Christology -missiology - ecclesiology

Sorry - a bit more H&F...!

"The church by its very nature has an indissoluble relationship to the surrounding cultural context. This relationship defines the practical nature of its mission. But the reason for mission comes from somewhere else. To say it more theologically, Christology determines missiology, and missiology determines ecclesiology. It is absolutely vital that the church gets the order right."

In other words if the mission of the church doesn't reflect what we read of Jesus in the gospels - well perhaps we're missing the point. If it doesn't reflect true liberation; true justice; true hope - I'm not sure where we are getting the blue print from. If it reflects an insipid, bland, characterless form of salvation that is shot through with gaping holes - I'd love to know how we bought it. I'd love to know how we managed to get the order so wrong. I'd love to know how we managed to be so pre-occupied with ourselves we hardly noticed.

Frost, M. and Hirsch, A. (2003) The Shape of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21st Century Church

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