interview with christianity today

Here is an interview I did for Christianity Today.

BTW, I apologize for not being able to blog as regularly as I would like to. My life has taken a decidedly busy turn and I find myself unable to get to the small and basic things. Not prouid of it, simply apologizing. :-)

May 5, 2008 | Filed Under interview, the forgotten ways |  

Comments

9 Responses to “interview with christianity today”

  1. 1
    Isaiah Says:
    May 6th, 2008 at 1:39 am

    Alan,

    It’s a good interview.

    It’s especially good that it was in the publication of Christianity Today will help gain more attention to missional theology.

  2. 2
    Matt Stone Says:
    May 6th, 2008 at 9:44 am

    Good interview. Particularly liked the tips for small groups.

  3. 3
    Erik Says:
    May 6th, 2008 at 9:53 am

    This is an awesome interview and I love the simplicity yet details in the answers which you give Alan!

    “But I think the big switch for us will be to stop thinking of small groups as prop-ups to the “real deal,” weekend-based church. In reality, small groups are major elements of the church. In fact, they are themselves churches. And that’s the big switch. When people are able to see small groups as churches in and of themselves, therefore fully capable of doing all the functions of an ecclesia, then the revolution is on.” - This seems to be one of the most difficult revisions or practices to which I have had a number of conversations with a number of church leaders. It seems there is always the old Warren catch phase of trying to “be a church of small groups rather then a church with small groups.” Why can’t the small group be the church? Even with this element it seems to be practiced similarly to the way we view sacred and secular practices. “Everyone” may be in small groups but there is still the underlining demand for “larger is better” corporate worship.

    I must confess to still struggling with the practices of covenants and “TEMPT”. Being in the midst of larger community and those who may not confess “Jesus is Lord” can become difficult to practice a “value” such as “Engagement with Scripture”. However, in discipleship they may find community and church through engaging with mission such as serving the homeless and while serving encounter conversations and invitations with regards to scripture. Do people need to be specifically covenanted to “spiritual practices” in order to be considered part of the church?

  4. 4
    Colin Says:
    May 6th, 2008 at 6:47 pm

    The six elements of a missional movement is a great way to get people and communities growing and developing. Perhaps the biggest danger I see is that we focus on one or two of these, perhaps at the expense of the others.
    Balance is hugely important…I’m not sure we can look an any element and say one is greater than another, so it is critical to keep revisiting each one and ensure it is an integral part of our individual and corporate (oops, am I llowed to say that here?) lives.
    Thanks for the deep insights Alan…

  5. 5
    Glenn Says:
    May 7th, 2008 at 12:12 am

    I see you’re on your way back to the USofA! Welcome back! I’ve missed our interaction - email and all that. But you are one busy man! Article was great - as usual. Keep up the good things, but hey! get some rest.

  6. 6
    Alan Hirsch Says:
    May 7th, 2008 at 1:46 am

    Colin, you are entirely right. the six elements go a s a system. Development using this typology requuires all six be kept in mind. But hey, improvement comes even if one is developed.

    Thanks Glen. sadly I am off again next week for 2 weeks, no rest for this wicked one.

  7. 7
    Tom Says:
    May 8th, 2008 at 3:18 am

    Colin,

    I wonder if using integrated rather than balance is better. Balance conjures up images of rushing around trying to keep 6 different plates in the air at the same time (at least in my twisted mind), while integrated sounds more whole or complete. What do you think?

  8. 8
    Jason Says:
    May 9th, 2008 at 11:58 am

    Rockin’ article, Alan. I think that you distill the ethos of it all very well. We planted about a year ago and met in homes until a few months back. When in homes we had more interaction and more people participated–not just say a prayer, but genuine reflection. I am amazed at how meeting in a recreation center has changed the group dynamics. It’s as if a switch flipped and we put on our passive hats. In retrospect we would do it differently and press the group on questions of “what is church?” and “how do we measure success in God’s eyes in our city”. I think we could have gotten to some good stuff but we–the leadership–took a wrong turn and went to our default mode of attractional. Figuring out how to drill down and bust all of our paradigms of what we think constitutes church. What I wake up thinking about is this–”the mission has a church” and “within every believer is the mDNA which will transform the world.” Thanks for ruining my sleep and my happy clergical life. Cheers.

  9. 9
    Steve Mac Says:
    May 10th, 2008 at 11:18 pm

    Alan
    This is a great interview - full of passion and vision. Thanks heaps. My crew is moving along slowly but surely towards its planting and your words are a great encouragement in that what you said resonates with what we are planning. When I can get my blog login to work again I’ll be linking it so our guys can read it.
    The outsourcing fallacy is so pervasive - so much so that I have had to check its tendency in me, given my theological-college-trained background. I’m working fulltime at the moment and trying to put my “well-formed” theology of work into practice in my own life!

Leave a Reply

Comment spam protected by SpamBam

Copyright © 2008 The Forgotten Ways • Linear WordPress Theme • Powered by WordPress • Maintained by Noble Design