At one time the church occupied center stage in western society, but that period is gone. The church of the third millennium must adopt a missionary posture or become a museum church.
The museum church is:
Attractional – expecting people to come to it and measuring effectiveness by attendance at the Sunday service.
Dualistic – seeing the secular and the sacred as two separate spheres of life, leading to the belief that God is only encountered under their definition of ‘holy places.’
Hierarchical – relying on a ‘top down’ corporate management system with a strong minister/leader / member distinction.
The three core characteristics of the emerging missional church are:
An incarnational ecclesiology – a church that engages with the culture in every way and that lives ‘in the world’ rather than hiving off into Christian enclaves and seeking to draw others into its gig.
Messianic spirituality – seeing God in all of life and living with more of a Hebrew approach to life.
Apostolic leadership – seeing the church as led by people with a mix of the five gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4.
1 Comments:
Apostle - related to the word to send, so it is one who is sent
Prophet -one who calls out the word of God. That is the Hebrew view I guess.
Evangelist - one who has a good message
Pastors - one who ministers to others?
Teachers - one who teaches
They all kind of blend in together it seems.
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