A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America

MISSIONAL CHURCH

Chapter Two: Understanding North American Culture (Context)

"The gospel is always conveyed through the medium of culture…The church relates constantly and dynamically both to the gospel and to its contextual reality."

"Complex modern society is a reality for everyone in North America."

Urbanized life with its complex patterns of social relationships

Multiple tasks and responsibilities that fragment time and space

An economy shaped and drive by technology and its advances

Job, career, and identity defined by professionalized roles & skills

Submerged racial and ethnic identities in a stew-pot society

The pervasive influence of change and rapid obsolescence

Bureaucratic organizations run by rules and policies

Individualized moral values concerning such matters as divorce and sexuality

Radical forms of individuality producing isolation and aloneness

Hunger for some overarching story to give meaning and structure to life

ROOTS: The Intellectual Movement known as "The Enlightenment"

A series of intellectual developments whose origins lie in the 14^th to the 18^th Centuries:

Renaissance Humanism, 14^th – 16^th Centuries

Protestant Reformation 16^th Century

Philosophical theories of rationalism and empiricism 17^th-18^th Centuries

Key Themes:

The importance of individual freedom, responsibility, and identity

The modern self – the self-contained individual capable of discerning truth and constructing knowledge

Political theory and the construction of society based on applications of scientific knowledge

MODERNITY: The attempt to create society on the basis of objective scientific truth and the construct of the autonomous self.

Goal: To free persons in modern society from arbitrary restrictions.

The United States and Canada are two of the nations that bear this imprint most directly. At the heart of modernity’s emergence lies a confidence in the autonomous, rational self. Five features of the modern self:

The modern self as citizen with rights and freedoms.

The modern self as consumer. Capitalism arose as one of the shaping institutions of modernity and has steadily become the organizing principle of the economics of the modern world.

The modern self as constructed roles and identities. When asked to identify themselves today, people commonly refer to their career, job title, employer, or educational achievements.

The modern self as product of technique. The rapid growth of science-based technology as a driving force to change society.

The modern self of feeling, intuition, and desire. Experience becomes the main text and avenue of expression; verbal content and cognitive meaning function only as subtexts (contemporary rock concert).

THE EMERGING POSTMODERN CONDITION: POSTMODERNITY the seemingly rational, objective, and managed world of modernity has undergone deep, significant shifts in recent decades. This New World includes patterns such as:

endless choices made available by technology

loss of shared experiences

transient relationships

plurality of approaches to sexual expression and experience

increasingly two-tiered economy with may dead-end jobs

personal spirituality without the necessity of organized religion

random violence and clashes between cultures

feelings of anger or resentment because somebody’s left us with a mess.

Application: Even the nuclear family that replaced the extended family as a basic social unit has undergone significant change, with rising divorce rates, increases in the number of single-parent households, the prevalence of two-income families, and busy lifestyles.

The forms of community formerly based on geographic neighborhoods have changed by increased mobility, and socioeconomic and racial transitions.

Today our culture’s ways of determining truth, defining the self, and shaping society present to the church both critical challenges and significant opportunities. The modern self, now in a postmodern condition, lives amid an array of social conditions and dynamics. Also – in this situation the church is called into being and sent to participate in God’s mission in the world.

Chapter Three: Understanding the Church in North America (Challenge)

The church’s story in North America is deeply enmeshed within the story of modernity. The church’s responsibility was seen to serve as a guide for the broader society. This included:

specially designated privileges for the church in society

expectation on the part of churches to address national policy or issues

the process of building networks and coalitions to affect policy or bring about change

an increasing view held by many that the church’s role is primarily to offer spiritual guidance

The word – "Christendom" – is a word used to describe the type of relationship that developed between society (state) and the church. In Europe it resulted in "state churches". In North America it describes how various churches contributed to the formation of a dominant culture that bore the deep imprint of Christian values, language, and expectations regarding moral behaviors. Some call it "Christian culture" or "churched culture".

Such a culture placed churches clearly at the center of public life, where they attempted to influence policy, morals, and institutions. This type of establishment fostered a unique version of church-state relations in the United States. Today this establishment is passing through several phases of being disestablished. Therefore many say that we are now in or entering a "post-Christendom" era, or "post-Christian" society.

First Disestablishment: Total Separation of Church and State

Second Disestablishment: Protestant, Catholic, and Jew, and non-Christian.

Third Disestablishment: Continued Individualization of Society.

Thus it becomes abundantly clear that the relationship of the church to the social order has and is undergoing profound change.

The "church" itself has undergone distinct change in the last two decades.

Today anyone looking to join a church finds a vast array of structures and diverse organizations. The challenge before them includes:

scores of denominations/groups to choose from, shaped by different theological and historical traditions

the growth of independent or community churches with strong teaching ministries

differences on key issues and policies between local churches and national bodies and leaders

numerous individuals easily crossing denominational lines

specialized Christian organizations ministering to peoples’ personal lives and needs

rigid organizational culture and denominational structures

persons making individual choices without accountability to any Christian community

DEVELOPMENT OF DENOMINATIONS AND CONGREGATIONS

The transfer of Christianity into the North American context initially revolved primarily around particular congregations or ethnic communities with multiple congregations. It was not long before efforts were begun to bring new patterns of organization to these diverse congregations that were populating the colonies, and then the states. And so the concept of "denominations" or "denominationalism" came into existence to provide for a larger structure for the organized life of multiple congregations with similar backgrounds and concerns. This became especially true in the eighteenth century. They also provided strength to reinforce group identity and cohesion.

Understanding the Principle of Denominationalism

A Biblical-Theological Perspective. Most denominations take a biblical-theological position as the starting point for explaining their existence.

An Historical Perspective. They simply exist. They represent the primary form of historic organization of churches in North America.

A Sociological Perspective. The necessity of examining the sociological factors that shape membership and ministries. Many organize around characteristics such as ethnicity, race, gender, and even age. Shared social features powerfully galvanize group identity and cohesion.

An Organizational Perspective. The denomination is essentially a voluntary association – a collection of congregations who make a commitment to participate. Through their commitment, persons/churches bear a responsibility to contribute to the whole, but they also receive membership rights of organizational assistance.

What is happening today is a fundamental rethinking of the nature and purpose of the denomination as a form of the church. New emphases and movements are occurring, such as church renewal, church growth, paralocal groups – all aside from denominational influence.

"The historic transformations and current existence of the church in North America form a complex reality that (must be dealt) with in considering the development of a missional (church)… "The critical doorway into the discussion of this complexity is the biblical message of the formation of the church as the sign, foretaste, firstfruits, and agent of the reign of God that Jesus announced and inaugurated."

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