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Sunday, October 30, 2005

Morisy, A.(2004)Journeying Out: A New Approach to Christian Mission 

A must read....

Increasingly churches are running social projects. This might seem an excellent development, but we need to be careful that we don't allow the idea of 'needs meeting' to dominate our thinking. 'Needs meeting' as an organizing principle for the Church's social action fails to do justice to the radical and very practical teaching and example of Jesus.
Ppviii

Bosch began to articulate
a Holistic view of mission that included social action as an
essential component of mission. Bosch challenged the usual
understanding of purposeful mission, i.e. the proclamation of
and encouragement of people to acknowledge the salvation
brought by Jesus. He observed that the Church in the West
had become preoccupied with personal salvation, and
undervalued the actions and teaching that Jesus demonstrated
in his daily life. pp4

principle of obliquity pp 11

Bosch urges us to work for a closer interrelationship between social action and enabling people to embrace the Christian faith. Whilst intellectually we might assent to this it is more difficult to translate into action. Almost without exception our efforts to integrate work for justice with the recognition of Christ's unique saving power seems to drift into a sequential or consecutive process, with either social action or evangelism being treated as prior to the other. Pp12

Effective mission is not achieved by giving it focal awareness. Effective mission is a fruit - a gracious outcome of other factors working effectively and appropriately. This upends all our habits and assumptions. It means that effective mission is something that emerges as a result of looking and journeying outward rather than by means of a self-conscious and self-regarding process. Pp17

If people's minds and practice are dominated by a needs-meeting philosophy, then the outcomes of the ventures will be assessed in terms of.:- * the number of meals served;

* the number of 'bed-nights' offered '

* the number of rough sleepers using the facilities regularly;

* the number of asylum seekers;

* the number using the facilities in terms of gender and age;

* volunteers' perceptions of needs in addition to those of homelessness, for example mental illness, drug or alcohol addiction;

* clients' stated preference for type of accommodation;

* the needs the project fulfils in relation to the volunteers.
Pp33

We have been slow to recognize that when people, motivated by venturesome love, embrace a struggle for the well-being of others, it can prompt a very graceful, and often unanticipated dynamic, a cascade of grace, and this dynamic should be the very thing that churches are seeking to generate. Pp32

With just these few illustrations it becomes possible to see the virtuous or Godly processes that can be set in train if we are prepared to see beyond a needs-meeting perspective. Pp34

Social Capital pp 47; 51

Jurgen Moltmann, like David Bosch, encourages a wide view of salvation. He writes, 'Salvation does not mean merely salvation of the soul, individual rescue from the evil of the world, comfort to the troubled conscience, but also the realization of the eschatological hope of justice, the humanizing of man, the socializing of humanity, peace for all creation. 25 In seeking to express and put into practice this fulsome view of salvation the Church has to take religious experience seriously because of its capacity to provoke an enhanced moral sense, as well as the awareness of God being alongside and accessible. Pp 170

On church signs
Find what works for you ...

* Explore wide perspectives on life and its challenges

* Values for your children

* Get involved in issues of concern

* join a truly diverse, accepting community

Call in now for a warm welcome

Pp 187

Task of helping people to develop a moral self pp205

Rebecca Anne Allahyari visions of charity 2000 uni of california

For the sake of the health of communities, faiths, civil society

and the Creation, the Church has three very urgent tasks:

* to provide encouragement and opportunity for people to develop or 'craft' a more moral self,

* to provide encouragement and opportunity for people to express fraternal relations beyond the limits of family, household or the like-minded;

* to provide opportunities for people to encounter the face of 'the other' and the face of Jesus that enables a journey towards Godly truth. Pp 211

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