Partnership for Missional Church

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Partnership for Missional Church

• Introduction Preview
• Central States Synod- ELCA

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Dwelling in the Word

• Luke 101-12
• Listen to Word read
• Where does it capture you?
• Share with a reasonably friendly-looking
  stranger
• Report to the group what you new friend noticed

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History of the Church
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Christendom Assumptions

• Culture is Christian
• Concept of Parish- maintain the flock
• Ministry revolves around hatching, matching and
  dispatching

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After-Christendom

• Biblically illiterate
• Ritually incompetent
• Highly self conscious
• Trauma or stress
• Distrustful of institutions
• Ill defined spiritual hunger
• Shame

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Are we pregnant or just sick and tired?
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Five Questions
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What will you have at end of PMC?

• Extensive demographic study of congregation and
  community with theological reflection (Church
  Future Finder)
• Ethnographic study of life of congregation
  (Congregational Discovery)
• Congregational History (Congregational Timeline)
• Identified Missional Focus ( Missional Challenge)
• Missional Action Plan (MAP)
• Missional Vocation Statement
• Vision for Embodiment
• Long range plan
• SMART Plans of action
• Staff Covenant

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Traditional Strategic Planning
But we are facing unfamiliar challenges in an era
of rapid discontinuous change
How were going to get there!
Where we want to go!
Where we are now!
The Gap Model!
This works well when we are dealing with a
familiar problem in a relatively stable
environment and predictable incremental change.
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Everett Rogers declares that there are even five
different stages that members of a culture go
through when they have met a change
adoption
experimentation
evaluation
understanding
awareness
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Celebration event !
Partnership for Missional Church
Phase 4 - Learning and Growing
Phase 3 - Visioning for Embodiment
Phase 2 - Missional Experimenting
Phase 1 - Discovering our Partners
Preparation, finding leaders
Sharing Mentoring
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What Happens in Partnership Congregations?

• The results of a 15 year longevity study
  conducted by external auditors found these
  results.

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What happens in congregations

• A God-centered, biblical vision for mission
  through the practice of corporate spiritual
  discernment.
• A greater sense of Gods activity in their
  congregation.
• Ownership of the mission of the congregation by
  members
• Members committed to and capable of making
  disciples
• Both a vision for being missional and a practical
  plan of action to achieve it.
• Recognize the strengths of the tradition of their
  congregation.

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What happens in congregations contd

• Practical skills for managing change and
  attending to conflict.
• The habits or practices of a missional church
• Dramatic expansion of the involvement of church
  members
• Decision process for planning activities and
  budget.
• A faithful and hospitable congregation
• Relationships with other partner churches

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Changes in life of congregation

• Expand number of members in congregation who are
  involved in life and mission of congregation.
• Discover sense of mission that uses gifts and
  character of congregation.
• Develop clear and strong relationships with a
  segment of the community to whom God has sent the
  congregation.
• Members of congregation have experimented in
  connecting with part of community in mission.

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Four Discoveries

• The Christian imagination of lay leaders is
  critical to the missional church.
• Missional churches decide to change from just
  maintenance, or from having mission, to being
  and doing mission.
• Missional churches learn how to make disciples in
  an age of consumerism.
• Missional churches learn how to receive and
  embrace change as Gods gift for Christian growth.

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Journey
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Questions Special Issues

• Interim situations
• Small congregations
• Others?