George R. Hunsberger and Craig Van Gelder, Editors, The Church Between Gospel and Culture: The Emerging Mssion in North America. (Gospel and Our Culture Series). Eerdmans, 1996.
Referenced in: Missional Philosophy
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
This is one of a series of volumes published by Eerdmans in association with the Gospel and Our Culture Network. As the first in the series, it represents the early ethos of the missional movement that circulated among academics, primarily missiologists. It may not be the place for the average church leader to start in understanding all things missional, but would be good next-level reader for those who have digested introductory texts such as Roxburgh-Doren’s Introducing the Missional Church and Guder’s Missional Church. Like many of the early books in the missional movement, this volume actually functions as a missional ecclesiology, but since it also was among the ground-breaking works of the movement, it plays a vital role in laying out missional philosophy in general.
Most of the missional literature focuses on the same subjects. This summary will highlight the essays that make a more unique contribution. It is not hard to peruse this book and determine which chapters may aid one’s understanding. Below are my suggestions.
George R. Hunsberger, “The Newbigin Gauntlet: Focusing the Mission Question” – Since the work of Lesslie Newbigin was so formative to the missional movement, this is important. Hunsberger expands on the Triangular Model of Gospel-Culture-Relationshps (Gospel-Culture-Church) and why Newbign believed we should operate in that sequence.
Christopher Kaiser, “From Biblical Secularity to Modern Secularism: Historical Aspects and Stages” – This is a fascinating historical and sociological look at how Western Civilization became secularized, “that is, how it moved from being a traditional, religiously motivated culture to being a modern, secular one.” (79)
Craig Van Gelder, “Mission in the Emerging Postmodern Condition” – This is helpful for those who need an introduction to postmodernism before biting off some of the more expansive treatments of the subject. Van Gelder lucidly compares the enlightenment worldview and the culture of modernity with the emerging postmodern condition. He neatly summarizes leading thinkers of the darker nihilistic postmodernity such as Jean-Francois Lyotard, Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari, Michel Foucault, Jean Baudrillard, Frederick Jameson, and Jurgen Habermas. He then proposes a Christian response, both in terms of aspects friendly to a biblical worldview and those that need challenging. Readers of this chapter will need and want more than is provided, but it can serve as baseline exposure to postmodern realities.
Paul G. Hiebert, “The Gospel in Our Culture: Methods of Social and Cultural Analysis” – What Van Gelder does in the previous article in looking at modernity vs. postmodernity philosophically, Hiebert does culturally and sociologically. This is an excellent synopsis of the viewpoint shared widely among the missional-emergent stripe that interprets the N.T. metaphors of “principalities and powers” as the demonically controlled dimensions of social, economic, and political systems. He traces the “powers” of modernity and postmodernity that historically and currently operate in North America. Modern powers include scale, technological approach to organization, complexity and specialization, dualism, mechanistic worldview, order and hierarchy, individualism and freedom, materialism, work, consumerism, welfare state and civil religion, cosmic warfare, and the American dream. Postmodern powers are pluralism, networks, deconstructionism, relativism, pragmatism, subjectivism, idealism, existentialism, and the therapeutic society.
Douglas John Hall, “The Ecclesia Crucis: The Theologic of Christian Awkwardness” – Hall addresses how Christian theology must both disengage and engage the dominant culture as is helps us be an authentic witness of the gospel. He surveys four areas where our society longs for something culture does not offer but which Christianity addresses from the perspective of faith and hope: 1) moral authenticity, 2) meaningful community, 3) transcendence and mystery, and 4) meaning.
John R. “Pete” Hendrick, “Congregations with Missions vs. Missionary Congregations” – Hendrick provides a brief survey on recent history of how the church has dealt with its increasing missional ineffectiveness and social marginalization. He traces efforts such as organizational development of the late 60s, the church growth movement of the 70s, and congregational studies of the 80s. These have accomplished some good, enough that today among Protestants many churches embody a form of what Roozen, McKinney, and Carroll described in Varieties of Religious Presence: Mission in Public Life: evangelistic, civic, activist, or sanctuary. These churches have “missions,” i.e. ways of manifesting themselves in public. Missionary congregations, however, see their whole existence in missionary terms. In this respect, Hendrick lists six characteristics of missionary congregations.
Alan Roxburgh, “Pastoral Role in the Missionary Congregation” – Roxburgh contrasts the therapeutic and technical (entrepreneurial, technique, business based) models to a more biblical model of pastor as apostle, poet, and prophet. He compares the traditional model (hierarchical, top-down, pastor at top, members at bottom) and renewalist model (bottom-up, pastor/leaders at bottom empowering members) with his preferred mission model (arrow pointing forward, pastor/leaders leading in front with a sent membership following).
George Hunsberger, “Sizing Up the Shape of the Church” – Hunsberger compares/contrasts three models of congregational functioning:
- The Reformation Heritage – the church is a place where things happen
- The Contemporary Variation – the church is a vendor of religious goods and services
- The Missionary Vision – the church is a body of people sent on a mission
Inagrace Dietterich, “A Particular People: Toward a Faithful and Effective Ecclesiology” – Dietterich works toward the development of a rich ecclesiology. She illustrates four factors that block progress: religious anti-institutionalism, the individualization and privatization of religion, the romanticization of the congregation, and the distinction between the social and religious. She follows this with a paradigm for faithful ecclesiology built around a people of praise (Eph. 1:12), a particular people (Isa. 43.21), and a kingdom people.
From the Publisher
This excellent collection of essays, written by a diverse group of Christian leaders working on the frontier of mission within the present North American context, lays the groundwork for the newly emerging missionary encounter of the gospel with North American culture. Demonstrating that the missionary identity of the church is to be found at the intersection of culture-gospel-church, these essays outline the missionary agenda now before the church as it confronts North American assumptions, perspective, prefereneces, and practices.
About the Author
George R. Hunsberger is Professor of missiology at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, and coordinator of the Gospel and Our Culture Network.
Craig Van Gelder is professor of congregational mission at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota.
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