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Letter From the President Click here to return to the Church Innovations web site. Dear Partners for a Missional Church, These last few weeks have been packed with research and development around missional church. Three weeks ago, Dr. Patricia Taylor Ellison and I joined 20 other scholars from around the world at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. The next week I worked with the theological faculties of Stellenbosch and the University of Pretoria on curriculum revision. Then we returned to the States to work with Princeton Seminary, the Center of Theological Inquiry, our PMC cluster in the Presbytery of Philadelphia (PC-USA), and with Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, one of “the” Mainline churches on the Mainline of Philadelphia. Returning finally to the Twin Cities, we gathered with missional church partners from around the world for our Spring Think Tank. Some very important themes come out of these very different settings. Firstly, the emerging networks from around the world indicate that the original insights of Lesslie Newbigin and David Bosch remain fruitful. These emerging networks represent young and old, diverse cultures and classes, and a wide variety of denominations. Most importantly, a younger generation of leaders – congregational, judicatory, and academic – are taking these initial insights and moving them forward. These emerging networks will be a major topic of our Fall conference. Secondly, the ecumenical character of these emerging networks is clearly moving beyond the original Reformed and Anabaptist conversation. Not only have other parts of the Reformation traditions joined the conversation, but Roman Catholic, non denominational, and quite untraditional local church communities also have joined the conversation. Some people are asking whether the missional church movement might fulfill, in part, the hopes of Edinburgh 1910 to foster an ecumenical church around mission. I am not sure what to make of that possibility. Thirdly, a more critical discourse is emerging. For too long the missional church movement has offered a serious scholarly proposal and not received much appropriate critical attention. Some academics simply discount it as an evangelical movement. Others presume it only applies to missiological thought. Others simply give it a polite condescending approval in the way an American approves of apple pie and baseball. Fourthly, this more critical discourse causes a more complex engagement with traditional doctrinal issues. The reframing of theology by the missional agenda forces a rethinking of several traditional doctrinal loci. Finally, we are beginning to see this engagement. Fifthly, issues of class, race, and gender are moving more strongly to a creative contribution to the missional issues. One of our own, Kristine Stache, completed her Ph.D. dissertation which takes on the theological discourse of four major church organizations (PC USA, ELCA, MC USA, and Churches of Christ) regarding innovating missional church. She puts their conversation into conversation with two major feminist Trinitarian theologians and provides a most engaging critique of both. All of this is a sign the missional church movement is maturing and growing stronger. We are delighted at Church Innovations to be a part of that maturing and growth. Peace, Patrick
R. Keifert Please support Church Innovations Thank you for your continued interest and support of Church Innovations. We ask for your prayers and, if so moved, your financial support, which is always needed to help us have the greatest impact for God. God has a preferred and promised future for all congregations, and with the support of individuals, foundations and partner congregations, we will be financially able to help them discern and respond to God’s call. Church Innovations is a 501(c)3 non-profit so provides a tax deduction – please consider us in your charitable contributions. Please click here for more information or to make a donation. |
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