Slides for Praxis Victoria Year 2 Unit… a work in progress
I did an introduction to the idea of Missional Community for the Mission Theology, 2nd year subject of Praxis Victoria today. Here are some dot points and links which are pretty relevant and current for me as I am about to begin working on a renewal project at Newmarket Baptist Church…
What is Missional Community?
Understanding the Missio Dei… The Kingdom of God is like... imagination/parable exercise with your placement. What does a ‘kingdom community vision’ look like for the people you serve beyond your personal involvement? We often engage in Christian ‘mission’ work without any idea of the community we are seeking to become or participate in. What is our idea of ‘the church’? We should not be surprised at the odd looking baby that sometimes gets birthed!!! The study of church is called ‘ecclesiology’… Ekklesia was not a religious word but simply a term that described a gathering of community leaders at the city gate in Greco-Roman world. I like this video below on what church is and isn’t…
Mission Minded vs Missional : from Shaped by God’s Heart: The Passion and Practises of Missional Churches by Milfred Minatrea
- Sending/ Supporting vs. Being/Doing
- Representative vs. Participative
- One expression of its ministry vs. The essence of its existence
1.End of Christendom
2.Rise of Postmodernity
3.Post-colonialism: ‘Missionary Grow Home’ Bringing lessons from the 20th Century Mission Movement back home to enculturate the gospel amidst the sub-cultural fragmentation of the ‘dominant’ Western culture.
David Bosch (wiki) uses Thomas Khun’s paradigm theory to summarise the history of Christian mission and suggest the context in which we currently find ourselves…
- The Apocalyptic paradigm of primitive Christianity
- The Hellenistic paradigm of the patristic period
- The medieval Roman Catholic paradigm
- The Protestant Reformation paradigm
- The modern Enlightenment paradigm
- The emerging ecumenical paradigm.
Missional vs. Attractional
How do you feel about this video?
Mike Frost on Missional versus Attractional models…
Missional Community Simple
Missional Church Simple
Mendicant’ vs. ‘Monastic’ The role of Religious Orders in the historical renewal of the church.
Alan Hirsch Dynamics: The Forgotten Ways
2. Missional Incarnational Impulse
4. Apostolic Environment Ephesians 5 and the need for diverse leadership dynamics
5. Organic Systems, Vision to Change the World, De-centralised Network Structures, Reproduce-able Starfish…
Missional Community in different Western contexts: eg. USA and emergent village; UK Johnny Baker and alt. worship movement; Australia/NZ: Forge and small missional groups… similarities and differences…
Gender, Race and Class
Does emphasis of ‘communitas’ minimise its dependence upon ‘community’ and the interconnection between each?
Is the response to Christendom and ‘attractional’ style churches too negative?
Is missional community movement too wedded to post-modernity? Does it have a deep enough critique of post-modernity?
How many missional community experiments have sustained and why? Is this important?
Does missional community movement embrace the symbols of post-modernity but swallow the dominant culture of late ‘hyper-modern’ capitalism?… Does missional community movement have a deep enough understanding of kingdom economics, politics and justice to build sustainable models of community?
Wendell Berry suggests all culture is ultimately connected to agri-culture. How we produce and consume. We can do church differently but does it matter if we all still shop at the same supermarkets? I explore some of these ideas in my essay Missionary Grow Home.
Skills for Missional Leaders
Scott Boren emphasises an ‘ordinary person’ approach to successful missional leaders…
1. Focus on what God is doing and get their eyes off of their efforts.
2. Participate in God’s restoration project, not just the growth of their group.
3. Lead out of their strengths, rather than trying to fit into a preconceived mould of what an ideal leader should look like.
Specific skills include…
- Hear the Call beyond ‘Connecting Community’ to ‘Missional Community’
- Focus on Character Formation, Not Just Leadership Actions
- Lead with a Team
- Develop Basic Small Group Skills
- Gather around the Presence of Jesus in the Midst
- Make Time to Waste Time
- Be Present in Your Neighborhood
- Prepare to Fight
- Work Together to Create Missional Synergy
The day was designed to equip people to become aware of and assist asylum seekers and refugees in their communties.
Some of the impetus for this particular workshop came out of some public statements from Dale Stephenson the Pastor of Crossway Baptist, offering to house ‘unaccompanied minors’ as an alternative to the current Australian government policy of mandatory detention and the so called ‘Malaysia solution.’
The Free Burma Cafe embodied hospitality to us with their beautiful food and powerful stories and the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre provided useful big picture perspective on the issues of practical support in the local context.
I did a brief blurb on why Surrender exists, its ethos and the coalition of like minded partner organisations it represents.
I quoted stats on how often our response to issues of justice and poverty is mentioned in different parts of the Hebrew Bible, The New Testament and Luke’s gospel in particular.
Surrender believes that how we respond to ‘the poor’ is not an optional extra for our faith or the domain for some special, ‘called’ saints. Neither is it a ‘do good / feel good’ icing on the cake of our religion, rather it is central to what it means to have faith in Jesus, to understand the good news of salvation in the ‘here and now’ and to follow God’s mission in the world.
My friend Ben Liney just recently moved to Footscray and has produced this beautiful Footscray Community Profile for the Community Work Course he is presently undertaking with Praxis. His sensitivity for people, pictures, place and design reminds me of how much I love my town! I particularly love the picture above that he found of the Buxton Park Housing Estate. Today, I can see the sole standing house in the left mid-ground (known as Govan’s House) when I stand in the front yard of my own house ‘Gwenroy’ which was built two years later in 1887. Fascinating to see what the District looked like pre-settlement… and now!
The Seeds Footscray mob kicked off our ‘@SeedsPrayer in the Pergola’ at our house last night. Our hearts had been heavy during the week thinking about the earthquake in Christchurch. Talitha is Kiwi and Gregg and Bron and Phil from the Cave mob in Ascot Vale were in Wellington when the quake hit as part of the Praxis movement that has been so important in building good community work connections across the Pacific. Such connections matter so much in times like this.
Our thoughts were also for the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church where Christop, Mehrin and I led worship in the middle of last year as part of the Mark Pierson led Just Worship Seminar for World Vision. I feel numb when I see the photos.
Framing her experience with ‘sometimes words cant cut it,’ Bron Morris led a simple Tazie chant at morning worship at Footscray Baptist Church which was very powerful. I have found the resource for prayers and sermons around natural disasters at textweek really helpful since the Asian Tsunami. Sadly it seems I’m clicking back there way to often at present!
One of the suggestions was using Springsteen’s song “My City of Ruins” written in light of the 9/11 tragedy in New York. We played it at the end of our prayers before our benediction. As I listened I found my thoughts and prayers also going out to Libya, the Middle East and Alice Springs from where I have recently returned. The Boss can pray for me anytime…
“With these hands, we pray for the strength Lord…C’mon Rise Up!”
Been having fun and working hard attending and running workshops with Praxis. Thanks to Kate Allen for all the help with the Bible and Community seminar in Wellington. We had a great time having dinner with the Pierson’s in Auckland and also learnt all about Kilikiti, also known as or kirikiti, or Samoan Cricket. It is the national game of Samoa and is especially popular in New Zealand. The game is descended from the cricket brought to Samoa by English missionaries; teams of unlimited size follow rules that are hard to follow if you’re an outside observer, in a game/dance/feast event that can last several days. Love to connect it with the Credo Cricket mob.
With many thanks to our Kiwi hosts for the last 10 days…especially Gregg, The Urban Vision City Stillwaters mob(stagnant moat, dripping ceiling…sorry about the jocks!), Justin and Jenny, Parmy Nth Baps, Brenda and Andrew, the Pierson’s and the Onehunga Pakeha Iosis mob…Barney, Bridge,Lomus,Janelle,Foresy,Maz etc. It was so special to hang out with you Gregg and Bron (ressies 1998-9,2000)and see what fabulous fruit has come out of such a difficult journey. Inspirational! Thanks for getting up to say goodbye Tash….sorry we missed you! You still owe me a marshmellow!
Marx and Brent.