1. Contents 1. The Church's Identity and Role: Whose Story? Which Images? 2. God Forms Israel as a Missional People 3. Israel Embodies Its Missional Role and Identity amid the Nations 4. Jesus Gathers an Eschatological People to Take Up Their Missional Calling 5. The Death and Resurrection of Jesus and the Church's Missional Identity 6. The Missional Church in the New Testament Story 7. New Testament Images of the Missional Church 8. The Missional Church in the Biblical Story—A Summary 9. What Might This Look Like Today?

2. A Light to the Nations: The Missional Church in the Biblical Story Michael Goheen Fideles Ecumenical Conference 2011 Redeemer Pacific College Langley, B.C.

3. Why this book? Contract to write broader missional ecclesiology Challenge of a few pastors to focus on biblical story in light of missional church conversation

4. Key to book ‘... the Bible does not offer a definition of the church or provide us with a doctrinal basis for understanding it. Instead, the Bible relies on images and narrative to disclose the meaning of the church.’ - Wilbert Shenk

5. About our identity as church ‘When we, the church, are confused about who we are and whose we are, we can become anything and anyone’s.’ ‘... we need ecclesiology—the doctrine of the church—to clarify our minds, motivate our hearts, and direct our hands. We need ecclesiology so that we can be who and whose we really are.’ - John Stackhouse

6. Conviction of book Our identity is fundamentally missional Missional doesn’t say everything about our ecclesial identity Says something very central Has been muted in Western church but is now being recovered

7. Imagery of mission Mission: Often cross-cultural ministry or outreach activity Not simply something church does but who the church is Church is “missionary by her very nature” (Ad Gentes, Vatican II) Ecclesiology of Vatican II is “missionary through and through” (David Bosch)

8. Mission—nature of church ‘What we have to learn is not that the church ‘has’ a mission, but the very reverse: that the mission of Christ creates its own church. Mission does not come from the church; it is from mission and in the light of mission that the church has to be understood.’ (Jurgen Moltmann) ‘... the church exists by mission as fire exists by burning.’ (Emil Brunner)

9. Two emphases of missional Missionary consciousness: oriented toward world, exist for sake of the world (inward) Missionary encounter with culture: called to live in different story and challenge idols of culture (outward) - Wilbert Shenk

10. Why ‘mission’ to designate this? Two things about cross-cultural mission and missionaries: Missionary knew lives directed outward to the unbelieving world Missionary knew they were to live in different story than culture and called to challenge cultural story with gospel So the whole church...

11. Two starting definitions ‘Fundamentally, our mission (if it is biblically informed and validated) means our committed participation as God’s people, at God’s invitation and command, in God’s own mission within the history of the world for the redemption of God’s creation.’ - Chris Wright

12. Three important facets of definition Mission is not first of all what the church does; rather mission is defined in terms of participation in the mission of the Triune God The communal nature of mission—it is a mission first of all of God’s people Scope of mission is as broad as creation since God’s mission is the redemption of his whole world

13. ‘God’s mission involves God’s people living in God’s way in the sight of the nations.’ - Chris Wright Two Starting Definitions

14. Living in God’s Way in the Sight of the Nations ‘... mission is not primarily about going. Nor is mission primarily about doing anything. Mission is about being. It is about being a distinctive kind of people, a countercultural... community among the nations.’ (Howard Peskett and Vinoth Ramachandra) Facing in three directions at once

16. Four Main Sections of Book Opening chapter: Trace historically why the missional identity of Western church has been diminished Five chapters: Trace the role of church in biblical story One chapter: Five clusters of images that need to be understood in missional way (people of God, new creation, body of Christ, temple of Holy Spirit, diaspora) One chapter: 13 ways this might be fleshed out today

17. Church in Biblical Story Genesis 12.2-3: Blessed to be a blessing ‘What is being offered in these few verses is a theological blueprint for the redemptive history of the world, now set in train by the call of Abram.’ (William Dumbrell)

18. Church in the Biblical Story Genesis 12.2-3: Blessed to be a blessing Exodus 19.3-6: Display people Israel is to be ‘a display-people, a showcase to the world of how being in covenant with Yahweh changes a people.’ (John Durham) ‘The history of Israel from this point on is in reality merely a commentary upon the degree of fidelity with which Israel adhered to this Sinai- given vocation.’ (Dumbrell)

19. Church in the Biblical Story Genesis 12.2-3: Blessed to be a blessing Exodus 19.3-6: Display people Placed on display in the land to be visible to the nations The ‘visibility of Israel was part of its theological identity and role as the priesthood of yhwh among the nations.’ (Chris Wright)

20. Church in the Biblical Story Genesis 12.2-3: Blessed to be a blessing Exodus 19.3-6: Display people Placed on display in the land to be visible to the nations Failure and prophets Failure of Israel to live up to their identity to be light to the nations. Promise of prophets: End-time kingdom when Israel would be gathered and renewed, and then nations incorporated Old Testament theology has paid scant attention to the motif of “gathering,” whereas ‘the “gathering of the scattered people of God” has been... one of the fundamental statements of Israel’s theology.’ (Gerhard Lohfink)

21. Church in the Biblical Story Genesis 12.2-3: Blessed to be a blessing Exodus 19.3-6: Display people Placed on display in the land to be visible to the nations Failure and prophets Jesus gathers and renews Israel Already-not yet era of kingdom Time of gathering

22. Jesus gathers a people ‘After a history of more than a millenium [sic], the people of God could neither be founded nor established, but only gathered and restored.’ (Lohfink) ‘... the only significance of the whole of Jesus’ activity is to gather the eschatological people of God.’ (Joachim Jeremias) ‘That God has chosen and sanctified his people in order to make it a contrast-society in the midst of the other nations was for Jesus the self-evident background of all his actions.’ In Jesus we see God’s ‘eschatological action’ to ‘restore or even re-establish his people, in order to carry out definitively and irrevocably his plan of having a holy people in the midst of the nations.’ (Lohfink)

23. Church in the Biblical Story Genesis 12.2-3: Blessed to be a blessing Exodus 19.3-6: Display people Placed on display in the land to be visible to the nations Failure and prophets Jesus gathers and renews Israel Gathers Forms into display community

24. Jesus forms followers into display community Jesus restores them to be a distinctive people Invitation to centre life in Him Summons to be part of what He is doing Teaching Modelling ‘Thus, there arose in the midst of ancient Israel—unobtrusively at first and yet irreversibly—the new society planned by God.’ (Lohfink)

25. Church in the Biblical Story Genesis 12.2-3: Blessed to be a blessing Exodus 19.3-6: Display people Placed on display in the land to be visible to the nations Failure and prophets Jesus gathers and renews Israel Already-not yet era of kingdom Time of gathering Forms into display community Renews them in death, resurrection, and Spirit

26. Death and Resurrection Cosmic scope: Turning point in history Death: Decisive defeat of powers of old age Resurrection: Inauguration of renewed creation Spirit brings life of new creation Gathered end-time community participates in life of kingdom/new creation

27. Church in the Biblical Story Genesis 12.2-3: Blessed to be a blessing Exodus 19.3-6: Display people Placed on display in the land to be visible to the nations Failure and prophets Jesus gathers and renews Israel Already-not yet era of kingdom Time of gathering Forms into display community Renews them with death, resurrection, and Spirit Gathered renewed Israel sent Commissions community Acts tells story of newly configured mission

28. Acts 1.1-11 Now the kingdom will come, right? (1.6) Jesus’ answer: Already-not yet will continue

29. ‘The meaning of this “overlap of the ages” in which we live, the time between the coming of Christ and His coming again, is that it is the time given for the witness of the apostolic Church to the ends of the earth. The end of all things, which has been revealed in Christ, is—so to say—held back until witness has been borne to the whole world concerning the judgment and salvation revealed in Christ. The implication of a true eschatological perspective will be missionary obedience, and the eschatology which does not issue in such obedience is a false eschatology.’ - Lesslie Newbigin

30. Acts 1.1-11 Now the kingdom will come, right? (1.6) Jesus’ answer: Already-not yet will continue You will be my witnesses ‘When the Spirit comes to them and gives them the gift of power, their very identity will be transformed into that of witnesses.’ (Guder)

31. Acts 1.1-11 Now the kingdom will come, right? (1.6) Jesus’ answer: Already-not yet will continue You will be my witnesses Gift of Spirit as foretaste of new creation To the ends of the earth

32. Spontaneous Expansion of Church in Acts Attractive life of the community Spontaneous evangelism by common members of the church Planting new churches - Roland Allen

33. Four Main Sections of Book Opening chapter: Trace historically why the missional identity of Western church has been diminished Five chapters: Trace the role of church in biblical story One chapter: Five clusters of images that need to be understood in missional way (people of God, new creation, body of Christ, temple of Holy Spirit, diaspora) One chapter: 13 ways this might be fleshed out today

34. Thirteen Priorities 1. Church with faithful and relevant worship 2. Church empowered by the gospel and immersed in the biblical story 3. Church devoted to communal prayer 4. Church with well-trained leaders 5. Church with parents trained to take up the task of nurturing children in the faith 6. Church with small groups that nurture for mission in the world 7. Church that seeks unity of the body of Christ

35. Thirteen Priorities 8. Church that understands its cultural context 9. Church trained for missionary encounter in their callings in the world 10. Church deeply involved in the needs of their neighbourhood and world 11. Church trained to do evangelism in an organic way 12. Church committed to missions 13. Church striving to live as a contrast community

36. ‘They would have to sing better songs for me to learn to have faith in their Redeemer: and his disciples would have to look more redeemed!’ - Friedrich Nietzsche

37. A contrast community looking more redeemed today A community of justice in a world of economic and ecological injustice A community of generosity and simplicity (of ‘enough’) in a consumer world A community of selfless giving in a world of selfishness A community of truth (humility and boldness) in a world of relativism and uncertainty A community of hope in a world of disillusionment and consumer satiation A community of joy and thanksgiving in a hedonistic world that frantically pursues pleasure A community who experiences God’s presence in a secular world