MINISTRIES
Center for Spiritual Renewal
Church MultiplicationMissional Conversation
Welcome to the conversation!
It has been said that roughly every 500 years the church goes through a seismic paradigm shift in which the church presently is unearthed as a result of cultural and theological forces giving rise to the church prophetically. The world, and church, is currently in such liminal times, as the Western world finds itself stuck between modernity (calculated view of the world) and post-modernity (uncalculated view of the world) amidst the increasing forces of globalization.
What is the MIssional Conversation?
The missional conversation has arisen ias a result of many diverse followers of Jesus re-thinking and re-imagining what it means to be church in the 21st century. We are welcoming this conversation, and as the Spirit leads, inviting all to learn and contribute to what we believe will shape the prophetic future of the church.
The conversation is formal, occurring through national networks of friendships and church communities, and informal, taking place in pubs, coffee shops and wherever else community happens around the world. This page is intended to provide a brief description of the areas of discussion within the missional conversation and the types of church communities that are being planted as a result. Far too many people think missional is another program or model to add to their existing churches. It's not. The resources below do not define the conversation, rather they open a window into the theology behind the movement and give a glimpse into the fruitful result that is emerging.
It's a conversation because it is ongoing and does not give a model, but rather asks new questions in the midst of the world's new contexts. Within the conversation, there are three terms that are used and each has distinctive meaning. These terms are: emergent, emergent churchand missional.
Emergent
The term "emergent" refers to a network of friends who describe themselves as a growing, generative friendship among missional Christians seeking to love our world in the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
The Emergent Church
The term "emergent church" is not about a denomination or institution.
It describes the types of church communities being planted as a result
of the conversation. Their backgrounds range from Roman Catholic to
Pentecostal. An emergent church gathering is often diverse and
implements practices from multiple church traditions, and can thus
represent a "post-denominational" form of church. The emphasis is on participation in the church gathering.
Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger, professors of mission at Fuller
Theological Seminary have identified three questions that guide the
zeitgeist of missional churches:
1. What does it mean and look like to follow (be a disciple of) Jesus in the 21st century?
2. How do we break down the "sacred" and "secular" divide?
3. What does it mean and look like to live in community today?
Missional
The term "missional" refers to the posture of emerging churches that turn themselves inside out. Church is no longer distinctly defined by having a building(s), services or programs. These church communities seek to "incarnate" the way of Jesus in the world by starting in their local communities. They may run a local coffee shop, pub, community center, book store or other "third space" in which they can build relationships with the community around them. Often their church gatherings happen in these places. They also tend to work towards localizing their community and many move within short distances of this "third space". Mike Frost, an Australian missiologist and missional church planter, notes some of the biblical practices they intentionally embody:
1. Hospitality: There is a tendency to move into local communities and share their homes and tables with each other and the wider community.
2. Generosity: Collectively and individually giving resources to those in need with particular concern for the marginalized and oppressed.
3. Justice: Directing energy towards non-partisan biblical justice by participating in local and global aspects of God's mission in making all things new.
4. Environmental Stewardship: The commitment to uphold the creation mandate in Genesis as caretakers of God's creation.
5. Mission: Seeing all participants in the church community as having the mandate of being sent into the world so that the Lordship of Christ is proclaimed in word and deed.
Resources for the Missional Conversation:
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