‘Gathered and Sent,’Mixed Economy

Trinitarian Communities

an Apostolic Mission 

Mission in ‘Meta-Modertity’

‘Did You Know’ (2009) videoSee: YouTube

Mission in ‘Meta-Modertity’

Cultural Traits

Iconic / Symbolic‘the medium is the message’

Iconic / Symbolic

The Church has deep resources to speak

with icons and symbols,

and needs to explore new ways

of inviting people to experience the

wonder of God ‘through the looking glass’ of Christian

spiritual symbols and practices

Creative

beyond industrial technology,beyond ‘information

processing’into a new cultural landscape

characterized by creativity and inventiveness

Global

from nation state empires, to a one world ‘market’dominated by trans-national commerce and corporations

‘Oscellating’

‘constant re-positioning between positions and mindsets’

Spiritual

We live in an Age of New Mysticism or of the new spiritual tourist.

Our aim of helping spiritual tourists to become pilgrims must draw on the ancient

practices of the church reframed into our current

context… Our communities need to be modeling

a lived rhythm of spirituality that is viable.’ (Ian Mobsby)

Dis-ruptive / ‘Cha-otic’

Financial crisispolitical polarization and upheavals

massive economic inequalityenvironmental degradation

rampant consumerism (the defacto religion of the west)

Yearning

Deep Longing

‘For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now, and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first

fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in* hope we were saved. Now hope that is

seen is not hope. For who hopes* for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Deep Longing

‘’The meta-modern longs for another future, another meta-narrative, while acknowledging that future or narrative might not exist, or

materialize.’

Archetypal stories in metamodern culture, echo the meta-narative of

mission, in a cultural form

Post Secular

People long to be told stories of faith, hope, love and redemption. They

long for such to be possible, and to take an active part

The Greatest Meta-Narrative ever told, is that God sent Jesus

into the world’s longing.

Faith, hope, love and redemptionare possible, and incarnate

in the world, through Jesus Christ

MISSION is inviting people to take part.

God continues to send Jesus into the world’s longing

through us

Our great need is to rediscover our primary

purposeto live from, and share

the meta-narrative of God through Jesus Christ,

in and for God’s world,and within today’s culture

Ours is a new time of Re: forming the Church, Back to the Future

In 2004 the Church of England’s Mission and Public Affairs Council released a report titled ‘Mission Shaped Church, ’which has been commended by the General Synod to all Anglican churches, as a framework for the renewal of the church, and reconnecting the witness of church to today’s culture, so that the meta-narrative of the Gospel can be shared with a world longing for faith, hope, love and redemption.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13)

What is a ‘Fresh Expression’

of Church?

‘Emerging Church’ is a term used in the U.S that corresponds in many ways to the ‘Fresh Expressions’ term from the U.K

Definition

A ‘fresh’ expression is a form of church

for our changing culture established primarily for the benefit of people who are not yet members

of any church.”

A ‘mixed economy’ church is needed, to more fully participate in God‘s mission,

‘reaching out’ and ‘reaching in’ to people, within their own cultures

'Mixed economy' church is a term first used

by Archbishop Rowan Williams to refer to fresh expressions

and 'inherited' forms of church existing alongside each other, within the same denomination,

and in relationships of mutual respect and support.

Catholicity requires both diversity and interdependence.

The mixed economy summarizes a dynamic partnership; where inherited church encourages, and often funds fresh expressions,

and where the planting of fresh expressions has in turn brought renewal and encouragement to

established congregations (Bishop Graham Cray)

In a Mixed Economy, church takes many

forms:

cafe churchneo monastic

network churchparish churchpub church

church arising fromcommunity initiatives

traditional church plantethnic specific church

cell churchchurch within a churchalt worship collective

house churchbase ecclesial communities

children and families focusedyouth congregations

Curating a Fresh Expressions of Church require deep understanding of culture, in order to speak into culture using resources from the culture itself to express the invitation and calling of Christ to people in their own cultural forms, in so far as the form of culture being explored is permeable to express the Gospel, and not contradictory to it

Text

Example Fresh Expression Communities

Moot, London

Home, Oxford

‘Messy Church’ A new form of church for kids of all ages

which was developed in the UK

See Messy Church Videos on YouTube

Inherited / established church and fresh expressions

TOGETHER and in PARTNERSHIP

express the mixed economy of church

“The whole church is needed, to bring the whole Christ,

to the whole world” (Bishop Graham Cray)

Mixed Economy Church:

•Echoes the Trinity > mutuality and interdependence•Reflects creation > being richly diverse•Expresses the eucharistic heart of the church > expressing God’s self giving for the life of the world•Is modeled by the Jerusalem and Antioch churches> with differing ways to reach differing peoples, those raised in and new to the tradition,•but with the same unity of faith•Draws strength from the forbearance of the Spirit

Mission Statement

Will you continue

in the apostles' teaching and fellowship,

in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?

in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin,

repent and return to the Lord.

Will you proclaim by word and

example the Good News of God in

Christ?Will you

seek and serve Christ in all persons,

loving your neighbor as yourself?Will you

strive for justice and peace among all people,

and respect the dignity of every human being

Joining the ‘order’ of the Trinity

via the Covenant of BaptismBaptism @ Church of the Apostles, Seattle

All Christians and Christian

communitiesare co-missioned

in the Spiritto take active part

in the Missio Dei

Chrismation of @ Church of the Apostles, Seattle

Trinitarian Missional Communities

(whether inherited or fresh expression),

have four core functions

Koinonia/ CommunityLeitourgia/

worship/prayerFotosis / Formation/

DiscipleshipDiakonia/ Service/

Mission

Koinonia/ Community in and with the Trinity, forms and frames our identity and existence.

Meaning > experience of the Divine Purpose > engaging ‘what matters’

Belonging > connected & connective Participation > being involved

Gratitude > giving thanks Contribution > giving back

St. Lydia’s, NYC

Leitourgia / worship and prayer, orders our days and deed are in God’s peace

Fotosis /trans-formation/discipleship

Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God,

to present your bodies as a sacrifice alive, holy, and pleasing to God

which is your reasonable service. Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your

mind, so that you may test and approve

what is the will of God what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

(Romans 12:1–2)

Fotosis/ transformation/discipleship is about practicing the way of jesus in daily life.

Fotosis /luminatium/ trans-formation/discipleship

5Let the same mind be in you that was* in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited, but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death

even death on a cross. (Phlippians 2:5-8)

Diaconia/ Missio/ Service

Trinitarian Missional Communities are gathered, formed, nourished and sent forth into the world to

engage God’s mission

As a Missional Communitieswe are gathered and sent toPARTICIPATE God’s Life,SHARE God’s story andENGAGE God’s missionto restore, heal, reconcile, make new, transform…

Church of the Beloved, Edmonds, WA

Rule of Life, Church of the Apostles, Seattle

- Love God and love neighbors- Give invitations and provide welcome- Engage community and practice faith- Share stories and throw parties - Create art and exchange gifts- Renew culture and steward creation

A small but growing number of Fresh

Expressions of church are being informed and

inspired by monastic tradition

Mission calls us to engage God’s future,

today

Engaging God’s Mission calls for

the ‘Faith of Leap’

... We would suggest that our love of extreme sports, our quest for adventure, desire for heroic novels and films, all play into this same yearning. They are echoes of an unheard tune - the story of Jesus, The quest for heroic adventure is the quest for the Gospel, although it might not be seen that way by everyone. And so when our churches distance themselves from such adventure, they are inhibiting a fundamental human impulse and desire to be part of something significant that has eternal consequences (Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost)

Missio means being ‘sent’ to engage the adventure of faith with God, in and for

the world

Pioneers leaders can

help lead the church

to re:engage the

adventure of mission

In the UK, the church has a began a new process to call out and recruit ‘pioneer missioners’ lay and ordained leaders who have

the capacity of starting up and curating new forms of church and ways of engaging mission.

Take mission to the edge. Click your heels and ‘take it back home’ and engage the adventure of mission to be gathered in and sent back to your own back yard.

There is a holy urgency in mission, to join in what God is already doing in the world, to not miss out. To take an active part.

'Build Houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Form families and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and husbands for your daughters and multiply there. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you in exile, and pray to the Lord on it's behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.' (Jeremiah 29:5-7)

Gathered and SentTrinitarian Communities

and Apostolic Mission