Missional Theology, Day Three

Lviv Theological Seminary
4 December 2015
Telford Work, LCC International University / Westmont College

Shadows and Schemas of World-Engagement
Christ reigns "far above all rule and authority, power and dominion" (Eph 1:21).
Then how should Christians relate to the world?

Rodney Clapp: Our old, mixed, legacy of cultural dominance and Constantinian worldly power pressures churches to adopt various strategies of cultural engagement.

My Label and Unabashed Opinion Political Strategy Possible Contemporary Examples reorientation seek vestiges of usefulness to society western liberal Protestantism, Russian Orthodox "neo-Constantinianism" retrenchment try to reclaim lost or flagging civil power and authority Vatican I's Catholic triumphalism, American fundamentalist restorationism, Russian Orthodox "paleo-Constantinianism" relinquishment withdraw into private spiritualism Pietistic 'conversionist' "hypo-Constantianism" reactionism concentrate on fighting the church-state alliance 'Anabaptist' "anti-Constantinianism" radicalization pursue the original politics of being Christ's Way, open to God's results "a-Constantianianism"? (Pentecostal? Wouldn't that be convenient?)

Meanwhile, our understandings of the relationship between Church and world drive expectations of the gospel's reception.

My Label	My Description	Prooftext	Ecclesial Priorities	Eschatology
assimilationist	the world absorbs the Christian community	Rev 3:1-6	other narratives, gospels, missions, ends, and agents	futurist
Constantinian	civil authorities legislate the millennial reign of Christ	Isa 60:10-12	civil sponsorship, rulership, activism, transformation	postmillennial
spiritualist	Holy Spirit calls individuals out of a godforsaken world	Rev 18:4-8	conversion, piety, personal difference, social renunciation and withdrawal	premillennial
developmental	new works of the Spirit change the Church as it interacts with the world	Acts 15	receptivity to development and variety (e.g., Romanization, canonization, creedalization, Germanization, globalization)	inaugurated
primitivist	the missionary community's shape is indifferent to its surroundings	Heb 13:8	continuity with the past rather than responsivity to cultural context	realized
proleptic	the Church is what it is becoming	Eph 4:11-16	vision, continuity with the future, faithfulness, repentance in the face of failure	dialectical

Worship and Apostolicity
James F. Torrance: Worship is God-directed, Christ-shaped, Spirit-driven (Acts 2) ...: ... drawing into the communion between Son and Father in the Spirit (John 17).
... drawing into the communion of Christ and his body (1 Cor 12).
... drawing into the communion of saints (Rom 12).
... commissioning agents of the Kingdom's growing communion (Matt 28).
(Does your church's "liturgy" do that effectively?)
Jesus sent apostles ("sent ones") along his own mission (John 20:19-23) to the world.: Parables of the sower, talents, and vineyard describe the outcomes.
Apostolicity: names the later Church's fidelity to its irreplaceable foundations.
describes the Church's center and its shifting boundaries.
discerns deep continuity with the original witnesses and the eschatological 'world' frontier.

Contextualization: False, True, and False
True contextualization (inviting a community into the Kingdom's judgment and remaking)

contrasts with false contextualization (submitting the gospel to a community's mindset, even the Church's).

Roland Allen: For Paul's mission, culture is neither determinative nor irrelevant. Tim Keller: Fruitful ministry demands 'theological vision' that thinks through

the gospel's implications
and the implications of a context (such as New York City),
aligning local forms of ministry to both (like 'middleware' or a clutch).

Keller's "three axes" in Center Church (and my suggestions for improvement through other writers):

Category	Church dominates	TK: 'Center'	World dominates
TK: doctrinal foundation	religion	Gospel	irreligion
TK: context	challenge only	'city'	appreciate only
LN: engagement	(discern the Kingdom's signs and work in a given place, expecting death and resurrection)
TK: forms of ministry or relationships	organization: tradition, authority, structure	'movement'	organism: cooperation, unity,fluidity
LN: dialogue	(rather than just asserting or adapting monologically, engage in dialogue that subjects all to Christ's redemption)
TW: catholicity is	original sufficiency	participatory love	ongoing inclusion

My suggestions are not so much a moderate 'center' between two extremes

as a missional, apostolic alternative to two ways of human domination.

Paul exemplifies an apostolic approach to doctrine, context, and relationships.

My Label and Unabashed Opinion	Political Strategy	Possible Contemporary Examples
reorientation	seek vestiges of usefulness to society	western liberal Protestantism, Russian Orthodox "neo-Constantinianism"
retrenchment	try to reclaim lost or flagging civil power and authority	Vatican I's Catholic triumphalism, American fundamentalist restorationism, Russian Orthodox "paleo-Constantinianism"
relinquishment	withdraw into private spiritualism	Pietistic 'conversionist' "hypo-Constantianism"
reactionism	concentrate on fighting the church-state alliance	'Anabaptist' "anti-Constantinianism"
radicalization	pursue the original politics of being Christ's Way, open to God's results	"a-Constantianianism"? (Pentecostal? Wouldn't that be convenient?)