I’m off to the Wheaton Theology Conference for the next few days. This conference will be on the revival of Trinitarian theology of the last fifty years (really since Barth). The Trinity is a central part of what drives the notion of missio Dei and missional ecclesiology. In the words of David Bosch:
It (missio Dei) was thus put into the context of the doctrine of the Trinity … The classical doctrine on the missio dei as God the Father sending the Son, and God the Father and Son sending the Spiirt was expanded to include another “movement”: Father, Son and Holy Spirit sending the church into the world.(p.390)
Because of this, the mission of God (the missio Dei) becomes something that forms the church, that the church is a part of, that the church participates in (as opposed to a self generated activity of the church). Of course this breeds all sorts of theological issues centered on the intersection between the Trinity and the church. I hope to glean much from this conference. Anyone else going? I’m open for some dinner if you’re available. I’ll probably post on this next Tuesday. I also have a post in the works on “America’s housing crisis: the idol hath fallen” and what this means for mission in the suburbs. See y’all next week.
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