1. Mission in Practice 2005 Mission in Practice 2005

8. Acts 13:14-43 Acts 14: 8-20 Acts 17:16-34

9. Context Of New Set Of Demands

15. Context Of New Opportunities

16. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. Romans 8:19 -21

17. “ A healthy church is a transforming community in both senses. It is a community that transforms those who belong to it…it also transforms the life of the community around it in slow but sure ways. And when it does these things it begins to be evangelistic without even trying too hard..” Tomlin, G (2003) Provocative Church. SPCK

18. "The Christian has neither right nor power to force salvation on people. Every attempt to impose the gospel by force, to run after people and to proselytise them, to use our own resources to arrange the salvation of other people is both futile and dangerous....our easy trafficking with the word of cheap grace simply bores the world to disgust so that in the end it turns against those who try to force on it what it does not want." (pp 165) Bonhoeffer , D. (1937) The Cost of Discipleship. SCM

22. Existence-Communication “… our lives - our very existence - is our communication. Your existence as an authentic human being communicates more than what you say or even what you think The only essential sermon one can listen to and appropriate comes not from the pulpit via the minister's words but from one's own existence. Christianity is not a doctrine but an "existence communication." Sontag F (1979)

23. “ If believers are to make an impact in todays fractured and disoriented society, they will need to learn survival skills and themselves be transformed by the message they seek to communicate. Discipleship simply means the imitation of Christ. Through the first-century Thessalonian believers the gospel spread as imitators of Christ became examples to others, so that in every place their faith in God became known. ...'A disciple is one who embodies the message he or she proclaims. It was to people who were themselves disciples that Jesus gave the Great Commission to disciple the nations.” Gibbs, E. and Coffey, I (2001) Church Next: Quantum Changes in Christian Ministry. IVP

24. In imitating us, you imitated the Master. Although great trouble accompanied the Word, you were able to take great joy from the Holy Spirit!-taking the trouble with the joy, the joy with the trouble. Do you know that all over the provinces of both Macedonia and Achaia believers look up to you? The word has gotten around. Your lives are echoing the Master's Word, not only in the provinces but all over the place. The news of your faith in God is out. We don't even have to say anything anymore--you're the message! 1 Thess 1:6-8

25. Mission in the context of Changing Metaphors Metaphor #1 :: Warrior to Gardener “ The difference between warriors and gardeners is significant. Warriors take territory by force; gardeners faithfully till and water the soil. While warriors are busy attacking, gardeners plant and fertilise”

26. Metaphor #2 :: Retailer to Wholesaler Big questions that face church today seem to include: How can we reach certain segments of the population? How can we be "relevant" to our culture? How can we get brand recognition in a crowded spiritual marketplace? The answer is almost always a cool new program or some kind of image overhaul. In many ways, we function like retailers-branding our goods.

27. Metaphor #3 :: Hero to Human

30. The traditional method of reaching not-yet-Christians has been to bludgeon them into a recognition of how broken they are. To crush their spirit. To tear them down and bring them to their knees… Instead of having such a combative, manipulative spirituality of engagement with others, we believe the church needs to recover a spirituality of engagement that whispers into the souls of not-yet-Christians. (Hirsch and Frost 2004)