Part 5: Chapter 3 set the theological foundation, then chapter 4 set the strategic foundation. Now in the fifth chapter Alan looks at the missional-incarnational impulse, beginning with the missio Dei. Alan quotes Darrel Guder,

“We have come to see that mission is not merely an activity of the church. Rather, mission is the result of God’s initiative, rooted in God’s purpose to heal and restore creation. God’s mission began with the call of Israel.. and reached its revelatory climax in the incarnation. It continues today in the witness of churches in every culture to the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

We are reminded that Jesus did not come preaching the church, but the kingdom of God. Alan contrasts the attractional vs the missional impulse. Alan identifies four elements that frame our understanding of the incarnation: presence, proximity, powerlessness, and proclamation. Alan notes that the incarnation was organic: Jesus was so much like his neighbors, he was never even noticed until he began to do miracles. As a movement took shape, the gospel became embedded first in the Hebrew culture and then in the Greek. Alan compares this dynamic to seed and soil, and then new life growing and reseeding itself. Alan spelled out some of the differences between attractional and missional in his previous book (72).

Alan suggests that we have tended to place ecclesiology before missiology. He argues for a different order. Christology comes first, then missiology, then ecclesiology. The shape of the church is determined by Jesus and His mission. That mission comes first means the church is always embedded in a particular context, and that her shape is guided by her purpose.

On pages 145ff Alan looks at several different missional communities: TPC, (Re)Verb and Imagine Tasmania. He demonstrates that parties, pubs and third places are profound opportunities for missional engagement.

Part 6:

"Purpose and principle, clearly understood and articulated, and commonly shared, are the genetic code of any healthy organization. To the degree that you hold purpose and principles in common among you , you can dispense with command and control. People will know how to behave in accordance with them, and they will do it in thousands of unimaginable, creative ways. The organization will become a vital, living set of beliefs."

This quote from Dee Hock is an intriguing way to open the 6th chapter. It smacks of Buber's "the wise man will become a teaching," as well as some fundamental emergence theory. It also recalls some fundamental ideas about leadership in a chaordic system.

What is the fundamental task of leaders? Some of us would argue that task is to create culture, or to shape environments. Alan quotes Max DePree, "The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality." I like the rest of the quote... "The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader must become a servant and a debtor."

The title of this chapter is "Apostolic Environment." It seems that Alan has a dual interest here: one is to talk about leadership, and the other is to talk about environments. Alan will connect both of these elements to his own thinking about apostolic ministry in the postmodern world. Along with many of you, I consider the word "apostle" to be loaded with cultural bias, historical distortions and aberrations, abuse, and general theological ignorance. Alan and Mike, in their earlier book together, did some good work on unloading and de-gnosticizing the word. They worked at removing the over spiritualized connotations, and the various connections with authority and control, and set it back in the real world. Others have added their own brush strokes, like Alan Roxborough in his recent work "The Sky is Falling."

Alan opens with an echo of the earlier argument: it will take more than pastor-leader types to get us where we need to go. "God gave some apostles" for a good reason. These people tend to be creative, entrepreneurial, and living on the creative boundaries of the church and culture. They have a passion for the gospel, and a passion to see a vital church living in a missional mode. Alan is interested in describing function here, and not an office. Apostles are interested in the growth of the gospel both physically and theologically. Alan suggests three primary functions:

* to embed mDNA through pioneering new ground for the gospel and the church
* to guard mDNA through the application and integration of apostolic theology. Alan appears to include the "poetic" function here when he references maintaining the web of meaning.
* to create the environment in which the other ministries emerge. Alan reacts specifically to authority conceptions when he says that the foundation setting work of apostles is to shape the environment and provide a reference point for the other gifts.

Alan points out that the APEPT ministires (Shaping, 165ff) provide for the maturing of the body, maintaining a healthy mDNA. A good word that references this dynamic at work is "empowerment." When command and control and top-down authority is at work God's people are restricted rather than empowered. Apostolic ministry releases freedom, growth, and health. Alan reaches for some good metaphors: farmer (gardener?), midwife and generally organic and ecological concepts. Alan notes that networks that are non-hierarchical need another organizing principle: meaning. Webs of meaning connect people who share a common dream and a common conception of their purpose. Networks grow up spontaneously, with leaders who embody and articulate the mDNA.

Next Alan shifts to a rehearsal of APEPT and some organizational theory. There are definable stages in organizational life. Young movements are full of prophets and visionaries, people with little vested interest in old forms and lots of energy for risk and experimentation. But as movements become organizations, the builders and synergists take over.. establishing relational connections, consolidating the group. The visionaries and questioners are marginalized. Next teachers and administrators standardize roles and functions and systematize a system of understanding and the builders and synergists are marginalized. As time passes the adminstrators rule, and as they manage the organization it shifts to maintenance mode. Finally, authority is encapsulated in an office and the bureaucrats rule with a rod of iron. Little change or growth is possible, and the organization dies.

So the apostles and prophets are always strongly in evidence in the birth of new movements, but then are thrust aside as the movement becomes established. Charism gives place to charisma.. pastors and teachers rule .. humanizers and systematizers. Movements become institutions in part because they push aside the innovators and visionaries, they lose touch with context and become frozen in time. Life and passion gives way to "hardening of the categories."

The way to recapture a missional movement from the perspective of APEPT is to find and empower those apostolic types. But that means destabilizing a system, disabling the homeostatic mechanisms, and that is inevitably an uncomfortable process. Alan relates his own experience at SMRC, where they restructured their leadership team on the APEPT principle. Leadership was adapted so that all five ministries were represented on the team. The apostolic team focued on translaocal, missional and strategic issues. The prophetic team focused on listening to God and discerning his will, social justice, and questioning the status quo of a middle class church. The evangelistic team focused on overseeing and developing outreach. The pastoral team worked at community, worship, counseling, etc. All this worked within an open learning model which allowed the team to "fit and split" and "contend and transcend" (175).

*Parts 7 and 8 coming next week*


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