The second of the three major measures passed by the General Assembly and to be voted on by our Presbytery (March 26) is the new form of government (nFog) portion of the Book of Order. While the nFog is important in the life of our church, it is a difficult beast to actually muse on. So we will look at some of the underlying theology … Namely missional ecclesiology….
Below is the abstract of “What is Missional Ecclesiology?” by Paul Hooker. The full text can be found at http://www.negapby.org/missionalecc.pdf
Missional ecclesiology demands more of the church than deciding which community service projects to undertake or setting congregational priorities for the coming year.
Missional ecclesiology is a way of understanding the church. It begins with the missio Dei—God’s own “self-sending” in Christ by the Spirit to redeem and transform creation. In a missional ecclesiology, the Church is not a building or an institution but a community of witness, called into being and equipped by God, and sent into the world to testify to and participate in Christ’s work.
The Church does not have missions; instead, the mission of God creates the Church. The Church serves God’s call to mission through its work in three broadly defined categories: the proclamation of the Word of God, the administration of the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and the nurture of the covenant community of disciples.
It undertakes this mission without regard for its own agenda or survival. A missional polity makes the following commitments:
• The starting point for a missional polity is God’s self-sending into the world.
• The Church’s calling is to be a community of witness that participates in Christ’s work in the world.
• The congregation is the basic form of the church, and individual believers have their ministries nurtured and guided within the congregation.
• The ministry of the councils of the church is shaped around the calling of the Church.
• The polity provides flexibility for mission in a changing and variable context.
• The polity encourages accountability on the part of its covenanted partners to one another.
