sustain:if:able kiwi

mission and missional. Why the “a” and the “l” is more than a typo

There is some useful discussion rolling on in the “What is community ministry?” post. I’ve just written a comment, which I think is worth clarifying as a separate blogpost.

It regards the difference between mission and missional. You see, missional is about mission and mission is missional but mission is not missional. Clear aye! 🙂

The Christian impulse for mission is for all time and all place. It emerges from a God of triune love who dwells in relationship, celebrates diversity and is unified in love.

But mission is outworked in different ways. We know this because Scripture give us diverse pictures of mission.

Ruth is the story of God’s work through the outsider; Lamentations is the story of faith in black; Daniel is a story of marketplace faith in exile; Jesus is the wandering prophet; Paul is the community builder; Revelation is the persecuted dreamer.

Or take the book of Acts. In chapter 2, mission is at work as people flock to Jerusalem interested in God and when there are spaces in society where people notice the church. But later in Acts, Paul takes this gospel on the road, is tentmaking and creating cultural connections on Mars Hill. And then he is the suffering prisoner, using his chains to proclaim faith. In each of these, the Christian impulse is mission, but the outworking is diverse.

This is made most clear when we consider the relationship between church and society as it it played out through the Bible. The task of the church is to reform in Dueteronomy, to protest in Mary’s song, to be counter-cultural in lifestyle in 1 Peter. This response is based on how much society listens to the church and whether society has the ear of the powers that be.

This relationship continues to be played out through history. David Bosch in Transforming Mission looks at mission over 2000 years and notes how at different times, different Scriptures became commonly used to describe the mission of the church.

It is this plurality that makes our task exciting today. What Biblical and historical pictures will most accurately encourage and challenge us in this time and place? In Christendom, when the church is at the centre, then “temple models” of being large and attractional work. But the church is no longer at the centre and so we are back to Scripture and church history, wondering what are the texts for our time.

This is what the word “missional” means. It is prophetic voice. First in flagging mission for what is essentially a Christendom church and second in pointing to cultural change – that the 2000’s are not like the 1970’s, and that the relationship of church and society has changed. Given these two factors, missional is a Biblical voice, seeking to excavate the Scriptures that will serve a post-Christendom church.

Hence: missional is about mission. And mission is missional. But mission is not missional because “missional” is the attempt to speak of “mission” today.

Have I confused or clarified myself?

what is a community ministry?

So I’m having a chat. As you do. With a person enthusiastic about mission in their community. ‘

Who has a problem. They run a community ministry. People come, but people don’t transition into church.

I suggested that rather than think about taking people from the community ministry to the church, that they think about taking the church to the community ministry. What would it look like to think about building a community of faith around the ministry? I politely inquired.

Vigourous shake of head. Wouldn’t work, because lots of the people who attend the community ministry go to other churches.

How many, I ask.

70%. 70% attend a church somewhere else.

Oh. Long pause. My mental wheels are turning.

So what makes community ministry a mission? Is it the intention and the hope, that we run this so that people from the community can come? Is it the numbers, when 50%, or 70%, or whatever number, are from the community (and not from another church) then it’s mission? Is it the baptisms or bums on Sunday seats, that it’s worth it when the Denominational stat counter can be clicked?

Personally, being blunt, I think it’s a load of hogs to call something a community ministry, and defend it as missionally important, when the majority of people who attend are already churched. It might be useful and important and have a role – in ecumenism, or community or whatever. But it ain’t mission!

culture making: workplace mission and Kingdom stories

I’m a culture maker from Andy Crouch on Vimeo. (hat tip Bob Carlton)

I like how this affirms workplaces.
I love the variety of ages.
I like how some of these link their work with mission.
I don’t like how the last clip celebrates violent play.

I read this video within a framework of God as creator and redeemer of the world. But that’s me and I wonder what explicit narratives do drive people’s “culture making.” I wonder what uniquely the Christian gospel has to offer to culture making. I worry, based on a recent workplace experience (does forgiveness have legs), that Christianity today is actually not shaping culture.

I can see this being used at a church camp or through a block course, to create discussion on
– in what ways am I culture making
– what Bible stories shape my culture making
– what are the obstacles and dangers of my culture making
– what partnerships do I need to sustain and enhance my culture making
Finishing with the group making their own video, which becomes their “mission statement”

reshaping missional life among baptist churches in urban centres

On Thursday I got down on one knee and “proposed”. It was at the end of our church meeting, in which we’d spent an hour talking and praying with our neighbouring Baptist church. Both churches are nearly 100 years old, yet only 2.3 km apart. They’ve been struggling for a while and so I’ve spent quite some time in recent months sitting with their leaders. (This might explain some rather oblique recent posts, including help my church is dying and chopping down the Sunday tree.) Here is the proposal, which is being made public in both churches this Sunday morning.

INTRODUCTION: For over a year, conversations have been happening with regard to the future of Beckenham Baptist. On Thursday night, the Beckenham leaders were welcomed to an Opawa Baptist Church meeting and an hour together we listened, talked and prayed.

PROPOSAL: Beckenham and Opawa talk about what it means to be one church, in two physical locations, with multiple congregations.

QUESTION: If our Baptist forebears were starting Christian mission today, what would they do in our area?

FRAMEWORK: The goal must be mission and God’s Kingdom and not the survival of a church.

ETHOS: for Opawa, we want to make clear that
– This is family and families walk together. This must not be a takeover
– In Romans 12, Paul reminds us we are a church body, called to work toward unity. This comes in the power of God’s spirit and as we respect the unique value of each different part.
– While Opawa is already really busy, we are excited about the mission and Kingdom possibilities that could emerge as we consider the area between Colombo Street and Brougham Street.

ONE CONCRETE WAY FORWARD:
1. Continue Beckenham ministries.
2. Opawa ministries (eg. children, intermediate, youth, discipleship, Bible days) offered to Beckenham at Opawa.
3. Place Opawa’s Side Door arts congregation at Beckenham.
4. Locate a missional leader to run a new form of church at Beckenham on Sunday mornings. This would involve closing Beckenham’s Sunday morning service in its current format but keep doors open on Sunday morning to serve coffee and muffins, read Scripture and find concrete ways to serve the Beckenham community.
5. Those at Beckenham who might struggle with this new form of church join one of Opawa’s existing congregations : hymn service or 10:30 am service.
6. Richard Smith (current pastor) become part of an “overall” combined church pastoral team, to provide pastoral care of all existing Beckenham people and possible involvement with existing Opawa people.

A SUGGESTED PROCESS:
1.Start in worship and fellowship. Opawa worship at Beckenham on Good Friday, and Beckenham worship at Opawa on Easter Sunday.
2. Form a combined taskforce to explore the idea and consider what this would look like in terms of leadership, buildings, congregations, ministries and church name. Involve Baptist Union leaders.
3. Both congregations discuss the taskforce proposal.
4. If agreement, hold a party to launch the changes and celebrate this new form of life.

In God’s timing, may the death and resurrection of Easter, be our comfort, guide, hope and courage.

Steve Taylor for Opawa Baptist

spirituality of change

I sat with my spiritual director last week. Where was God since we last met, was the question. And so I reflected on my sunflower prayer from a few weeks ago:
As the sunflower tracks the sun,
God, help me track your warmth and love this day,
And grow, unfold, bloom,
into my full splendour as your child, Amen.

So what would stop you following God’s warmth through a sun/day, Steve? my director asked. The question floored me. I searched within myself. I fumbled and fudged and we moved on.

Thirty minutes later, we returned. Somehow the conversation slipped back to that same question (sneaky spiritual director). So what would stop you following God’s warmth through a sun/day, Steve?

And I knew the answer. It was time for me to stop looking in and look out. To name what I have been afraid to name. That when external change happens, some people don’t like it. It’s not the same and it’s not the good old days. Change is hard and I don’t understand/agree.

To use the sunflower analogy, other people can stop following the sun. And when they stop following, when they fold their arms, they run the risk of acting in ways that, in fact, can stop others following the sun. This is heightened by my sensitivity and intuition. As I travel through my sun/day, I feel the resistance and as I feel it, I am tempted to stop following the sun, and start tracing the shadow.

Here’s the rub. The cold hard rub. When do I as a leader stop listening to these people? When do you say enough is enough? When do you say, if you are not following the sun, it is quite likely that your input is no longer life-giving to us in our journey of change? (more…)

is my fresh expression like your fresh expression

Had an enjoyable and stimulating afternoon with Peter and Helen Pillinger, involved in fresh expressions (Methodist) in the UK. Adding richness to the conversation was David Bush (New Zealand Methodist leader), Pete Majendie (Kiwi installation artist) and Mark Pierson (World Vision New Zealand).

We talked widely comparing countries:
– the uniqueness of the UK in having such great denominational leadership resourcing fresh expressions
– the uniqueness of the rave scene in the UK, which birthed alternative worship
– the uniqueness of the Baptist scene in New Zealand, which has the strength of allowing local innovation, but the seeming disadvantage of an inability to resource longer-term innovation and change
– whether size of fresh expression congregations is an adequate marker of missional effectiveness
– how to find, resource and train fresh expression leaders
– if everything is a fresh expression, is anything a fresh expression
– how blinded are we to the needed shapes of future leaders.

Not many conclusions. For me, sitting in around the couches at Opawa it was quite encouraging to realise that from a UK fresh expression perspective, Opawa as a church has planted 4 “fresh expressions” in the last 5 years. And that my year long training of missional church leaders is considered ahead of the UK game. (They have put aside millions to work on their training of pioneer leaders, while down here in New Zealand we simply plug away, innovating on our shoestrings.) Yah for Opawa and for Kiwi no. 8 wire innovation.

lifeshapes for discipleship: updated

In the last few months of last year, I discovered Mike Breen’s The Passionate Church and the use of lifeshapes. There are 8 of them, things like semicircles for work/life balance, circles for discipleship, triangles for purpose, hexagons for prayer. (More resources here).

Mike had given me a copy of the book in Los Angeles in 2006. I’d said thanks, but never read it. Browsing my bookshelf last year, I re-found the book and a number of things clicked. I shared one lifeshape at church that Sunday, using the semi-circle and the need for work/life balance in a pendulum to frame my sabbatical. I was surprised by how widespread across the church the positive feedback was, connecting with people new and old in the faith. So I preached the triangle – a Christian life going up to God, in to people and out to the world – and again got widespread positive feedback.

The upshot is that we’re experimenting with the lifeshapes as a discipleship course. Starting this Wednesday evening, for the next 8 weeks, we’re using a shape a week to reflect on the art of life-changing discipleship. We hope to provide it as post-Alpha next step while also a learning experience for any in the church.

What I like is that the shapes are visual, they are something people see. (We’ve got shapes hanging around church and in the foyer). The shapes are also practical, they provide a way to life and seem appreciated no matter what stage of people’s journey. (Which makes sense, since discipleship is lifelong, not at the beginning). So in terms of learning styles, it engages visual and tactile learners, while much discipleship stuff is more focused on learners who read and talk. What this means is that discipleship is being framed fundamentally not as stuff you need to know, but discipleship as living life to the full.

So, the nervous wait begins. We’ve discerned energy and in response have prayed, advertised and invited and now we wait for kick-off … Update: One of the best opening nites I’ve been part of. Partly based on those in the room – thoughtful, honest. But again based on the material. There is this uncanny ability to talk to a huge breadth of human experience, making an excellent conversation starters and there is Biblical and theological depth (and I can’t say that about a lot of discipleship stuff I see). On nites like this, I remember why I wanted to be a minister – to engage life and the Bible with real people across the diversity of life’s spectrum.

credible witness book review, michael leunig and australia synchroblog

It’s a day late, but this is my contribution to the Australia Day synchroblog. I realise I’m not a fair dinkum Aussie, but 10 weeks in Adelaide last year are my claim to participation! Plus the fact I’m really appreciating Credible Witness by Australian Darren Cronshaw (published by Urban Neighbours of Hope in 2006).

It’s an excellent missional resource. It takes Australian context seriously. It asks what the Spirit might have already been doing in that place. In the case of Credible Witness, it trawls Australian history and the place of chaplaincy, of shepherds, of advocates for the marginalised, of servants and of generous hosts. What I love is how it refuses to stay with history, but suggests contemporary expressions of these images. One example is the suggestion that cartoonist Michael Leunig is in fact a contemporary spiritual guide and thus a model for what it might mean to be missional in Australia today.

Here’s my favourite Leunig prayer and it’s my prayer for myself and for Australia on Australia Day 2009.
God help us to change. To change ourselves and to change the world. To know the need of it. To deal with the pain of it. To feel the joy of it. To undertake the journey without understanding the destination. The art of gentle revolution. Amen. (Michael Leunig, When I Talk to You: A Cartoonist Talks to God, Harper Collins).

Credible Witness is a great example of what missional means: taking seriously the already work of God in the world and asking what it might mean for everyday and ordinary people to participate in that work. Well done Darren.

Other synchrobloggers are: Ben Wheatley on Australia; Les Chatwin on Some People are Never Happy; Fernando Gros on Australian Days; Brunette Koala on Spirituality in Australia; Matt Stone on Spirit of Australia; Heather on Together.

angels missional coaching basic information

Angelwings Missional Resourcing pools the talents of Lynne Taylor, Paul McMahon and Steve Taylor. With a range of qualifications in missiology, research and ethics, along with experience in church planting and missional church, they offer resources for the wider church.

1 – Community demographics: Information on the surrounding (New Zealand) community, along with guidelines on how a church might use this information to shape their life. In 2008, this involved a roadshow in three New Zealand centres, working with over 150 leaders.

2 – Leadership coaching: A year long course, including teaching, readings, projects, designed to help leaders focus on the challenges of their unique. In 2007 this was offered in Hamilton (hosted by Anglican Diocese of Waikato) and Auckland (AnglicanDiocese of Auckland). In 2008 it was offered in Adelaide (hosted by Parkin-Wesley College).

3 – Online resourcing: Under development.

For more information contact us on ….

who are we? Paul McMahon

Paul McMahon: Paul was born and bred in south Auckland, moving to Christchurch after marrying Anne in 2004. He has completed a BA in History and Politics with Honours in Politics from the University of Auckland, a Graduate Diploma and a Master of Theology in Public Theology from the Bible College of New Zealand (Laidlaw College).

In May 2005 Paul and Anne, with Steve and Lynne, planted Espresso, an alternative conversation-based congregation. In March 2008 Paul was appointed as an Associate Pastor at Opawa Baptist, with primary responsibility for Mission Resourcing. He is Opawa’s Community Ministries leader and co-leader of Opawa’s Spiritual Growth Ministries. Paul also works for AngelWings Trust Ltd. researching, editing, googling, downloading, tutoring and writing. As time goes on, so will the list of ings.

Paul’s passion is how theology and biblical studies can shape politics, public/social ethics/justice and distributive justice, particularly in New Zealand. A growing interest, related to his position at Opawa, is community development in suburban New Zealand. Other interests include radical discipleship, theological storytelling, narrative therapy and cricket. He is an eNFp, so likes to unwind around a table with good friends, good food and, if he is very lucky, good pinot noir or pilsener.