Presbyter to the Spiritual Community Report

“ The world for which you have been so carefully prepared is being taken away from you... …By the grace of God.” Walter Brueggemann

T he present tensions represent the necessary pains that accompany the birth of anything new. Martin Luther King, Jr.

It was God who took us into the wilderness and the exile … Now is God is taking us into another change into strange new place…

I am convinced that God is forcing us to be missional to enter the world around us whether or not we want it, know it, or are aware of it.

Shifting from seeing that the church has a mission or supports mission … …to the church being a mission? The church is as much the church out in the world as it is when it is gathered.

 In our Denomination 1.New Form of Government  “The Mission of God in Christ gives shape and substance to the life and work of the Church.”  Outcome based  Mission context focused Worshipping Communities

 In our Presbytery 1.Smaller institutional budget  Decreased staff  Virtual office 2.Re-ordered Agenda  Worship and Mission first  Ideas to delegate authority for business  Potential: world café, open source conversations 3.Changing ourselves  Structuring for relationships  Using a consultant for embedding missional

◦ Less Presbytery overhead freeing money for your mission ◦ Inspiring and enlightening meetings not burdening you with muchness and busyness ◦ A focus on: “how is this enhancing God’s mission in the world?” ◦ Gatherings in your mission context not “the office” ◦ Familiarity with and support from others doing God’s mission

 God’s Missional plantings among us ◦ “Incipient congregation” in prison ◦ Seasonal fellowship in Hyannis ◦ “Pay as you Go Café” ◦ House Church in Amherst ◦ “Harvest Now” garden in Stamford ◦ Mutuality in mission with the IPIB

 We live in one of the most momentous periods of human history. It is an exciting age filled with hope. It is an age in which a new social order is being born.  We stand today between two worlds-- the dying old and the emerging new.  MLK, Jr.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God.’ And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Revelation 22

 How are you (self, congregation, ministry) living out already God’s missional call?  What excites you about what you’ve heard today of God’s missional work in our midst?