Blogging Newbigin, Part 5

1. The New testament gives little emphasis on numerical growth (125).
2. Roland Allen’s critique of modern missions (129).
3. There cannot be a separation between conversion and obedience (135).
4. Conversion is to Christ (139).
5. Culture is not an ethically neutral entity (144).
6. Within the New Testament, there are various interpretations of the gospel (153).
7. Each religion comes into dialogue from the basis of their own confession (164).
8. The presence and work of Christ are not confined to where He is acknowledged (174).
9. Salvation is the consummation of universal history, not just personal (178).
10. Christians enter into dialogue with those of other faiths out of obedient witness to Jesus (182).
11. We participate in dialogue because we share the belief that we have all been created by God (183).
12. We participate in dialogue as members of the body of Christ, the body which has been sent out into the world (184).
13. We participate in dialogue, believing that the work of the Holy Spirit will convert both partners to Jesus (186).

Blogging Newbigin, Part 4

1. Jesus’ good news is of God’s universal reign (66).
2. The scandal of particularity is the central question in missions (67).
3. The doctrine of election is throughout the Bible (68).
4. The center of the Bible is God’s covenant with Israel (73).
5. Universalism and the possibilty of rejection (79),
6. Rejection of universalistic view of salvation (79).
7. Refusal to engage in speculation about the ultimate salvation of others 979).
8. The Bible is in the world of stories (82).
9. The Bible is “the story” (83).
10. Where justice is denied, love is denied (97).
11. The Exodus is the paradigm of liberation theology (98).
12. Rejection of the idea of human beings as essentially spiritual (102).
13. Liberation theology-oppressed and oppressor cannot come to the Eucharist together. The oppressor must stop oppressing(110).
14. Liberation theology according to Guitierez- “critical reflection on Christian praxis in light of the Word” (114).

Blogging Newbigin, Part 3

1. The Bible is not concerned with offering a way of escape for those who are redeemed, but rather is concerned with the action of God to bring history to its trues end (34).
2. The reign of God means that God is sovereign ruler over all people and all things (34).
3. Mission is faith in action (38).
4. The reality of the reign of God is present in Jesus, in blessing and judgement (42).
5. The idea of the church as an institution is contrary to Jesus’ eschatology (45).
6. “As the Father sent me, so I send you” (John 20:22) (quoted on 48).
7. Mission is the presence of God and kingship in Jesus and in the church (56).
8. Mission is not just something that the church does, mission it is something done by th Spirit (56).
9. It is by the action of the Holy Spirit that the church is launched (58).
10. We have been set free from the slavery to sin and placed under the rule of the Spirit (63).
11. The reign of God is present in the church, but does not belong to the church (64).
12. The understanding of mission is rooted in the Trinitarian nature of God (65).

Blogging Newbigin, Part 2

Continuing with notes from the Open Secret:

1. Jesus announces the reign of God, is acknowledged as the Son of God, and is annointed y the Spirit (21-23).
2. Three ways of Christian mission: proclaiming the kingdom of the Father, sharing the life of the Son, bearing witness of the Spirit (29).
3. The Bible is unique in that in it is, in structure, a history of the cosmos (30).
4. Israel is chosen as bear, not exclusive beneficiary, of God’s blessing for the sake of all (32).
5. The Bible is not concerned with offering a way of escape for those who are redeemed, but rather is concerned with the action of God to bring history to its trues end (34).
6. The reign of God means that God is sovereign ruler over all people and all things (34).
7. Mission is faith in action (38).
8. The reality of the reign of God is present in Jesus, in blessing and judgement (42).
9. The idea of the church as an institution is contrary to Jesus’ eschatology (45).
10. “As the Father sent me, so I send you” (John 20:22) (quoted on 48).
11. Mission is the presence of God and kingship in Jesus and in the church (56).
12. Mission is not just something that the church does, mission it is something done by th Spirit (56).
13. It is by the action of the Holy Spirit that the church is launched (58).

Blogging Newbigin, Part 1

For my class Leadership of the Church for the Unchurched, I am taking notes on several books that we are going over in class. I thought it might be an interesting experiment to post the notes as I go through the texts. The first book is a classic in missiology, and an important text for those involved in the missional church. That classic is The Open Secret by Leslie Newbigin. I’ll give the notes in several installments. Here is the first, which deals with the first two chapters:

Leslie Newbigin, The Open Secret

1. There is a new awareness of the missionary nature of the church (1).
2. In the past, mission did not have a central place in Christian doctrine (2).
3. Since the radical secularization of the West, the churches are in a missionary position once again (2).
4. There are different views on secularization (Berger, Cassanova, Stark, Chaves, Taylor, etc); what view of secularization is true? What is the level of secularization today?
5. The church now exists in a globalized world (7).
6. By whose authority? The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit (15).
7. “The community that confesses that Jesus is Lord has been, from the very beginning, a movement launched into the public life of mankind” (16).
8. If this is true, then why are churches centered around a building and attempt to attracr people to them? Why does it seem that churches have not been launched into the public, but rather the public launched into the churches?
9. Missio Dei (God’s mission” means that the church should find out where God is at work in the world, and join in with God’s activity (18).