Church in Mission

A collection of 60 posts

Church in Mission

MacIntyre And Church Renewal

I came across this Alasdair MacIntyre quote not long ago and thought it was a fitting reflection for the much-discussed topic of church renewal. Part of MacIntyre’s point is to say that if a tradition is to overcome its own crisis of knowing, it will be through the revision

Church in Mission

Finishing Two Quarters with Everett Cattell

Image by Midnight-digital via Flickr This past Friday I dropped my paper in an envelope, paid the $2.63 postage and sent it off to Elkhart, IN at 4 pm, an hour before the deadline. Leaving the post-office, I felt much lighter. Not only was a six-month weight off my

Church in Mission

“Dear Woman, why do you involve me?” Mission Without Guarantees

In the fourth of his missiology lectures (see more on his third here) Steuernagel reflected on a few passages where we see Mary interacting with her son, Jesus. In John 2:3-5 it says: “When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.

Church in Mission

There’s Something About Mary(‘s Theology)

This past week Fuller’s School of Intercultural Studies hosted its annual Missiology Lectures. This year they invited Missiologist Valdir Steuernagel, of World Vision to discuss, “Missiology and Mary in Latin America: The Southern Church and a Fresh Mission Movement.”  This is an overview and reflection on his third lecture.

Church in Mission

The McCain-Palin Taste for The Secret

We live in a culture of increasing secrecy. Despite claims of being the ‘age of information,’ one might goes so far as to say we live in a culture of ‘the secret.’ Not only has there been a flood of recent secular books all pointing to new secrets being discovered

Church in Mission

Barclay Press: Gospel Order and Convergence Culture (Part 2)

I’ve posted the second part to my Barclay Press article on technology and the church, called “Gospel Order and Convergence Culture,” have a look. Here’s a short quote from the post: While technology is a dominating force in our world today God’s reign is not excluded from

Blog Entries

Using Wiki’s for Class Collaboration – Fall Quarter 2008

This year I will be assisting Ryan Bolger (his new website) in his classes again, for the fall quarter we’re doing Church in Mission. Over the last three years I’ve TA’d a number of different classes with him and he’s always doing some really great things

Church in Mission

Barclay Press: Technology as a Powerful-Practice (Part 1)

I’ve put together a two-part essay on Technology as Power (or what I’m calling, using James McClendon, a powerful-practice) and the second part which I will publish in two weeks on the Quaker notion of “Gospel order” as a counterpoint to what Henry Jenkins calls participatory culture (think

Church in Mission

Everett Cattell: Communication As Witness (pt. 4)

Series contents | Intro | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five Image via Wikipedia A good theological understanding of communication begins with the incarnation and John 1; Quaker Missionary Everett Cattell covers this thoroughly before moving onto a more in depth discussion of what it means for the Christian missionary

Church in Mission

Dreams and the Kingdom of God

My August Barclay Press essay is now online. It’s a little late for August, but time has been pretty tight lately. The essay looks at Stephen Duncombe’s recent book on progressive politics, “Dream Re-Imagining” and applies some of the findings to a theological perspective on living out the

Church in Mission

Cattell – On the Desire to Remain Uncontaminated

I came across this quote from Missionary and Quaker Everett Cattell today, here he questions the faithfulness of those communities that withdraw from “the world.”  It is a strong statement, but one that resonates with my own position on the question of the church’s presence in the world and

Church in Mission

Everett Cattell’s Principle of Authority (pt. 3)

Series contents | Intro | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five Cattell’s understanding of authority is derived from Christ, who is the head of the church. He argues that there is a tendency in the church to choose some one authority over another. Christ as head relativizes arguments over

Church in Mission

A Quakerism Worth Believing In

The convictions of the First Friends were what ordered their theo-political imagination (as Cavanugh calls it). This ‘imagination’ guided their practice, their missionary-inspired anti-Constantinian message that Christ had retunred and is the head of the church. The head of the church is not the state, it’s not learned clergy,

Church in Mission

Wilbert Shenk on Ecclesiology and Mission

In discussing how particular, newly planted and non-Western, churches could potentially develop “in loco an ecclesiology at once biblically and theologically responsive,” mission historian and theologian, Wilbert Shenk argues that ecclesiology has in the past often been ignored or fallen secondary to the primacy of evangelism and conversion of individuals.

Church in Mission

Everett Cattel on the Great Commission (pt. 2)

Series contents | Intro | Part Two | Cattell believes that mission must start from the Great Commission, not only a central theme in the New Testament, but a central theme throughout all of Scripture. He remarks that if the Gospels authors would not have penned the Great Commission, it would not matter

Church in Mission

Everett Cattell: Quaker and Mission Theologian

Series contents | Intro | Part Two | This is a part of a series I will be doing on Cattell and his contributions to the Friends Church and missiology. Everett Cattell is an important figure when it comes to missiology within the Friends Church. He and his wife Catherine De Vol were

Church in Mission

A Video Conversation with Martin Kelley

Yesterday, The Quaker Ranter, Martin Kelley, and I sat down over video (he’s in NJ) and had a conversation about some of the difficulties with insider Quaker lingo and the problems that presents for “outsiders.” We also discussed this in relation to using YouTube as a way to get

Church in Mission

Mission and the Future of The Friends Church (Barclay Press)

My Barclay Press essay for July is now online. It’s about the Anabaptist Vision, Mission and the what that has to do with where we are going as Friends. Here’s a short quote: Ironically enough, that which most often gets overlooked, mission/missions, is the very thing necessary

Church in Mission

Returning to Woodbrooke

It’s been really nice to return to Woodbrooke Quaker Study Center this past week. I’ve been here now for about a week and a half and have just about that much time left in the UK before I make a return trip to Ohio for a little vacation

Church in Mission

An Open-Handed Gospel | Richard Mouw

The President of Fuller (where I attend) had this to say about the need for for charity among Evangelicals in a recent article he wrote for Christianity Today. In a speech I heard several years ago, the Japanese-American theologian Kosuke Koyama put it nicely: We all have to decide, he

Church in Mission

Step/Not, Hospitality and ‘Realism’ (What Would Jesus Deconstruct?)

Carrying on from my last post I thought I’d point out a few more aspects to John (Jack) Caputo’s book I do like and then say something about what I don’t like. If you’re interest in getting into the discussion on deconstruction, and what it has

Church in Mission

GOOD Magazine | On Skid Row: Introduction

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS6ar1aJIYM&rel=1&w=500&h=430] Good Magazine, a site I really like, cover all kinds of topics, from culture to politics and the environment. This week they’ve begun a video series looking at LA’s homeless district,

Church in Mission

Quater Six: Halfway Through My Coursework

I can’t believe this is my sixth quarter of studies! I am almost exactly halfway done with my course work. I am just about finished with my 3rd tutorial (on theology of church and culture) and completed my 4,000 pages of reading for the class about 1.5

Church in Mission

Four Models of Emerging Churches

I’ve had a lot of vested interest in the emerging church for a number of years now, partly because of my own previous experience in communities that reflected many of the qualities present in Bolger and Gibb’s “Emerging Churches,” and partly because upon reading that book I was

Church in Mission

Church in Mission: Five Practices For The Church in the World (pt. 5)

Series contents | Introduction | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five For this last post in my church in mission series I want to explain the five practices that John Howard Yoder offers the church as a means of faithfulness and witness in mission. But first, by way of review,