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Comparing Frost And Hirsch's The Shaping Of Things To Come

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According to Frost & Hirsch the authors of the book “The Shaping of Things to Come” both believe “the church must change…the church is not trend driven, is God’s family and lives by other rules.” (Frost & Hirsch, p. 22). This statement is important to note, because the mission of the church is facing changes that is negatively impacting the community of engaging God’s people. And the postmodern church is facing challenges, in which the church is under pressure to provide a creative measure, to address its missional statement as well its missional church thinking. The fact of the matter, is that the postmodern churches is not meeting the expectations and needs of the community. And it is lacking the outreach strategies and resources for sustainability, …show more content…

According to Frost & Hirsch they note “The missional church, by its very nature will be anticlone of the existing traditional model…It will leave its own religious zones and live comfortably with non-church goers, seeping into the host culture like salt and light…It will be an infiltrating transformational community.” (Frost & Hirsch, p.30). cultural sensitivity and cultural humility are the two paradigms in which to apply to the new missional church, because it not only provides the essence of the missional thinking and understanding but embracing and engaging the postmodern era of the church’s mission. Livermore notes in missional culture understanding culture and cultural values, as we become more mindful and aware of what is going on internally and externally in our cross cultural encounters, and as we learn to emphasize with the Other, we then need to focus on developing new hypothesis options, cues, and goals in cross cultural encounters…This is cultural strategic thinking. In a multicultural world it is important to understand the nuances that are often expressed and exchange within groups of people, because this approach provides the cultural intelligence as a means and measure to evaluate the environment. Flemings’ asserts “Peter discovers that God accepts people as they are within their own context.” (Flemming, p. 37). In the New Testament we observe Jesus applying his love for all people and cultures in which he exemplifies his greatest love for all people when he died on the cross. According to Gibbs & Bolger “Religious behaviors are rooted in personal experience rather than in community identity or loyalty to historic institutions…In American history religion, is chosen rather than received …Instead, institutions are required to serve the individual and not the other way around.”

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The church focuses on bringing unbelievers into the church community. But I believe that their church has become too inward focused. “When one starts by focusing on the purpose of the church, the church tends to become the primary location of God.” Gelder argues that this is a false understanding of the purpose of the church. “The key point to understand is that the Spirit-led ministry of the church flows out of the Spirit-created nature of the church.”

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Paula Fredriksen’s article “Mandatory Retirement: Ideas in the study of Christian origins whose time has come to go” goes into detail on words and ideas that she believes should be cast out of the Christian religion altogether. She talks about how the terms conversion, nationalism, religio licita, and monotheism lead to inaccurately dating and clouding the way we view parts of Christianity and its origins. Throughout this essay I will explain the main points in the article, then go into the article's implications on our studies throughout our class. Fredriksen's essay has many further implications that correlate strongly with our study in ‘Models of the Church’. Fredrikson starts with the first term she believes should be retired: Conversion.

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“Church” is a term that is used to identify Christians that exist in different parts of the world and is synonymous with the terms “body of Christ,” and the “ecclesia.” This suggests that the people who form the Church are persons of the body of Christ as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:27 and Romans 12:5. In this paper I focus on the purpose and calling of the Church, the relationship of people in position as pastors with the congregation (that is,

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Alan and Debra Hirsh make the reader think about being a child of God. Hirsh hits home when he suggest that churches in the western world needs to step back and evaluate and examine what we are doing. Are we really chasing after Jesus in our worship service or are we continuing to live the American dream? Hirsh demonstrates that you do not have to be an overseas missional minded disciple.

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Are they in harmony with the sympathies of Christ? or are they swayed and perverted by the sophistries of worldly policy?” Putting morality over the system. Religion preaches mercy and equality under one God and by asking questions like “Shall the church of Christ hear in silence the taunt that is thrown at them, and shrink away from the helpless hand that they stretch out;...” she is reminding them that they can create a change too, and showing that they forging their principles if they support

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The most surprising world view I discovered in the book, The Transforming Vision, by Walsh and Middleton was the ability for a follower of Christ to be open-minded toward other cultures that are different in their beliefs, practices, and values. The reading has taught me not to be so one-sided on issues, but to listen to others who have a different perspective than I do. We all come from different backgrounds and not everyone shares the same values. The book gives examples of how each culture practices their traditions and customs. For example, the Japanese value the trait of loyalty.

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“So often the contemporary church is weak, ineffable voice with an uncertain sound.” He advocates instead of following the new ways in which churches act they should follow the old standard. So they can influence the

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Thus, leading us to a state more similar to the Brave New World. In the article “Statistics and Reasons for Church Decline,” it is clear that ever since 1992, where only 22% of America's frequently attended church, church attendance has be decreasing and will continue to decrease. It is evident that America’s, like citizens in the Brave New World, do not think religion is important to their lives. As each generation raises the next generation, they are placing less value on religion each time.

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Our postmodern culture is saturated with liturgy; although, not in the places you would expect: social institutes. Even so, these structures are not always beneficial. With over cognitive approaches surrounding Christian formation, Smith offers a counter – neglect false desires and reorder Love as the primary. This prose compares desire and formation and tells of their relationship within education.

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It has been the trend in the last couple of decades for traditional, mainline churches to pretend to be something they are not. Many of them have experimented with different ideas to bring back its members such as praise bands, the installation of screens, praise music, leisure dress on the platform, and frankly, it has been proven to be a fatal mistake. Of course, there are exceptions to this everywhere and especially in those churches where there is an un-traditional look already. In traditional, mainline churches, however, trying to make a stained-glass atmosphere pass as the contemporary worship (McSwin). It is also becoming increasingly common for Americans to leave the faith in which they were raised.

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Duane Elmer’s book is very insightful on relating cross-culturally, and it is easily applicable to international and cross-cultural missions and travel and also to all relationships that attempt to bridge two groups who are very different. Elmer firmly rightly believes that every single culture and even person has their own unique frame of reference and perspective. Everyone at some point needs to adjust from their perspectives of generations, ethnicities, cultures and genders. “No one person or people group knows the mind of God well enough to be able to draw right-wrong-difference lines in an absolute way for all time.” Elmer asserts that the only way we can effectively get “closer to the mind of God” is to “come together and learn from each other” (Elmer, 26).

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Since more cultures are crossing geographical boundaries, it seems that it would be much easier to be a servant for Christ. Elmer says, the “focus is relational

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Over decades, religion in America has evolved its people into a diverse country. While, many would believe the American people have always had the stability to choose which religion they would practice, it has not always been that simple. This has been apparent throughout the course of history, but especially during the sixteenth century. During the early 1600s, religion was progressing off the Eastern Shores when colonist discovered the definition of the New World’s, religious freedom.

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One does not always find themselves asking the question of “Who is a role model” or “who can be defined as a leader”? I find that people often ask me this question, “Who is your leader and role model, Kermena?” and I want to answer them with an ingenious answer. One would say, “Harriet Tubman, for she laid a foundation of contribution to those in help; to those in crisis she provided the underground railroad as a means of escape.” Another would say, “Chiune Sugihara, for he risked his life and his career as a diplomat to aid Jewish refugees in fleeing the Nazi occupied nations during the Second World War.”

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Recontextualization: Religion in Postmodern Times Mark C. Taylor, in his essay Reframing Postmodernisms, said, “For some postmodernism suggests the death of God and disappearance of religion, for others, the return of traditional faith, and for still others, the possibility of recasting religious ideas” (11). However, Lieven Boeve, again, talked about the Christian Church and its potential to be viewed in postmodern lens only if a few adjustments would be made. He advocated for the renewed contextualization of the Church. This would mean that the teachings, Scriptures, and traditions would change with the times. His term “detraditionalization” (297) implies that most people in postmodern societies are gradually drifting away from the traditions

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