one plus one equals three or more

Moving from the more theological perspectives on Eph 4 ministry, let us take a quick look at the church as a social system to explore further the impact of differing leadership styles based on APEST. When we do this, we discover that Paul’s basic template for ministry and leadership is affirmed by current best [...]

field of dreams part iv

In passing it is worth noting that one important reason why we should be suspicious of hierarchical top-down notion of leadership is because we know from history and from human nature that institutional systems confer social power and concentrates it at the top. The problem is precisely because of human nature that we should be [...]

field of dreams part iii

The problem with such forms of CEO-type leadership is that it tends to be disempowering to others, and when, for various reasons, that leader should leave the group; it tends to leave the organization weak and under-developed. This is the very thing that apostolic influence is at pains not to do—rather apostolic ministry calls forth [...]

field of dreams part ii

This idea of ‘greatness’ (descibe din previous post) squares with Weber’s explorations on leadership: The ‘charismatic’ leader, in Weber’s thought, is the person who usually leads in times of mission, crisis, or development and always radically challenges the established practices by going to “the roots of the matter.” People follow such a leader because [...]

Field of Dreams Part i

Having defined the function/roles of the apostolic person, we can now look at how apostolic ministry exerts its influence. Part of the resistance to the reception of apostolic ministry in our churches has been because at times when people who claim to be apostles have assumed that this involved a dictatorial approach to the [...]

an apostolic job description

At core, the apostolic task is about the expansion of Christianity both physically in the form of pioneering missionary effort and church planting, as well as theologically through integration of apostolic doctrine into the life of the individual Christians and the communities they were part of. But more than that, as custodian of Apostolic [...]

if you want missional church, then…

On with the series of posts on the mDNA of apostolic environment; It is worthy to note again at this point that the church in the West is facing a massive adaptive challenge: positively in the form of compelling opportunity and negatively in the form of rapid, discontinuous change. These twin challenges comprise [...]

what kind of leadership is this?

Returning to our series on TFW: I want to take up the theme of Apostolic Environment. But before we go there, let me just touch base with the question that started my journey to writing TFW in the first place. Its all about the remarkable Jesus movements of history. Ones that [...]

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.

apostolic environment

Just about to switch into the next element of mDNA, apostolic environment. Should be a hoot of a discussion. Lets start it off with these two quites that I hung at the top of the chapter in the book…
Purpose and principle, clearly understood and articulated, and commonly shared, are the genetic code of [...]

church follows mission

By my reading of the Scriptures, even though it is a non-negotiable, ecclesiology is the most fluid of the central doctrines. The church is a dynamic cultural expression of the people of God in any given place. Worship style, social dynamics, liturgical expressions must the result from the process of contextualizing the gospel [...]

living out-carnationally

By living incarnationally we not only model the pattern of humanity set up in the Incarnation but we also create space for mission to take place in organic ways. In this way mission becomes something that ‘fits’ seamlessly into the ordinary rhythms of life, friendships, and community and is thus thoroughly contextualized. Thus these ‘practices’ [...]

incarnation-al: being formed by the story

The Incarnation not only qualifies God’s acts in the world, it must also qualify ours. If God’s central way of reaching his world was to incarnate himself in Jesus, then our way of reaching the world should likewise be incarnational. To act incarnationally therefore will mean in part that in our mission to those [...]

incarnation: the god-dimension of mission

John 1:1-18 forms the central defining Scriptural text narrating to us of the marvelous coming of God into human history. But this text is far from the only one to probe this mystery.  All Christians acknowledge that In Jesus Christ God was fully present and that He moved into our neighborhood in an act of [...]

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