Thursday, June 7th, 2007
Luke 9:10-17
The apostles came back and told Jesus everything they had done. He then took them with him to the village of Bethsaida, where they could be alone. But a lot of people found out about this and followed him. Jesus welcomed them. He spoke to them about God’s kingdom and healed everyone who was sick.
Late in the afternoon the twelve apostles came to Jesus and said, “Send the crowd to the villages and farms around here. They need to find a place to stay and something to eat. There is nothing in this place. It is like a desert!” Jesus answered, “You give them something to eat.”
But they replied, “We have only five small loaves of bread and two fish. If we are going to feed all these people, we will have to go and buy food.” There were about five thousand men in the crowd. Jesus said to his disciples, “Have the people sit in groups of fifty.” They did this, and all the people sat down. Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish. He looked up toward heaven and blessed the food. Then he broke the bread and fish and handed them to his disciples to give to the people. Everyone ate all they wanted. What was left over filled twelve baskets.
I was organising a young adults conference a few years ago - not 5000 people but more like 200 people. We sat down in small groups around tables to share in a Pacific Island style communion service. When I asked one of my colleagues if he’d like to help celebrate communion with me, he replied, “I need to be a consumer tonight, Duncan.” He’d been pouring himself out as a leader and felt he needed to sit with a group rather than be ‘up front’. That got me thinking.
I’m grappling like many others, with the effects of consumerism on everyday life as well as the culture of the church. In the 1980s we learnt to focus on the cultural preferences of emerging generations, the Baby Boomers and their predecessors, providing options and programs and recognisable links with entertainment culture. At the time we were vaguely aware of the dangers of pandering to consumerism. It certainly became more acute when people expressed their disappointment when their favourite worship or sermon menu wasn’t served up.
When I communicate with workshops and conferences I make an effort to find visual hooks (metaphorically speaking) that help people stay connected. That’s where my interest in television and print advertising came from. But at the same time I’m trying to unlearn the art of dazzle by screen and up-front leadership (not needed in lounge rooms), aiming for a lifestyle that is not driven by branding, impressing or acquiring consumerism.
Here in this narrative I find a reminder about being a different kind of consumer - a consumer who shares resources in community. This is not about consumer preferences. It’s about making do with what we have and learning to make it go further. Resources that might normally be used only in a nuclear family setting now used to go beyond that. That might have some connection to the question I had when putting on dinner for tonight. I found the value pack of chicken was enough to feed 8 or 9 people, not just the five people expected home tonight.
This Sunday coming is celebrated as Corpus Christi in some parts of the church. There’s a connection with Jesus’ body experienced in the eucharist. But there’s also a connection with becoming Jesus’ body as we share with one another. And, back to the experience of my colleague, there’s the connection with the blessing of receiving from others the blessing of God. Often, since that time, I’ve gone and joined the queue for communion after blessing the elements and giving them to the servers.
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Friday, June 1st, 2007
John 16:12-15 (Contemporary English Version)
12 I have much more to say to you, but right now it would be more than you could understand. 13 The Spirit shows what is true and will come and guide you into the full truth. The Spirit doesn’t speak on his own. He will tell you only what he has heard from me, and he will let you know what is going to happen. 14 The Spirit will bring glory to me by taking my message and telling it to you. 15 Everything that the Father has is mine. That is why I have said that the Spirit takes my message and tells it to you.
It’s Trinity Sunday this weekend - the Sunday after Pentecost is celebrated. I’ve been asked to preach at my local church, tying in my work on the missional church. I’ll be preaching from John 16:12-15 in which Jesus talks about being sent by the Father, and sending us the Holy Spirit. The Father sends the Son. The Father and the Son send the Spirit. The Father, Son and Spirit sends us into the world. So how do we send?
I thought this might be an opportunity to expand on the theme of ‘Missio Dei’ - the missional nature of the Triune God.
“Missio Dei” is Latin for the mission of God. Over the last sixty years there’s been a lot of discussion among missionaries and church leaders about mission belonging to God, not just the church. God is actively involved in the world - a missionary God.
Jügen Moltmann, a German theologian, wrote in his 1977 book, “The Church in the Power of the Spirit”, “It is not the church that has a mission of salvation to fulfill in the world; it is the mission of the Son and the Spirit through the Father that includes the church”.
So how does all this affect anyone? Or is it just some theology for professional theologians to enjoy?
Getting our focus on the mission of God helps us rethink what mission is about. God’s mission in the world is a lot more than the 33 years of Jesus’ life. It’s certainly involves a lot more than the last moments of his life, death and resurrection. If we take seriously God’s involvement with the whole of creation we’ll be looking to take part in that. If we believe that God is still active in the world today through the Holy Spirit, beyond the church, we’ll be looking for signs of that and joining in. Is God involved in the passionate movement around the world to address global climate change?
Entering into the mission of God helps us realise the importance of relationship building. Jesus in the Gospels talks about being sent and sending in the context of relationships of confidence, trust and transparency. Mission for Jesus was not just about projects that needed to be completed. It was about who he had come from, who he was going to. I work with a team of mission planners who ask the ‘who questions’. Our first two questions, before looking at strategies, are “Who Will Go?” and “To Whom Will We Go?” Maybe we also need to encourage the question, “Who sends us?”
Missional communities need missional leadership provided by people who can commission and resource community members. In my work for Vision for Mission, in the Uniting Church in Australia, I’ve become involved with ‘U-Turn’, a resourcing movement designed to kick-start small missional groups. We’re encouraging people to start small groups that involve at least three people from outside, meeting at least eight times a year. Vision for Mission is providing $100 per group that starts in Queensland. We’re putting the funding directly into the accounts of local congregations so that they can be part of the commissioning. It’s a risk I know. Some Church councils may not get the point of some of the groups and slow up the process. But the process of sending, commissioning, is transformative in itself. It means that local groups of people are reflect the missional nature of God, sending and being sent.
Here are the first two questions put together for our missional planning process:
Who Will Go?
Who are we? What is our capacity to engage the community around us? Where are our energy levels? How motivated are we to engage in mission? What are the physical, human, spiritual, property and financial resources we have at our disposal? Identify local champions who will drive the mission process.
To Whom Will We Go?
Look locally for specific people groups and subcultures. Know and understand your target community in terms of demographic, and community needs and resources. Who are the gatekeepers and stakeholders in this community? What social/justice/spiritual needs and opportunities are there? What will frustrate or prevent us reaching our target group? How will our community change over the next 2-5-10 years? What is our purpose in going?
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