Vol 3: 5 Collaboration as Making Space for the Gospel in Participating with God in Mission

This week I reflect further on Craig Van Gelder’s and Dwight J. Zscheile’s The Missional Church in Perspective: Mapping Trends and Shaping the Conversation. To reiterate, in this book, Van Gelder and Zscheile explore how the missional conversation has unfolded since the book Missional Church was published in 1998. The conversation has moved in different directions, many which are indeed not...

Vol 3:4 Can Jesus be our Starting Point for Engaging in God’s Mission?

I am still reflecting on Craig Van Gelder’s and Dwight J. Zscheile’s The Missional Church in Perspective: Mapping Trends and Shaping the Conversation. To reiterate, in this book, Van Gelder and Zscheile are exploring how the missional conversation has unfolded since Missional Church was published in 1998. The conversation has moved in different directions, many which are indeed not very...

Vol 3:3 Competing Fictions and the Mission of God

I am writing this week from Eastern Mennonite Seminary in Harrisonburg, VA in which I am participating in a pastor’s conference focusing on God and Mammon: Reframing Stewardship Amidst Abundance, Scarcity, and Conflict with Walter Brueggemann being the primary presenter. Last night Brueggemann said something that got my attention – we live in a society, an empire, that necessitates that its...

Vol 3:2 The Relational Nature of God’s Mission

These days I am reading Craig Van Gelder’s and Dwight J. Zscheile’s The Missional Church in Perspective: Mapping Trends and Shaping the Conversation. In this book, Van Gelder and Zscheile are exploring how the missional conversation has unfolded since Missional Church was published in 1998. The conversation has moved in different directions, many which are indeed not very missional, but...

Vol 3:1 Participating with God in God’s Mission in the Ordinary Rhythms of Our Lives

For those who do not follow a liturgical calendar, we are entering the season of Epiphany. Epiphany is a Greek word meaning “manifestation.” Epiphany is a time of God’s presence being revealed through the discovery by the magi that God has come to be among us in being born as a human being in the person of Jesus. God being manifested in Jesus reveals God up close and personal to the...