Wednesday, September 17, 2008

thoughtful reflection on missional church

A thoughtful reflection by Mark Sayers on the missiology of missional church here.

1. Failed to define what is meant by “attractional”

2. Failed to define what is meant by “incarnational”

3. Being overly defined by a reaction to mass/popular culture

4. Failing to understand “low fuel tank faith”

5. Being wed to Gen-X culture.

I have tried to say similar things about attractional and incarnational here and here and here (but less well than Mark).

I’d personally want to say more about mass/popular culture and low fuel tank faith. Regarding, mass/popular culture, I think there is a quest for “chic and cool” which bugs a lot of alt.worship stuff, a sort of snobbery of mass culture that has made it elitist. At the same time, there is a tension here, because if most innovation comes from innovators, then they are likely to live among the chic and cool.

Regarding low fuel tank faith, this is where we need to work out our theology and images of mission. A lot of work went into this, for me, after we planted Graceway. It was the desire to find ways to reenchant people’s passion for spirituality and mission that lay behind my Out of bounds church? book.

In terms of the worldwide emerging church movement I would add;

6. We have failed to honour our parents. We have been too quick to slag off at established church. Yet all the time they are funding our mission (ie paying salaries) and have given us faith and life. So a lot of my time in recent years has been the move to Opawa and the working with established denominations, because theologically, surely God can work anywhere, inside and outside the church.

In New Zealand I would add;
7. We have failed to develop relationships with minority cultures. We have not taken justice and relationship building seriously enough and so we remain too white and Western and male.

Posted by steve at 12:25 PM

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