I intentionally chose an article to springboard from because so many people are using missional and no one seems to be using it the same way.  I do recommend the McKnight article on the emergent church for those interested.  What I wrote earlier and will write about now is the “missional” theology of the emergent church.  There is a positive use of the term missional that many are using and we can adopt at Third.  The problem with many terms is how everyone latches on to them and redefines them.  Example:  Evangelical, wow, what a wide variety of folk that claim this one?  I did not want to bring up Niebuhr earlier and sound like a nerd, but since Greg did…I was thinking in those categories when I read emergents are pro-culture.  What does this mean?

According to the article I am working from, pro-culture means looking for what God is doing in the culture and participating in it.  In my perspective and understanding of how McKnight describes culture and Christ, they are place side-by-side because God is acitve in both equivically and so God’s people are active in both equivically.  Is this how the Scriptures really describe God’s activities and how Christians are to act?  In our John 17 study it is clear that a great divide is cast between “the world” and the disciples/church.  Christ does not pray for the world, but only for those the Father had given him.  The work of the Kingdom (salvific grace) has precedence over the creating, sustaining work of the world (common grace).  Believers are in the world, but not of it.  They are to go into the world and transform it.  They are not old creations just seeking to act a new way.  Believers are transformed, receive a new nature and status as children of God, and proclaim the kingdom.

We at Third should be missional in the sense that we are going to order ourselves around the command to go make disciples.  We must recognize that we have a culture to reach and seek to interact with the people of that culture as much as possible.  We do this while not becoming or thinking like them, as if they will complete us in some way.  Instead we hold to the Scriptures and seek to proclaim God’s truth so that those who are lost and dead in their sins will be converted and begin to think like us.  This does not sound generous to many.  But we cannot get around the fact that the world we proclaim Christ in hates the God whom we proclaim.  So, we go to coffee with them, go to lunch with them, play basketball with them, study with them, you get the point…all to proclaim the one they will either receive by faith or hate by rebellion. 

Therefore, let the members of Third Avenue begin making Old Louisville their “homeland” as much as a missionfield.  Get to know the people, language, art, interests, gathering areas (pretty much their culture).  You do this not because God has graciously provided that culture for you to become a better person, but in order to be an agent of grace in the fallen culture.  We befriend our neighbors in the hope that they will be converted and declared “friends of God.” 

For those of our faithful few readers who were not able to worship with us yesterday, your elders did come back Saturday evening. Our last post might lead you to think that we have been having a good time away from it all. We did have a good time away — even if we were only gone for 24 hours — and we had an excellent Lord’s Day together yesterday.

Last night Greg summarized most of what the elders talked about during our time away. I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about it over time. One of the most encouraging things to me was having an extended conversation about the church and as part of that an extended time thinking about the church’s future. Talking about the future of the church has not always been the most encouraging thing over the last several years, but for the first time it was. It was encouraging to reflect on what God has done for us over the last year and what we may be able to do in the future.

Also encouraging was Greg’s sermon from Luke 24 on the resurrected Christ. It was the perfect sermon for this weekend. The reality of the resurrection — that God would raise His dead Son to life — is the ultimate source of hope for us as believers. It is also my source of hope for 3ABC. While we cannot presume on God’s will, the fact that He brings that which was dead to life has been and continues to be a great source of encouragement. Greg’s application of bearing witness to the truth of Christ’s death and resurrection to Old Louisville also warmed my heart.
There is much that we need to do, but encouragement like this is certainly welcome.

Aaron mentioned in his post that we have at various times considered cancelling the Wedesday evening meetings in favor of home groups. That was before he got interested in the penguins. When he was interested in the church, he said that part of the reason for continuing the Bible study was that the corporate gathering (even if it is only 1-15 people) is more formal and in-depth.

Allow me to take this as an opportunity to mention another “distinctive” about life at 3ABC: the corporate life of the church is “favored” over “small” group assemblies. Some churches have, for example, cancelled their Sunday evening services or other meeting times in favor of home groups — and it is usually done with the goal of fostering “community”. Now we are not against “community”, and have home groups meeting at least monthly to help that very thing. Community is not a bad thing, but it is also not the main thing.

The main thing is nurturing the church. The “body” that is the church seems somehow less satisfying to many today. Small, informal groups tend to foster traits and patterns that don’t necessarily benefit the whole body. Would Aaron, or anyone care to elaborate? Surely there is some moral in the penguin documentary that could be employed here.

Keith, you asked for specific examples of ministries that might be logical for 3ABC in view of our context. It is a good question. In response, I would say that first of all the church should be the church and should be hesitant about starting any specific “mercy” or other ministries. By that I mean, the church should be there to care for and equip the saints. The church is not primarily there to provide soup and clothes to our neighbors, although we should care about our neighbors. I think that we should care for our neighbors less as the “church” corporately and more as the church individually.

You mentioned how Will got folks together to go clean-up Central Park. Oddly enough, I think it is a good example of ways that we can reach out to people in our neighborhood. Will and others saw an opportunity to serve the community and to be evangelistic and then gave time to it. Individual members serving at the Crisis Pregnancy Center would be another way.

I think an important thing that we as a church should do in our worship and life together in the city is to avoid trying to use suburban approaches to our church life. An example of having a suburban outlook in church life might be to expect to find guaranteed parking for your SUV every time you come to church.

How contextualized should a church’s ministry be?  Is this your question Bruce?  Some pastors may try to profile the typical candidate for membership and then adjust their outreach to woo them. I am not sure I am going to change my dress, music, texture, etc in order to make them feel more confortable because being comfortable is what “downtown donny” values most.  I hope to woo downtown donnie with the gospel.  Of course, and probably now answering Bruce’s question, we should seek to know and meet the needs of the people around us. 

Third Ave Baptist would provide a great ministry in Old Louisville by serving in soup kitchens, shelters, the crisis pregancy center, campus ministries, etc.  These are just some examples.  A great example is a member recently gathering troops to help a community wide cleanup of downtown donny’s park.  Surely we would all agree to know the people and care for their needs.  I am not sure I am willing to play Creed or Bon Jovi as the intro music to our service so they feel at home. 

Bruce, since you live downtown, what ministries would you find most helpful to get involved with in order to know our context and meet particular needs? Our context is also largely populated by college students, maybe some        “U of L Ulysses” would send us an email for how we could minister to our student neighbors better. 

For the faithful five people who check the 3ABC blog, please know that the rapture has not occurred and you have not been left behind. Now that you’re past being scared, you could send me your list of top five current contenders for the Anti-Christ since it’s been a while since I’ve heard speculation on that topic. The scarcity of posts is due to the press of real work that has come upon some of our number. The show must go on however, and I am going to launch a new topic.

The topic I’d like to launch is: Should the ministry of our church be different because it is in a city? I was reminded of the question today when I heard a summary of the life and work of Jane Jacobs on NPR. She died recently but was well known for her activism for urban spaces — especially in NYC in the early 1960’s. She was also well known for her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities.

I live in the city and care about the city. I view living in the city as a form of incarnational ministry just as I did when I lived in Washington, DC for many years. I do not think that you have to live in the city to be a member of 3ABC. But I do think that it would be fruitful for us to talk about how our church could/should respond to its context. Is there one soul that would respond to my question? Would a member like to send me an email in response to the question?

We have a new elder (and a new blogger). At last night’s members’ meeting the congregation at Third Avenue recognized Mr. Bruce Keisling as an elder. This is good news, for a number of reasons. First, the elders and the church will be blessed by his love for the God and His church. Second, Bruce’s wisdom and insight will be an immediate blessing. Third, given the paucity of posts in recent days we need someone else to start blogging. Welcome, Bruce.