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malcolm chamberlain

musings about the emerging church, mission and contemporary culture...

God is at large, intimately involved in his world in ways that the church is maybe just waking up to!

God with a mission...

Monday, March 05, 2007

Christopher Wright talks 'here' of a "God-centered refocusing of mission" that "turns inside-out our obsession with mission plans, agendas, goals, strategies, and grand schemes." His bullet point implications of this are excellent...
  • We ask, "Where does God fit into the story of my life?" when the real question is, "Where does my little life fit into the great story of God's mission?"
  • We want to be driven by a purpose tailored for our individual lives, when we should be seeing the purpose of all life, including our own, wrapped up in the great mission of God for the whole of creation.
  • We wrestle to "make the gospel relevant to the world." But God is about the mission of transforming the world to fit the shape of the gospel.
  • We argue about what can legitimately be included in the mission God expects from the church, when we should ask what kind of church God expects for his mission in all its comprehensive fullness.
  • I may wonder what kind of mission God has for me, when I should ask what kind of me God wants for his mission.
  • We invite God's blessing on our human-centered mission strategies, but the only concept of mission into which God fits is the one of which he is the beginning and the end.
hat tip... Paul Fromont

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posted by Malcolm Chamberlain, 2:42 PM

2 Comments:

I started a thread on the BBC Message Board recently looking at the Church's obsession with purpose, and testing the waters for a spirituality of purposelessness. Had some great posts back. It's wordy, but maybe worth a look if you're at a loose end! Here...

commented by Blogger Steve Lancaster, 5:13 PM  

Hi Malcolm ... thanks for the heads up (I think is the trendy phrase) on Chris Wright - I've come across him and his writings in a range of settings - Keswick Convention, vicar factory, and now it is refreshing to hear him say this kind of stuff.

Cheers
R

commented by Anonymous Anonymous, 10:41 PM  

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