The good folks over at Provoketive Magazine are curating a synchroblog during the month of August on the theme of “Following Jesus.” Editor Jonathan Brink writes, “Jesus said, ‘Take up your cross and follow me,’ and that has powerful implications in the way we live. How does that affect you? We believe the power of voice has tremendous capacity to inspire and encourage people. Provoketive is a space to explore our humanity, who we follow, and who is following us.”... Read more
Last week, Rob Bell did a special book event at The Viper Room in Los Angeles, which was livestreamed online to 1,500+ viewers around the world. Bell’s publisher HarperOne put on the event to promote its re-release of Bell’s earlier books with new matching cover designs, as well as to announce that Bell’s next book What We Talk About When We Talk About God will be coming out in March 2013. Bell spoke for over an hour and then engaged... Read more
Last week was a very slow week for me here on the Missional Shift blog, so there’s not much to recap. So instead, here’s a quick look forward at what’s coming up this week: Sentralized Conference Early Bird Rate Ends Tomorrow — The $99 early bird rate for Sentralized (Sept. 27-29 in Kansas City) ends Tuesday, July 31. 3DM Discipleship & Mission Workshop This Week in South Carolina — The 3DM organization is hosting one of its “Discipleship & Mission”... Read more
“Missions? This is something we pay others to do. And pray for others to do. And they go. And thank God they go. But is the Christian mission an elitist vocation? Is this what the Bible says? Is this what we sense from Jesus? “Where have we missed the meaning of our pilgrim faith? Why has the biblical meaning of mission so escaped us? Where did we abandon the legacy of the Jesus way? We live before the mystique of... Read more
The Center for Parish Development kicks off its annual conference today in Chicago, and the theme of this year’s event is “The Subversive Act of Missional Worship.” The keynote speaker this year is Debra Dean Murphy, Assistant Professor of Religion and Christian Education at West Virginia Wesleyan College and the author of Teaching that Transforms: Worship as the Heart of Christian Education. Leading up to the convocation, CPD’s Director of Theological Research Dr. Inagrace T. Dietterich has written an excellent... Read more
Here’s a recap of last week’s major highlights from the missional conversation: How to Be a Missional Christian During Ramadan — Ramadan started this past weekend for our Muslim neighbors, and I put together this blog post to offer some of the best thoughts and resources I could find. Ramadan will keep going for another month, so please read and consider this as you do your work in your communities, wherever you’re located! #GodWhoSends — I kicked off a series... Read more
Scot McKnight has posted the outline of his talk on God’s mission, delivered at SommerOase in Denmark: Mission Begins IN God. — “God has been eternally missional, is missional, and will be missional forever. (Eschatology is inherent.)” Mission Begins WITH God’s Sending. — “If you are one of Jesus’ followers you are missional.” The Missional Christian, who is a follower of Jesus, Stays WITHIN God’s Mission. — “Jesus provides the pattern for the Missional Christian: 1) Seeking God’s Approval; 2)... Read more
As we are all still processing the horrific tragedy of the theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado, I was thankful to read my friend Tripp Fuller’s post this morning “Theology in the wake of Tragedy.” Tripp is a major proponent of what is known as process theology, but I also know his theology has a chewy missional center, as well. You get four tasty bites of both in his four points of how he approaches situations like this ministerially (listed here... Read more
Our Muslim neighbors and friends have just entered into the month of Ramadan, where they will be fasting (refraining from eating and drinking) from dawn until sunset and spending even more time in prayer. The Southern Baptists have issued their prayer guide, and the folks at 30 Days of Prayer have published their prayer guide again, as well. Praying for Muslims is a good place to start. But prayer alone is not enough. I want challenge my fellow missional Christians... Read more
From the very first page of the “Prologue” to God Who Sends, Dr. Francis DuBose uses the term “missional”: “The Christian life is a spiritual pilgrimage. It is not a journey to a shrine which has limitations of space and time. It is a journey into life, a life so rich no limitation of space and time is able to contain it. Jesus came on a pilgrimage to earth to give us life. … This invitation into life, moreover, is... Read more
Missional Shift
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