CM101 Mission as Transformation

Introduction

What is mission?

Mission = A Sending Out for a Purpose

In Christian sense:

“Everything that the Gospel of God’s love sends to the world. It embraces the pursuit of justice and peace and the care of creation, as well as the sharing of faith.” Donald Elliott

Mission begins with God

The sending of the spirit to createThe sending of the son to reveal &

saveThe sending of the spirit to inspire,

empower

It is an “outpouring of love”

Missio Dei = The Mission of God

The Church & Mission

Mission is not the Church going out and saving people

The mission of God came first, and the Church was created as a response to that.

So the Church is a product of mission, rather than the other way round.

“Since God’s concern is for the entire world, this should also be the scope of the missio Dei. It affects all people in all aspects of their existence. Mission is God’s turning to the world in respect of creation, care, redemption and consummation ... It takes place in ordinary human history, not exclusively in and through the church ... The Missio Dei is God’s activity, which embraces both the church and the world, and in which the church may be privileged to participate.” (Bosch 1991, p. 391)

The Church & Mission

Without a proper understanding of the Mission of God mission can become: A way of preserving our churchA way of getting others to accept what we believe and affirm our worldview

A path to “shoulds”, human works and guilt, thereby draining our spiritual energy.

The Church & Mission

‘The Church exists by mission just as fire exists by burning’. - Emil Brunner

Mission and human life

The term "generativity" was coined by the psychoanalyst Erik Erikson in 1950 to denote "a concern for establishing and guiding the next generation.”

Expressed in families, apprenticeships and internships, discipling

Generativity

How is generativity expressed in your life?

The challenge of generativity:

Passing on the faith yet being aware that the next generation will alter it and make it their own.

How do families do this well? Poorly?Eg family businesses, farms

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.

Matthew 16.25

The mission of the church then is to live the

mission of God as a community

Human mission and church mission

What are some of the missions in your life?How do they relate to the mission of God?How do they relate to the mission of your church

The Method of Mission

You want to be generative and missional but how should you proceed?

Mission as Socialisation

Mission as Socialisation

Socialisation is a continuing process whereby an individual acquires a personal identity and learns the norms, values, beliefs, behaviours and social skills to of a family or community.

Sources of Socialisation

Family (Primary)School & CollegePeer groupWorkMediaChurchInterest group

IdentificationSuccessful socialization depends on the individual’s psychological identification with the group and, second, that identification matters in large part because we care about what our peers think of us.

Social group members are able to influence one another’s values in large part because of the power of emotions of self assessment (pride, embarrassment, and shame). People feel pride when they are approved of by their peers, and embarrassment or shame when they are derogated by peers.

Mission and Socialisation

“the only ones who joined were those whose interpersonal attachments to members overbalanced their attachments to non-members. In effect, conversion is not about seeking or embracing an ideology; it is about bringing one's religious behavior into alignment with that of one's friends and family members …. attachments lie at the heart of conversion and therefore that conversion tends to proceed along social networks formed by interpersonal attachments”

`Stark, The rise of Christianity

Mission as socialisation

Important to Jesus The twelve The seventy two The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been

cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out;  Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. Luke 8:1-3 (NIV)

Household churches Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of

Titius Justus, a worshiper of God.  Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord. Acts 18:7-8 (NIV)

Mission as Socialisation

Socialisation matters because I want to know how important you are to me It protects us from falling for any old belief system It strengthens communities. It demonstrates the gospel: “By this shall all know that you are my disciples: that you have love one for another”

Implications for Attractional model An attractional model of mission holds

that the more attractive our worship, singing, preaching, welcome the more our church will grow. It is based on giving people a “taste of heaven” in worship.

However, attractional mission still assumes that people want to go to church or are part of Christendom. It does not necessarily provide the depth of relationship necessary to change a person’s life of faith.

Implication for Service model

The service model of mission seeks to undertake service of the community as an extension of the mission of God.

While service is part of God’s mission by its nature this model can suffer from a lack of sustainability if recipients are not made part of the giving community and socialised into a missional ethos themselves.

Community is central to mission

The centrality of socialisation in mission means:

From

To

Mission – shaping your church

What currently shapes your church?

Worship?

What currently shapes your church?

Survival?

What currently shapes your church?

Fellowship?Pastoral care?

Share

What currently shapes your church?

Worship-Fellowship- TeachingShaped churches thrive best in

a Christian cultureIn America's growing churches 90% is transfer and progeny growth (is that true of the growing churches you know?)

Reshuffling the saintsWhat might be the case for starting with some transfer growth?

Gather for worship disperse for mission

Why doesn’t this work?Modelling ChristianityThe power of community

Why mission-shape your church?

A missional GodGenerativityChrist’s commissionResurrection power

Why mission-shape your church?Children are Mission is

Messy Messy

Expensive Expensive

Tiring Tiring

Demanding Demanding

Satisfying Satisfying

Life giving Living giving

Why mission-shape your church?

Mission usually leads to LearningCommunityWorship

Developing a praxis model of learning

Dr. Craig Altrock’s has written a book called The Shaping of God’s People:   

His book is the result of his dissertation research and the result of quantitative research. A group of approximately 800 short-term mission workers who had participated in a foreign short-term mission with Let’s Start Talking, including people whose experience was up to twenty years prior to the study, were asked to report in a variety of ways on how their short-term mission experience affected them.  The briefest of summaries is as follows:

• 77.5% reported that they read Scripture more often and more missionally than they did before their short-term mission trip.

• 86.1% reported that they pray differently–more intentionally and specifically after their short-term mission.

• 72.6% reported that they are more generous, that they give more to support the missions of their churches after their short-term mission project.

• 72.6% reported that they are more involved in their church, especially outreach activities, after their short-term mission project.

The conclusion is clear. Mission shaping our church leads to people wanting to learn more about their faith and to higher level of satisfaction!

Missional leads to learning

Why mission-shapeRunning to stand stillSo much of our time and energy is spent in

maintaining what we have that we have little time for outreach. Mission-shaping our church lets us do the pastoral care and teaching as we do the mission

Mission shaping current ministries

Task

Thinking about a service ministry or an attractional ministry of your church work out a strategy to make it missional using socialisation.

Creating new missional activities

Four things needed for successful mission

1. An engaged fringe2. A core founding Christian community3. Missional strategy4. Missional leadership

The engaged fringe

Engaged fringe

Core community

Levels of engagement

Levels of engagement between the church groups and the fringe will depend on:Peer influence IdentificationSupportLeadership

Your core community and critical mass

One of the factors in long term viability for a new missional project is the number of people in your core community that you start with.Eg. In planting a new worship service

Number of people

Probability of long term viability

80 90%

50 70%

20 40%

10 20%

1 10%

Your core community and critical mass

Other factors affecting long term viability Levels of commitment of your core community. Will the target group identify with and form community

with the core group? Will the target group form community amongst

themselves? Stickability

Start with your peer group

Because of the nature of socialisation most people will attract others to church within a 10 year age range.

Jesus’ mission strategy  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit

has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8 (NRSV)

Missional strategy

Do you have a core of people similar to your target group?

Are they likely to form a community themselves?

Consider a mixed strategy

Give them resources and encouragement to create a community

Provide them with the recourses and training

Create a faith community to engage the fringe.

No Yes

Case study: Young families ministry

ExamplesMessy churchPlaygroupFamilies togetherMainly musicExaltRAWMissional Community – Family Tree (Plenty life)

Workshop a mission

Vision

FringeCore community

Have a go at planning a missional activity in your parish

Missional Praxis

Action

Reflection

TheologyDiscernment

Planning