The Missional Group

2006-02-11T10:29:00.000-08:00

The Rise of the Creative Church

The Rise of the new postmodern creative church is on the way with all its missiological implications for the missional resurgence among evangelicals. Want to help?

1) Contend for the faith! Yes, it is true. You must combat the pluralism and relativism in the postmodern philosophy. Jesus remains the very center of our faith and must remain the central preaching of the gospel even in animistic and spiritual settings. We cannot and must not compromise the gospel, therein compromising the very possibility of people being saved in the postmodern context! Jesus must be preached as the most inclusive and exclusive person who has ever lived. He inclusively calls, but people must respond to His exclusive criterion of salvation-Himself!

2) Contextualize the faith! Learn your target culture. Listen. Become a missionary so you can share the gospel in a way that can be understood. Don't confuse substance with style. Don't confuse function with form. You will have to use cultural forms and styles to effectively communicate the gospel. Use creativity. Use new music and tech forms to share the gospel in a language that can be understood. Don't shy away from reaching these indigenous cultures. Win the "native" and let them help you with critical contextualization so you can reach the oikos of the artist quickly and responsibly.

3) Communicate the gospel! Share the good news in the new language and culture. Don't change the message. Preach the word and be a faithful steward of the kerygma that has been entrusted to you.

4) Don't argue about contextual styles and forms that must be cultural driven, while basing all the function and substance on the Bible. We can not afford the time. The missional resurgence is of utmost importance and priority. Be kind to those who don't agree and never criticize another faithful communicator in a different context. We have a lot of boomers and builders who still need Jesus and the industrial and boomer forms and styles still work! Just ask them!

For more information on the coming missional resurgence write jmillirons@gabaptist.org or visit jimmillironsimpactblog.blogspot.com today.

The Missional Group

2006-02-11T10:09:00.000-08:00

The Missional Group

2006-02-04T19:50:00.000-08:00

Regentrification and reurbanization make it absolutely imperative for the evangelical community to once again reach the city(if divine mandate is not enough!). The postmodern subcultures must be reached with the gospel. The "Bohemian Creative" population segment will require new appraoches to evangelism and preaching. Biblical functions must be carried out in new cultural forms in order to effectively communicate the gospel. The missionary to the city-must pray like crazy, listen to the culture, develop relationships thru networks, do good, and share Christ. He or she must develop opportunities for dialogue and discussion. Christ is the only hope of the city. The missionary must allow Jesus to be the center of his life and conversation. Contending for the biblical faith in the city of spiritual pluralism and relativism is necessary as is the contextualizing of that very gospel in a language and culture that can be understood and responded to in the postmodern context.

The Coming Missional Resurgence in the City

2006-02-04T19:39:00.000-08:00

One Sacred Effort

2005-06-20T18:10:00.000-07:00

I believe there are tremendous signs of a missional resurgence on the horizon. Why? Because that can really be the only reason why God would turn our convention around. Why else?

We are communicating. We are praying. We may need to change the words, but not the meaning. How do we sum up what Southern Baptists are about? We can go back to the origin in 1845- one sacred effort. It was clear at the beginning-we exist for mission. The younger and older guys can come together with a strong commitment to the Baptist Faith and Miessage and Missions. The younger leaders made the issue plain again Sunday. "It" is "mission."

Thank you Jimmy Draper! And Thank you each person who spoke to the issues!

Let's look forward! Press On in missions!

Jim

The Challenges of Cross-Generational Transition

2005-06-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

The Challenges of Cross-Generational Transition
By Ed Stetzer

(This is the third in a series of four columns about emerging young leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention by Dr. Bob Reccord, president of the North American Mission Board, and Dr. Ed Stetzer, NAMB’s director of research.)

Let’s hope this will be the “Year of the Younger Leader” at the SBC. As greats like Adrian Rogers, Jerry Vines, Jim Henry and others begin to transition their leadership, so too must the Southern Baptist Convention. There are lots of people who have answers to how we should bring young leaders back into partnership. I see four major issues that frame the struggle over younger leadership.

Compromise

It seems like everyone is an expert on compromise. If you don’t have a “come forward” invitation, you are compromised. If you don’t preach a certain way, you are compromised. If you don’t do door-to-door evangelism, you are compromised. There seem to be more rules than biblical texts to mandate them.

We are a denomination struggling with Jude 3 and 1 Corinthians 9:22-23. Many want to “contend for the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) while others want to be “all things to all men so that by all means possible we might save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22-23). The problem is that, instead of having important conversations about these things, we are arguing over forms and not reaching the lost. As some of our churches have chosen their traditions over their children, we are choosing traditional methods over innovative young leaders.

Contextualization

The church in every generation struggles with contextualization. It struggles with what it should look like—how to be in the world but not of it. Let’s be honest here. The issue is not just age. There are many younger leaders who are comfortable with traditional methods, and some will point to them as an example that everything is great. Still, don’t we also want innovators who are serious about Scripture and reaching their communities? Didn’t Jimmy Draper start this discussion by pointing out that baptisms are down and that younger leaders are leaving? We want younger leaders who are serious about reaching the lost, through innovation or tradition.

Cooperation

If biblically sound and culturally diverse young leaders are going to cooperate with the existing Southern Baptist Convention, we need a moratorium. We need a moratorium of traditional conference leaders speaking against (or making sarcastic comments about) innovative churches. We need a moratorium of younger leaders criticizing traditional churches. If they are reaching and discipling people, let’s celebrate traditional, contemporary, or emerging churches… and if not, let’s help them.

We need a new standard (or perhaps a commitment to our existing standard!). If young/old, contemporary/traditional are biblically sound (as measured by our agreed upon standard, the Baptist Faith and Message), and they are reaching people, then we can celebrate our differences. We can and should cooperate with such churches—whether they are contemporary purpose driven churches, emerging house churches, modern mega-churches, or traditional churches.

Communication

It seems to me that we have a serious communication problem. I know some of the great preachers of the traditional church. I know some of the great young (and not so young) innovative pastors.. Ironically, when you ask them, they don’t have much bad to say about each other. It just surfaces when we meet in larger groups. That’s when well-known preachers start speaking against each other, with “amen lines” or sarcastic comments. Okay, it preaches well, but it leaves us smaller and weaker.

Covenant

This year at the SBC, let’s try something different. Why don’t we covenant together that no one speaks against another’s preaching style, clothing, invitation, music, discipleship program, or strategy. Let’s talk about reaching people—and celebrate biblically sound churches that are, whatever they look like. If they love Scripture and our convention, let’s not alienate them or belittle their strategies.

After the SBC, let’s take it a step further. Our schools, agencies, and entities can begin to talk about these important issues, bringing the best theologians and practitioners together to determine how we can be biblically faithful and missionally appropriate. At the SBC Bob Reccord will be announcing NAMB’s strategy for follow up. Our desire is for us to follow the conservative resurgence with a missional resurgence… to see biblically sound young leaders building missional churches that reach and transform their communities.
That’s worth fighting for, not just about.

Ed Stetzer serves as director of research at the North American Mission Board. A missiologist, he is the author of several articles and books on missional ministry.

2005-06-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

Are Baptist and Biblical Synonyms? Suggestions from a Younger Leader
By Ed Stetzer

(This is the second in a series of four columns about emerging young leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention by Dr. Bob Reccord, president of the North American Mission Board, and Dr. Ed Stetzer, NAMB’s director of research.)

Young leaders. Some folks find them hard to understand. Wasn’t giving them positions of leadership – such as service on committees – enough to challenge them, make them happy, get them involved?

But now it appears the issue was bigger than that. Jimmy Draper has helped us to see that there is not a long line of gifted young people waiting their turn to serve in positions of leadership in the SBC. If we take a closer look at the reasons, we find that the issues which matter to younger leaders are theological and missional. Theologically, they want “Baptist” and “biblical” to be synonyms. Missionally, they want Baptists to find new ways to reach our communities and the world.

Theological

Emerging leaders in Southern Baptist life are, well, not liberal. There might be a few bad apples out there, but it would be rather odd for them to stick around in a denomination known for its serious commitment to theology, evangelism, preaching, etc. Quite the contrary, many of them have been trained in our fine seminaries and have deep convictions that Scripture is authoritative and sufficient, and they are ministering accordingly.

It’s interesting. As a denomination we’ve spent more than two decades telling young leaders that we must take the Bible seriously. Should we be surprised that they do? When younger leaders question some long-held traditions based on a scriptural mandate, we should not be surprised—they are the result of the theological resurgence. The young leaders I know passionately believe the Bible, and they enthusiastically embrace our faith statement (and, to be fair, those are the circles in which I run).

Thus, the issues that are driving younger leaders away are not theological; they are cultural and missional. They are tired of being told that dress, worship style, and traditional practices are biblical mandates when they are found neither in the Bible nor in the denomination’s faith statement.

There is a gap between our talk and our practice—we say it’s all about theology and mission, but it appears to be more about doing things a certain way, a way based more on 18th Century practices than 1st Century Scripture.

Missional

Young leaders talk about cultural relevance. From what I hear at some conferences, older leaders are worried about what that means. Young leaders want ministry options that move beyond the models they inherited. Young leaders have determined that, in many cases, the models of the past are no longer effective (and the baptism stats seem to verify this), so they’re hungry to see new expressions of biblical church and ministry that are effective in reaching their community. They want to be missionaries in this North American mission field… in short, they want to be missional.

In essence, we’re talking about their desire to be Christians who are living in a mission setting. As a result, their expressions of biblical worship use diverse music, preaching styles, dress, etc. It’s not about hipper clothes and cooler music. It’s about being God’s missionary where He has placed us now, not 50 or 500 years ago.

They want to be in the type of convention that Bob Reccord talked about in the first column in this series—a convention that welcomes all kinds of scripturally sound missional churches: traditional churches, purpose driven churches, emerging churches, churches that meet in homes, etc.

Where to now?

If you are concerned about the influence of some theologically aberrant younger leaders, the answer is not to call all young leaders back to hymns, suits, and the King James Bible. Instead, it’s to create venues where young leaders (and not so young!) can learn biblically sound innovations and methods.

The conservative resurgence accomplished its purpose, and we have a group of young leaders committed to biblical theology and missional ministry. We must not now fight for our traditions as if they were our doctrine – they aren’t the same thing.

Younger leaders want to lead churches that are theologically sound and missionally committed. If they don’t find the SBC to be biblical and missional, they will find their own fellowships, and we will be the weaker for it. We had a theological resurgence, but young leaders want a missional resurgence, too. They want “Baptist” and “biblical” to be synonyms, and they want to get busy reaching the world!

Ed Stetzer serves as director of research at the North American Mission Board. A missiologist, he is the author of several articles and books on missional ministry.

Embracing the Coming Missional Resurgence

2005-06-09T05:28:00.000-07:00

An Occasional Paper

THE RESURGENT MISSIONAL LEADERSHIP
Embracing the Missional Resurgence of the Southern Baptist Convention:
A Call to Missional Unity

God has providentially led the largest evangelical convention of churches through a theological resurgence. We believe that he has done so to launch an incredible missional resurgence in North America. We no longer doubt or argue that God has spoken, that Jesus explicitly saves, and that people are lost and need the Savior. This fledging movement must not be sidetracked by arguments over missional methods and models. We have unified in doctrine and now we must be unified in mission. We must diversify in models and methods. Contending faithfully for the gospel (Jude 3), we must contextualize the good news in diverse cultures using forms and methods (1 Cor 9) that best communicate (1Cor 1/2) the never changing gospel of Christ. To do less is to compromise the very heart of the gospel that is to be communicated in all languages and cultures to all people. We fought hard for a theological resurgence, now we need a missional one as well.

Coming out of twenty-five years of in house theological resurgence, we now face more than a brave new world. We have awakened to a North American culture that is more diverse than ever before in its history. Immigration has given us the most diverse mission field in the world. Literally, our neighbors are Hindu, Buddhists, Hare Krishna, and New Age to mention just a few. Postmodernity and globalization have changed the religious landscape of North America. We cannot fight over how to win our mission field to Christ. We must earnestly do three things together well in the next twenty-five years:

WE MUST CONTEND FOR THE FAITH- (Jude 3) We are stewards of the gospel.
The core is delivered.
It has divine substance.

WE MUST CONTEXTUALIZE THE FAITH- (1 Cor 9) We are missionaries of the gospel.
The context is diverse.
It has human situation.

WE MUST COMMUNICATE THE FAITH- (1 Cor 1/2) We are heralds of the gospel.
The communication is distinct.
It has cultural style.

This paper is created by Southern Baptists simply to convey that there are those traditional, young, and younger evangelicals in the body that are committed to fish rather than fight over models and methods. We believe God is orchestrating a strategic missionary movement among Southern Baptists. We must be faithful to the theological resurgence by allowing our biblical theology to inform our ecclesiology and missiology.

Those advocating missional unity embrace the current Baptist Faith and Message.

They believe the Cooperative Program remains the best way to reach our world and accomplish worldwide mission endeavors.

They advocate a very clear, contextual message to a very diverse world in North America that requires communication across all kinds of languages and cultures.

They recognize the incredible opportunity that God has afforded Southern Baptists to enter the new mission field of North America with the unchanging gospel of Christ and praise God when Christ is preached in different situations with different styles when the substance is the same (Phil 1).

Jim Millirons
New Church Development
Revised Nov 19, 2004

The Younger Leader or the Missional Leader?

2005-06-09T05:26:00.000-07:00

Personally, I don’t think it is about the acceptance of models and methods per se. It is much deeper than that. The SBC is reinventing itself. That is a good thing. I call it a missional resurgence. It’s like a missional makeover. Some liken it to an awakening of sorts. We have come out of a 25 year theological resurgence huddle and realized the entire North American religious and cultural landscape has changed. Don’t misunderstand, we needed a theological resurgence. But we now must look at orthopraxy. These young Bible believing leaders are contending for the faith, but they are also contextualizing the faith on a brand new mission field. We have come out of the huddle theologically orthodox, now facing a playing field that has totally changed. How do we call the ministry and mission plays in the 21st century?

First, we need to remember that the gospel is always expressed through culture. Actually, I commend these young leaders for allowing new converts to express worship and ministry in their indigenous forms. Forms are always cultural. Functions must always be biblical.

Second, we need to remember we have been doing this overseas for years. Over there when we use music to win people to Jesus we call it ethnomusicology. It is validated. It is essential to contextual evangelism and discipleship. No question. Over here, we have to deal with our own preferences. It becomes a war, but without really dealing with the why issue. Why must we change? To communicate and contend for the faith in a language and culture that will be understood by the receiver or the receptor of the message. We are in a mission field, we must think and act like missionaries. That is really what it is about.

The Extreme Missional Makeover

2005-06-09T05:06:00.000-07:00

The church is in a desperate need of extreme makeover. Some would choose to call it revival, others still, Spiritual Awakening. Nevertheless, the marginalized church in North America is in need of spiritual renewal. I choose to call it extreme missional makeover, because I believe we must experience a missional resurgence to impact our North American cultures. The Church must shift. Shift as in change. The church must change the focus. It must alter the direction. It must modify the plans. Today’s church must shift in order to impact the dominant cultures in North America. What would this shift look like?

S-Serve the community in the community.

In recent years the church has begun to look outside of itself. Service is to be
in the community as the church is the servant of the community. The
community should be a good place to live because of the impact of the church.
If that isn’t the case, the church is not advancing the kingdom in its Jerusalem
and should ask some critical questions. The major shift is from the inside to the outside. The church becomes incarnational rather than merely attractional and extractional.

H-Heal broken relationships in the community.

The church should be a healing community of faith, love, and hope. Relationships should be restored in the community of faith. The shift is from a forced legalism and flaunting liberalism to a focused love. Grounded in the truth of biblical mandate and in step with the Holy Spirit, truth and love
govern and guide relationships.

I-Impact the culture through evangelism and
church planting.

Intentionally multiplying planters and churches together should be the
normal way of advancing the kingdom to reduce lostness and penetrate
darkness. The shift is from expansion growth to extension growth; from
church growth to kingdom growth. Through healthy kingdom churches people come to Jesus, churches are born, and God’s kingdom is advanced. Lives are transformed and cultures are changed.

F-Focus on the kingdom of God.

The church must focus in its visionizing and futuring. The future is the kingdom. The vision must be His preferred future. The King is coming so the purpose of the church must focus on Him and His kingdom. Nothing calls for more commitment and passion. There is no greater cause. The shift is from …..

T-Transform the soul and the soul of the society.

The goal of Jesus is to be embedded in every culture and society. Incarnational and missional thinking includes a holistic redemption model. Redemption is personal and social.

Are you ready for a church shift? Need a coach? Send us your comments.

It's about mission!

2005-06-09T04:48:00.000-07:00

How missional is your church? Is it missional from the inside out or is missions something you do outside your church? Let a missional coach help your church with an extreme missional makeover. Experience a churchshift. Shift into the missional mode to reach hundreds of people for Christ. Let us know of your interest through the comments.