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DVD opening shot of turning globe

Journey Journey

80 congregations in 6 clusters in Southern-Africa

1. Western-Cape: 20 congregations2. Namibia: 8 congregations3. Gauteng I: 10 congregations4. Eastern-Cape: 7 congregations5. Southern-Cape: 13 congregations6. Gauteng II: 12 congregations7. Kalahari 10 Congregations

Methodist, Lutheran, Anglican, DRC, URC, DRCA Churches participate already.

Partnership for Missional Church

• Grounded in experience • 20 years of experience (USA)• 3 years of experience (SA)• In over 81 congregations

• Grounded in research• Longevity study

FOUR KEY FACTORS

1. Clustering congregations synergizes innovation

FOUR KEY FACTORS

1. Clustering congregations synergizes innovation

2. Innovating capacities works better than replacing capacities

FOUR KEY FACTORS

1. Clustering congregations synergizes innovation

2. Innovating capacities works better than replacing capacities

3. Congregations are key partners to innovation

FOUR KEY FACTORS

1. Clustering congregations synergizes innovation

2. Innovating capacities works better than replacing capacities

3. Congregations are key partners to innovation

4. Conflict can be employed for mission

Measured Outcomes

Participation in

churchwide ministries

Worship attendance

Adult conversions

Increase in lay leader base

Increase participation

of young adults

Longevity of pastorate

Partnership for Missional Church• Grounded in experience

• 20 USA (3 in SA) years of experience• In over 71 (81 SA) congregations

• Grounded in research• Longevity study

• Grounded spiritual disciplines• Dwelling in the Word• Keeping the Main thing the Main thing• Corporate Spiritual Discernment

Partnership for Missional Church

Preparation, finding leaders

Celebration event !Celebration event !

KEY: kickoff event

cluster gatherings

During Phase I Congregations will receive . . .

• 3 days of continuing education for your pastors/ministers

• 5 days of lay leader training• A process for discovering the culture and readiness

of your congregations for missional church along with 3 different reports illustrating the results

• A board retreat to evaluate and engage learnings• Training for coaches and mentors• A step by step process for leaders of congregations

to work together on a monthly basis• Phone loop: a bi-monthly phone meeting with a

consultant/coach• On-line newsletter

During Phase II Congregations will receive . . .

• 3 days of continuing education for your pastors/ministers

• 5 days of lay leader training• A full assessment of leadership skills &

capacities for leaders• 2 days of training for missional action teams• Phone loop: a bi-monthly phone meeting

with a consultant/coach• 2 day board retreat• A step by step process for missional action

teams• On-line newsletter

During Phase III Congregations will receive . . .

• 3 days of continuing education for your pastors/ministers

• 5 days of lay leader training• A process for creating 5 documents to guide

congregations through the implementation of their plan– Congregational Confession– A Vision for Embodiment– Long Range Plans– SMART Plans of Action– A Staff Covenant

• Phone loop: a bi-monthly phone meeting with a consultant/coach

• On-line newsletter

During Phase IV Congregations will receive . . .

• 3 days of continuing education for your pastors/ministers

• 5 days of lay leader training• Plans for developing ministries and for

helping members discover their God-given spiritual gifts and assist in placing them in an appropriate ministry

• Phone loop: a bi-monthly phone meeting with a consultant/coach

• On-line newsletter

Our context changes continuously and is complex of nature. David Bosch describes one of the changes as a shift from Christendom to Post-Christendom. The implications are enormous for both the assumptions and focus of the local congregations ministry

Christendom assumptions

• We live in a christen culture

• The church is a central force in the community

• The focus of the local congregation should be to maintain the Christendom in its geographical area

• Ministry= hatching, matching and dispatching

Word has it that more than 80% of sailboat owners never sails further than 20km from the harbor, notwithstanding the fact that the jach was bought and maintained to undertaken a

world race

- in the christendom paradigm it is the painful truth of congregations

- we maintain the congregation for the sake of God’s main calling, but never undertake the race

Post-Christendom implications for local

congregations• The Christendom

assumption lost its power• That does not necessarily

spells the end of the church- but we should look seriously into the implications of the shift

• It is not for us to chouse a Christendom or Post-Christendom world -God is sending us into a post-Christendom world.

Post-christendom realities

• Biblically illiterate • Ritually incompetent• Highly self-conscious• Trauma or stress • Disillusioned with the

institution• Undefined spiritual

hunger• Feel shamed by the

church

•What Does It Mean To Be Missional?

•Quadrant II

•Church with a Mission•Focused on

evangelism and/or social action

•Quadrant I

•Religious Club, or Spiritual Filling Station

•“Meet my needs”

•Quadrant IV

•Missional Church•Both congregational life and outreach focused on

God’s mission

•Quadrant III

•Closed-Door Community•Focused on being a “good” church, but

only for us

1. Club or spiritual filling station

•Quadrant II

•Church with a Mission•Focused on

evangelism and/or social action

•Quadrant I

•Religious Club, or Spiritual Filling Station

•“Meet my needs”

•Quadrant IV

•Missional Church•Both congregational life and outreach focused on

God’s mission

•Quadrant III

•Closed-Door Community•Focused on being a “good” church, but

only for us

3. Close door community

•Quadrant II

•Church with a Mission•Focused on

evangelism and/or social action

•Quadrant I

•Religious Club, or Spiritual Filling Station

•“Meet my needs”

•Quadrant IV

•Missional Church•Both congregational life and outreach focused on

God’s mission

•Quadrant III

•Closed-Door Community•Focused on being a “good” church, but

only for us

2. Church with a mission

•Quadrant II

•Church with a Mission•Focused on

evangelism and/or social action

•Quadrant I

•Religious Club, or Spiritual Filling Station

•“Meet my needs”

•Quadrant IV

•Missional Church•Both congregational life and outreach focused on

God’s mission

•Quadrant III

•Closed-Door Community•Focused on being a “good” church, but

only for us

4. Missonal church

Missional or being send• We want to participate in God’s mission of

reconciling, restoring, and redeeming a world in need of God’s grace.

• We engage in spiritual discernment to discover specifically how God is sending us so that we may be better partners for one another in God's work.

• The mission field is no longer only in foreign countries but among us; congregations are the mission centers for the Christian church today.

• “in our homes …. across the street ….. all over the world”

What is expected of a minister What is expected of a minister in the first three churches?in the first three churches?

The innovative Missional

Leadership and

Change• Innovating is a process of failure emerging from a Christian imagination and wisdom and leading to a shared positive outcome.

Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation

Model of Change

and

the Partnership for

Missional Church

Change rarely happens in a straight line, directly from Point A to Point B

In fact, it looks more like the path of a sailboat, riding the wind to get to its destination.

This is especially true as a whole culture changes.

Everett Rogers declares that there are even five different stages that members of a culture go through when they have met a change…

5 stages of decision-making

Knowledge –Knowledge – awareness and understanding of a new thing

Persuasion Persuasion –– favorable or unfavorable attitude toward the new thing

Decision Decision –– adopt or reject the new thing

ImplementationImplementation – – putting the new thing to use

ConfirmationConfirmation – – seeking reinforcement or overturning of the decision

People’s openness to change

Innovators Innovators 2.5% “the brave”

Early Early majoritymajority

34% “the thoughtful”

Early adoptersEarly adopters 13.5% “the respectable”

Laggards Laggards 16% “the traditional”

Late majorityLate majority 34% “the skeptical”

Partnership for a Missional Church

Preparation, finding leaders

Cluster event

Cluster event

Cluster event

Cluster event

Cluster event

Cluster event

Cluster event

Cluster event

The Partnership for a Missional Church

Open to new wayOpen to new way

Learning Learning and growingand growing

Practices – Practices – pattern 4, pattern 4,

for examplefor exampleGrowingGrowingHealthier Healthier

CongregationsCongregations

RenewalRenewal

journeyjourneyEventEvent

Innovated Innovated Capacity Capacity

LEGEND

Missional Missional Authority – Authority – pattern 8, pattern 8,

for example for example

Worship as Worship as Witness –Witness –pattern 5, pattern 5,

for examplefor exampleDiscern mission, gather participationDiscern mission, gather participation

Open to focus, not dispersionOpen to focus, not dispersion

ExperimentingExperimentingMissional ministry; teamsMissional ministry; teams

Open to do, risk, failOpen to do, risk, fail

Build do-able plans, recognize wallsBuild do-able plans, recognize walls

Visioning for Visioning for Acting IIActing II

(long range plans, (long range plans, hitting the wall)hitting the wall)

Open to God’s workOpen to God’s work

Discern God’s Discern God’s preferred futurepreferred future

Gathering EventGathering Event(after-Christendom and (after-Christendom and congregational discovery training)congregational discovery training)

Open to after-Open to after-ChristendomChristendom

Listening Listening leadersleaders

Open to Open to consensus, consensus, leadershipleadership Harness energy, Harness energy,

start a planstart a planOpen to Open to

listenlisten Speak, think, Speak, think, imagineimagine

Discern mission, gather participationDiscern mission, gather participation

Open to focus, not dispersionOpen to focus, not dispersion

Visioning for Acting IVisioning for Acting I(mission, vision, and pattern (mission, vision, and pattern claiming)claiming)

How does all this happen?

Discovering ExperimentingVisioning for ActingLearning and GrowingSharing and Mentoring

Five Questions That Missional Congregations Ask

1. Where are we?Missional congregations are aware of their contexts. They know that Christendom is vanishing. They cannot expect that everyone around them is Christian. They know that they live in the midst of a mission field.

2. Whose are we?Missional congregations know they belong to the people of God. They are letting Scripture and prayer shape them as individuals and as a congregation. They let God’s Spirit work through them and empower them to take risks for the sake of the gospel.

3. What is God doing?Missional congregations can point to how God is acting among them and in the wider world. They are learning more about God’s mission of redeeming, restoring, and reconciling the world through Jesus Christ.

4. How is God sending us?Missional congregations know how to discern and listen to God’s specific call to them. They know their missional vocation and are willing to act on that. They are reaching out across boundaries for the sake of the gospel.

5. How is our church living now according to the pattern of God’s future?Missional congregations want to be a sign of God’s way of doing things. They want to order their life as a congregation so that it is a preview of the future God intends for the whole world. They give witness to Jesus Christ in their outreach as they invite others to become citizens of God’s reign. And they give witness to Jesus Christ in all of their life together as a congregation. How they are church is also a witness to the gospel.

Dedicated to Diversity

The Leading congregations in each cluster consists of a pair of congregations which represent diversity in terms of denomination and community.

Structure of the Partnership

Participating congregations represented by the leading congregations.

The leading congregations with the project leaders constitute the Management

committee.

Buvton does the project management of the partnership.

Questions and discussion

Notebook coveror

DVD opening shot of turning globe