Description

Awakenings 2019 Topical Forum Missionary-Future Panel 2 Dennis Edwards, Dave Fitch, Keisha Polonio, Al Tizon,

For centuries Christianity has occupied a privileged place within secular Western society. As this reality fractures, however, the Church faces a new missionary situation. This situation is far different than taking the Christian message to people and places that have never heard it before. Instead, we are faced with the challenges of re- presenting and re-embodying the gospel among people and in a place that have already been exposed to it in a variety of forms.
Thus, we face challenges on multiple levels. How might we revisit our theological assumptions from more missionary perspectives? What will it mean and look like for our churches to develop more missionary self-understandings and practices? In what ways does facing a missionary future impact how we think about and cultivate discipleship? Can our Christian institutions and denominations reinvent and restructure themselves to accommodate our emerging
missionary future?
These forums provide a space to lean into these kinds of questions, hearing from a variety of leaders about how they are seeking to experiment their way into this future and what they’re learning in the process.