As this sight moves towards a concept of Incarnational Living, I take it as a given that all of this occurs within the church, aka, the body of believers. This of course calls us to an expanded ecclesiology primarily based on our expanded pneumatology (which we do not yet have at this point).
The core of the 21st century church, I believe, is going to have to change. By that I don't mean our belief in the Trinitarian God who continues to save us, but how we as the church are shaped and how we live. I first heard Brian McLaren use a triangle to explain the three elements of the new/old church, with one side being Missional, another Spiritual and the last Communal. Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, in their book The Shaping of Things to Come, call these Communion, Community and Commission (I don't know whose idea it originally was). It feels better to me to paint our mission in broader, relational strokes concerning our relationships with others, our relationship with the world, and our relationship with God rather than something like the Purpose Driven model. With these broader categories defining our goal, there is much more room to be incarnational. There is more room to create an indigenized gospel in whatever context you minister in, without watering down the gospel.
My thoughts for today.
Peace, Matt
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