missiology for chaplaincy

TMM 3427 Chaplaincy & Contemporary Christian

Mission 2. Chaplaincy as mission: models and

practice.Revd Andii Bowsher, Co-Ordinating Chaplain, Northumbria University

Lindisfarne Regional Training Partnership

What we're learning

2/34

What is mission? Changing models of mission and the influence of David BoschAnd...~ a whole-church activity~ in a (multi-) cultural context~ related to evangelism/evangelisation~ as prophetic dialogue ~ orientation to mission in Chaplaincy

Why we're learning it

3/34

● Because the Church exists by mission as a flame by burning.

● So a good understanding of mission is fundamental to ministry.

● Chaplaincy as an arena of mission is growing in importance.

How we're learning

4/34

● Listening● Discussing● Exercises● Questioning● Laughing (?)

1 starting ...

5/34

What do you think "mission" would conjure up if said in your church?

Mission?

2Mins

Buzz (2s or 3s) ...

6/34

Mission!

4Mins

What difference to those understandings might be made by the pre-reading?

Understanding Mission

7/34

In 20th Century missiology...

Karl Barth: Mission is God's. Father sends Son, & send Spirit. God sends Church. Initiative in mission belongs to God.

Idea of “Missio Dei” emerges in 1950s.Has become ecumenical: accepted by Prots, many evangelicals, RC's and many Orthodox.

Bosch's models of mission

8/34

Exercise [in 2s or 3s]:

● Have a go at matching up descriptors with models

● (it's sometimes not easy)

Missio Dei ...

9/34

It's not so much that God's Church has a mission as that God's Mission has a church

Participating in “Mission is to participate in the movement of God's love toward people” (Bosch, p.390)

Missio Dei ...

10/34

NB: This way of thinking about mission relativises church (and parachurch) missions...

… only authentic in as far as genuinely participate in God's mission.

Missio Dei: my telling ...

11/34

1) God is at work in the world, drawing it towards a future where there is no sorrow, where the treasures of humanity find their home, where love, joy and peace are found in all their fullness.


12/34

1) God is at work in the world, drawing it towards a future where there is no sorrow, where the treasures of humanity find their home, where love, joy and peace are found in all their fullness.

2) In the here-and-now-meantime God is creating and supporting love, making justice, inviting people into joy, fostering peace and (in all of this) glorifying the Son in the Spirit.


13/34

1) God is at work in the world, drawing it towards a future where there is no sorrow, where the treasures of humanity find their home, where love, joy and peace are found

in all their fullness. 2) In the here-and-now meantime God is creating and supporting love, making justice, inviting people into joy, fostering peace and (in all of this) glorifying the Son in the Spirit.

3) We have the privilege of joining in with that creative and redemptive movement.


14/34

1) God is at work in the world, drawing it towards a future where there is no sorrow, where the treasures of

humanity find their home, where love, joy and peace are found in all their fullness. 2) In the here-and-now meantime God is creating and supporting love, making justice, inviting people

into joy, fostering peace and (in all of this) glorifying the Son in the Spirit. 3) We have the privilege of joining in with that creative and

redemptive movement.

4) We have the responsibility to discern God at work and how to support it.

Missio Dei: our discerning ...

15/34

Question: What do we think that God is doing in this world in general and particular terms?


16/34

Exercise: In what ways might the listed activities be understood as mission? (Identify God's interest or agenda in it and what a church's rôle might be).


17/34

Exercise: In what ways might the listed activities be understood as mission? (Identify God's interest or

agenda in it and what a church's rôle might be).● An interfaith walk, ● setting up an election hustings meeting, ● a project to help with the material and legal needs of asylum seekers

● an introduction to Christian faith course● helping to run a food bank● participating in a LETS scheme● campaigning for a café chain to stock FT coffee ● A regular group to teach meditation


18/34

Discuss : how might these activities be subverted and become something other than Mission?

● An interfaith walk, ● setting up an election hustings meeting, ● a project to help with the material and legal needs of

asylum seekers● an introduction to Christian faith course● helping to run a food bank● participating in a LETS scheme● campaigning for a café chain to stock FT coffee ● A regular group to teach meditation

Break ...

● 15mins

Picking up again ...

What kind of answers, do you think,

would people in your church give to the question

“what

is

salvation?”

Picking up again, still ...

What kind of answers, do you think, would people in your church give to the question “what is salvation?”

In the light of what we've been thinking about Missio Dei,

how would you evaluate those kinds of responses ?

Whole church ...

22/34

"The Church exists by mission as flame by burning"

(Emil Brunner, The Word and the World)

Who is responsible for mission in the church? What answers would you anticipate finding in your church ?

Whole church ...

23/34

"The Church exists by mission as flame by burning"

(Emil Brunner,

The Word and the World)

● What reasons (practical, theological or any other-ogical) might there be to consider mission as a whole church affair?

● What difference does it make if we think of mission as a whole Church enterprise?

Contextualising and inculturating

24/34

Item: the Good News of Jesus Christ can only be heard and therefore communicated in terms that make sense to particular people in particular contexts.


25/34

Theological basis for taking this seriously: accommodation and incarnation.

infinite > infinite; material > spiritual. kataphatic & apophatic


26/34

“Missional” church means learning to “speak local” .

Multi-cultural mission

27/34

Gospel: at home in any or all cultures...

“indigenising” and “pilgrim” trends.

ongoing conversation with different cultural perspectives

Chaplaincy

28/34

● Remember: more next week .

-Contextual: dealing with a particular slice of life.

-Catholic/universal

-Missionall

universal church responding to the context

● learning the context● discerning the Divine● experimenting speaking local

Mission as Prophetic Dialogue

Bevans & Schroeder, Constants in Context.

Dialogue: Rooted in the (inner) Life of Triune God: “communion of gift and reception, identity and openness to the other”

● Listening● Kenotic


Dialogue -Multi-level effects: ● loving respect ● valuing others ● images God's love and care demonstrates a concern for truth and justice

● enables gospel witness in ways that make sense


Prophetic dimension: recognises the (potential and likely) falling short of

● human lives, ● human efforts, ● human structures, ● cultures ● and attitudes.


Components of mission: ● Witness and proclamation● liturgy, prayer and contemplation● commitment to JPIC● interreligious dialogue ● inculturation● ministry of reconciliation.

Wrap up ...

33/34

For yourself : write out 2 or 3 things that were new to you.

In 2s agree on a 'headline' and strapline to share which encapsulate a main learning point. Share...

● Bevans, S. & Shroeder, R., Constants in Context, Theology of Mission for Today (New York: Orbis, 2004).

● Donovan, VJ. 1982. Christianity Rediscovered: An Epistle from the Masai. London, SCM

● Ward, P. 2002. Liquid Church. Peabody MA/Carlisle, Hendrickson/Paternoster

● Wright, Christopher JH, 2006, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative. Downers Grove, Ill, IVP Academic

Especially recommended ...

missiology for chaplaincy

Spiritual

Transcript of missiology for chaplaincy