Reflection on "Why We Are Who We Are: Mission and the People of God" by Dr Mark Young

http://geofffolland.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/reflection-on-why-we-are-who-we-are-mission-and-the-people-of-god-by-dr-mark-young/

“Why We Are Who We Are: Mission and the People of God” by Dr Mark Young

Dr Young’s presentation was a succinct and biblical summary and development of the more thoughtful elements of the missional church conversation that has been occurring for several years . His central thesis was that the ecclesiology of the Western Protestant church developed during the Reformation essentially as a conversation between Christians in the context of Christendom. Therefore, these definitions of the church were formulating their own positions in opposition to other definitions of the church in Christendom, as opposed to in relation to any pagan culture. This resulted in a church which is oriented towards believers, and produced seminaries where “Christians trained Christians in how to teach Christians to be better Christians”.

As the US has become increasingly post-Christian , following the lead of other Western countries , the cultural pre-understandings with which we come to the Biblical text have changed causing us to re-examine long held interpretations. Decreasing effectiveness has also caused us to question traditional church approaches to ministry. Two of the most pressing tasks demanded in this environment are a thorough re-examination of our Biblical interpretations and the development of Biblical church models reflecting this missional understanding.

Biblical Interpretation
Luther and Calvin have retained lasting influence because of how they shaped our understanding of the Scriptures through written systematic theologies and commentaries on the Scriptures. More recently, traditional, scholarly commentaries have been attacked as recording irrelevant debates with dead Germans. One reaction has been the development of “practical commentaries”.

Missional interpretations of Scripture have already influenced our understanding of some classic doctrines and produced some excellent biblical theologies . The next logical step appears to be the production of a comprehensive commentary series.
Dr Young quoted several passages, such as Genesis 12:1-3 and Exodus 19:4-6, which are transformed when viewed with an understanding of God’s grand purpose of making his glory evident in all the earth. We do not need to limit our approach to a few select texts. Rather, this should influence our understanding of all of Scripture.

Missional Church Models

Defining the Church by means of its practices, whether they be sacraments or whatever, focuses attention on its activities when it gathers . The Reformation emphasis on the preaching of the Word though a necessary corrective, is an example of this. The contemporary outcome of this emphasis, however, has been event-based ministry which results in the question “how do we get the members to support the mission of the church? ”

A missional church model will mobilize the laity to engage in mission throughout the week. The question must change to, “how does the church support the mission of the members? ” Also, we need to re-examine our church models from the perspective of the community we are trying to reach. For example, is a local suburban gathering reflective of how mission will best be carried out in a particular community? Parish ministry may have been effective in England in the 1700’s or in rural areas, but what about complex urban and suburban cities ?

Within Christendom, mission was popularly defined as something that occurred overseas, or in another culture. Western cultural dominance translated into Western missionaries taking the gospel to those they colonized. The Evangelical church in the US runs the risk of translating mission into something the affluent, middle-class churches do among the poor of their cities. While ministry to the poor is important, of equal importance must be considering how to mobilize each lay person to reach those with whom they have equal social standing.
In conclusion, Dr Young is correct to say that the church must take its place as those elect by God to bring his blessing and demonstrate his glory to the whole earth.

Full article (with footnotes)...
http://geofffolland.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/reflection-on-why-we-are-who-we-are-mission-and-the-people-of-god-by-dr-mark-young/