Revolution or evolution?

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Revolution or evolution?

• Considering the impact of 'emerging church'
  conversations on the mission and ecclesiology of
  established churches
• -
• Dr Dion Forster
• http//www.dionforster.com

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Outcomes

• By the end of this session you should be able to
• Share a basic understanding of the doctrine of
  the Church
• Explain the mission of the Church.
• Identify and understand some of the deficiencies
  in contemporary Church structure and practice
  that detract from Gods mission for the Church.
• Engage critically with a variety of perspectives
  on Church to bring renewed effectiveness and
  faithfulness to your ministry in the Church.

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1. Prolegomenon the Church

• Questions for group discussion (6 mins 4 mins
  feedback).
• What is the Church? (Theology!)
• What is Gods mission for the Church?
• Can you please list some practical examples of
  things that Churches should do to fulfill Gods
  mission in the world?

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1.a. What is the Church?

• ekklesia c.f. Matt 1618 literally an
  assembly, group of people gtgt Denotes a
  people, a set aside group of people.
• The early Church Acts 242-47.
• Met in homes / the marketplace
• Gathered around discipleship, not discipline
• The word Church refers to two entities
• The Church (capital C) the Church Universal
• The churches (small c) denominations,
  congregations, cell groups
• Which Church do you think God sees as God looks
  at a city?

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1.a. What is the Church? Cont

• How can you identify the Church? The marks of
  the Church are
• One / Holy / Catholic / Apostolic
• The word Church is an English form of the Greek
  kuriake, meaning "of the Lord (The Church is
  most likely a shortening of kuriake oikia house
  of the Lord) gtgt denotes a place (no longer a
  people)
• The Church as a place and institution only
  came into being after the conversion of the Roman
  emperor Constantine in the 4th century.

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1.b. What is Gods mission and purpose for the
Church?

• The missio dei Gods mission (please refer to
  Forster 2008a71ff. What is Christian Mission?)
• He sent his Son for this purpose and He sends
  the Church into the world for the same purpose
  (van Sanders in Forster 200871)
• What was Jesus mission?
• cf. Lk 443, 418-19 - The Kingdom of God!
• Is 116-9, Rev 213-5a. Gods eternal shalom a
  peace that passes all understanding

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1.b. What is Gods mission and purpose for the
Church? Cont

• The Churchs mission is to fulfill Jesus
  mission!
• Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so
  I send you Jn 2021
• to proclaim the Gospel of Christ for healing
  and transformation, and to work towards a
  Christ healed Africa for the healing of the
  nations.
• Where we miss the boat
• Saviour AND Lord (salvation AND discipleship) cf.
  Matt 2819-20

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1.b. What is Gods mission and purpose for the
Church? Cont

• Ask yourself a few questions
• What constitutes most of the activity and
  preaching in your Church?
• Does your Church do the same kind of things that
  Jesus did?
• Do you find the kind of people that Jesus
  welcomed in your Church (i.e., people on the
  margins of society)?
• When you listen to the people in your Church, or
  your ministers sermons, do they sound like the
  kind of things that Jesus would say?
• Is your Church actively establishing Gods
  Kingdom in your community?
• Are we One, Holy, Catholic, and
  Apostolic?

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1.b. What is Gods mission and purpose for the
Church? Cont

• Brian McLaren What are the big issues in
• No wonder the world is giving up on the Church

Our church Our world
Music Poverty
Dress Hunger
Buildings AIDS
Status Global Warming
Etc
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1.b. What is Gods mission and purpose for the
Church? Cont

• I believe that Jesus Christ started the New
  Testament Church He started it as a community of
  men and women with a mission, a new purpose for
  their lives. He gathered them, invested in them,
  and then commissioned them to go and live what he
  had lived among them.
• If we think of the Church as a celebration
  service that only happens in a building on
  Sundays, then Jesus doesnt fit the model. We
  certainly wont be able to call him Pastor
  Jesus. If the Church is more dynamic than
  that if indeed living like Jesus is how we
  should be and do Church, then thinking of Jesus
  and his band of followers as a Church community
  helps us have a more dynamic concept of what
  Church is all about.
• Floyd McClung in reference to his book You see
  bones, I see an army Changing the way we do
  Church (2008, Struik Christian publishers Cape
  Town).

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Recap on the Church

• The Church is not just an institution rather,
  it is a gathering of faithful disciples.
• The Church refers to
• The Church Universal
• The churches / denominations / congregations
• The character, or marks of the Church are
• One
• Holy
• Catholic
• Apostolic
• The Church has a mission
• Gods mission missio dei
• Jesus mission to establish Gods Kingdom
• We need to relate to Jesus as Saviour AND Lord

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The question is.

• A Christ healed Africa for the healing of the
  nations
• How well is the Methodist Church of Southern
  Africa doing in achieving Gods mission?
• What are some of the struggles / difficulties /
  problems that we face as a Church?
• How could your discipleship help to change this
  situation?
• What can you learn and gain from your time here
  at SMMS in order to renew the mission of our
  denomination?

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2. A few facts about Church membership and
attendance.

1. The two most common narratives for the modern
   Church are decline or split (blog post on the
   mainline Church).
2. I dont mind Jesus, but I dont trust his wife
   bride (comment by a skeptical friend).
3. I no longer go to Church It just doesnt seem to
   meet my needs anymore. The pastor knows nothing
   about my life and work, and the Church seems to
   do so little to actually change society. Im
   tired of programs and courses. I need something
   different! I still serve the Lord, but I now
   belong to a Christian group at work (a Christian
   who no longer attends Church).
4. 60 of all Churches in America will die out by
   2050 (Peter Brierley in Gibbs Coffey 200520)

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2. How secular people feel about the Church
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A decline in Church attendance
Church attendance in Britain is declining so fast
that the number of regular churchgoers will be
fewer than those attending mosques within a
generation. Ruth Gledhills report on Church
attendance in the UK (2008).
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What are some of the effects of Church decline?

1. A diminished capacity to transform society and
   influence change (were loosing our saltiness,
   and dimming our light)
2. A loss of credibility (were loosing our voice
   in England, Australia and most of Europe the
   Churchs narrative has almost no place in
   mainstream society)
3. Diminishing financial resources to fund mission
4. The declining Church adopts a lager mentality
   (defensive of its position, combative of other
   positive contributions from secular or other
   religious institutions etc.)

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The church is in a general decline (BUT, the
same can NOT be said of the Christian
Faith!)(Graphs from Prof. Jurgens Hendricks,)
Stellenbosch

• Enough about the rest of the world What about
  South Africa?

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Christians in SA 1911-2001
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YET, the reality in South Africa does NOT reflect
the Kingdom of God!

• Only12 - committed attendance is only about 3
  - 5... Lets be honest, most of us plan to fail.

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Something is wrong with this picture!

• 79 say theyre Christian, but somehow the
  churches are not helping them to BE Church
• All is NOT lost! If they SAY that they are
  Christian, we should help them to become what
  they say they are!
• The Gospel, and the Christ of the Gospel, have
  NOT lost their power!
• BUT, we need a new kind of Church to do this
  Our current models are not working Heres some
  data on our decline.

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Christian Marketshare Mainline Denominations
1911-2001
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Church membership in population groups 1911-2001
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Christian Marketshare AIC, Pentecostal, Other
1911-2001
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What makes the AIC and American style
Pentecostal / Charismatic Churches so popular?

• They are evangelical (even if their gospel is not
  entirely good news).
• They offer hope (particularly in addressing the
  most serious FELT needs of people)
• Prosperity doctrine offers hope in poverty
• Healing miracles and ministry offer hope in
  sickness
• They have a strong entrepreneurial leadership
  (see the sigmoid curve) whereas we face
  significant pressure to maintain our culture
  (e.g., uniforms, orders of service, hierarchies)
• They are market oriented (changing in
  accordance with needs and pressures from
  outside), we are internally regulated (not
  responding to outside pressures and needs).

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Whats wrong?

• We can be sure that it is NOT the Gospel that has
  lost its effectiveness (the MESSAGE, and PERSON
  of Christ remain valid and effective)
• However, we can be sure that the delivery,
  engagement, and support mechanisms have lost
  their impact.
• So what we need is to find a way of engaging the
  world in an incarnational manner (addressing
  the needs of the world, from the perspective of
  the world), not in a transcendent manner
  (pressing the concerns and needs of the Church
  onto the world).
• We need a new narrative for the Gospel. The
  existing still has value, but only for those in
  the system (it would seem), we need a narrative
  that engages those outside of the system..

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The life cycle of an institution (sigmoid curve).
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The life cycle of an institution (sigmoid curve).
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3. So, how do we turn this around?

• Face the facts! Denial will not serve the cause
  of Gods mission.
• Do our best to understand Gods mission for OUR
  context.
• Gain insights and expertise to help us in
  retooling the DNA of the Church for the churches.
• Have the COURAGE to make some changes (for the
  sake of the Gospel!)
• Make the most of your time here

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The SAME mission in an ever CHANGING world

• "The gospel must be constantly forwarded to a new
  address because the recipient is always changing
  his place of residence. Graham Gray, Bishop of
  York

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The emergent conversation

• The emergent movement is working towards
  rediscovering contextual and experimental
  mission in the western church. Forms of church
  that are not restrained by institutional
  expectations. Open to change and God wanting to
  do a new thing. Use of the key word ..."and".
  Whereas the heady polarities of our day seek to
  divide us into an either-or camp, the mark of the
  emerging Church will be its emphasis on both-and.
  For generations we have divided ourselves into
  camps Protestants and Catholics, high church and
  low, clergy and laity, social activists and
  personal piety, liberals and conservatives,
  sacred and secular, instructional and
  underground. It will bring together the most
  helpful of the old and best of the new, blending
  the dynamic of a personal Gospel with the
  compassion of social concern. It will find its
  ministry being expressed by a whole people,
  wherein the distinction between clergy and laity
  will be that of function, not of status or
  hierarchical division. In the emerging Church,
  due emphasis will be placed on both theological
  rootage and contemporary experience, on
  celebration in worship and involvement in social
  concerns, on faith and feeling, reason and
  prayer, conversion and continuity, the personal
  and the conceptual. (Ian Mobsby)

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The emergent conversation

• Defining the emerging Church / emerging
  conversation
• Most emergent communities are too new and too
  fluid to clarify... There is no consensus yet
  about what language to use 'new ways of being
  church' 'emerging church' 'fresh expressions of
  church' 'future church' 'church next' or 'the
  coming church'. The terminology used here
  contrasts 'inherited' and 'emerging' churches
  (Dr Stuart Murray)

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The emergent conversation

• Characteristics of the emergent conversation
  (movement).
• Question the assumptions (Barna Pagan
  Christianity, Mclaren A generous orthodoxy)
• Longs for fresh expressions of community
• Wants to restore a strong balance on a realised
  eschatology
• Emphasis on works of mercy (What Wesley called
  social holiness)
• Holds evangelical zeal and social concern in
  balance (sometimes referred to as liberal
  evangelicals), thus theologically pragmatic

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The emergent conversation

• Strengths
• Radically incarnational
• Fresh expressions
• Recaptured a balance between creative
  non-propositional evangelism and tangible social
  action
• Diverse (not a Mediclinic (lots of niche
  specialities), but rather a home visit (bring
  the gospel to you, to meet your needs)).
• Weaknesses
• Pragmatism can come at the cost of both orthodoxy
  and orthopraxy e.g., Loss of our roots (theology,
  liturgy, success stories and models)
• Loss of Christian identity
• Imprisoned in a Cell and emerging into the
  status quo (stagnation and stuck of success)
• A Church without a Mission / a Mission without a
  Church
• The sympton masquerading as the cause
  (conferences, constant change, schism,
  contentious issues etc.)
• Examples of emergent Christian movements
• Marketplace ministries
• Special interest groups (prayer, outreach, age
  groups, social needs, sports etc.)
• Home Church

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The hermeneutic circle theological reflection
(an affirmative action)
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3. So, how do we turn this around?

• We must change from
• Living in the past to engaging with the present
• Market driven to mission-oriented
• Bureaucratic hierarchies to apostolic networks
• Schooling professionals to mentoring servant
  leaders
• Following celebrities to encountering saints
• Dead orthodoxy to living faith (orthopraxy)
• Attracting the crowd to seeking the lost
• Belonging to believing
• Generic congregations to incarnational
  communities.
• NB! NB! NB! Please read Church Next by Eddie
  Gibbs, and Reimagining Church by Frank Viola

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Some differences between established and emergent
Church movements
Mainline / Established Church Emergent
Centralised leadership / Professional clergy (separation between clergy and laity) Organic, egalitarian governance. No separation between laity and clergy
Limits certain functions to ordained / sadly renders laity largely passive (pew warmers) Makes all members functioning Priests
Has a go to Church perspective Has a be Church perspective
Prioritizes programs (frequently to educate members on efficiently and effectively maintaining the status quo) Prioritizes relationships within the community (both within the Christian community and incarnating those values into the broader community)
Depends on tithing and planned giving / requires large budgets (mostly spend on buildings and pastoral staff) Requires less funding, is frequently self supporting (either bi-vocational or marketplace ministry driven)
Separates Church (ecclesiology), mission (missiology) and social transformation (corporate Soteriology) Intertwines belonging and mission. Balances personal and corporate Soteriology
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What can we do in the MCSA?

• Revolution OR Evolution!?
• Revolution
• Develop radically new models of being Church.
• Encourage fresh expressions of full time
  ministry.
• Challenge oppressive and non-missional forms of
  leadership (for SAKE OF THE GOSPEL!)
• Change our focus from the institution of the
  Church to the needs of the world!
• Move from models of Church to principles of
  mission
• Evolution
• Renew the structure and life of the local Church
• Give new impetus and missional energy to thriving
  organizations
• Capitalize on our brand in Southern Africa
• Rediscover and inculturate our rich Wesleyan
  heritage (see Forster in Forster Bentley
  2008a70-99)
• Recapture our evangelical zeal (Wesleyan
  Evangelicalism the WHOLE Gospel!

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Questions, input and discussion

1. Please share one thing that has challenged you,
   perhaps something youve learned today, a new
   insight, or something youve resolved to do.
2. Please affirm one thing that our Church is doing
   well!
3. Please highlight one thing that you would like to
   help change in our Church during your ministry.
4. Any other inputs?

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Some suggested reading

• Forster, DA, 2007 An uncommon spiritual path.
  The quest to find Jesus beyond conventional
  Christianity. AcadSA publishers. Kempton Park.
• Forster, DA Bentley, W (eds) 2008a Methodism in
  Southern Africa. A celebration of Welsyan
  mission. AcadSA publishers. Kempton Park.
• Forster, DA Bentley, W (eds) 2008b What are we
  thinking? Reflections on Church and Society by
  Southern African Methodists.
• Gibbs, E Coffey, I 2005. Church next Quantum
  changes in Christian ministry. Inter Varsity
  Press. Leicester, UK.
• Barna, G Viola, F. 20 Pagan Christianity.
  .
• Viola, F 2008 Reimagining Church Pursuing the
  dream of organic Christianity. David Cook
  Publishers. Colorado
• Brian McLaren Everything must change,
• Rob Bell Velvet Elvis, Sex God,
• Floyd McClung