convergence 2015 mission 3

welcome!

The Lord’s Prayer

• O God, whose love makes us one family …

2. May Your unspeakable Name be revered.

3. Now, here on earth may Your commonwealth come.

4. On earth as in heaven may Your will be done.

5. Give us today our bread for today.

4. Forgive us our wrongs as we forgive.

3. Lead us away from the perilous trial.

2. Liberate us from the evil.

1.For the kingdom is yours and yours alone.

2. The power is yours and yours alone.

3.The glory is yours and yours alone.

4.Now and forever, amen.

5. Now, here on earth may your commonwealth come.

4. Here on earth may your dreams come true.

3. Hallelujah2. Hallelujah1. Amen.

1. Relationship-Building: Worst case scenario of our gathering is that we leave with a lot of new friends who share a common vision and heart.

2. Mutual Inspiration/Encouragement: We'll have three hours together each morning to ensure that all will leave with full tanks - with questions answered, with dreams confirmed, with plans solidified, with allies enlisted, sharing the joy of being seen and heard by one another.

3. Planning/Conspiring: How can our efforts be more wisely synergized? How can our many endeavors contribute to a sustainable, gently-powerful movement?

4. Rest/Reinvigoration/Fun: There will be plenty of time for walks on the beach, swimming, boating, fishing, walking, exploring while we're together.

5. Targeted Conversations: Each afternoon, you'll have the opportunity to pull together specific conversations about issues you think are important.

A story about a youth group …

Conventional View Emerging View

The HumanSituation: Whatis the story thatwe findourselves in?

God created the world as perfect,but because our primalancestors, Adam and Eve, didnot maintain the absoluteperfection demanded by God,God has irrevocably determinedthat the entire universe and all itcontains will be destroyed, andthe souls of all human beings –except for those specificallyexempted – will be foreverpunished for their imperfectionin hell.1

God created the world as good, buthuman beings – as individuals, and asgroups – have rebelled against God andfilled the world with evil and injusticelike a terrible disease. God wants to savehumanity and heal it from its sickness,but humanity is hopelessly lost andconfused, like sheep without a shepherd,wandering farther and farther intolostness and danger. Left to themselves,human beings will spiral downward insickness and evil.

BasicQuestions: Whatquestions didJesus come toanswer?

Since everyone is doomed tohell, Jesus seeks to answer thesequestions: how can individualsbe saved from eternalpunishment in hell and insteadgo to heaven after they die? Howcan God help individuals behappy and successful until then?

Since the human race is in such desperatetrouble, Jesus seeks to answer thisquestion: what must be done about themess we’re in? The mess refers both tothe general human condition and itsspecific outworking among hiscontemporaries: living under dominationby the Roman empire, and divided intovarious competing sects.

Jesus’ message:How did Jesusrespond to thecrisis?

Jesus says, in essence, “If youwant to be among thosespecifically qualified to escapebeing forever punished for yoursins in hell, you must repent ofyour individual sins and believethat my Father punished me onthe cross so He won’t have topunish you in hell. Only if youbelieve this will you go toheaven when everyone else isbanished to hell.”2 This is thegood news.

Jesus says, in essence, “Other people andgroups – including your own religiousleaders - are leading you farther andfarther astray. I have been sent by Godwith this good news – that God loveshumanity, even in its lostness and sin.God graciously invites everyone andanyone to question and reject what theyhave been told and instead follow a newpath. Trust me and become my disciple,and you will be transformed, and you willparticipate in the transformation of theworld, which is possible, beginning rightnow.”3 This is the good news.

1 Of course, there are many modern western non-religious ontologies and framing stories too,plus Eastern ontologies and framing stories – both religious and irreligious.2 This reflects a Calvinistic Evangelical protestant version of the message. The popular RomanCatholic version might say, “You must believe in the teachings of the church and follow itsinstructions, especially those regarding sacraments.” The popular mainline or liberal Protestant

2 questions:From Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a

Revolution of Hope

What are the top global problems?

What does the message of Jesus say to those problems?

United Nations University: The State of the FutureTop Fifteen Challenges: How can …1. … sustainable development be achieved for all?2. … everyone have sufficient clean water without conflict?3. … population growth and resources be brought into balance?4. … genuine democracy emerge from authoritarian regimes?5. … policymaking be made more sensitive to global long-term perspectives?6. … the global convergence of information and communications technologies work for everyone?7. … ethical market economies be encouraged to help reduce the gap between rich and poor?

8. … the threat of new and reemerging diseases and immune micro-organisms be reduced?9. … the capacity to decide be improved as the nature of work and institutions change?10. … shared values and new security strategies reduce ethnic conflicts, terrorism, and the use of weapons of mass destruction?11. … the changing status of women help improve the human condition?12. … transnational organized crime networks be stopped from becoming more powerful and sophisticated global enterprises?13. … growing energy demands be met safely and efficiently?14. … scientific and technological breakthroughs be accelerated to improve the human condition?15. … ethical considerations become more routinely incorporated into global decisions?

8 Millennium Development Goals:1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.2. Achieve universal primary education.3. Promote gender equality and empower women.4. Reduce child mortality. 5. Improve maternal health.6. Combat HIV/AIDs, malaria, and other diseases.7. Ensure environmental sustainability.8. Develop a global partnership for development

Copenhagen Consensus Top 10 Global Problems

1. Hunger and malnutrition2. Climate change3. Conflicts4. Financial Instability5. Water and Sanitation6. Subsidies and Trade Barriers7. Population/Migration8. Communicable Diseases9. Education10. Governance and Corruption

Rick Warren’s PEACE Plan1. Plant churches to combat spiritual emptiness2. Equip servant leaders to combat corrupt leadership3. Assist the poor through humanitarian aid (poverty)4. Care for the sick to combat disease5. Educate the next generation to combat ignorance

spiritual emptiness corrupt leadership poverty disease ignorance hunger and malnutrition climate change

conflicts Financial Instability Water/Sanitation subsidies/trade barriers population/ migration

communicable diseases education governance/corruption hunger

education gender inequality child mortality maternal health

environmental sustainability ethnic conflicts terrorism weapons of mass

destruction organized crime networks energy demands clean water

population growth authoritarian regimes

ines s c

dis ea

s Fi na

ie s/tr

is ease s

ss dest

i me n

FOUR GLOBAL CRISES

Societal Machine

Equity Security

Prosperity

Solar Energy

ResourcesWaste

Good News (an alternative

story)

PLANET

POVERTY

RELIGION

Luke and Acts

One ongoing story:

Good News of Jesus and the Kingdom/Commonwealth of God

16:11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us.

16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved."

18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her.

19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice."

22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken.

May 2010

Washington DC, USA

4.5 on richter scale

(viewer discretion advsied)

At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone's chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"

29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

Saved = set free from the oppression, fear,

and exploitation of an enslaving system.

The next morning - a sit-in

followed by demands

and negotiations

and reconciliation.

The gospel of the kingdom of God

engages with

a colony of the empire of Caesar

Begins with the marginal

Rescues the vulnerable

Infuriates the oppressors

Loves the enemy

Confronts injustice among the powerful

Sings, prays, and gains participants

Internal spiritual formation in the way of Jesus ...

is expressed through participation with the Spirit

in the liberation of children, women, and men ...

starting with the weakest and least and continuing to those in power.

reclaiming the “e-word”

evangelism

Communities

Families, individuals, and organizations linked to a common environment, collaborating for the common good.

Publics:

Organizations which operate across many communities.

Coca Cola, McDonald’s, Democratic/Republican

Party, BP

Individuals

People who live their lives in relation to communities and publics.

PlanetPovertyPeaceReligion

Social Movements

Organizations which make proposals or demands to communities and publics to make progress towards new gains.

It takes collective, non-institutional (or prophetic) power to bring change to communities/institutions/publics.

You can’t change the center/inside/priestly without

proposals and pressure from the margins/outside/prophetic.

The Personal Question

What kind of personal spiritual formation keeps us alive and empowered for long-term, non-self-destructive engagement?

The Audience Question:

To the churches?

With the churches, to the world?

To the churches and the world?

100 - 500 - 1000 - 10,000 churches joining with a message to their fellow churches and the world.

Philippians 2:1-11

If then there is any encouragement in Christ,

any consolation from love,

any sharing in the Spirit,

any compassion and sympathy,

make my joy complete:

be of the same mind,

having the same love,

being in full accord and of one mind.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit,

but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.

Let each of you look not to your own interests,

but to the interests of others.

Let this attitude be in us,The attitude of Jesus.

Christ being in the image of God ...Did not count equality with God

Something to be grasped,But he emptied himself,

By taking the very nature of a servant,Being made in human form,

And being found in human form,He humbled himself.

He became obedient to the point of death,Even death upon a cross.

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place.\

God gave him the highest name of all,So that at Jesus’ name

All knees should bend/All tongues confess/

That Jesus Christ is Lord/To the glory of God the Father,

... Who works in us to desireAnd do God’s good pleasure.

Let this attitude be in us,The attitude of Jesus.

we need a theology of

Communities, institutions and movements

1. The Bible: In light of how the Bible has been abused in the past and present, we know that we need a new way of describing what the Bible is, how it reached its current form, how we should interpret and teach it (especially to children and youth), etc.

2. The Church: A vision of integral missional prompts us to challenge the church in many ways - moving beyond preoccupation with its own institutional maintenance towards forming Christ-like people who become a blessing to the larger community, and thus embody the message we proclaim.

3. The Poor: The growing gap between rich and poor calls for a multi-faceted partnership that expresses compassion, seeks justice, confronts exploitation and marginalization, and creates opportunity, especially in a global economy.

4. The Planet: The environmental crisis must evoke from us proposals that will benefit the birds of the air, the flowers of the field, and the ecosystems that maintain them, so that followers of Christ will pioneer a new lifestyle and help create the regenerative economy the planet needs.

5. Pluralism: To love our neighbors in today’s world means to learn to appreciate our neighbors’ diverse religions. We must propose new ways of encountering the other that provide alternatives to both combative fundamentalism and combative atheism.

6. Peace: After two thousand years, it is time for the Christian faith to distinguish itself not just by advocating for war with less injustice, but by proclaiming an attainable ideal of peace, along with equipping Christians as practical peacemakers.

7. Equality: Women and men, gay and straight, minority and majority, alien and native-born, unbeliever and believer, occupied and occupier, one percent and ninety-nine percent - our world is torn by divisions that put some in a position of of privilege and power, and others in a position of disadvantage and danger. Sadly, our churches are often laggards, not leaders, in confronting prejudice and standing for the dignity and equality of all people.

8. Families, Women, and Children: Families face multiple challenges today, including greed-based economies that corrode humane values, exploitive entertainment industries that undermine human dignity, and patriarchal religious systems that reward a crude form of masculinity. We must challenge churches to propose and embody family life that can overcome these challenges.

9. Business/Economics: We must challenge business and economic leaders to create new forms of business that seek a triple bottom line - lasting social, environmental, and economic benefit, not just maximized short-term profit. In a world of rising population and increasing mechanization, we must also challenge business leaders to seek to maximize employment along with profit, and to discover new ways to reduce economic inequality by expanding opportunity.

10. Personal Dimensions: In what way must those who articulate demands like these make demands on themselves? And how can those demanding practices be sustainable and life-giving rather than burdensome and restrictive?

convergence 2015 mission 3

global problems

global decisions

global crises

global longterm perspectives

threat of new

sustainable development

human condition

new security strategies

Spiritual

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