Title: Mission Shaped Church
1Mission Shaped Church
Theology for a
Some of the working group
2Ch 5 Key theological ideas - menu
- Church is shaped by who God is community in
mission - Church is the fruit and sign of Gods mission.
- Its DNA is missionary community. p 84-86
- Christ and culture
- His Birth, Cross and Resurrection underpin both
Inculturation and being counter-cultural p 86-90 - Inculturation is serious engagement
- between the seeds of both the gospel and the
church, with the soil of a culture. p 90-91. - Church has definitive marks
- It is also designed to reproduce p 93 96
- One Holy Catholic and Apostolic pp 96-99
NB These ideas outcrop throughout MSC in
practical stories, methodology and analogy
3Theological principle ONE
- Church is shaped by who God is
- The Trinity are community-in-mission
- Church is the fruit of Gods mission. p 85 but..
- Church is not agent that is the Holy Spirit
- but a sign of Gods mission
- Churchs DNA is missionary community.
Mission comes from the Father, through the Son in
the power of the Spirit MSC p85
MSC pp 84-86
4Mission-shaped Church DNA will ..
- Be Trinitarian
- Understand Church primarily as community-in-missio
n - Be relational
- Rather than see Church as structure, history or
external practices - Be Incarnational like Jesus
- Laying aside our status and preferences Phil 2
- Be disciplers, like Jesus
- Growing communities of those who follow him and
draw others to him - Be Transformational, like the work of the Trinity
- Looking beyond themselves to a kingdom centred,
counter-cultural affect upon society
MSC pp81-82 This an adapted order 1 5 2 4 3 to
put ontology before function
5Trust the DNA .
- You cant know
- the results first !
6A hint from history
From church as centre, to SONs mission as centre
7Mission-shaped Church
- But a divine process
- Mission shaped the divine Missioner Jesus
- Incarnation describes this
- Philippians ch2 sings its praises
- John 20.21 hands the pattern on
cf MSC p88
8Let Copernicus talk to the church ..
- Is it just accident that the church now finds
itself at the margins ?
9Theological principle TWO
- Christs patterns
- His Birth, Cross and Resurrection underpin both
Inculturation and being counter-cultural p 86-90 - There is here an inherent process from
Christological example
10Incarnation OR Counter-Cultural ?
Resurrection and Ascension
Lordship underpins conflicting engagement
Kingdom Signs
11Theological principle THREE
- Inculturation is serious engagement
- It is not imposed by an individual from above or
outside, but from the community and below - Inculturation and Contextualisation should be
treated as friends
- Both gospel and church, must be sown
- entering the soil of a culture.
MSC pp 90-91.
12Definition result
- Church planting is the process by which a seed
of the life and message of Jesus, embodied by a
community of Christians, is immersed for mission
reasons, in a particular cultural or geographic
context. - The intended consequence is that it roots there,
coming to life as a new indigenous body of
Christian disciples well suited to continue in
mission
Mission-shaped Church p 32-33
13Theological principle FOUR
- Church has definitive marks
- It is designed to reproduce p 93 96
- One Holy Catholic and Apostolic pp 96-99
- The Chicago Lambeth Quadrilateral pp 100
- Scripture, Creeds, 2 Sacraments, Episcopacy
14OHCA
Enduring Marks
Four linked Journeys
15The forgotten dimension ?
- Thanks for
- Communion UP
- Community - IN
- Commission OUT
- May I add
- Communicate, Continuity or Connectedness
OF
16Church with Mission in the DNA will ..
- Be Trinitarian
- Focussing on God the Trinity, sharing their
mission - Be relational
- Following the Trinity who are community-in-mission
- Be Incarnational like Jesus
- Laying aside their own status and preferences
Phil 2 - Be disciplers, like Jesus
- Growing communities of those following him
- Be Transformational like the economic Trinity
- Looking beyond themselves to a kingdom centred,
counter-cultural affect upon society
MSC pp81-82 This an adapted order 1 5 2 4 3 to
put ontology before function
17Foundations sometimes matter