Comments on: What missional looks like

By: Posts I’m Following » mattwiebe.com

Posts I’m Following » mattwiebe.com — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 19:59:37 +0000

[...] Erika Haub blogs about reclaiming some aspects of the parish model. Keep reading into the comments, because she makes the interesting comment that the urban missional church that she helps to lead requires its members to live in the neighborhood that they minister in because it has “kept us honest to our mission of loving and serving the diverse set of people in our midst.” [...]

By: Matt Wiebe

Matt Wiebe — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 18:25:41 +0000

Erika, you said: “One thing I have seen also as a result of the geographical boundary is that it has kept us honest to our mission of loving and serving the diverse set of people in our midst.”

This is some excellent, practical missional thinking.

By: erika

erika — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 18:07:04 +0000

We do have that as a membership requirement–to live within a very specific set of geographic boundaries. As I stated above, it has been, by far, the most hotly debated and disputed aspect of our church life. We have two reasons for this requirement. The first is that the kind of life, worship and witness that we see described in scripture requires relationship, and we see proximity to one another as necessary for the kinds of transformative relationships we believe God desires for us to have. Second, we have been called to bear the good news to a particular community, and we believe that we can have the greatest impact by focusing on one small area rather than spreading our efforts loosely around. One thing I have seen also as a result of the geographical boundary is that it has kept us honest to our mission of loving and serving the diverse set of people in our midst. It would be much easier to allow our church to grow among like-minded, like-us people who are drawn to our congregation from other parts of the city rather than to continue to persevere in loving the homeless, the gangbanger, the single mom, and the immigrant family who are right next door.

By: blind beggar

blind beggar — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 21:09:42 +0000

Erika: I’m really glad some thought is being given to the parish-style faith community. I do believe it is a very viable and necessary model. I’d love to see more faith communities adopt it — maybe even to point that a membership requirement is that you live in the community, i.e., if you want to be a part of this faith community, you must move and live here.

By: Matt Wiebe

Matt Wiebe — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 19:05:09 +0000

Erika, yeah, I’m sure that parish-style ministry won’t be popular. But I’m growing convinced that there’s something to the Missio Dei in it. God comes to us, not the other way around. If we are to be His ambassadors, maybe we should stop waiting for people to come to us and start going to them.

By: erika

erika — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 18:02:42 +0000

Matt, Parish ministry is perhaps having a comeback as a viable model for ministry. I have to say though that our decision to operate on a parish model has been the thing considered most objectionable by the most people: the idea that church can or should be about the people of a specific neighborhood rather than whatever chosen demographic is so foreign to what most have grown accustomed to (except for our Catholic brothers and sisters). And people have taken outright offense at our suggestion that commuting to church not be considered an option. More than racial righteousness and issues of justice, this has been the hot button for the most people and the area of greatest conflict. I would so love to see a return to a parish way of seeing our life together…

By: erika

erika — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 17:56:35 +0000

Adam, I saw both my grandparents come to places of conversion and deep faith in their older years. There were people and ministries that reached out to them and shared God’s love with them, and I know that God is deeply pleased with those servants who were faithful in those quiet acts of love and presence. It has caused me to think about my community and how we too might be the unseen and unsung hands of Jesus for the weak, the shut-in, the elderly.

By: Adam

Adam — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 17:00:24 +0000

In college I worked delivery for a pharmacy. For many of those people, especially the elderly, my visit was the high point of their day. My boss (a Christian) always hired Bible college guys for the job, and I believe the main reason was this sort of ministry to shut-ins. Saddest for me were the people I met who, years before, had been active in a local church. Illness had cut them off from attending, and after a Pastor change or two their church forgot about them. They were embarrassed to seek out the church, “just” for ministry. And really, knowing what I know about those particular churches, families with children were the demographic they were aiming for anyway.

I’m glad here about a shining example of ministry to the elderly. Every Sunday around the nation Christians minister to folks in places like nursing homes, but they don’t get the attention televangelists do. God sees, though.

By: Ted Gossard

Ted Gossard — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 10:48:19 +0000

Good thoughts. I think we have to see that these different expressions or ways of being church, can have their place. The church is alive in Jesus, and even our deficiencies cannot stop the work of God through it. Although it is true that churches as expressions of the Church, can cease to be.

And glad to hear of the good ministry to your grandmother.

By: Matt Wiebe

Matt Wiebe — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 18:17:49 +0000

Funny, I was just pondering today how it might be time for us to move back towards a parish-style mindset when ministering in our communities. Lord, save me from wanting to be flashy.