Missional Church - Guder

Sayo Ajiboye
DMin Overture 1
May 2007
Missional Church
Edited by Darrell L. Guder
280 pages

With what tools can the Christian faith interfaith with post modernism? What will that interaction look like? How do you explain the supernatural to a skeptical post enlightenment society? On what basis can we interact with a society that clearly favors empiricism of science over what is presume to be the assumption of the Faith? These are the questions that Bishop Leslie Newbigins has engaged with in the last half of the 20th Century, and this work by Newbigin’s is the basis for a scholarly, researched investigation and discussion by North American Academicians; it is the result of this investigation and discussions that is presented as the book Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America.

Primary to every other question in this book is the question of how to define the role of the American mission activity in the world. American community has changed almost indescribably. There is a shift away from patriarchy, a rebellion against overarching authority and even a rejection of modernist assumption represented by science and humanistic reason. The sum of the conclusion that was reached by the writers of Missional Church is that the platform for engaging with the culture must be clearly Missional. The authority with which we can spread our message is directly related to the commitment to a holistic witness, a witness that engages the community at all layers and seeks to be a leaven leavening the lumps of the culture. There must be a conscious identification that sidesteps assimilation, a collaboration that rejects co-option; a commitment to an active virile vision of communal transformation. This assertion here says essentially that the North American Church has to be re-imagined.

The authors focused especially on the concept of “the autonomous self”. This is a cultural redefinition of the role of reason and relationships. Citizen’s right, consumer freedom, technological dominance, woven into layers of intuitively driven desires, feelings and choices. All of these affect the way the west engages with commercial issues, what is perceived as entertainment and how we even perceive God and make choices about Him.

The effect of modernity on North America is all encompassing. How this effect translate in the two major countries of North America differs – however. United States build’s modernity around mythical and religious perceptions and self describe from that platform. Concepts such as God’s Own Country, the bastion of democracy, the big brother nation and the policeman of the world are examples of this self-description (33). Canada on the other hand is devoid of the mythical in the national perception of the modern self. Canadian patriotism is differently defined in the respect for individuality, autonomy and the diversity of the nation. Diversity however has its cost in that the normating influence in the community is weakened by the distinctive individualism of its components (35).

Post Modernism focuses on the multiplicity of narratives rather than a monolithic meta-narrative. The meaning imbued and inputted to multiplicity of images interacting in rapid-fire order. This rapid experience of change dilutes the sense of one shared experience of the cohort and demands a plural; perspective as the norm. Specificity of information targeted at different demographics in the community accentuate this experience of pluralism. Howe does the American Church represent the gospel oin the face of such multiplicity of influence? How does the church evolve from a structure defined by a place in the society to a web of influence? How do we understand being sent when it is no longer about crossing the ocean to meet the other culture but about crossing the tables at the food court in the mall to meet the other? This is the real challenge faced by the North American church; It is the challenge of the structured church operating as a “paralocal” agency for outreach transforming its own community.

Developing leadership has been core to my ministry, so I find chapter 7, quite intriguing. “Missional Leadership: Equipping God’s People for Mission,” defines for mea context that I have experienced and yet desire to grow in.

1. Training and leading young leaders through the Emerging leaders Conference and the Lagos Leadership Conference has led to a re-investigation about our roles as missional leaders in our society.

2. From the dialogue and proclamation of the conferences and seminars, an hunger has gradually evolved demanding an engagement with more hence investigation of educational; ministry, health ministry and political education of people in Nigeria.

For this two activities the concept of bound set and centered set becomes very critical. Our God commitment to God and knowledge of Him must develop hands and feet and move ourt into the community, into the ordinariness of people’s daily lives. must develop hands We must go out there, an influence for God and Good in a society challenged by difficult paradigmatic realities. Faith must be “out there” rather than “in here.”