At the Mission Evangelism and Doctrine Colloquium last week the first cab off the rank was Clive Pearson on Missional Context.
Clive Pearson, Principal and Lecturer in Theology at United Theological College in Sydney, once a Presbyterian minister in New Zealand, asked the important question, “Has the word mission ever been more freely used than it is now? If so, is that justified?” His examination of the Australian context made it clear that the church does need to rediscover its sense of participating in the mission of God. Clive reminded us, however, that there are other approaches that could sit alongside the mission focus which is often used to pull together contemporary focus on evangelism, discipleship and leadership. The emerging discipline of public theology, for example, may be a useful dialogue partner, providing space for the rhetoric and praxis of Christian wisdom and/or hope.
“The “M-word” is so often required for the sake of receiving funding for the next project. It seems to cohere so well with the business rhetoric of “mission statements” and values and local congregations are often asked to construct such. Now and then missiology, much like spirituality, usurps the language of theology…”
Clive finishes his paper with an example of how public theology could connect with the missional context of Australia. He points to the Peter Jensen’s Boyer Lectures of 2005, delivered in the weeks leading up to the Cronulla riots. Jensen chose the “Future of Jesus in the context of Australia” as his theme, focusing on “quick quests of the historical Jesus, the Lord’s Prayer, the kingdom of God, parables, miracles, eschatology and the parousia, loyalty and discipleship, and the freedom of obedience”. There was no link in the 2005 lectures to peoples of other faiths, the environment and a raft of other public issues. Clive suggests the lectures might have been more on target if they had focused on reading the contemporary Australian soul (as in Gary Bouma), connecting with Jesus’ questions, “Who do people say that I am?”, “Who do you say that I am?”, “Who is my neighbour?”, along with “Caring for God’s good creation in a time of climate change”, and “What is the “wise” thing to do for Christ’s sake?”
In many ways Clive is helping us connect with what Jesus continually talked about, the “Kingdom of God”. Being missional reminds the church that its focus should not remain inward. But once the church has re-engaged with the community, how might we be involved in the emerging public discourse that is at the heart of our life in Australia?
Hegemony is political, economic, ideological or cultural power exerted by a dominant group over other groups, regardless of the explicit consent of the latter. In some ways Clive is challenging an emerging “missional hegemony” in which all disciplines, including systematic theology, are interpreted through the urgency of mission. That’s a fair challenge. The current call to be more outwardly focused, of which I am a part, could become tyrannical and uncritical, becoming the equivalent of a nation’s focus on external expansion at the expense of quality of life for anyone.
From where I sit, the “missional” focus that is currently rising up in the Western church is a much needed wake up call that provides impetus for re-engaging with a pluralist society without the perceived benefits of privilege, dominance or being understood. As Clive points out, a focus on public theology with a wisdom flavour has to be good for everyone.
I wonder about the influence of personality in this discussion. The focus on leadership as a framework for ministry, for example, is pushed most by people who feel comfortable about changing their environment and have the means to do so. Clive’s focus on careful exploration of shared wisdom calls for the contribution of a group of people whose voice could be missed in the emerging missional paradigm.
Clive’s books include Faith in a Hyphen: Doing Cross Cultural Theologies Down Under , a presentation of papers presented to a conference on the cross cultural nature of the church held in Sydney in 2006. Clive is presently writing a book on what constitutes a public theology in the Australian context. He’s also thinking about the next book, “The Public Christ”. One of Clive’s other pivotal areas of interest at the moment is thinking through what kind of theologies might be required in the local neighbourhood, the postcards in which we live, work and play, in the context of cultural pluralism and interfaith encounter in Sydney.
See more on his UTC Profile page.
G’day Duncan,
I think that public discourse is missional (in the wider sense) in the sense that it shares our concern for good news for our communities.
Started reading (but didn’t finish) a good book on public doscourse and theology
Parker Palmer – ‘A Company of Strangers’
However this also needs to be a ‘grassroots’ discourse – not just ‘experts’ – the question is however, where are the places for public discourse now in our local communities?
I think that Clive is offering a helpful reminder that mission not be church-centric, and so the public theology dimension allows this.
I’ve found Andy Crouch’s book Culture makers very helpful in my recent thinking. He argues, based on imago Dei, that we are called to be culture-makers. This provides a generative theological impulse equally applicable to church and to public theology. It allows the body of Christ to be a diverse body, and wherever it finds itself, to open itself to the Spirit’s culture-making work – reviving churches, planting community ministry, visiting in psych wards, lawyering and bricklaying.
steve taylor
Steve, your reference to Andy Crouch’s Culture Makers was mentioned in the last session of the colloquium.
Mark I’ve been thinking about the place of neighbourhood book clubs or reading groups in fostering grassroots public discourse. They’re supported by WEA (Workers’ Educational Associations) in New Zealand. WEA Queensland was disbanded by the government for subversive activities.