Mission in Context: A Call to become Missional Congregations (original) (raw)
Related papers
Together towards life and mission – a basis for good governance in Church and Society today.
Verbum et Ecclesia, 2015
In this research, important policy decisions by the 2013 General Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church on the missional nature of the church were investigated in dialogue with the new mission affirmation of the World Council of Churches Together towards life: Mission and evangelism in changing landscapes (2013). The research concluded that the new policy document of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (DRC) shows convergence with TTL and that the DRC finds itself within the current ecumenical discourse on church and mission. The DRC does have a comprehensive missional ecclesiology, understanding the church as missional by its very nature. Church polity is informed by a missional understanding of being church. The DRC shows good governance in the sense that it has embarked on a process to revise the church order in the light of the policy decisions and in the sense of the foundation laid by revising a number of important articles of the church order. The research also found that a missional approach affirms life in its fullness and allows and participates in the flourishing of creation. The deduction was that good governance in society entails a society where justice is practised, sustainable lifestyles propagated and respect for the earth practised. The DRC, with its missional understanding of being church, can benefit in its discernment processes and prophetic witness by using an appropriate hermeneutical key in its participation in good governance – to discern where life in its fullness is affirmed. The research found that the DRC finds itself, together with a broader ecumenical community, on a journey towards life. It does have an appropriate basis for good governance in church and society
Missional Focus, Form and Function are Redefining American Christianity
2017
American Christianity is facing unprecedented challenges in the twenty-first century as it is confronted with the increasing secularization of society, and attempts to respond to a post-Christendom environment. In the midst of a deteriorating presence in society, the loss of perceived value and acceptance, along with a growing general disinterest among the American population, the traditional, institutional and denominational model of church struggles to maintain a sense of place or position, while the missional church movement has emerged offering an increasingly acceptable alternative. This missional alternative prioritizes a contextual and incarnational presence in communities as an outgrowth of the missio Dei, with missional churches living as an extension of God’s missionary presence in the world, discerning, understanding, and responding to changing contexts through incarnational relationships with others, emphasizing the community life of disciples of Jesus Christ to reveal the Kingdom of God. This thesis investigates elements contributing to the changing landscape of American Christianity, as well as features common to missional churches to determine the impact of the missional movement upon Christianity in the United States, and finds that American Christianity is being redefined through the emphasis of the missio Dei and an incarnational approach to ministry where contextual focus informs form, and provides for specific and effective ministry function.
2019
The research wants to contribute to the development of a missional ecclesiology for the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) in South Africa. This was done by answering the following two questions: what does the current context of the DRC look like, and is the missional ecclesiology of the church sufficient to guide the church in being a sign, instrument and foretaste of the Kingdom? The research was framed by an analysis of philosophical influences on the development of the DRC, as well as the changes in context since the Reformation. A theological framework was developed that describe the contours of a missional ecclesiology. The framework was formed by analysing the broad ecumenical missional literature; the historical and missiological development of the DRC’s theology; and the fresh expressions movement. This framework was used in evaluating the decisions of the General Synod of the DRC on missional ecclesiology from 1990 until 2013. The research was hermeneutical, correlational, critical and theological, using a literature study as well as a qualitative deductive analysis. This research contributes to the field of missional ecclesiology by: adding a fifth wave of missionary revival to Saayman’s four waves model; developing a theological framework for a missional ecclesiology; evaluating the fresh expressions movement from a Reformed perspective; evaluating the decisions of the General Synod of the DRC on missional ecclesiology; and lastly, suggesting some contours of a missional ecclesiology for the DRC. Although the research is focused on a missional ecclesiology for the DRC, the results may have broader implications for other denominations as well.
Trends in missional ecclesiology
Studies in missional ecclesiology emerged as one of the significant trends in mission studies in the last couple of years. What were these trends in missional ecclesiology? What kind of missional theology formed and fueled the renewed interest in missional ecclesiology? What impact flowed from the important ecumenical events in 2010 (Edinburgh 2010, World Community of Reformed Churches and Lausanne III)? This article explained the term ‘missional church’ and explored missional theology as participating in the life of the Trinity and thus mission as ‘joining in with the Spirit’. It explained the relationship between ecclesiology and missiology. The trends in missional ecclesiology were tracked by focusing on an incarnational approach to the church; relationality in the community of believers; the role of the kingdom of God; discernment as the first act in mission; imago Dei and creativity; the ecclesia and local community and finally mission and ethics.
The challenges posed to university students in the new environment of South Africa in postApartheid are unique. Students living in student houses have very specific needs. This study brought the spheres of the Church’s purpose and nature in line with the needs and contributions of students living in student-houses in the Universitas neighbourhood. The Church should be a missional Church to address these needs. It should be a community of friendship, love, accompaniment and peace. This is an opportunity for the Church to become a home for many. The Church should embody Christ as the living One, Incarnated, to students challenged by the everchanging society. Mission must always be the Missio Dei. From this perspective the Church proclaims Christ to the world. The Church becomes a living Church when the Church lives out the Missio Dei in the Missiones Ecclesiae. Empowered by the Spirit the essential task of the Church is glorifying the Triune God. In Christ new life is possible for the community and students of Universitas where the Dutch Reformed Congregation of Universitas West is situated.
Toward a Missional Soteriology of Discipleship
Salvation is central to the Church’s identity, yet its nature is seldom discussed in local contexts. Moreover, when it is discussed, its relationship to discipleship is ambiguous at best or completely unrelated at worst. At the same time, in the unraveling of Christendom in the West, the doctrine of the missio Dei has been influential in helping the Church to revisit a number of theological concepts, especially a theology of the Church -- ecclesiology. The interest of this project was therefore the exploration and articulation of a soteriological vision rooted in the missio Dei and its relevance for discipleship. The fields of missio Dei/theology of mission, missional ecclesiology, and Anabaptist theology were chosen because of their shared relevance to the issues in view and the Ecclesia Network. The result of this dimension of the project was a missional soteriology of discipleship distinguished by its participational, communal, and (re)creational characteristics. More than simply wanting to develop a new missiological theory, however, the concern of this project was for the contextual implications of such a vision for the Church in North America. The Ecclesia Church Network was chosen as a context for field research as a particular, networked expression of the Church that sees mission, the missio Dei, as central to its identity. Through the use of research methods that engaged the Ecclesia at organizational, pastoral, and local church levels, a theological ethnography was developed and used as a basis for the formulation of contextual proposals related to the missional soteriology of discipleship that emerged. These proposals include ways for Ecclesia to raise the issue of soteriology, the possibility of published resources, launching communities of practice, developing a praxis-based curriculum, and the creation of an online platform for use across the network. In each case, these proposals were set forth as strategic ways to advance the witness of Ecclesia from the perspective of a missional soteriology of discipleship.
Led by the Spirit: Missional Communities and the Quakers on Communal Vocation Discernment
HTS Teologiese Studies/ Theological Studies, 2014
This article argues that the term missional is an expression of the global shift towards a theocentric (rather than ecclesiocentric) understanding of mission. A Missional Community is a concrete, local embodiment of this missional ecclesiology and it comes to be through discerning its particular and ongoing vocation in the cosmic missio Dei. It is for this reason that we argued that communal vocation discernment lies at the heart of the Missional Community’s life and practice. This practice births, energises and renews the Missional Community in the wake of the boundary-breaking Spirit’s work in the local neighbourhood or context. Because communal vocation discernment is central to Missional Communities it seemed prudent to ask which other communities or traditions see discernment as central to their life and practice. In Western Christianity, the Quakers stand out as a significant example of communal discernment as their normal way of making decisions. We sought to answer whether the Quaker practice of communal discernment, in the Meeting for Worship in which Business is Conducted, is a suitable model for communal vocation discernment in Missional Communities. We suggested that it was not suitable in so far as it did not express an explicit commitment to being grounded and connected to a place or neighbourhood as a prerequisite for discernment. We suggested that it was suitable in so far as it continually reminds the community that communal discernment is not simply about making decisions or finding your vocation but at its heart is an act of worship. This awareness in the Quakers is primarily achieved through naming communal discernment spaces as worship spaces and through the strategic use of silence. We also suggested that the Quaker commitment to unity and dissent creates space for belonging, agency and responsibility in the community and that this is something which Missional Communities would do well to appropriate in their own communal vocation discernment.
During the last twenty-five years, two scholarly conversations have developed largely alongside one another—one surrounding the multiethnic church phenomenon and another regarding the missional church. To date, no empirical research has explored the relationship between these two conversations. In this dissertation, I explore the intersection between missional leadership and multiethnic ministry by analyzing how pastoral leadership facilitates missional change at The Lighthouse—a multiethnic congregation in Port City, USA. To understand the process of missional change at the church, I utilized a case study approach. I collected data by conducting semi-structured interviews with thirteen pastoral and lay leaders in the church, through participant observation, and by administering a congregational survey through a convenience sample during Sunday morning worship services. I then used an integrated theoretical framework consisting of adaptive leadership theory and schema theory to interpret the data. My findings revealed that pastoral leadership has been utilizing a charismatic leadership approach to construct a missional theology of place among the congregation to facilitate the process of change. They also revealed several adaptive challenges resulting from that approach to leadership: (1) A gap between a lived and preferred value for mission in the congregation; (2) over-dependence on the charismatic leader; and (3) an ethnic hierarchy being perpetuated through a Euro-centric leadership schema. As a result of this study, I was able to make three conclusions. First, as a result of the top-down charismatic leadership approach, the church is not on a journey to missional. Instead, it is engaging in an ecclesio-centric form of mission that inadvertently diminishes the agency of the Spirit by centering missional innovation around the gifts and charisma of the pastor. Second, by centering power and decision-making among the charismatic leader, the pastoral staff has inadvertently minimized the agency of the everyday people of God and marginalized ethnically diverse voices in the congregation. Third, the charismatic approach toward change is hindering missional innovation and creativity among the congregation, reinforcing the cycle of dependency on the charismatic leader. Accordingly, I suggest interpretive leadership as a pathway forward for the church to unleash the missional potential in the congregation.