Vital Church Planting session 1

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Vital Church Planting session 1
Toronto Feb 2008
The Sheffield Centre Church Armys Research unit
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2 Cheers?

• External factors
• Institution based views wont do any longer
• Church is just religious not spiritual
• One size fits all dont make me laugh !
• Consumerism has infected the church
• Dissolving Christendom and
• Double liminality a scary transition
• From centre to edge
• To a world without centres

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Or is it 3 cheers?

• Signs of the Spirit at work
• Fresh Expressions of Church FXC question what
  church must be and how that is answered
• Old assumptions Buildings, Congregation and
  Minister- are only assumptions
• Expressions language makes us humbler

If Christ is the embodiment of God and the
Church is his body on earth, then no single
expression of church can ever exhaust
Christ. Archbishop Rowan Williams
The what is church question is good We should not
copy failing forms But we need to know what
church is
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DNA as the essence of Church

• Isolating the essence of Church
• Whats generic?
• Without being simplistic
• But is accessible

Simplicity on the near side of complexity is
useless. Simplicity on the far side of complexity
is priceless
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What is to be planted / reproduced?

• 2 distortions
• Undue emphasis on Gospel
• Gospel is yeast, church is dough
• Does mission precede church?
• Over emphasis on Church
• Brighten up our worship
• Falsely satisfied with attendance

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Why is Gospel only mistaken?

• There is no disincarnate Gospel but always a
  bearer of it
• See how these Christians love one another was
  the gospel embodied
• Gospel only, leads to activism, guilt and burnout
  
• It confuses the growth of the church with its
  purpose
• Mission is not the Churchs ID but it is in the
  DNA

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Why is Church only mistaken?

• Have you ever noticed in those contexts
• Where did Jesus disappear to?
• Church as counter cultural went away too
• Discipleship to change me youre joking!

• Were silent, content to be by ourselves
• Were into worship and pastoral care
• Yes they are in the DNA but are not the ID

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These are words that go together well..
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Which came first?

• Yes Jesus mission preceded Jesus church
• But then they intertwine acting like a helix

An unchurchly mission is as much a monstrosity as
an unmissionary Church Lesslie Newbigin The
Household of God 1953 201
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Why Church and Mission must co-exist

• From the East Trinity seen as Communion/Community
  
• From the West God and the Missio Dei
• Together we get Trinity as Community-in-Mission
• In that order because
• Thats how it is in God
• Thats how it was in Jesus
• Thats what he modelled with the disciples
• So it needs to be for us

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What is being planted?

• Jesus centred Communityin-Mission

Church planting is the process by which a seed of
the life and message of Jesus, embodied by a
community of Christians, is immersed for mission
reasons, in a particular cultural or geographic
context. The intended consequence is that it
roots there, coming to life as a new indigenous
body of Christian disciples well suited to
continue in mission. Planting is a process but
unless and until the kingdom and mission are in
the DNA of the seed of the church, what is
planted will prove to be sterile. Mission-shaped
Church p 32-33
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How will we know its church?

• Adenine
• Guanine
• Cytosine
• Thiamine

• One
• Holy
• Catholic
• Apostolic

Obvious really!
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OHCA
Enduring dynamics of Church
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The 3 sided pyramid view
Enduring dynamics of Church
In Oneness
Out Apostolic
Up Holiness
Of Catholicity
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OHCA
Four linked Journeys
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The regular tetrahedron
UP - Holy IN - One OUT - Apostolic OF Catholic
Four linked Journeys
Observe the connections
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The regular tetrahedron
UP - Holy IN - One OUT - Apostolic OF Catholic
Each dimension is connected to all others
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Its a mystery
UP - Holy IN - One OUT - Apostolic OF Catholic
The church is a mystery. It is a reality imbued
with the hidden presence of God. It lies
therefore within the very nature of the Church to
be always open to new and ever greater
exploration. Pope Paul VI
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Apostolic and Catholic

• A dimension that connects across time and yet
  stays faithful
• It looks back to origins, for authenticity
• It looks forward with momentum sending beyond
  itself
• It is gt outward facing like the Trinity, it
  includes giving away
• to make non identical new starts.

• A dimension that connects across space and across
  difference
• It expresses universality and particularity
• We derive identity through relation with others
  as with Trinity
• Being planted is a good reminder of all this

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Holiness and Oneness

• A dimension of church as belonging to God
• The call is to become more like God be holy as
  I am
• Yet knowing we fail and confess
• Election connects holiness to apostolic mission
• Newbigin chosen to bear fruit
• Holy not Trendy, called not popular

• A dimension of church as belonging like God
• The call is be united and diverse like the
  Trinity
• One need not mean singular or uniform
• Oneness is more about local relationships
• Catholic is more universal but they intertwine

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Enduring DyNAmics of Church
In Oneness
Out Apostolic

• Adenine
• Thiamine
• Guanine
• Cytosine
• Maybe, just maybe

Up Holiness
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Whats in the DNA of Church?

• Formed by encounter with Christ
• Responding to the Spirit
• Living and acting out signs of Gods Kingdom

• By their presence, acts and words they
  communicate the reality of Jesus Christ,
  continuing his mission.
• Living out faithful commitment to one another,
  they reflect the loving and diverse oneness in
  the Trinity.
• Knowing they are an integral part of Christs
  universal people, they love, learn from, and
  support Christians beyond their own group.
• By their worship, they encourage transformation
  into his holiness, including practices of
  attending to Scripture, Baptism and Communion

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Trust the DNA .

• You cant know
• the results first !