Network

Hirsch & Missional Church

February 9, 2007 | Filed Under books, ecclesiology, missional | No Comments

“A missional church is a church that defines itself, and organizes its life around, its real purpose as an agent of God’s mission to the world. In other words, the church’s true and authentic organizing principle is mission. When the church is in mission, it is the true church. The church itself is not only a product of that mission but is obligated and destined to extend it by whatever means possible. The mission of God flows directly through every believer and every community of faith that adheres to Jesus. To obstruct this is to block God’s purposes in and through his people.”

- Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways

What Is Missional?

February 6, 2007 | Filed Under ecclesiology, missional | 1 Comment

There is a good article in the latest Leadership Journal on becoming missional with thoughts from TallSkinnyKiwi and Mike Breen author of Passionate Church.

When asked, “What kind of church do you serve?” leaders are finding that denominational qualifiers or adjectives such as innovative, emergent, contemporary, liturgical and purpose-driven don’t get to the heart of the question; they tend to over-emphasize a particular aspect of the church.

Leaders are (re)discovering that the essential calling of the church has less to do with the way a church is organized, its doctrinal distinctions, or its style of music, and more to do with the missio Dei (mission of God).

UK blogger Andrew Jones explains: “Missio Dei stems from the Triune God: the Father sends the Son, the Father and the Son send the Spirit, the Father and Son and the Spirit send the church into the world.” So a missional church is about doing God’s work in the world today. In this sense, the missional church isn’t a new emphasis, but is a renewed focus on what has been (or should have been) there all along.

Mike Breen, pastor at Community Church of Joy near Phoenix, Arizona, believes the missional church is something very old, very fundamental, and very much at the core of what it means to be church.

Missional church is radical only in the sense that radical means root,” he says. “The missional church is rooted in not just the New Testament church of Acts, but in the mission of Jesus himself. A missional church lives out the church’s three-dimensional calling: to be upwardly focused on God in worship that is passionate; to be inwardly focused on community among believers that is demonstrated in relationships of love and compassion; and to be outwardly focused on a world that does not yet know God.”