04 Apr Students are to read chapter 7 ‘The Need for a New Humanity’ & chapter 8 ‘Escape and Example’ from A Missional Orthodoxy by Gar
Students are to read chapter 7 "The Need for a New Humanity" & chapter 8 "Escape and Example" from A Missional Orthodoxy by Gary Tyra answering the following questions: What did you learn about from the reading? Do you agree or disagree with the author, explain why? What stood out to you most, and why? What was the main idea from the chapter! Please remember to show evidence that you did in fact read the chapter!
Students are to read all of Part 1 Chapters 1,2,3 from Missional Joining God in the Neighborhood by Alan J. Roxburgh answering the following questions: What did you learn about from the reading? Do you agree or disagree with the author, explain why? What stood out to you most, and why? What was the main idea from the chapter! Please remember to show evidence that you did in fact read the chapter!
Students are to read all of Part 2 Chapters 4,5,6 from Missional Joining God in the Neighborhood by Alan J. Roxburgh answering the following questions: What did you learn about from the reading? Do you agree or disagree with the author, explain why? What stood out to you most, and why? What was the main idea from the chapter! Please remember to show evidence that you did in fact read the chapter!
Students are to read all of Part 2 Chapters 7,8,9 from Missional Joining God in the Neighborhood by Alan J. Roxburgh answering the following questions: What did you learn about from the reading? Do you agree or disagree with the author, explain why? What stood out to you most, and why? What was the main idea from the chapter! Please remember to show evidence that you did in fact read the chapter!
A Missional Orthodoxy
Theology and Ministry in a Post-Christian Context
Gary Tyra
InterVarsity Press
P.O. Box 1400,
Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426
World Wide Web: www.ivpress.com
Email: [email protected]
©2013 by Gary Tyra
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from InterVarsity Press.
InterVarsity Press ® is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA ® , a movement of students and faculty active on campus at hundreds of universities, colleges and schools of nursing in the United States of America, and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. For information about local and regional activities, write Public Relations Dept., InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, 6400 Schroeder Rd., P.O. Box 7895, Madison, WI 53707-7895, or visit the IVCF website at www.intervarsity.org .
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
While all stories in this book are true, some names and identifying information in this book have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals involved.
Cover design: David Fassett
Image: © Marcus Lindström/iStockphoto
ISBN 978-0-8308-6485-0 (digital)
ISBN 978-0-8308-2821-0 (print)
This book is dedicated to the late Ray Anderson, a professor and mentor who modeled for me a passionate, thoughtful yet humble approach to doing theology and ministry.
Contents
PART ONE: The Foundation of a Missional Orthodoxy
A Theology Both Missional and Orthodox
PART TWO: The Forging of a Missional Orthodoxy
Toward a Missionally Orthodox Doctrine of the Bible
Toward a Missionally Orthodox Doctrine of God
Toward a Missionally Orthodox Doctrine of Christ
6 Evangelism, Edification and Equipping
Toward a Missionally Orthodox Doctrine of the Holy Spirit
Toward a Missionally Orthodox Doctrine of Human Beings
Toward A Missionally Orthodox Doctrine of Salvation
Praise for A Missional Orthodoxy
More Titles from InterVarsity Press
Abbreviations
| HC | Marcus Borg. The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2003. |
| SC | Marcus Borg. Speaking Christian: Why Christian Words Have Lost their Meaning—and How They Can Be Restored. New York: HarperOne, 2011. |
| MJ | Marcus Borg and N. T. Wright. The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1999. |
| GWNK | Marcus Borg. The God We Never Knew: Beyond Dogmatic Religion to a More Authentic Contemporary Faith. New York: HarperOne, 1997. |
| MJA | Marcus Borg. Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith. New York: HarperOne, 1994. |
| NKC | Brian McLaren. A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith. New York: HarperOne, 2010. |
| GO | Brian McLaren. A Generous Orthodoxy. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004. |
| RBA | Marcus Borg. Reading the Bible Again for the First Time. New York: Harper One, 2001. |
Preface
What type of gospel presentation might succeed at encouraging the members of a post-Christian culture to take another look at Christ and his church? What theological moves might enable the members of the traditional evangelical, emerging and missional Christian communities to function as comrades rather than competitors in gospel ministry? These two crucial questions lie at the very heart of this work. To be more precise, this book is about doing theology and ministry in an increasingly post-Christian context in a way that is faithful to both the biblical text and the missional task. For centuries the Holy Spirit has used Jude 3 to provide the church with an ongoing sense of need to stay true to the apostolic understanding of the Christian faith. 1 Set within its context, this passage reads:
Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. (Jude 3-4, emphasis added)
At the same time, the same Spirit of mission 2 has spoken to the church through 1 Corinthians 9:20-22, encouraging Christ’s followers to continually contextualize the Christian message for new people groups in culturally sensitive ways. In this influential passage the apostle Paul explains his ministry method. Within its immediate context, it reads:
Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. (1 Cor 9:19-23, emphasis added)
The missional orthodoxy presented in this book is grounded on the presumption that the kind of missional faithfulness God desires and deserves requires that we do justice to both Jude 3 and 1 Corinthians 9:20-22.
Such a missional orthodoxy will benefit the Christian community in two important ways. The primary goal of this missional orthodoxy flows out of the conviction that the Spirit of mission is active in our world and in people’s hearts and lives, readying each person for an encounter with a compelling presentation of the gospel. What would a presentation of the Christian gospel that is faithful to both the text—the biblical documents—and the task—the need to contextualize this message—look like? What would make such a presentation compelling? These are some of the crucial questions this book will address in its primary goal of providing the Christian community with a vision of the Christian faith that, precisely because it seeks to be faithful to both the text and task, can be used by the Spirit of mission to enable a missional faithfulness and fruitfulness in our time and place. 3
The secondary goal is to build bridges between the traditional evangelical, missional and emerging church movements. 4 Significant tension exists between some members of the traditional evangelical community (with its strong commitment to biblical authority) and some advocates of the emerging church movement (with their passionate concern regarding cultural relevance). It is my sense that many of these tensions center around varying understandings of the nature of the gospel and what constitutes an adequate and appropriate contextualization for an increasingly postmodern, post-Christian culture. Believing that it is possible to do justice to both Jude 3 and 1 Corinthians 9:20-22 at the same time, I believe that a benefit of this book is that the missional orthodoxy presented here identifies some common ground between many members of all three movements (traditional evangelical, missional and emerging), enabling us to do more than simply talk about being colleagues in ministry contextualization.
This book is constructed of two main parts. Part one lays the foundation for the missional orthodoxy that the rest of the book forges. Chapter one explains the concept of missional orthodoxy, arguing for its need at present and clarifying its nature. This chapter reveals the potentially provocative dialectical method by which this work will, ironically, strive toward a unifying orthodoxy that is faithful to both the text and the task.
In a nutshell, what is immediately dividing the rank and file of the traditional, missional and emerging evangelical communities is a slew of false antitheses—antithetical, either-or doctrinal positions which people are told they must choose between. The reality is that these bogus dichotomies are produced not by Scripture or the nature of truth itself, 5 but by an approach to ministry contextualization earmarked by an understandable but lamentable overreaction to Christian fundamentalism and overcorrection to our current post-Christian ministry environment. Unfortunately this unbalanced approach has failed to do justice to the biblical text and missional task. This has, in turn, caused many mission-minded followers of Christ to function as competitors rather than comrades in gospel ministry. I suggest that a missional orthodoxy that, while faithful to Scripture, is modest rather than overreaching in its scope and humble rather than arrogant and strident in its manner of presentation, has what it takes to produce a greater sense of unity among traditional, missional and emerging evangelicals, bringing glory to God (see Jn 17:20-23) in the process. 6
Chapter two presents an argument-framing discussion of why, because of the balanced yet thoroughgoing method of gospel contextualization it espouses, a missional orthodoxy is the best of several possible theological and ministerial responses to the cultural zeitgeist (spirit of the age) currently prevailing in the developed countries of the West. Appended to this foundational chapter is an excursus that includes a provocative but necessary presentation of plausible reasons for the liberal/emergent overcorrection to our post-Christian ministry situation—a dialogue which continues throughout the rest of the book. Also presented in this formal excursus is a discussion of the theological/philosophical perspective that makes possible an alternative to Christian fundamentalism and the liberal/emergent overreaction to it.
Building on the foundation provided in part one, the eight chapters that make up part two focus on the traditional theological loci. These chapters explain how embracing theological realism, acknowledging the missionary nature of God, and committing to the four christological verities that underwrite the Christian gospel, can help us respond to the false antitheses 7 that stand in the way of a missionally orthodox understanding of the Bible, God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, human beings, salvation, the church and the final things. It is by working our way through these false antitheses, striving, ironically, to learn from the mutually exclusive loyalties at work behind them, that an understanding of the Christian gospel can be forged that passes both the biblical and missional faithfulness tests. But make no mistake, what we are after is not an orthodoxy that identifies, but one that inspires. What is needed in our ministry location is a compelling vision of the Christian faith that, precisely because it strives to be faithful to both the biblical text and missional task, is something the Spirit of mission can use to entice our post-Christian peers to take another look at Christ and his church.
As for the style of this book, the reader should keep in mind: (1) I write as a biblical theologian, which means this work evidences a commitment to provide biblical support for the various theological positions discussed. (2) At the same time, the fact that the work endeavors to treat all the traditional theological loci will mean that it is impossible, due to space limitations, to provide a rigorous exegetical justification for each Scripture reference cited. (3) Given the book’s target audience (evangelical students and church members preparing for ministry), the themes of the book are presented in an essentially introductory manner so as to make the material as accessible as possible. (4) Nevertheless, I have provided in the footnotes numerous references to ideas and resources that promote and assist further reflection. (5) Some footnotes contain rather long lists of biblical references that are intended to function not as strings of prooftexts but as opportunities for readers to engage in prayerful, thoughtful discernment of what the New Testament has to say about some important theological matters. (6) Because my thesis is that the rough contours of a missional orthodoxy can be arrived at by careful, irenic though critical interaction with several false antitheses posed by a well-meaning but unnecessary overcorrection to our current post-Christian ministry context, a fair amount of space in each chapter of part two is devoted to constructive theology that is, ironically, somewhat deconstructive in nature. (7) The subtitle of each chapter in part two begins with toward, revealing that the goal of each of these chapters, and the book as a whole, is to start the project of forging a missional orthodoxy, not to complete it entirely.
What we will learn is that the widely held notion that there are many people living in our post-Christian culture who are turned off to organized religion but interested in spirituality is more than a baseless cliché. Support for this assertion is found in a Newsweek article titled “In Search of the Spiritual,” which describes “a world of ‘hungry people, looking for a deeper relationship with God,’” and makes the point that within contemporary society “‘spirituality,’ the impulse to seek communion with the Divine, is thriving.” 8 Despite the post-Christian nature of our current ministry context, the Spirit of mission really does seem to be working in people’s lives, readying them for an encounter with the risen Christ.
What are we evangelicals (traditional, missional and emerging) going to do with this ministry opportunity? While we must not continue to do business as usual, neither should we feel the need to choose between an arrogant, contextually insensitive, demanding orthodoxy, and one that is so generous and accommodating that it fails to function as an orthodoxy at all. The best way for us to do justice to Paul’s concern that ministry be contextualized so that as many as possible might be saved (1 Cor 9:20-22), while also giving heed to Jude’s concern that we contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints (Jude 3), is to roll up our sleeves and forge a missional orthodoxy.
Acknowledgments
For a number of reasons this has been a challenging book to write. It’s precisely because the process has been so daunting that I am especially appreciative of some key contributions made by several people along the way.
First of all, I want to express my deep gratitude for the invaluable assistance rendered by the two editors who worked on this book. Dr. Gary Deddo acquired the project on behalf of IVP Academic and helped shape the first and second drafts. David Congdon inherited the project after Gary moved on from IVP and contributed greatly to the final version. My university colleagues will verify that I am in the habit of freely acknowledging that this is a much better book because of the involvement of both Gary and David. Though I alone must be held responsible for any flaws the book possesses, I am very grateful for the assistance provided by those talented editors (and copyeditors) at IVP Academic whom I consider my publishing partners.
I also want to direct thanks to those many Vanguard University students who, having interacted with the material that would become this book, offered me valuable feedback regarding its coherence, relevance and utility. One group of students in particular is owed some special acknowledgement. Ben Blush, Adam De La Vega, Ike and Roxanne Eilers, Christina Gaddis, Scott Glisson, Nancy Hamilton, Benjamin Hurst, Julie Jenkins, Michelle Landin, Adorina and Arbella Moshava, Robert Nguyen, Curtis Weigel and the late Randy Mesquite were grad students who worked their way through an early version of the manuscript and ended up providing some invaluable input. I am also grateful for those undergraduate students whose enthusiasm for their professor’s labor of love kept me encouraged during the lengthy process of the book’s composition, revision and production.
Also deserving of my deep thanks are some Vanguard University colleagues. Dr. Rich Israel, my good friend and department chair, was very supportive throughout the process. Likewise, Vanguard University provost Dr. Jeff Hittenberger provided me with more encouragement than he probably realizes. Conversations about matters theological and missional with fellow religion professors Dr. Ed Rybarczyk, Dr. Frank Macchia, Dr. Greg Austring and Dr. Doug Petersen also proved to be very helpful. And, once again, I must tip my hat to the staff of the Vanguard University library: Dr. Alison English, Mel Covetta, Mary Wilson, Pam Crenshaw, Elena Nipper and Jack Morgan. The eager willingness of these folks to help me locate important resources was of great assistance.
In addition, I must acknowledge the contribution my wife Patti has made to this work. Her support of my sense of call to try to make a difference for Christ in the church and the world is what makes my writing endeavors possible. Simply put, without her loving encouragement, patient endurance and practical assistance, this book would never have been.
Finally, I want to express my sincere gratitude to my “dialogue partners” in this work: Marcus Borg and Brian McLaren. All three of us have something in common: a genuine desire to provide our current ministry context with a compelling vision of the Christian faith. Though we possess differing convictions regarding the essence of the Christian gospel and how it should be contextualized in our place and day, I want to acknowledge that interacting with the theological work of these two talented authors has had an impact on me, precipitating within me a deeper degree of reflection on the nature of God’s kingdom and instilling a sense of need for a gospel presentation that is at once humble in manner, modest in scope and faithful to both the biblical text and missional task. It’s my hope that this book, while it does not hesitate to highlight some important differences, ends up building bridges rather than walls between our respective visions, contributing to a greater unity between Christians evangelical, missional and emerging. To the degree this goal is realized, the challenge that writing this book has represented will have been worth it and, perhaps ironically, both of my dialogue partners will deserve part of the credit.
PART ONE
The Foundation of a Missional Orthodoxy
1
Needed
A Theology Both Missional and Orthodox
It is a basic premise of this book that all Christian theology should be missional, focusing on what God is up to in the world through his Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. 1 Missiologist Christopher Wright has asserted that “mission is not just one of a list of things that the Bible happens to talk about, only a bit more urgently than some. Mission is, in that much-abused phrase, ‘what it’s all about.’” 2 A biblically informed theology cannot help but include a focus on mission.
However, an even more basic reason why all theology should be missional is the missionary nature of God. 3 According to some of the best theological minds, mission is not just something God does, it is who he is. There is a “sendingness of God” that is “evident within the trinity itself.” 4 Indeed, not only has God sent the Son and the Spirit into the world to achieve his purposes, but angels, prophets, his Word and the church as well. 5
This observation that “God is a God of mission” who “sends the community of faith into the world” to participate in his mission—an observation that is at the heart of what has become known as the missional conversation—should tremendously affect the theological endeavor. 6 This is what I mean when I say that all theology should be missional in nature. Indeed, as a biblical and practical theologian influenced by the missional conversation, I suggest that the goal of any so-called missional theology should be to help communities of believers participate in God’s missional purposes by contextualizing the Christian message for their particular cultural locations toward the goal of representing the reign or kingdom of God within them. Put differently, since the purpose of the church should be to participate in what God is up to in its community rather than merely striving to meet its own institutional needs and those of its members, the purpose of theology should be to help the local church enable its members, both corporately and individually, to be the people of God—that is, faithful witnesses to Christ and his kingdom in their homes, neighborhoods, workplaces and the community as a whole. 7
All too often, however, Christian theology is done without God’s mission in mind or in a way that fails to do justice to the witness to Christ presented in Scripture. With respect to the former possibility, a theology that is intended simply to encourage church members in their faith convictions and provide them with biblical support for their liturgical practices, as valid as these goals are, cannot be considered missional. Neither is a theology missional which fails to recognize that, given the contextual nature of all theologizing, 8 every generation of theologians must converse with the biblical texts in a fresh way so as to be led by the Spirit toward a renewed, vital recontextualization of the gospel message that will be compelling to their generation given its specific modes of intellection and expression, as well as the particular existential and religious questions it ponders.
However, with regard to the latter possibility (failing to do justice to the witness to Christ presented in Scripture), it is equally important to recognize that there is a crucial difference between contextualizing the gospel for a contemporary ministry context and accommodating, assimilating or conforming the gospel to a cultural location, altering the very essence of the Christian message to make it more palatable or acceptable per the prevailing zeitgeist. It is because of this latter possibility that this book seeks not simply a missional theology, but a missional orthodoxy as well—a compelling presentation of the Christian faith and life that, while doing justice to the practice of ministry contextualization modeled for us by the apostle Paul (1 Cor 9:20-22), also pays heed to the biblical exhortation to contend for the faith once for all entrusted to the saints (Jude 3). This, in a nutshell, is what a theology that is both missional and orthodox is about.
But let’s be clear, the o
