National Forge Summit
At the up and coming national forge summit called ‘Dangerous Stories’, I am running a workshop stream on
Remissionalizing an Established Church: The Stories of NCCC and Urban Life Centre
Many of us work in existing churches but are deeply inspired by the idea of missional church. The reality however might be significantly at odds with the ideals of a missional church. How do we lead an established church into becoming a more authentic missional expression of God’s People? Anthea and I will explore ways in which they have done this.
I am also hosting a panel on the future of the Church. This will be an interactive discussion with some voices in the global emerging church scene. Unfortunately Gerard Kelly (of Retrofuture fame) wont be joining the panel as he is moving his house to another country. So, we are looking for a replacement who has a handle on where our future might be.
As I am in the midst of writing a few notes on how we can guide the initial conversation, I was wondering if anyone had any questions they would like to propose to these guys?
Here is the description of the panel topic.
The Future and the Shaping of Things to Come – Michael Frost, Tom & Christine Sine, and
?????? )
What does the future look like? What will the church be like in 10, 20, 30 years time? How do
followers of Jesus remain true to the gospel whilst faithfully engaging a constantly changing missional environment? This panel will explore these complex issues.
June 10th, 2005 at 9:11 pm
Hi Phil,
I just started reading the book a few weeks ago and have loved it.
One question I have would be for the panel to elaborate on what it will take
to mobilize and catalyze the teenagers of today into the leaders of a missional
movement for the Church in the next 10-30 years.
Thanks, sounds like a great conference!
June 14th, 2005 at 9:50 pm
Hi Phil
Am wondering about your starting point - where will the church be in…..Another way ofstarting the conversation would be - what will the world(not just the local community) look like in 20 years.The union movement began its agonising struggle to reposition itself not be asking the question about the union movement,but about what would the world of work look like in 20 years.Am not sure how you can explore the future of the church without,in gospel terms,confronting the poor.Isnt this where Jesus started.If you start with the church,the danger is that missing will be the poor,the worker,the casual instantly dismissed female worker (will the Howard IR legislation lead Aust down the road of the USA of a permanent class of working poor?),the 3000 child labourers in Aust,the marginalised Aboriginal community,the confrontation with the 14 millionaires created in Aust each day, or the 330,000 full time workers who move to part time work each 3 months in Australia etc etc.Where is the church now in terms of that scenario- emerging,missional,established or christened, and where will it be in 20 years!
The alternative would be exploring cyberspace - community or cult;globalisation - while the emerging church/missional c has been fed and swamped by the yanks,what happens if the world economy in 20 years is run by China?india?;where will the “Growth fetish” and “Affluenza”(Clive Hamilton- Australia Institute)take NCCC or for that matter Hillsong?Where do historians and liturgists see the world in 20 years? etc etc
Start with the church(or the union movement) and we all end up in contented contemplation of ones navel ( the 375 subcultures of Australian society!!!).
A
June 17th, 2005 at 1:26 pm
I like the idea of starting with where our society is likely to be, and specifically am interested in considering the emerging generations and their likely sociological characterists, ie understanding Aussies beyond Gen X.
We can then consider how the church might reflect such changes.