Leadership in a Postmodern Context October 30 2012

Leadership in a Postmodern Context October 30, 2012

“The church is a modern institution in a postmodern world…” “The church must embody the gospel within the culture of postmodernity for the Western church to survive the 21 st century. ” Emerging Churches - Gibbs & Bolger – page 17

“Taking postmodernity seriously requires that all church practices come into question. ” Emerging Churches - page 34

We must learn to separate the gospel from our culture. Real “Jesus” ministry is only possible when we believe we are not moving into a void, that we go expecting to meet the God who has preceded us. We don’t have God in our pockets and we don’t take God to others. Ken Shuman D. Min.

We should never have transplanted Christianity without breaking the pot in which the plant came. Transforming Mission by David J. Bosch

“From the beginning of his time in India, Newbigin knew he was an outsider who needed to listen to and learn the cultures of that vast country’s people. ”

“He would do this by sitting in villages with local religious leaders and they would read each other’s sacred texts. Then Newbigin made a discovery: he needed to relearn the gospel itself. He realized he hadn’t come to India just to convert the Indian people…”

“As he lived among these people, he realized that the gospel was converting him; it was questioning some of his most basic assumptions. ” Missional: Joining God in the Neighorhood Alan J. Roxburgh

“Newbigin understood & modeled the engagement between Scripture, gospel, & culture in ways most church leaders still have difficulty recognizing. ” Missional - Roxburgh - page 43

“Christendom was in part, about the church at the center of the conversation. ” Missional

Our hope lies not in trying to create (for instance) just an Indian Christianity but a Hindu Christianity. Transforming Mission by David J. Bosch

The gospel is always conveyed through the medium of culture. It becomes good news to lost & broken humanity as it is incarnated in the world through God’s sent people, the church. Missional Church edited by Darrell L. Guder

To be faithful to its calling, the church must be contextual that is, it must be culturally relevant within a specific setting. The church relates constantly & dynamically both to the gospel & to its contextual reality. Missional Church edited by Darrell L. Guder

It is important, then, for the church to study its context carefully and to understand it. The technical term for this continuing discipline is contextualization. Missional Church edited by Darrell L. Guder

We must learn the skill of exegeting both the scripture & culture. Missional Church edited by Darrell L. Guder

Characteristics of Emerging Churches • Identifying with Jesus. “Emerging churches stress the kingdom of God much more…” “It began as a change of focus from the Epistles to the Gospels, as a way to understand Jesus more profoundly. ” Emerging Churches page 48