Culture and Context

Spring 2013Session One

The Contemporary Missional Story

• Lesslie Newbigin – Missionary to India – 1974• The Gospel & Our Culture Network – 1980’s–A network in North America that followed

the work of Newbigin in Great Britain.• David Bosch – Transforming Mission – 1991 –

became a key text for missional theology & the missional movement – a missiologist.

• Missio Dei – The mission of God.

The Contemporary Missional Story

• Missional Church – edited by Darrell Guder – 1998. This book is the foundational work for the missional movement in North America.

• The Shaping of Things to Come – Innovation & Mission For the 21st –Century Church – Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch

A Clear Picture of Current Reality

• The day of the professional minister is over. The day of the missionary pastor has come.

• The day of the churched culture is over. The day of the mission field has come.

• The day of the local church is over. The day of the mission outpost has come.

Kennon Callahan Effective Church Leadership - 1990

“The rise of the missional church is the single biggest development in

Christianity since the Reformation.”

Reggie McNeal Missional Renaissance

Missional takes us back to the original purpose of Jesus. God is a

sending God who is sending us.

As the Father has sent menow I’m sending you.

What is the mission of God?

Ken Shuman D.Min.

Defining a few terms:

• Missions: something a church does as part of its life & programs.

• Missionary: someone sent to do missions somewhere else – primarily in the form of

evangelization.• Mission: a purpose or agenda –

something to accomplish.• Missional: to join God in his mission as a

way of life – reflecting his character.

Missional has nothing to do with being cool, hip, or trendy. It’s not

about methods or style.

Missional is not a fresh coat of paint on the same old outreach

programs.

Missional is more than just doing a few community service projects.

Missional is not yet another program to add to your already

busy church calendar.

To be missional we must begin to think like missionaries in our own

culture.

Missionaries are required to be learners, which takes enormous

humility.

To be missional we must learn how to study & understand the cultural

context of our neighborhoods, workplaces & 3rd spaces.

Missional very simply is taking on the radical example and teachings

of Jesus as our way of life.

Being missional is joining with God is His ongoing mission in the world.

“Mission is the result of God’s initiative, rooted in God’s purposes to restore and

heal creation.”“God’s mission 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.” Treasures in Clay Jars

Edited by Lois Y. Barrett

“As we have used the tools of biblical scholarship carefully, we have begun to learn that the biblical message is more

radical, more inclusive, more transforming than we have allowed it to be.”

Missional ChurchEdited by Darrell Guder

“Mission is faith in action. It is the acting out of the central prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to use: ‘Father, hallowed be

thy name, thy kingdom come; they will be done on earth as in heaven.’”

Lesslie NewbiginThe Open Secret

“Salvation in Christ is salvation in the context of human society en route to a

whole and healed world.” David Bosch

Transforming Mission

I have come to believe that God’s mission is to restore all of creation

to wholeness.

“As we have used the tools of biblical scholarship carefully, we have begun to learn that the biblical message is more

radical, more inclusive, more transforming than we have allowed it to be.

God’s mission embraces all of creation.”

From the book Missional ChurchEdited by Darrell L. Guder

Missional Church edited by Darrell L. Guder

It has taken us decades to realize that mission is not just a program of the

church. It defines the church as God’s sent people. Our challenge today is to

move from church with mission to missional church.

From Souls to Wholes.

“For Luke, salvation actually had six dimensions; economic, social, political, physical, psychological, and spiritual.”

David BoschTransforming Mission

Could missional be about restoring wholeness in these six dimensions?

We are called and sent to represent God’s dream for the world. It is our task to

create foretastes of God’s kingdom here on earth. We become “movie trailers” for the

kingdom of God.