Getting up to date?

Arrived last night at an old friend's house in Crewe. Janice Clarke who, together with her late husband Mel, was one of the key people at Bristo in the first part of our time there. Great to see her settled here in the South and now one of the leadership team in a local Pentecostal church. 

Interestingly, we arrived during a church meeting where a retired pastor was talking on Ephesians 4.11: it was good to sit and listen. And it got me thinking.

So often, when people talk of the 'fivefold ministry' in this one verse, they assume something contemporaneous - that all should be present and active at the same chronological period or time. But it doesn't say that. What about thinking of it diachronically - manifest across the centuries and in different 'layers' of time? The Eastern Orthodox would certainly assume such a reading. For the trouble of the non- conformist traditions is that we often lose a realistic sense of history as well as tradition.  

And there's another problem. I mean - have you ever met someone you could genuinely identify as an apostle? Certainly, I've met people who think of themselves in this way, but that's quite another matter. And the term, like the others in this passage, is so notoriously difficult to define. Aren't all Christians called to see themselves as 'sent out ones', caught up in the cascading  Mission of the God of Holy Love?

I much prefer the approach shared by Paul Ede in an e-mail this morning. Using a vocabulary of 'pioneer - innovator - developer - sustainer'. We have to be cautious in using Biblical language in a way that suggests we know precisely what we are talking about when we patently do not! Let's humbly acknowledge the truths of history and see ourselves and others in an affirming yet humbler role, using language appropriate to our culture and context.

A Word by any other name

Well, this issue is just not going away. But I'm getting somewhere. I've established that:

i. mission is not a New Testament Word
ii. I haven't got a clue what people mean when they talk about 'mission'
iii. I haven't heard anyone speak on 'mission' who sounds like they know what they are talking about!

Mmmm. Thank God for the Bible. For although the New Testament leads me to conclude that both mission and ministry are essentially aspects of 'service' (diakonia), it doesn't allow me to claim a word for 'mission'. Which confirms for me if we are to speak of mission we have to put it together from other words and actions found in the Bible. So let's try another line of Biblical thought, built around Jungel's affirmation that 'God's Being is in Becoming'. I like that concept. This is a entry to 'mission' that I can grasp. Let me explain.

A key text is Mark 3.14. There, we meet with the concept of 'apostles', often understood as 'sent out ones'. This is defined by the key verb in the verse, which comes at the end, which is translated in the NIV and NKJ as ' he might send'. So that part of the verse reads, 'so he might send then to proclaim / act as heralds'. Or, to represent the Greek verb, 'so that he might apostle-ise them to act as heralds', heralds of the Kingdom of God.

You see, mission is really based on what the Bible talks of what God does in calling us to be His people. Biblically, mission is not a concept but a sending that God does to people. God's mission comes through His becomingness towards others. And we are called to participate in it.

So here's the bottom line question: 'what are you becoming'? Then you'll discover what sort of mission you are on.

Meaningful Ministry

I have been reading a terrific new book - really profound and really easy. It's Mike Breen's latest (you can get it right now through Amazon KINDLE), called 'Building a Discipling Culture'. Why have I been reading it? Because I am here in Pitlochrie, in Perthshire, at the Atholl Baptist Centre. We're doing the Next Stage in Ministry Conferrence and it's really good. What the book speaks about is the culture of what we're engaging in and inspiring one another towards.

Tom Wright has just published a new book on Kingdom, as the dominant theme.

I'm really excited at what is going on in the midst of us all. I sense a powerful movement and change arising. And it's great to be part of it.