Missional Minatrea: Definitions
Oct 11th, 2007 | By art rogers | Category: Church, MissionalMilfred Minatrea (pronounced: men-ah-tree) gave us so much last week it may take me a year to digest. In the mean time, rather than dumping the highlights into a post or two, I thought I would post a few thoughts from the session on Thursdays and see what discussion comes from it.
Not in terms of today’s political definitions within the convention, but in terms of classical definitions, he produced this formula:
Rules of engagement
Gospel + Culture – Church = Parachurch
Church + Culture – Gospel = Liberalism
Church + Gospel – Culture= Fundamentalism
Church + Gospel + Culture= Missional
I thought I also remembered him separating Emergent and Missional by the priority of culture and Gospel. I may be wrong in my remembrance, or it could have just been me thinking on a tangent. I think I remember him saying that the Missional church prioritizes the Gospel and seeks to communicate it in a manner that connects with culture, while Emergent (he didn’t separate streams – if he even said this) prioritizes cultural relevance first and adds the Gospel as it can.
I realize that if you are Emergent, you are likely to object to that generalization.
Well?
What do you think?
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I object! ;)
this is from mark driscoll’s first book: radical reformission: reaching out without selling out. the opening of it i think. good stuff.
Paul,
Do you really or are you just being cantankerous? How would you describe the difference? Clearly there is a lot of confusion of the two, especially among conventional church model pastors and lay men and women.
Nick,
Which part? The formula or the difference between Missional and Emergent?
Art,
The formulas. It’s been a couple years since I read it and I don’t actually own the book, but they’re there. He might use the terms syncretism and sectarianism rather than liberalism and fundamentalism, I don’t recall exactly.
It was written in 2004 and I don’t think Missional vs. Emergent terminology was so hot of a topic back then. Though even in that book he was distinguishing himself from Emergent in favor of being one part of the emerging church, as I recall.
see tim challies writing about chapter one of the book in August 05.
Nick,
Thanks for the knowledge. Is it pretty in KY yet?
the trees are pretty and of course all of the mirrors i see look good. :-)
i have been working home a lot so it seems like i don’t see the outdoors much even!
yesterday while I grilled a steak I took the time to rake up all the leaves in the yard. I think it’s still suffering from the dry season we’ve had.
Of all of Oklahoma, Tulsa has the most trees and humidity to make pretty a pretty fall, but there’s never been a prettier place that I have ever lived than Kentucky.
Driven by a Tobacco Barn with the smoke filling the air?
Y’know, this weekend is the big Tobacco Festival in Russellville. Rib Eye Sandwiches, hot off the grill and a great small town, county wide parade. The re-enactment of the James gang’s first bank robbery (though some dispute that it was the first – they are obviously wrong) right across the street from First Baptist Church, 6th and Main – which hosts the Rotary Club’s Pancake Breakfast all morning. Craft shows. Funnel cakes. Everything on the square.
If you aren’t doing anything this weekend, Saturday would be a great day to be in Russellville.
if i lived back in Muhlenberg County still I might have taken you up on that. :-) Sounds nice. Who knew Russellville had such a claim to fame? :-)
Ah, Russellville. My great-aunt and great-uncle lived there for a while. In fact a couple of lifetimes ago I did my first interment there, burying her. She always called it “Rssvl”.
Exiled from Kentucky for 36 years, I do get a twinge every time I drive into the state and see its beauty. I keep telling people who, like me, drive in from the east, that the reason WV is “almost heaven” is that when you are in WV you are almost in KY … hence, well, you know.
I have to say that my members of going to various places in western KY to preach are not as filled with images of beauty. I recall driving along the Western KY Parkway and seeing the landscape scarred by strip mining done with those huge shovels.
JMS,
I’ve never seen the strip mining thing, but I was only there for a decade, as opposed to being there as a child during the era of strip mining.
The thing about Western KY is that, although the hills roll and undulate in a pretty way, it is more “flat” than Eastern KY, which has the towns built along a winding strip between two foothills and you can’t see the horizon. I like the mountains for a little while. A retreat or a vacation, but then I start getting claustrophobic. Besides, they don’t have Tobacco Barns in the East, that fire the Tobacco in the fall so that the crisp cool October wind brings you the hint of sweet smoke – not the acrid kind. Of course, you do have “knobs” in Western KY. Miniature hillocks that sport dramatic colors when the leaves turn. I really miss that, right now.