Hippy House Case Study

Flemming shows how the mission of God was lived out by the apostles and the call placed on the community of the early church to live out that mission. Once again, the themes of being and doing come to the surface followed closely by the mandate to proclaim the gospel. The examination of Revelation is particularly interesting in a book about mission. Flemming aptly points out, “John’s vision of heaven and the end set the agenda for the church.” Consequently, living out the mission God is eschatological in its participation in the inbreaking of the coming New

Dana Roberts, in her book, Christian Mission; How Christianity Became A World Religion, makes a multitude of statements and provides very useful insight into how mission, specifically Christian mission, has historically been engaged through politically charged issues. Throughout this paper, I will use several of her examples to explain how Christianity has wiggled its way into the form of mission throughout the world. Examples will be show as to how some mission is indeed, following the statement that Jeremy Besset made in his class, COS Mission 423 in the spring of 2016 that the goal of God’s mission is the restoration of creation to the shape in which God originally made it. The paper will also address areas where mission is not necessarily

(Romans 15:6; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 10:31) He continues by sharing how “the purpose of the church is for the born-again believers within, as well as for the church’s community outside of the local body, whereas the mission, is reserved for the believers and it is what they are supposed to be doing, (110) Malphur also provides the five elements of mission; “first, it is broad, comprehensive, overarching, it is the primary goal which takes precedent over any and all other church mandates and goals. Secondly, it is brief, consisting of a sentence in length. Thirdly, it is Biblical, Fourth, it is a statement, and the fifth element-it is what the ministry should be doing.” (112-113) “Once the mission is developed, it must be communicated.” (126) Vision must be clear, compelling, a picture of what the mission will look like, (128) and it is the ministry’s future. It is personal and once developed it too must be communicated. (143) According to Malphurs, “it can and must be” (128- The author shares how “the mission under no circumstances changes, however, the visions detail and the words used to express them will

Lesslie Newbigin diagnoses the present missionary movement as exclusively interested in Christ and lacking the richness of trinitarian doctrine.4 This is dangerous, he writes, because “the mission of the church is to be understood, can only be rightly understood, in terms of the trinitarian model.”5 A study of early theologians identifies similar shortcomings in missiology. Craig Ott, et al. find that while Augustine and Thomas Aquinas presented a theology of divine missions rooted in the Father sending the Son and the Father and Son sending the Spirit, they failed to connect the sending action of the Godhead to the sending of the church.6 Ott emphasizes that rooting missiology in trinitarian activity highlights God’s initiative in missions.7 Bryan Stone adds that evangelism, as part of this God-initiated directive, cannot be confined as an offer of Christ to the world, but must be part of the single motion began by the Father through the work of the Son and the power of the Spirit.8 This places missiology squarely in the territory of trinitarian doctrine.

My personal view of mission revolves around Servant Leadership or what can be better called “Incarnational leadership”. This is rooted in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, as “He took a towel” (John 13:2-5) and washed Peter’s feet. He was efficient with people, had goals in sight, but was also relational over being task-driven. This kind of leadership produces new churches filled with real purpose and motivation as people are called, appreciated, loved, encouraged, discipled, involved by mentoring and discipleship before they are deployed in ministry (Prov. 27:23; Mark 10:35-45; Luke 22:26; John 13:2-17; 1 Cor. 3- 4; Eph. 4:1-16; Col. 3:13; 1 Thess. 5:13-14; 1 Peter 3:8;

4. State your own theology of proclamation, incorporating a statement on the way in which preaching relates to a "theology of presence."

Galindo analyzes that the fundamental “mission” of a congregation is the same as any other congregation that exists in any part of the world. He argues that though every congregation has a mission and a vision, at the same time, it shares a basic common mission. (43) This reminds me of my home church The First Church of Evanston and my Field Site, The Evanston Vineyard Church. Both churches have a common mission of welcoming people to the church, irrespective of their ethnic, cultural, racial, and economic and, gender backgrounds. The mission is to help people be received in the house of God with due and deserved Christian love so that they feel loved and welcomed. Both these churches encourage church attendees to attend the service and receive the Eucharist.

Mission was very important in the development of the early church. The goal during this time was to spread the Christian Faith and to help those in need, just as Jesus did. The people that undertook this mission were sent out by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Jesus and God.

Sustaining missionaries already on the mission field is absolutely critical in the expanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The purpose of this conference is to Remind, Refresh and Recommit us to be the church God has commissioned us to be, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe

c. How should your recommendation be implemented? What implementation challenges do you foresee? How would you address those challenges?

It has been said that worship is the core or center of mission. The ultimate goal of any missionary is to bring people (entire people groups) into a passionate, relationship with God. John Piper states,

A-30 of The Leaders Box, a resource for church leaders in the United Church of Christ, contains information for one who is seeking to become an ordained minister. One of the requirements of a candidate for ordination is to provide their association committee on ministry with a paper “dealing with the person 's theological perspective and grasp of the historic Christian faith; understanding of the history, theological roots, polity and practice of the United Church of Christ; and the person 's faith pilgrimage and understanding of ministry.” The Leaders Box: www.ucc.org/ministers_leaders-box

“Mission is rooted in the nature of God” (Van Rheenan p. 14). My personal theology of mission starts here. Mission is an attribute of God and this story is told throughout the Bible. First, He created the heavens and the earth. Next, the pinnacle of God’s creation was man, made in His image and likeness. Just as Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” and according to Van Rheenen God, “is the spring that gives forth living water—the source of mission” (p. 14). God continued that mission in the New Testament when God became flesh and the mission of our Lord started to proceed to humans through Jesus (Heb. 1:1-2). In the book, Let Nations Be Glad, John Piper wrote “Missions exists

My personal mission theology is disciplining and proclaiming the pure word of God in the correct context to those that claim to be abiding in Jesus Christ. This includes pointing out and warning them against false doctrine and belief systems. Contrasting what the modern institutions preach about what it means to be a child of God against what scripture actually says it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.