Archive for the ‘Missional’ Category

Posted on January 27, 2011 - by Stephen Murray

A Look Around the Web

A couple of theological items on the web in the last few days that I thought were worth a look:

1. I don’t know if you’ve picked up on the theological ‘saga’ of the last week involving John MacArthur’s ‘misunderstanding’ (you decide what it was) of Darrin Patrick’s book new book Church Planter. Well Darrin has written a truly gracious reply to MacArthur’s concerns. I got to hang out with Darrin a little bit two years ago when I visited the Journey Church and he came across as a superb guy with a ton to offer the church. His response just enhances my admiration for him and the work God is doing through him at the Journey. Well done Darrin.

2. David Fitch has some thoughts on the growth of neo-reformed churches in the vein of Mars Hill and Redeemer Presbyterian. His basic premise is that the models of these churches (and others like them) are ultimately growing through transfer growth by gathering large numbers of already-churched folk through excellent attractional meetings. The comments suggest that not everyone agrees – including Tim Keller. I found it particularly interesting that Keller seems to think that it need not be the case that the only people who will ever walk into a church service are basically traditional, conservative folk. I’ve often wondered about this. There is so much missional writing out there that says secular, completely-unchurched people don’t ever go to corporate worship services – I have my doubts about this rhetoric.

3. I enjoyed this interview with Michael Horton about his new systematic theology, ‘The Christian Faith‘. I particularly enjoyed this quote:

I agree wholeheartedly that we need a renewed conviction of God’s personal address in command and promise. I would only add, with Abraham Kuyper, that our confidence in Scripture rises and falls with our confidence in the gospel. We can be distracted by all sorts of good and worthy enterprises, but the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation.” The Spirit gives us faith, uniting us to Christ, through that word of redemption in Christ. Of course, Scripture also exhorts, commands, reproves, and directs. However, until we are convinced that God is actually addressing us here and now through his Word, convicting us along with the world of sin and forgiving and renewing us in his Son, the Bible will remain a closed and irrelevant book.

Posted on May 27, 2010 - by Stephen Murray

VOX Intensive

This is something exciting that I’ll be involved in next week…

VOX Intensive:

One of our key identities at VOX City Church is that of ‘learner’. We aim to be a community that is constantly coming before God and his word and attempting to learn how we might better serve him in our city. In view of this value we’re holding a 3 day intensive where we will, in community, enter into a deliberate time of learning, discussion and experience centered on values that are core to us at VOX: Gospel, Community, Mission and City.

We want to encourage people to join us if they are able to as we cover these key areas in this learning environment. You can join us for either all or part of the intensive. However spaces for the intensive are limited so please RSVP asap.

Programme for the Intensive:

Wed 2nd June:
10am-1pm Urban Force Event at Common Ground Church (need to register separately for this).

2:30pm – 3:30pm Gospel in Three Perspectives (VOX Offices)
3:30pm – 4:30pm The Gospel Grid (VOX Offices)

6:30pm – 9pm Attend one of the VOX Missional Communities (Green Point, Rondebosch, Claremont, Woodstock).

Thurs 3rd June:
9am – 10am Debrief of Day One (VOX Offices)
10am – 11am Context: Overview of Cape Town (VOX Offices)
11:30am – 1pm Engaging with Story (VOX Offices)
2pm – 4pm Context: Getting a Feel for the City (Leave from VOX Offices)

5pm-8:30pm Township Experience (Gugulethu)
9pm-11pm Long Street Night Experience (Long Street)

Friday 4th June:
10:30am-12pm Debrief Day Two (VOX Offices)
1pm – 3pm What is a Missional Community (VOX Offices)
3pm – 4:30pm VOX City Church DNA (VOX Offices)

7:30pm-9:30 VOX City Church Vision Night (Baran’s 36 Burg Street)

Please let us know if you plan to attend any of the sessions by emailing us at info@voxcc.com

Posted on August 24, 2009 - by Stephen Murray

Rethink Mission

Jonathan McIntosh is a really cool guy that I met in St Louis last year when I visited the Journey Church. He’s an amazing thinker about cultural engagement and the developer of some really creative cultural engagement ministries at the Journey, some of which I got to see last year and which I’ll hopefully be getting to see more of in October when I’m there again.

Now he has a new web project called ‘Rethink Mission‘ which is all about inspiring gospel-centered, missional churches. It’s a site dedicated to helping churches think clearly about the gospel and about mission in their context. One of the great features on the site that helps with that aim is the Missional Q & A with other key missional leaders. All in all it looks like a great site and resource – so head over there and give it a look.

Posted on April 24, 2009 - by Stephen Murray

Eschatology Matters to Mission

I think my friend John has hit the nail on the head with this post. I made similar rumblings about this a while back. I know some of my colleagues disagree with me on this issue and most of the disagreement centers on the amount of continuity/discontinuity there is between this life and the life after death – particularly within the church.

I would tend to argue for slightly more continuity than a lot of my colleagues would, yet to date none of them have really provided me with any solid biblical exegesis to suggest that I’m allowing more continuity than the New Testament does. So some see my efforts towards a more communal and holistic church community as over-realised eschatology (yes I’ve had that big word sent my way) and I’m just not convinced that it is. I’m still convinced that any Christian theology must be proclamation centered, and must see the reconciling of individuals to God as central but it must also allows for the world to come to break in at certain stages and certain ways.

Some argue that this is contradictory to the suffering and hardship which is the experience of the New Testament saints. I would argue that the experience of the New Testament saints is a mixture of suffering, hardship and yet great heavenly, yet tangible blessing and behaviour. I think the two should be held in tension as the experience of the believer.

Under-realized eschatology says everything is going to pot so we save souls and get out as soon as we can. Over-realized eschatology says the kingdom is now, and we make it come (that’s why I think some forms of the emergent church are doing exactly the same thing as those in the prosperity gospel movement – demanding kingdom blessing now). I reject both those views. God will bring in and consummate his kingdom but he calls on us to be a visible foretaste here on earth in the interim.

Posted on April 8, 2009 - by Stephen Murray

Being Missional Down on Earth

Discussing all things missional can bring with it a certain amount of guilt as we face up to the fact that often its just so much easier to talk about being missional than it is to actually go out and just do it. We get excited about getting together with some missional thinkers (as I’m hoping to do next week) at the local pub discussing missional theory and drinking beer, we read books, blogs and attend conferences and then we turn around and realise that for all the theory there really isn’t all that much missional activity going on in our own lives. The guilt sets in.

My wife and I experienced this a lot last year as we planned and talked about  the church plant - we got so caught up in the experience of dreaming missional that when we woke up from the dreaming we realised that there wasn’t anything particularly missional going on in our lives. The guilt set in.

We’ve since taken steps to rectify that and make being missional part of who we are as a family and as we live out our life in the city of Cape Town. We haven’t really stopped dreaming, and I hope we never do, but we’ve started to earth a lot of what we’ve been dreaming about in the past. The guilt has subsided.

Jonathan Dodson seems to be a guy who knows what down to earth missional activity is and looks like. He also seems to know how to engage in it without bringing along a sack of guilt that just ruins the experience. Go read his ‘8 Ways to Easily be Missional‘ and be liberated and missional at the same time.

Posted on April 6, 2009 - by Stephen Murray

Missional Thinker Interviews

One of my friends, John Scheepers, has become a little tired of constantly reading on various blogs about what people are doing on the missional front in the States and the UK and reading preciously little about our local scene. So he’s trying to compile a series of interviews with people pursuing missional approaches to ministry here in Cape Town, South Africa. Kicking off the series he decided to interview yours truly. Hopefully this might be something of a window into missional conversations here in South Africa and particularly Cape Town.

Posted on March 19, 2009 - by Stephen Murray

Left of Center

My friend and fellow partner in crime (as we secretly try and subvert the universe), Kyle Johnston has started a blog. Kyle does great gospel ministry in some of the more alternative schools in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town. Him and his wife Kirsty have been part of our new little gospel community and together with them we’ve been having some great discussions about what it means to be a community on mission. His most recent post, entitled ‘Being Left of Center’ mentions one of those discussions. Go check him out.

Posted on March 12, 2009 - by Stephen Murray

The Unholy Trinity of Suburbia

I love this post. Andrew Hamilton puts his finger on the pulse of suburbia and where the real idols are. Hammo lists the trinity of suburbia as ‘career’, ‘family’ and ‘home ownership’. Western Suburbia really is a phenomenon that requires a thoughtful approach in terms of mission. It’s amazing how so much of what he says, speaking within the context of suburban Western Australia, would fit right into so much of suburbia in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban here in South Africa. I’d love to see some more thought given to how we can gently and humbly dethrone the unholy trinity of suburbia and replace it with the real one.