Thinking and Acting Missionally

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Thinking and Acting Missionally

• Rev. Ruben Duran, ELCA
• Oregon Synod Assembly
• May 2008

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HISTORICAL CONTEXT

• Changing rapidly
• Shifts in how culture/society relates to the
  church.
• Christianity, a voice among many
• Losing its seat of privilege
• Pushed to the margins of society
• Pluralistic and secularized

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ELCA claimed, gathered and SENT

• Interesting time to be the Church
• USA/Caribbean mission field again
• ELCA is now 20 years old
• Its evangelical, apostolic, prophetic time
• See whats happening What can we learn from the
  emerging context?
• What is God doing out there? How can we
  participate?

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CHURCH

• FORMED
• DE-FORMED
• RE-FORMED
• TRANS-FORMED
• ALWAYS REFORMING ITSELF, aware of its own
  captivity to forces in the world.

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Possibilities for Vitalization

• Min. Adjustments
• Turn-around congreg
• Re-developments
• Transformational Process
• Fast-Growth Churches
• Re-alignments
• Synodical Administration
• New Starts

• Geographical variety rural,urban, suburban
• Socio-economic middle class, rich, working
  class/poverty areas
• Emerging church store-front, out of a church,
  free-standing
• Ethnic-specific6 groups
• Multicultural communities

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RE-TOOLING for Increasing Congregational Vitality
and Capacity

• 1. Missional Theology grounding our
  ministry in scripture and sound theology
• 2. Leadership Development equipping
  lay and clergy
• 3. Reading the audience understanding
  the emerging context
• 4. Congregational Ministry assessing
  congregational vitality.

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Bridges to Build Together

• Geographical distributed justice
• Socio-economic church for all people
• Generational emerging church
• Ethnic multi-cultural
• Missional driven by Gods mission

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What Missional Tools Stand at the Heart of a
Church Like This?

• Mission Dei
• Augsburg Confession
• Luthers Theology of Mission
• Priesthood of all Believers

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1. MISSIO DEI
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God is a Community in Mission

• One God three persons, 3 amigos
• Trinitarian dynamic relational and diverse
• Since creation creativity and imagination
• Gen. 1 The Spirit in action with a network
• A. Let US make humans into OUR image
• Imagination, creativity, diversity
• B. Not good for you to be alone.
• People.a community in mission (from day1)

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A community in MISSION

• Gods mission
• A. To restore order out of chaos
• B. To restore community
• C. To establish the Reign of God

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The Constant Revealed in Christ

• God is working to redeem the world and bring
  about the Reign of God as the culmination of
  history and invites us to participate.
• (2 Corinthians 511-21)

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The Lords Prayer

• Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
• your kingdom come, your will be done,
• on earth as in heaven.
• Give us today our daily bread.
• Forgive us our sins
• as we forgive those who sin against us.
• Save us from the time of trial
• and deliver us from evil.
• For the kingdom, the power,
• and the glory are yours,
• now and forever. Amen

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Luthers Small Catechism

• To be sure, the kingdom of God comes of itself,
  without our prayer, but we pray in this petition
  that it may also come to us. 1
• 1 Tappert, T. G. 2000, c1959. The Book of
  Concord The Confessions of the Evangelical
  Lutheran Church (Small Cat. III, 7-8). Fortress
  Press Philadelphia

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Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as
in heaven.

• God has a dream!
• Were supposed to dream it too!
• In fact, we pray for it all the time.
• God is in the change business!
• God invites us into the work.

It seems like many congregations miss this! We
assume you are here to change that!
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As the world changes, the constant of Gods
purpose remains
Gods work to bring about the Reign
Reign of God
Church
Church called to participate in Gods work
Witness and engagement
The Changing World
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The Changing Church
Laity infiltrate through vocation
Missionaries of grace
Communities of care
Dr. Alicia Vargas
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Some key paradigm shifts

• Institutional and survival
• Pastor-centered
• Program success
• Facility centered
• Physical welfare the goal
• Charity focus
• Autonomous models
• Grants reward survival
• Served criteria

• Relational / evangelical
• Lay ministry based
• Relationship success
• People centered
• Spiritual welfare at core
• Mutual transformation
• Interdependent models
• Grants advance success
• New disciples criteria

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Dangerous combination

• Faith only Privatized
• Ministry only Institutionalized
• Leadership only Professionalized
• A church paralized

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Missional dynamic

• 1. Faith private and public
• 2. Ministry institutional and organic
• 3. Leadership profession and vocation
• Emerging chemistry to increase vitality and
  capacity for evangelical outreach in the ELCA

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Signs on the Journey- benchmarks

• Church PARALIZED
• Scarcity
• Entitlement
• Limited capacity
• Help the Pastor
• Survival
• Resistance to change
• Focus on past/present

• Church PROPELLED
• Abundance
• Thanksgiving
• Increased capacity
• Exercise vocation
• Living hope
• Willingness to change
• Focus on present/future

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Natural Church Development Results
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Quality Characteristics

• Empowering leadership
• Gift-oriented ministry
• Passionate spirituality
• Functional structures
• Inspiring worship
• Holistic small groups
• Contextual evangelism
• Loving relationships

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What the pattern shows

• Passionate Spirituality How intentional are we
  about cultivating a relationship with God?
• Contextual Evangelism How intentional are we
  about cultivating a relationship with our
  neighbors?
• Holistic Small Groups How intentional are we
  about cultivating a relationship with ourselves?

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MYTH BUSTER!

• 1. The Great Commission is NOT the issue!
• 2. Until we get the Great Commandment again, the
  Great Commission has no legs!
• 3. (Thats why Jesus taught the Great Commandment
  before he sent the disciples on the Great
  Commission)

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Whats So Lutheran About Mission

• Some Thoughts from the Reformation

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The problem

• Lutherans sometimes see mission as non-Lutheran
  (especially evangelism).
• Disinterested in many cases (it is our northern
  European nature to be quiet).
• Oppositional in many cases.
• Often separate various parts of the mission and
  select one over another (we do lots of service
  with no evangelism in many sectors of the
  church).
• Look elsewhere for mission theology.

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2. The Augsburg Confession

• Written in 1530 to clarify the concerns of the
  evangelicals.
• Centered on the doctrine of justification by
  grace through faith (Article 4)
• Chief concern of Lutherans is that we are
  justified by faith (belief/trust in Jesus matters)

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Augsburg ConfessionA Look at the Building Blocks

• Article I God is God (Concerning God)
• Article II We Arent (Concerning Original
  Sin)
• Article III What We Arent Jesus Is
  (Concerning the Son of God)
• Article IV What Jesus is the Spirit brings to
  us.(Concerning Justification)

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The Articles of Primary Application

• Article V (Concerning the Ministry of the
  Church) So that we may obtain this faith, the
  ministry of teaching the gospel and administering
  the sacraments was instituted
• Concern is for propagation of the faith The
  issue How is it obtained?

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The Articles of Primary Application

• Article VI (Concerning the New Obedience)
  Likewise, they teach that this faith is bound to
  yield good fruits and that it ought to do good
  works commended by God on account of Gods will
  and not so that we may trust in these works to
  merit justification before God
• The first fruit of faith is a changed life!

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The Articles of Primary Application

• Article VII (Concerning the Church) Likewise,
  they teach that one holy church will remain
  forever. The church is the assembly of saints
  (German text all believers) in which the gospel
  is taught purely and the sacraments administered
  rightly.
• People of faith assemble/gather in community

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So What Is Conversion?

• Faith in Christ is part of conversion
• A changed life is part of conversion
• Christian community is part of conversion

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Conversion faith changed
Christian in Christ life
community A.C. V A.C.
VI A.C. VII

• Each of these elements of the Christian life are
  essential for all of us. None of us exhibit
  fullness of all (or maybe any) of these.
• For Lutherans, confessional conversion is a way
  of living a balanced Christian life not just an
  event or moment in time. Grounded in baptism
• For good ministry help people check up on where
  they are now and plan for personal growth.
  Sermons and education need to be aware of all 3
  dimensions regularly
• Each is its own entry point for people. There is
  no longer any right order to this. Belief may
  precede belonging. Belonging may precede
  believing.

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Questions for Reflection

• How does your ministry participate in the work
  that Article V entails In order to obtain this
  faith How is it going where you are at?
• How does your ministry foster life-changing
  obedience to Jesus Christ described in Article
  VI? How is it going where you are at?
• How does your ministry form Christian community
  that lives as an assembly of believers
  mentioned in Article VII? How is it going where
  you are at?

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Thinking and Acting Missionally in the ELCA

• 1. God is a missional community
• 2. We are saint/sinner disciples, sharing Word
  and Sacrament in the context of a missional
  community
• 3. Like Jesus, we are Gift and Guide in the world
• 4. All share priestly functions of prayer,
  proclamation and sacrifice.

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At your tables

• What is one thing that we have discussed that
  you can take home and apply? How might you get
  started?

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PROMISE

• Jesus I will build my Church
• Jesus I will be with you always
• God, through Isaiah My word will never come
  back empty, but will always accomplish the
  purpose for which it is sent.