Comparing and Contrasting Church Models

Jesus demonstrated the power of a missionary perspective in releasing greater effectiveness in the Samaritan encounter of John 4:7-38. This encounter rattled unconsciously held assumptions that limited the fruitfulness of the disciples. The Samaritan encounter reveals three essential suppositions of a mission driven paradigm including, 1) a commitment to deliberate outreach to those who are different, 2) a commitment to a harvest versus maintenance orientation, and 3) the realization that receptivity to the gospel is not time, geographically or culturally bound. Part one of this paper defines the changing environment the church finds itself in. This changing social structure necessitates the adoption of a mission paradigm. A mission paradigm is a commitment to deliberately reach out to people who are different. Part two defines the mission paradigm and its effect on the task of leadership within the local church. It requires a commitment to a harvest versus a maintenance orientation. It acts on the basis that receptivity to the gospel is not time, geographically or culturally bound.

2012

Mission Studies, 2012

This volume is the fijifth in Baker's "Encountering Mission" series, edited by Scott Moreau, and comes from an avowedly evangelical perspective that is clearly stated in the preface (viii). It is well-designed, forming three distinct sections: the Biblical Foundations of Mission, the Motives and Means for Mission, and Mission in a Global and Local Context. The design and layout include helpful sidebars that include summaries and signifijicant quotations, and case studies that explore how the material covered might have an impact on everyday discussions. That said, a number of these address specifijic "everyday contexts" which have a particular confessional slant. Within the main sections of the book the confessional stance of the authors is not so intrusive. The section on Biblical Foundations analyzes both Old and New Testament materials, as might be expected, and ends up exploring the missio Dei, but with a healthy critical view of the post-Bosch landscape. The last two chapters in this section, which explore what is necessary and distinctive about mission as opposed to development, are particularly helpful for mission practitioners who might wish to review their understanding of mission tasks and priorities. The authors clearly set out a fascinating reflection on the social and evangelistic dimensions of mission through what they identify as the Creation and Gospel mandates. Their exploration of these diffferences includes a clear and even-handed description of the Protestant-Conciliar and Evangelical movements in the modern missionary period. Also of value are their exploration of ecclesiology and the use of the word "missionary." Here, they make a strong case for the distinctiveness of the role of the "missionary" in specifijically cross-cultural settings, whilst eschewing any claims that this might only be movement in any one direction. Their work is provocative inasmuch as it challenges the oft-held assumption in the missional church that everyone must be a "missionary." They note the shared focus on particular missionary tasks and responsibilities whilst respecting a variety of gifts and charisms. The fijinal sections of the book work out the practicalities of the mission theory they develop in light of the biblical and historical experience. There is a strong focus on the model of contextualization, but the discussion here is let down by a limited exploration of its Catholic equivalent, "inculturation." The focus on the implications of cross-cultural mission and what it demands in missionary attitudes provides material which is of value not just for cross-cultural practitioners but also for those who study materials from diffferent cultural contexts. Interestingly, and I am not sure whether this is intentional, the very evangelical tone, with its discussion of categories such as Satan and "spiritual warfare," exemplifijies this: those who put the book aside at the mention of such language are the losers, especially if they intend to work in cultures and contexts where such language is very much part and parcel of the religious landscape. Those who fijind such language alien but persevere with it will expose themselves to what many who have served cross-culturally have discovered for themselves: exposure to diffferent ways of living faith has great possibilities to challenge assumptions and cause growth. Thus the book not only describes this kind of phenomenon, but gives an opportunity to experience and engage with it. without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.

The Gospel and Our Culture, 2003

2020

The social context of church members spawns different ecclesial imaginations of the nature of the church. Those different ecclesial imaginations often function within one particular church. It interacts with each other – in isolation, competition or hostility – to ultimately shape the life of that church. This article discusses the result of a historical study in which the authors dissected the primary ecclesial imaginations of members of churches in South Africa. The authors, therefore, discuss three of the ecclesial imaginations that emanated from the research, which can be observed within the sampled congregations. The authors argue that because the congregants of the churches have such ‘ecclesiological imaginations’, the prophetic voice of the church in South Africa has become silent. Therefore, the authors suggest that the members of the churches in South Africa should re-imagine the nature of the church in terms of the missio Dei if it wants to recover the prophetic voice of t...

Building up the Church of Christ: Missiological Essays from the Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary, 2010

Over the last twenty years evangelism has seen a revival in some mainstream Western European churches. During the 1990s churches in Britain declared a Decade of Evangelism and at the end of the last century the Protestant Church in Germany started to have a fresh look at the evangelistic task of the church. In Germany a church sponsored research institute for evangelism was founded at the University of Greifswald, while in Britain a variety of new evangelistic methods were developed and initiatives launched to reach out to people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a postmodern post-Christian age.

Great Commission Research Journal, 2017

The term "mission"-derived from the Latin verb, missio , meaning "send"-came into general use in its specifi cally Christian and theological sense only in the sixteenth century, when the Roman Catholic Jesuit order used the term to refer to the sending of its members to preach, instruct, serve, and win converts. 1 The term "evangelism," by contrast, is based on biblical vocabulary, specifi cally the Greek terms euanggelion ("gospel"), euanggelizo ("preach good news"), and euanggelistes ("one who preaches good news" or "evangelist"). In its Old Testament sense (as in the Septuagint version of Isaiah 52:7-10) euanggelizo evokes a powerful and dramatic image. The city of Jerusalem is at war. The people eagerly await news from the army fi ghting on their behalf. Sentries stand on the city walls, scanning the horizon for signs of an approaching messenger. At last the long-awaited messenger (the euanggelistes ) appears on the hills surrounding the city and bears good news. The army has won and their victory is also God's victory: "Your God reigns!" The entire city erupts into celebration. 2 The word "evangelism," despite its varied use over time, in its original sense refers to a joyful message of God's gracious and peaceable reign.

Nova et Vetera, English Edition, 2015

000 Church, by and large, whether it"s global or national or local irrespective of denominational tags is immersed with numerous problems. Many may argue the current fiasco that the church is into not new, but similar challenges and problem the church did face perhaps may not be of similar nature or magnitude, nonetheless managed the problems effectively and efficiently and thus cruised through over centuries and still alive and "vibrant". They even go one step further by saying that no other institution or organization or even empires or kingdoms managed to survive the onslaughts, but church is still alive and active because it is founded on the life and witness of Jesus Christ, and therefore, Jesus Christ is foundation and fulcrum of the church. Are these arguments suffice and reasonable? The Universal church and the local church nowadays are at the cross road. Christianity as a religion ought to mirror the Words and Works of Jesus Christ. On the contrary, it reflects the societal ills and the church have hit the new low particularly in recent times that there"s no difference between the church and the society. Some may say that let the Universals takes care of the global concerns and the local church should respond to the local needs and spiritual concerns. However, the Scripture and the Gospel values united along with the creedal and traditional expositions and expressions. Nonetheless, the church is @ crossroads and so intensely caught up with mind-boggling problems. In such a context and background, the church in its life and witness should manifest candidly so that the adherents and the world in which it is place would repose their faith and trust. It is highly imperative that those who are concerned about the Church will have to revisit and reinvent and evolve new strategies and programs so that the church once again comes back and serve in multifarious ways to its constituencies. 001 In every period of history when Christians have faced new conditions, they have looked to the sources of their traditions for new directions… Today, new times demand new directions, so we are driven once more to examine our sources; to discover, if possible, what God is saying to us within the context of our time. Perhaps our first reaction to such a suggestion will be a sense of powerlessness. Is there anything we can do? The odds seem so  Dr. I. John Mohan Razu, Professor of Christian Social Ethics resides in Bangalore.