Darryl's Blog
Reformed with a missional edge
I could be wrong, but I sense that the ground has shifted.
A few years ago, what we now call the emerging church was fresh and connected with a lot of us who were a little weary of the church growth movement and a pragmatic approach to faith. This movement has been somewhat helpful, but it wasn't without its problems - some theological and some due to the fact that it was still, well, emerging or deconstructing. But I sense this first phase has lost some steam - not a completely bad thing. The emerging church was never the point. (By the way, LT has a stimulating post on this today).
It really seems that just as the emerging movement seems to be slowing or changing, the Reformed movement has taken over, as suggested by Christianity Today and others. What's interesting is that there is a real missional edge to this, as evidenced by guys like Tim Keller (see Keller's The Missional Church in PDF). It's not your mother's Reformed church. It's theologically robust but also contextual and it's making an impact. It's also more theologically conservative, but it's solidly missional.
What do you think? Do you sense some of the same things happening?
Categories
Emerging Church , Faith , Theology0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Reformed with a missional edge.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.dashhouse.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1770
Some of us feel like the Reformed movement was missional long before that was even a word. :-)
Paul,
I wish I could say this was true of everyone! I know some who are Reformed who have not been missional. They gave the Reformed a bad name. I'm glad to see this changing.
Darryl,
Would that folk who self-identify as Truly Reformed take their lead from folk like Tim Keller.
I'd love Paul to unpack what unfortunately seems a rather arrogant statement that "the Reformed movement was missional long before that was even a word." Note that I'm commenting on the statement, not Paul. Perhaps Paul could give us some specific examples.
My fear is that many people (from many streams) are appropriating the word "missional." For them/us, we hope it's the next "thing" that will lead to a very modern result - Church Growth - as opposed to the Kingdom advancing.
I see Luke 10:1-12 is the key text in Jesus missional imperative for His church.
Maybe it would be helpful for someone who uses this "missional" term to define it. I see it all over Christedom but I'm not sure exactly what it means or even if it means different things to different people.
Good idea, Jacob. I suspect that the term does mean different things to different people.
Keller describes missional as "adapting and reformulating absolutely everything it did in worship, discipleship, community,
and service - so as to be engaged with the non-Christian society around it."
I think it generally describes the idea that the mission of God, and the participation of his people in that mission, is central to theology and faith. The adjective missional describes those who hold to this and live it out.
Might I be a little self-serving and recommend the video and audio resources @ Allelon. There's a great podcast where Darryl interviews Al Roxburgh - though it was supposed to be the other way around :-)
Check out the series of videos on What is Missional Church.
Also check out The Mission-Shaped Church document @ the Fresh Expressions site in the UK.
I don't think you can be Missional with a Reformed eschatology. I think the concept that the world will end, and is chiefly bad, can't work with a Missional life.
Rob
I think it would be most accurate to say that Reformed theology has always had great resources within it for missional work. For example: 1) Stanley Grenz credits Calvin for teaching on the Trinity that stresses the communal aspect of God's nature, 2) Richard Muller points out that Post-reformation Calvinist theologians forged a theology that wasn't 'modern' and based on traditional rationalistic proofs of God, 3) Jonathan Edwards provides theological resources for profoundly mystical personal experience of God, 4)Geerhardus Vos and Herman Ridderbos stress that the Bible isn't a systematic theology textbook but rather a narrative of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration, 5) Kuyper and Wolterstorff give resources for working on justice and renewal of culture. There's lots to work with! That doesn't mean that many or most Reformed churches have used these resources that well in mission, however.
Rob,
Reformed eschatology doesn't believe the physical world is mostly bad, and it believes that God will one day restore the earth. It actually has a very hopeful eschatology that affirms culture-building and creation.
Thanks Tim for that response. And thank you for being one of the most gracious voices in Christianity. (It seems appropriate that you comment here as Darryl is also a practitioner of such graciousness.)
I find myself becoming more and more attracted to the Kuyperian influenced Neo-Calvinism. Probably the fault of people like Gideon Strauss and Jonathan Chaplin. But the prevenient nature of my Wesleyan heritage is alive and well.
Darryl,
If that's true then it warrants further study. However, that hasn't been my experience in conservative, reformed churches. I will continue to study.
Rob
Rob,
Check out Redeemer:
http://www.redeemer.com/
It's a good place to start.
If you're looking for a good book on this, Engaging God's World by Plantinga is really good:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0802839819/dashhouse-20
Bill -
Sorry for the delay in replying to your message... I have been building a fence!
I will try to quickly unpack my comment that many churches that love reformed theology have been missional for a long time.
First, history shows that most of the modern mission movement (the last 250 years in particular) was generated out of reformed churches.
More recently, it was often the theologically reformed churches that avoided many of the pitfalls of the mega-church movement and remained theologically robust and energetically evangelistic! But as someone said in this string - a lot of this comes down to definition. I am working off a definition of "missional" that at its base teaches that sinners need to be loved by Christians and hear the Good News of Jesus Christ. I am not including in my definition the broader "whole world redemption" (I know that is not the best way to say it) motif that many like Redeemer in NYC advocate. I am not saying that is wrong, I am just not convinced that is included in the word "missional."
So, by my definition, I think there are many churches (mine, and lots of others I know of) that are engaging their culture and calling people to turn to Christ. And they have been doing this for a long time.
So, that is what I meant.
But now my hands are so sore from augering out 4 foot holes in Rexdale (the murder capitol of Canada in which I live... "missionally" :-) )clay that I am going to stop typing.
And by the by, Darryl... how come I have to input my personal info every time I post here? I always click the "remember" button? Are you blocking me! :-)
Paul:
I think you need at least two things to be missional: the Gospel, and a desire/ability to contextualize.
In my experience, the Reformed churches I've been involved with have been better at the first (the Gospel) than the second (a desire/ability to contextualize). Of course, my experience has been limited.
Sorry about the commenting issue. Maybe it will be fixed with the new version of the blogging software, due out shortly.
Paul,
Thanks for the response. I would probably echo Darryl's comment above. (If I was as articulate as he is, that is.)
And I'm only a little Northeast of you on Lake Simcoe 'til we return to our home on The Danforth in September.