International Research Consortium Discusses Social Place and Calling of Congregations
By Pat Taylor Ellison, Ph.D.

Click here to return to the Church Innovations web site.

Stellenbosch, South Africa, March 26-29, 2008 – The Trinity, Missio Dei, and the Christian Identity of Congregations was the theme for this year’s meeting of the International Research Consortium for Congregational Studies in Stellenbosch.

On our start day, which is always an open day, many pastors, students, church system leaders and academic leaders listened to several papers on how congregations live their life in the Life of God. Several Stellenbosch graduate students and faculty members attended along with our consortium members, for which we were grateful, since the meeting fell inconveniently during their extended Easter break.

Our dwelling text was Mark 1:1-15, which includes the prophesy from Isaiah regarding John the Baptizer, the baptism of Jesus, a brief description of Jesus in the desert, and Jesus proclaiming the nearness of the kingdom of God after the arrest of John. We wrestled with the images of identity, of calling and temptation, of the effect of deep listening inside and outside congregations, and of the effect of change on congregations.

Several original members of the consortium gave papers, including Harald Hegstad (Norway) on Natural Church Development, a favorite topic; Frederick Marais (South Africa) on Congregational Identity and Vocation; Michael Herbst (Germany) on Alienation in Immigrant Churches in Germany; and Keifert and Ellison (USA) on Congregations Trapped by Time, Metaphor, and Failure. Two first-time partners, de Henk Roest and Rein Brouwer (Netherlands), each presented some of their work; Roest on Evangelistic and Mainline Churches in Holland, and Brouwer on Koinonia and Social Capital in a local church. Another first-time partner, Danie Mouton (South Africa), spoke about the Christian identity of congregations that struggled during, after and because of apartheid. There was much to discuss stemming from these many papers, from the nuts and bolts of church life in today’s circumstances to the overarching themes coming from all parts of the world that affect congregations’ social place and calling.

We had a little time for play, too. We were treated to a wine-tasting of Stellenbosch vintages, a wonderful dinner in the home of Coenie and Lydia Burger, and a dinner the last evening at a restaurant in the black township of Kayamandi that serves African specialties.

Our final afternoon was spent making plans for the future. We think that from the many papers we have heard in five years of meetings, we should have enough essays to publish a book or two. We have been posting our presentations on a shared online site, and the founders of the Consortium, Burger (South Africa), Hegstad, and Keifert, will be going through these to see what use we might make of them. We debated about future meetings, as we always have done, since many of us are not funded to attend and so must have a compelling reason to do so that furthers our work. We decided to plan a gathering in 2009, perhaps in the Netherlands if a grantor can be found. We wish to continue our work together across boundaries, to take the Missional Church conversation in new directions, and to value partnerships wherever God provides them.

Pat Taylor Ellison, Ph.D., is the managing director of research for Church Innovations.