Local Church in Mission
A JOURNAL RESPONSE ON THE LOCAL CHURCH IN MISSION
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Presented to:
Dr. Jones Kaleli
Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary
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In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for ICST 650
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By:
R. W. Bryant Hill
October 01, 2011
As I read the article on the Local Church in Mission, it appeared to me step-by-step that this was the way the early church was built and organized. Even though until recently I didn’t know what a missional church was, I feel it is important to emphasize the importance of the standards and structure of the early church and correcting the errors of modern churches. I am enlightened by this article and what it has shared. The churches during the early period had a go and make disciples mentality where they trained others in the meetings to go out from the meetings and reach the people who didn’t know Christ making new disciples.
When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire under Constantine, the face of the church began to change. During this period, it began to be emphasized what happened in the physical building or service was considered “church.” Today, especially in the western world, this is still a struggle to get people to consider the church the people and their mission rather than have a come type of attitude where the people should come to this building and become a part of what we are doing. People generally feel that unless you go into a church building with a pulpit and pews, you are not going to church. Nevertheless, a church could meet anywhere and then emphasize a go out type of attitude to do the mission of the church of making disciples for Christ.
A missional church is a different type of church than we are used to seeing in the western world. Because we are used to having church in our terms, it is difficult to change our way of thinking. Mark Peske is quoted in the article as stating “It was a lack of courage that led me to rely
__________________
Presented to:
Dr. Jones Kaleli
Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary
__________________
In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for ICST 650
________________
By:
R. W. Bryant Hill
October 01, 2011
As I read the article on the Local Church in Mission, it appeared to me step-by-step that this was the way the early church was built and organized. Even though until recently I didn’t know what a missional church was, I feel it is important to emphasize the importance of the standards and structure of the early church and correcting the errors of modern churches. I am enlightened by this article and what it has shared. The churches during the early period had a go and make disciples mentality where they trained others in the meetings to go out from the meetings and reach the people who didn’t know Christ making new disciples.
When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire under Constantine, the face of the church began to change. During this period, it began to be emphasized what happened in the physical building or service was considered “church.” Today, especially in the western world, this is still a struggle to get people to consider the church the people and their mission rather than have a come type of attitude where the people should come to this building and become a part of what we are doing. People generally feel that unless you go into a church building with a pulpit and pews, you are not going to church. Nevertheless, a church could meet anywhere and then emphasize a go out type of attitude to do the mission of the church of making disciples for Christ.
A missional church is a different type of church than we are used to seeing in the western world. Because we are used to having church in our terms, it is difficult to change our way of thinking. Mark Peske is quoted in the article as stating “It was a lack of courage that led me to rely