The Power of Listening

Jesus announced the coming of the kingdom. The kingdom is present already, but not yet fully. Jesus created the church as both sign and agent of the kingdom. The church is a servant-steward of the mission of God. This presentation (1) reviews the creation of the ecclesia, its empowerment during the apostolic era, and the diaspora; (2) assesses how the community was accepted in the post-Constantinian era, then reflects how stewardship of the mission of God was perverted; and (3) seeks for a collaborative way for the covenant community to function more effectively as stewards of the mission — locally and globally.

The Power of Collaboration

O'Brien¹

2005

Corporate Metaphors and Strategic Thinking: “The 10/40 Window” in the American Evangelical Worldview

Rynkiewich¹

2007

The 10/40 Window, as a compelling rhetorical vision for some American evangelicals, has been a stimulus to give agency to a generation of missionaries, but there is reason for suspicion, because this view of the world does not square with some other things that we know about the world and because it resonates so well with the American political discourse of the last decade and a half. Like all rhetoric, it is compelling within a certain linguistic and cultural reality. Outside those bounds, the concept may make sense or may confuse or anger those living in other realities. How does a term like this spread so fast, and what is the process by which it is linked to other concepts to form a particular rhetorical vision of the world?

Discovering the Universal in the Particular: A Vision for Christian Mission Spirituality

Grenham¹

2012

Christian Spirituality is not neutral. God's Reign or Kingdom is at the core of this spirituality and is political in that it informs, challenges, invites, influences, cajoles, and transforms in a life-giving way people's lives. This particular spirituality seeks out that which is transcendent and, in the light of this transcendence, offers a vision meaningful and inclusive for all. This reflection offers a vision for Christian mission spirituality going forward. The specificity of the Christian life and message has universal implications for the world. As this particular spiritual perspective engages other religious and spiritual perspectives a mutual enrichment occurs that has the potential to transform in a life-giving way individuals and communities living in an era of rapid economic, social, political, and cultural globalization. The concept of interculturation is proposed as an approach to serve the purpose of exploring a vision for an inclusive mission spirituality in an era of religious and cultural pluralism. Such a concept provides interpretive language, life-giving symbols and meaningful metaphors to understand and affirm the universality of every contextual particularity.