Total Church: A Radical Reshaping Chapter Summary

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.

Dulles states, “It picks up the biblical theme that God has fashioned for himself a people feely communicating his spirit and his gifts” (50). The Body of Christ as stated in Dulles is, “the main point of mutual union, concern and dependence of the members of the local community upon one another,” (43). The body of Christ will only function is the whole community is willing to work together to reach a personal growth in their relationship with God. Now that we have an idea of what Church as mystical communion consists of I will discuss the strengths and weakness of this model. The strength of this model is that emphasizes a shared life with the community instead of shutting them off. This is a strength because when people come together as a whole everything holds so much more meaning and people can form a stronger bond with God, now that it is much more personal and voluntary. Another strength is that this model improves people spirituality and prayer life now that they feel that personal connection that they formed. A weakness of this model is that it creates unsure relationship between the visible and invisible, since Grace allows people to get closer to God through the invisible such as communion while the visible structure like institutionalism tries to emphasize their power over the whole people. I have discussed what the models mean, their strength and weakness of each so now I will note the difference and

With the rise of the 20th century, the Roman Catholic Church faced the issue of Modernity. As a result of this, the stability of the Catholic Christian Tradition was threatened due to the church’s message of faith being not as relevant to the rapidly

Metzger entwines this theme of me-centered and God-centered evangelism throughout his entire book. As I review the following chapters covering the gospel, Metzger points how the theological framework that makes up the “Wholly Grace” gospel is the only message that is God-centered.

The church stands as a dominate agency, which signifies a unity among believers established through the Spirit of Christ. A harmonious unity and diversity comes within the body when those in the church attain a personal relationship with Christ. Paul states, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ” (1 Cor 12:12, New Revised Standard Version) . Through a solid foundation and a fitly join union individuals are held together by faith, love, and a willingness to grow the universal church.

A missional church that seeks to create a community where all people are involved is perhaps the most viable community that can make progress in meeting the needs of its people. According to Bolger, “That communities of people need all the gifts of people to be fully functioning…Part of our commitment to one another is to invest in exploring one another’s gifting and areas of strength and to help people develop their God-given abilities. After identifying areas of strength, we can then look to people to lead in those areas.” (Bolger, 200).

In this research paper, the author will examine the theology of the Emerging Church and discuss the dangers this kind of Christianity threatens on the church as a whole.

Every culture is corrupted by sin. At the same time, the gospel of Jesus Christ is powerful: Societies can be transformed.” As a result, the missional model can be suitable to the congregation, if it is learned and the congregation teaches the importance or significance of the missional model. Likewise, attractional model is fitting as well, depending upon the hunger and thirst a person may have about the truth of God demonstrated in others. In fact, a personal observation prefers both models to be the best, because both models can make an impact in the lives of the community. By the same token, both models will do well for the congregation, because it is the exaltation of Jesus Christ and God’s love for the world that make a difference in reaching God’s people. Trull and Carter, “One fact remains: the church is in the world and the world is also in the church. A community, therefore, can be for a minister both a threat and an opportunity.” In other word, programmatic should not overpower systematic, nevertheless a little of both can be of use to help minister to the congregation and the congregation to the

Small groups are crucial to the life of any new church. These groups are much more than a place to learn Bible stories. Rather, the ability to connect with fellow Christians in a real community is what defines discipleship. Traditionally, small groups such as Sunday school focused on what you need to know, but successful groups focus on who you need to be with. Ultimately, if a church member connects with a few other people in a small group setting, then they will eventually learn essential doctrine required for sanctification.

While emphasizing Scripture, Christian tradition, and most important element – the triune God – are the core foundations of mission and spirituality, I now make a connection to the cultural aspects of Christian spirituality. There are two kinds of “mission spirituality,” which exists in each of missionary disciple. Encountering mission spirituality is the way to embrace and practice the relationship between microcosm and macrocosm in community building for working at the margins. Considering the explanations of Gittins, following is my application and connection to the two kinds of mission spirituality.

Although God’s family, the church is an integral part of building relationships, it seems wiser to ensure the relationship at home is established secondly. Many get so wrapped up in ministry that they forget to provide a home relationship; therefore, the home goes lacking. Putman states, “Not every Christian has the gift of leadership, but every believer is supposed to make disciples, and the most important place to focus is in our homes.”

Through the time of expanding of my engagement with the church, I continue to appreciate the values expressed by this community, such as partnering with people from other cultures, caring for the neighborhood, and embracing the stranger to name a few. I believe that my new missional community, the House LA church, is adequately positioned to move outward and forward by implementing Spirit-led

The church and each member must become prepared to meet the world and its needs to put in the mind of Christ and embrace the biblical worldview by gaining knowledge

Chapter three describes community. We are a family of believers that unite despite race, nationality, economics, and politics, because Christ unites us. Out of this divinely constructed community flows God’s plan for humans to be in relationship with one another. The authors mention that a community is only as strong as what it is built upon. They say that, “unity in the gospel is much deeper than surface uniformity (45). ”

According to Dynamic Diversity, a center of reconciliation is “a place where all the major diversities that separate human beings are overcome through the supernatural presence of the Holy Spirit” (14) which means that regardless of a person’s gender, generation, race, color, family unit, social and economic status, educational opportunity, mental and physical health, spiritual history, spiritual gifting and personality type, the church is to welcome them and offer the same love, respect, and grace that God has given them when they first entered into the process of salvation. When a pastor takes the head role in a small, medium, or large sized church, their focus when implementing changes should be on how the change can benefit the church in a positive way so that its members can continue to grow and work together to fulfilling their call to be the body of Christ in the world around them. However, depending on the size of the church, the process of implementing changes varies as the purpose and sense of vision, history and tradition, and rites of initiation take center stage.