For about a year and a half during and right after college, I got to live in a house w/ a group of guys, most of whom I still consider good friends and interact with regularly. This was one of the most formative (and fun!) times of my life. One memory in particular has come back to my attention recently.

A few of us were sitting around on the front porch talking and the conversation turned toward the future. One friend commented on how he had had a personal epiphany recently. He said that he realized that he had developed, in no specifically methodical fashion, a vision of the man he would be someday. He went on to offer a litany of characteristics that he believed would accurately describe him when he was, say, 40 or 50 years old. That wasn’t what struck him however. The epiphany sprung forth from the idea that he was not just going to magically wake up and be this person that he imagined at some point, but that he was right then and there, in the present, either moving closer toward or further away from actually becoming the kind of man he envisioned. It’s probably characteristic of college-age students to disassociate who they are from the person they hope to become, but in the midst of an impending graduation, my friend, and through him the rest of us, began to wake up to the reality that there is no such thing as the person we imagine we will be someday, only the person we are actually becoming.

The Inevitable Changing of the Guard

This realization has important implications for how we think of our own formation for sure, but it begs the consideration of another reality; namely, that like it our not, in terms of Christian leadership, the younger generation inevitably becomes the older generation. The sad passing of people like John Stott and Chuck Colson bear this out.

At 33, I feel like this is beginning to be important. I occupy something of a shared liminal space. Whereas I could rattle off a long list of Christian leaders that I and others have looked to for theological guidance over the last 15 years or so, the fact of the matter is, in another 15 years, many of these people will have offered most of what they have to offer and a younger generation of emerging Christian leaders will be looking to (gulp!) my generation for the same sort of theological guidance. Which compels me to ask the question, “What kind of Christian leaders are those of my generation becoming and how will these men and women serve and shape the Church?”

I was insanely fortunate to have had the opportunity ride my wife’s coattails all the way to South Africa back in the fall of 2010 for the Third Lausanne Congress. I am equally grateful that I will get to participate in the upcoming Consultation for North American Younger Leaders. The Lausanne movement doesn’t need to be seen as THE locus for a quest to discern the future shape of the Church, but I have to agree with Dave Dunbar, the President of Biblical Seminary, when he supposes that perhaps Lausanne, and especially the Cape Town Commitment, hasn’t really received the attention it deserves (it’s a pivotal document for the initiative I’m working with, the Missio Alliance). They seem to have managed to bring a more globally and ecumenically representative tribe of Christians together than any other endeavor, and for the fact alone, I think it’s a worth-while point of reference. I think this brief video of my friend and Lausanne’s International Deputy Director for North America, Tom Lin, gets at some of this.

From the Experience and Questions of “Wilderness” to the Experience and Questions of “Exile”

Another friend, Geoff Holsclaw, and I have discussed that while Christian leaders of our generation (those under 35) have benefited greatly from the example and writing of many missional theologians and pastors, our actual experience has been quite different than theirs. They have had to navigate a ton of terrain on the journey from modernity to postmodernity / Christendom to Post-Christendom / denominational stability to denominational irrelevance, leading them to ask certain questions in certain ways with certain expectations and assumptions. By and large, this isn’t a shared experience for those of my generation. For most of us, the destination of our theological mentors has been the beginning point for us, leading us to ask (even if not altogether) different questions in different ways with different expectations and assumptions.

To generalize, we don’t wonder about the shift of Christianity to the global south, we take it for granted. We don’t feel the same sense of Western (missionary) guilt, because colonialism wasn’t our project. We aren’t all that interested in conversations about restoring Christianity to the center of culture, because, for the most part, we’ve never known it, or, in a more theological sense, we reject it as not befitting the nature of Christian faith anyway. This list could of course be added to and argued with (as it should be). It also obviously wouldn’t resonate with the experience of everyone across the board (what does?!) But, my sense is that it nevertheless outlines some of the generational realities that shape and inform not only the questions we’re asking, but the way in which we ask them and, consequently, the shape the Church will inevitably take as younger leaders begin to take on more and more responsibility.

I’m curious. Regardless of what generation you happen to find yourself in, what are your thoughts or impressions on the qualities, characteristics, and perspectives of younger Christian leaders and how do you suppose these will influence the future shape of the Church as these leaders shoulder more and more responsibility over the next 30 years or so?

Related posts:

1. Missio Alliance: Discerning the Shape of Theology & Practice for Mission
2. Two Battles of Emerging Missional Leaders
3. Toward a Missional Vision of Theological Education: The Fruit of the Problem

This is a very overdue post.

A Personal Vocational Transition

At the end of last December I resigned my position at Northern Seminary in order to begin helping direct the efforts of a new theological initiative. The transition was quite seamless as Northern has actually become an early and major sponsor of this new initiative, the Missio Alliance. In this new role I get to work alongside Chris Backert (serving as Ex. Dir. & Regional Dir. for Eastern US), JR Woodward (serving as Regional Dir. for Western US), and Dave Fitch (serving as Regional Dir. for Central US).

What is the Missio Alliance?

This initiative has grown out of the Ecclesia Network, a group I’ve been privileged to be a part of for the last 5 years or so. Whereas Ecclesia has become a home and source of support, training, and encouragement for missional churches and church planters, the Missio Alliance has more to do with bringing a broader array of practitioner-theologians, missiologists, pastors and other Christian leaders together for dialogue, training, and the creation of resources. Here’s a fuller description of the origins and aims of the Missio Alliance from the initial web page that we have up…

As the Church in North America wrestles with the complex realities of an increasingly Post-Christian cultural context, there’s a need to consider afresh what God is doing and calling us to in His Mission. In recent history we have witnessed increasing fragmentation within evangelical Protestantism and sharp denominational decline. Yet even amidst these challenges, we believe there is a unique opportunity to work toward the renewal of the Church for Mission in North America. 

The Missio Alliance seeks to provide a seeding ground for such renewal. We aim to bring pastors, practitioner-theologians, leaders, and missiologists together from across the spectrum of the North American Church to work for a Kingdom-driven, gospel-centered, biblically grounded theology and ecclesial practice for God’s Mission in North America. We seek to provide a place for theological dialogue, training, and the creation of resources to navigate present and future missional challenges. Grounded in The Capetown Commitment of the Third Lausanne Congress, these endeavors will emerge out of a strong and distinctive theological identity that is rooted in relationships. We will seek to cross cultural and denominational boundaries, creating by the Spirit a gospel dynamic for discerning the challenges of our time. 

Dave Fitch has talked about the need for something like the Missio Alliance to emerge. As he wrote in this post…

As I said previously, and as I have said in my new book The End of Evangelicalism?, evangelicalism is at a tipping point. We are cracking. The emergent conversation started by Brian McLaren et. al. has not produced theological leadership (it seems Love Wins is another case of this).  The herds of disenchanted evangelicals are left to either wander or head for the newer coalitions of the Neo-Reformed. Yet as I’ve said here, this isn’t going to take us into Mission. Based in the impulses in both of these movements, we need an alternative place for the work of theology and mission. Without it – it is questionable whether these much needed conversations can place. Without an alternative coalition (that can bring certain parts of these existing factions together into conversation with the Holiness, Anabaptist Missionals), the aftermath of traditional evangelicalism is going to devolve into defensiveness and fail to produce a missional movement. There’s some of us working toward that end (of nurturing an alternative theological coalition). In the meantime, this for me, is the lesson of the Rob Bell fiasco.

Who’s Involved & How can I Connect?

At present, we are working toward a launch conference in April of 2013. Among those who have already agreed to be a part of that conference are Dallas Willard, Scot McKnight, Roger Olson, Cherith Fee Nordling, Amos Yong, and Jo Saxton among others.

If connecting w/ this sort of community sounds of interest to you, feel free to drop your email over here to stay in the loop, or connect w/ us on Twitter or Facebook.

If you’re out West, we are planning a regional conference on Oct. 19-20 near Los Angeles featuring Alan Hirsch, Dave Fitch, & JR Woodward w/ engagement and responses from 6 local pastors. Stay tuned for more info on that as the date gets closer.

We’ve already begun to establish working partnerships w/ a handful of denominations, seminaries, and leaders of various networks, but if you represent an institution or organization that might be interested in partnering with something like I’ve described above, please be in touch via: connect [@] missioalliance [dot] org.

Related posts:

1. Younger Missional Leaders, the Lausanne Movement, and the Shape/ing of the Church
2. #Occupy Empire: Anabaptism in God’s Mission
3. A Look Back and A Look Ahead

I was asked to offer a paper so I have been working on that for the last several weeks. Here’s the title and abstract that I am working with…

The Role of Seminaries in Subverting Empire: Toward a Missional Vision of Theological Formation

Across American evangelicalism, a rapidly growing number of pastors and Christian leaders are grappling with the realities of life and ministry in an increasingly Post-Christendom cultural context.  As a result of the cultural marginalization of the Church, many are (re)discovering what it means to understand God as a missionary God and the Church as a missionary community.  Inasmuch as the Anabaptist tradition holds a vast array of resources for those interested in theological and ecclesiological perspectives that reject the assumptions of Christendom from the outset, this paper seeks to bring these same resources to bear on our understanding of the nature, purpose, and shape of theological education.  It will be argued that a missional understanding of God, the Gospel, and the Church calls for a correspondingly missional vision of seminary-based theological formation as a major component of the Church’s role in subverting empire.  

As I’ve been preparing, I was inclined to pick back up, Reenvisioning Theological Education: Exploring a Missional Alternative to Current Models by Robert Banks. This is such a fantastic book. Crying shame that more people haven’t paid attention to it! Here’s the brief review I posted over at Good Reads…

This has to be the most sadly overlooked book on the shape of theological education out there. Banks engages with all the key influencers in this discussion and pushes beyond what has been offered toward a truly missional model of theological education. More could be said about how his proposals relate to a missional ecclesiology – something he references, but doesn’t really discuss at length. On one hand, I have a tremendous wish that those currently involved in the world of theological education would take Banks’ radical (at least from the perspective of the status quo) suggestions seriously enough to make substantive changes. But, on the other hand, as Banks himself mentions toward the end of the book, change will more than likely come, not from institutions at the center of the given system, but from grassroots experiments and movements from the margins. Perhaps what I appreciate most about Banks’ perspective and work is that he’s no mere pragmatist, suggesting changes to the structure of theological education based on external factors (though he is certainly aware of these). Instead, he addresses the topic of theological education from missiological and theological perspectives. If you are at all interested in the topic and/or practice of theological education, this book is one of the best you’ll come across.

I imagine the paper will be undergoing revision right on through the actual delivery of it, so I hope to post it on the other side of the event. Looking forward to meeting any of you out there who may read this blog on occasion and will be at this event. In the mean time, would love to engage w/ any thoughts you might have on the subject of the relationship between theological education and empire from an Anabaptist (or whatever) perspective.

Related posts:

1. Toward a Missional Vision of Theological Education: Character Formation
2. #Occupy Empire: Anabaptism in God’s Mission
3. Toward a Missional Vision of Theological Education: The Fruit of the Problem

…Lots of JR’s, Amy & Aubrey got to coma along, some good basketball games, lots of time to enjoy friendships and start some new one, we officially announced the Missio Alliance (site, twitter, facebook – all in development), and a group on younger missional theologians (plus Dave Fitch got together to discuss doing some work together.

Related posts:

1. Why I’m Going to the Ecclesia National Gathering
2. The Ecclesia Network: Some Reflections and Resources
3. The GOCN, Ecclesia, and the Missional Church

I’ve written before about how I found a theological home w/ in the Anabaptist tradition, so I am really looking forward to spending some time with people who have been swimming in that stream for quite a bit longer than me.  If you can swing it, hope you’ll consider joining us!

Related posts:

1. Anabaptism, Empire, and a Missional Vision of Theological Formation
2. My (Ana)baptism
3. Missio Alliance: Discerning the Shape of Theology & Practice for Mission

A few weeks ago my alma mater, Fuller Theological Seminary, went live with its, “Seminary of the Future” project that Andy Crouch (of Christianity Today) and Rich Mouw (the President of Fuller) have been collaborating on for the last year and a half or so.  You can follow the rolling out of their various Discussion Points at future.fuller.edu.  You can also follow them on Twitter @futureseminary or join a broader conversation using the hashtag, #futureseminary.

Then, yesterday, as I was running and getting caught up on my Homebrewed Christianity listening, I was struck by the closing discussion between podcast host Tripp Fuller and my friend, guest, Dr. (yeah, he finally finished) Tony Jones on the lingering problems of “residential seminary education.”  The whole podcast is worth a listen, though this wasn’t the topic throughout.  They just touched on it at the end.  Tony is nothing if not straightforward and provocative.  Check out this 4 minute clip.

Then, stuck in traffic on my way in yesterday, I noticed that Patheos, one of the most highly trafficked religious websites is convening a two-month online symposium on “The Future of Seminary Education.”  They have already solicited contributions from some great bloggers with more to be added.  This promises to be a fruitful conversation.

Clearly, this is an important conversation for a growing population of people.

As someone who has written on this topic from a missiological point of view (see sidebar on the blog), whose role at Northern Seminary gives me the opportunity to help develop programs, partnerships, and other initiatives along these lines, and who has been working with 3DM as they attempt to offer what they can to this conversation, I am really excited to see just how much momentum this conversation is gaining.

So here’s a final reminder about an event I mentioned a couple weeks ago, for those of you who are in (or who care enough about this to make your way to) the Chicago area, Northern Seminary is hosting a 3DM event on Thursday, October 27 from 7-9PM that will feature the presentation of a paper and video on the future of theological education.  These presentations will be followed by responses by those who can contribute from different perspectives (pastoral, student, academic), and then open discussion and dialogue.  The event is free, but you need to register here.

And feel free to stick around for the (also free) workshop that 3DM is hosting the next day on issues of discipleship and mission, and then the annual Missional Learning Commons.  More info and registration options for these events availabvle at missionalcommons.org.  I think God is going to do lots of great stuff during these events.  Hope you can join us!

Related posts:

1. The Missiological Future of Theological Education – Introduction
2. The Missiological Future of Theological Education – Training Reflective Practitioners
3. The Missiological Future of Theological Education – Training Missionary Leaders

We all know that 3DM is coming to Chicago to conduct a workshop on discipleship and mission at the end of the month, right?  This is happening on Friday, October 28 in the morning and afternoon.  Following this will be the annual Missional Learning Commons, which starts that evening and wraps up around 3PM on Saturday.

Well, before all of this goodness, Northern will be hosting an event on Thursday evening during which 3DM will present a video and paper as a way to spark some conversation about the future of theological education.

From Mike Breen’s blog,

One of the things that has become abundantly clear in our work with pastors and leaders is that there is a devastating disconnect between the ways that our seminaries and theological schools train and equip leaders for ministry and the realities that these leaders are facing day in and day out.  Noticing this has caused us to begin asking (along with many others), “What is the future of theological education?”  While we don’t think we have all answers to that question, we do have some thoughts and would like to invite you to an evening of dialogue about this important topic in Chicago.

So here’s your shot, if you have thoughts, questions, concerns, or ideas about the future of theological education, we’d love for you to join us and contribute to the discussion.  The video and paper will be made publicly available in November, but those who join us for this event will have some advance access to them.

Note: We don’t anticipate this being a large event, but we really do want to advance the word to those who share a genuine interest in this topic, so please feel free to use the social sharing options below or your own avenues of social networking to let others know about this Thursday evening event as well as the workshop and Commons.  Here’s some additional details on the Thursday night event…

• When:  Thursday, October 27 from 7-9 PM
• Where: Northern Seminary, Lindner Conference Center
• What: Presentations of a video and paper on the future of theological education followed by responses by Dr. David Fitch and others and an open question and response time.
• Cost: There is no charge to attend this event, but we would ask that you register here, so that we have an idea of how many will be joining us for the evening.

Related posts:

1. The Future of Theological Education: A Groundswell of Conversation
2. The Missiological Future of Theological Education – Introduction
3. The Missiological Future of Theological Education – Training Kingdom Citizens

I’m not 22 anymore – I’m 32.  And while there are plenty of 32-year-olds out there still nursing a desire for “their time to come,” I am grateful for the people and circumstances God has used over the last 10 years of education and ministry to heal me of the selfish ambition I had previously baptized in my own mind.  I’ve simply become much more enthusiastic about the advancement of God’s kingdom than mine – trust me, it’s way less stressful!  So now, whenever I am presented with the opportunity to attend or participate in a conference, rather than asking, “Will being there contribute to my own advancement?” I try to ask, “Do I have a passion for how this conference is seeking to contribute to God’s kingdom work in the world?”

This is the central reason that I’ll be at the upcoming Ecclesia National Gathering – because it’s an event that oozes authentic passion for God’s kingdom work rather perpetuates the cult-of-personality tenor of much of current Christian conferencing.

Besides that overarching reason, I’ll be there for a few additional important reasons as well…

I’ll be there because I love the down-to-earth, in-the-trenches, church planters and pastors who attend and focus on encouraging and supporting one another rather than engendering a spirit of competition.

I’ll be there because, in word and action, Ecclesia holds up the value of men and women co-laboring in all aspects of ministry.

I’ll be there because humble submission to God’s mission and not fine doctrinal points is what unites us as a group.

I’ll be there because I’ve never experienced an event or a group of people that is so capable of engaging in serious theological discourse without losing sight of its irrelevance apart from incarnational expression.

In short, I’ll be there because I think God is mightily at work in and through this group of people and this event is central to facilitating and furthering that work.  Hope you’ll consider joining us.

Related posts:

1. 2010 Ecclesia National Gathering Reflections
2. Ecclesia 2012
3. The GOCN, Ecclesia, and the Missional Church

Mike helps to lead a ministry called 3DM (more on them here) that a good number of my church ministry/planter friends have been impacted by.  One of those friends, Doug Paul, and I have recently been having conversations about the relationship between the philosophy behind 3DM and the future of theological education.  In fact, you should check out a brilliant interview that Mike did with Dave Kludt of “The Burner Blog” through Fuller Seminary, especially question 5, on that subject.

A couple weeks ago, as a representative of Northern Seminary, where I work, I was able to participate in the first gathering of a new Learning Community that 3DM launched.  Essentially, this was a gathering of about 40 church teams (3-5 leaders/church) who were beginning a 2 year journey of learning together what it might mean to build a discipling culture, multiply missional leaders, launch missional communities, and establish centers of mission.  The structure of the event (Monday afternoon through Thursday afternoon) was unlike any other Christian conference/event I have ever been a part of and quite frankly, was more helpful than any conference/event I have ever been a part of.  This was the case for one simple reason, it took seriously the idea of praxis – engaging in an intentional rhythm of reflection and action.

The event was structured largely around a rhythm of “idea-driven” corporate times and “application-driven” community times.  Interspersed throughout the week were additional times for even smaller group engagement, shared meals, and prayer/ministry time.

I won’t belabor the point by going into a detailed description of how all these times looked exactly, but suffice it to say, the centrality of praxis (learning/engaging, ideas/skills, or hearing/responding), which drove our time together, set this gathering apart from anything else I’ve been a part of.  Whereas a good many Christian gatherings are predicated on drawing people to celebrity speakers or to a purely intellectual presentation of ideas (not that these are bad in and of themselves), I would hope that more and more Christian gatherings might choose to restructure themselves in the way described above.

3DM is doing good work.  I would go so far as to say they are doing some of the most needed work in helping people/churches get a handle on what it might mean, practically, to embody a missional ecclesiology here in the US as Christendom continues to crumble and we are led (forced?) to ask new questions about the nature and purpose of the church.

If you represent an existing church or are engaged/thinking about church planting, you should absolutely consider being part of a future learning community.

If you are reading this and have been part of a 3DM Leaning Community, please feel free to offer your thoughts and reflections for others.

Related posts:

1. Missional Learning Commons 2011
2. The Power & Promise of Regional Gatherings for the Equipping of Missional Churches
3. Do You Have To Go To Church Every Sunday To Be A Christian?

I have been struggling to unlearn that travesty of a lesson ever since.

The most valuable lessons I have learned in ministry, have come by way of failure – mine, and that of others.  This isn’t meant to glorify failure in and of itself, but to remember and recognize that while we inhabit a culture that revels in the glory of one person/group triumphing over others, we worship a God who calls us to follow a savior who, from that same way of thinking, failed.  We are called to faithfulness not results, and very often, faithfulness will look like failure in the eyes of the world.

In that spirit, I am thrilled to let you know that a different sort of conference coming up in April, catalyzed by my friend J.R. Briggs, the Epic Fail Pastors Conference.

All the relevant information is available on the conference site so check it out there.  It’s unique, it’s inexpensive, and it very well may change your who outlook on ministry in the way of Jesus.

Related posts:

1. Un-Conference in LA

Having already engaged in conversations around the themes of missional discipleship and missional family, the Missional Learning Commons will round off with a discussions about missional leadership.  Speakers, topics, and bios are below.  More information and registration here.

David Fitch: The Hazards of Being Paid to Pastor: Overcoming the Bad Dynamics of Money

Summary:

When a pastor gets paid a set of negative dynamics are set into motion. Power relationships develop within a community. There are expectations from people who “give.” Ministry can turn inward and into politics. All of this works against moving a community into mission. I offer a couple observations and simple moves to subvert these dynamics.

Bio:

David Fitch is a co-pastor at Life on the Vine in northwest Chicagoland and a church planter/coach. He is also Lindner professor of evangelical theology at Northern Seminary’s programs in missional church studies teaching on matters having to do with gospel and culture. He is an author with his next book – The End of Evangelicalism? Discerning a New Faithfulness for Mission coming out in January 2011. Dave is married to Rae Ann and dad to their son Max.

Fitch, Take 2: Leadership is Submission: The Counter-Cultural Way of the Cross in Leadership

Summary:

Leadership that leads into the new territories of mission will always produce conflict. This is the inevitable prospect of a community pushing into Mission. The Missional leader is not one who manages this conflict from top down. Instead, through the posture of humility, service and trust in the Spirit, out of Scripture and mutual discernment in prayer, he or she leads the community through inviting it to seek what God is doing, hear and respond. In this way of non-coercion and submission, the “revolutionary” community is birthed, brought together in Christ “on the way” of Mission.

Amy Rozko: Global Perspectives on Missional Leadership:  Reflections and Observations from Cape Town 2010 (The 3rd Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization)

Summary:

Local churches bear the responsibility not only of equipping leaders for ministry in an increasingly globalized world at home, but also of mobilizing them for participation in God’s Kingdom work across the globe.  Doing so necessitates that we have a meaningful sense of what God is saying and how God is working in other parts of the world.  In this session, Amy will offer reflections on the state of the church around the world from a recent gathering of 4000 global church leaders and invite us to discuss the implications for churches in terms of leadership development.

Bio:

Amy is excited to have just participated as a delegate to the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Cape Town, South Africa.  She and her husband of just over a year, JR, live in Elgin, IL where she also works for International Teams US as the Director of Mobilization.  They are an active part of Life on the Vine in the Chicagoland suburbs.

Related posts:

1. Missional Learning Commons – Conversations on Missional Family
2. Missional Learning Commons – Conversations on Missional Discipleship
3. Midwest Missional Learning Commons

After our opening session focused on missional discipleship (speakers & topics here), the second set of speakers at the upcoming Missional Learning Commons will spark some discussion about what missional family relationships are all about.

For more information to to register here or the image below.  See below for discussion themes and speaker bios.

Helen Lee: The Kingdom Belongs to Such as These: Missional Living In and Through Our Children

Summary:

Jesus affirmed the value and the worth of children, expressing the reality that a child often has the capacity and the desire to embrace missional values and living, sometimes well before the parents. What are ways in our churches and families that we can encourage missional living and thinking, particularly amongst our kids? What are the benefits to doing so–and the dangers when we do not? We often think about the ways we can teach our kids, but in the area of missional living, our children may be the ones to teach us.

Bio:

Helen Lee is the author of The Missional Mom (Moody Publishers, January 2011) and has been writing for Christian periodicals such as Leadership Journal and Christianity Today for more than 15 years. She is married to classical pianist Brian Lee; they have three little boys 8 years old and under, whom Helen attempts to homeschool when she is not writing, blogging, or (now) tweeting.

Jason Lantz: If anyone doesn’t know how to manage his own family how can he take care of God’s church?

Summary:

“I’m not going to sacrifice our kids on the alter of some church experiment you want to do.”  That’s what my wife Suzi said when I came home and told her that I thought the Lord was calling us to live as missionaries in Canton.  A couple of years later, and still in the baby stages of leading a new church plant, we have learned many lessons about the power of imitation in discipleship, the mess that we actually have learned to like with children and mission, and the incredible Love of our Heavenly Father.

Bio:

Jason and Suzi Lantz live as missionaries sent to the people of Canton, Ohio.  They are leaders in LoveCanton, a network of churches sent to love different networks and neighborhoods in Canton.  They have two children Caris and JJ.  As a family they are doing their best to join others who want to build a culture of disciples of Jesus Christ in every part of Canton.

Ben Sternke: Sorry, We Can’t Come Because We Have Little League That Night.

Summary:

It’s easy for “missional living” to become just another extra-curricular activity for families to add to an already busy schedule. But really living missionally as a family demands that we think more deeply about the formational power of the seemingly benign activities so many American families get sucked into, and act more intentionally to engage as families in counter-formational practices that will truly shape us as missional people.

Bio:

Ben is in the midst of planting Christ Church: a fledgling network of missional communities seeking to join God in the renewal of the neighborhoods and relational networks of Fort Wayne, where he lives with his wife (Deb) and four children (Ethan, Raina, Ella, and Sydney). Ben also blogs (bensternke.com) and dabbles in web design.

Related posts:

1. Missional Learning Commons – Conversations on Missional Leadership
2. Missional Learning Commons – Conversations on Missional Discipleship
3. Missional Learning Commons

If you haven’t already, you need to check out what Geoff Holscalw has to say about the whole idea of a non-conference.

Friday night Jon Berbaum and I will be facilitating a discussion around the book Desiring the Kingdom, the book from which this year’s theme of Kingdom Relationships comes.

On Saturday morning, in the 1st of our 3 discussion sessions, three different people will speak for 12 minutes each and invite us into some guided reflection and conversation with regard to missional discipleship.  Here’s a bit of a glimpse into who is catalyzing those conversations and their topics.

Cyd Holsclaw: Discipleship in Disguise

Summary: In our missional lives, many of us don’t have a standard or recognizable role as leaders or teachers or mentors.  Some of us might shy away from embracing a discipleship role in the lives of those we meet, yet there are people around us every day who are hungry for mentoring and discipleship. With a few frames through which to view our relationships, we can move past just ‘hanging out’ with people into sharing a journey toward the cross and into new life.

Bio: Cyd is part of the leadership team at Life on the Vine in northwest Chicagoland.  She and her husband, Geoff, also homeschool their two sons, Soren and Tennyson.

Michael Novelli: The intersection of Biblical Narrative, Dialogue and Spiritual Formation

Summary:

Michael will share about his experiences with Bible storying, a dialogical approach rooted in the Hebrew tradition. Through years of experimentation, Michael has found approaches like storying stretch across generations, helping guide faith communities to be rooted and formed by the biblical narrative.  In this process, the community is birthed “on the way” in Mission.

Bio: Michael Novelli is a writer and workshop facilitator helping church leaders to explore learner-center approaches to teaching. Michael, his wife Michele, and children Angelo and Abrielle live in Elgin, Illinois.

Mark Van Steenwyk: Missional Discipleship in the Shadow of Empire

Summary: Discipleship as commonly practiced in the North American church has become a disembodied, abstracted “thing.” Missional discipleship–embodying a way of life that is “Jesus shaped” in our local contexts–requires an experimental approach to new practices. How can we cultivate deep Gospel practices that counter an imperial way of life?

Bio:

Mark Van Steenwyk is a co-founder of Missio Dei–a Mennonite intentional community in Minneapolis. He works part time (with the support of the Central Plains Mennonite Conference) to network and nurture fledgling radical communities around the country. Mark is an adunct instructor at Bethel Seminary and experiments in grassroots radical education and organizing. He is a contributing editor at JesusRadicals.com and a regular co-host of the Iconocast. Mark lives with his wife (Amy) and son (Jonas) in Missio Dei’s, Sattler House.

Related posts:

1. Missional Learning Commons – Conversations on Missional Leadership
2. Missional Learning Commons – Conversations on Missional Family
3. Midwest Missional Learning Commons

We are only able to go thanks to the generosity of a plethora of family and friends who financially supported us and we are grateful beyond words.

If you have some measure of interest in this gathering, I highly recommend you check out the advance papers, participate online, or maybe even attend one of the Globalink Events.

Between the place we are staying and the conference center, we should have some access to Internet and I plan to do my best to offer brief reflections and pictures throughout our time there.

Thanks for your prayers for us and the rest of the leaders that will be gathered in Cape Town for the next week or so.  May God use this event for the sake of His Kingdom breaking forth in new ways all around the world!

Related posts:

1. Lausanne Congress Update
2. Partnering in Kingdom Ministry
3. Missional Learning Commons – Conversations on Missional Leadership

The students are all part of something called TOAG – Training Ordinary Apprentices To Go.  Catchy right?!

They spend a year living in intentional community and doing various kinds of incarnational ministry as part of their preparation to serve as international, probably long-term, missionaries.  I think this is an incredibly helpful model of discipleship for mission and we were privileged to be a part of it.

Our time with these friends was a huge reminder of just how much I miss investing in the lives of young adults (now is the first time in 8 years that this hasn’t been a major feature of my life) and how much I personally receive from doing so.

We had fun, and I enjoyed leading these students through a presentation and guided reflection on their spiritual gifts, but man, what I really loved was watching my wife in action.   She has a crazy passionate heart for God’s global mission and a mature set of gifts to compliment her firm calling to mobilize people into it.

With our trip to Cape Town, South Africa for the Third Lausanne Congress just over a week away, I am reminded of just how grateful I am that a passion to partner in Kingdom ministry forms the bedrock of our marriage.  It’s gotta be close to my favorite thing about life!

Speaking of our trip to Cape Town, we are just about $1,500 $1,000 (We just received an incredibly generous gift of 500!!) shy of our support raising goal.  Not enough to keep us away, but significant enough that we’re still inclined to ask people to partner with us.  Below is a 5 minute video Amy & I recorded about this once in a lifetime opportunity.  If you’re inclined to partner with us, you can give here.

Related posts:

1. A Quick Hop Back Into the World of Student Ministry
2. The Missiological Future of Theological Education – Training Kingdom Citizens
3. Bi-Vocational Ministry