01.03.07
Missional DNA
It’s interesting to run The Forgotten Ways up against two other recent books that use the metaphor of DNA as a way of connecting the missio Dei with ekklesial practice. Neil Cole’s book “Organic Church” is one, and Howard Snyder’s work “Decoding the Church” is the other. (Wade Hodges offers a good summary of Snyder’s book). I seem to be missing my copy of Organic Church, but here are some thoughts from Snyder, and you will see how they connect to Alan’s work in The Forgotten Ways as we continue to look at the book this week.
What is the church’s DNA? The Council of Nicea declared that the church is one, holy, catholic, apostolic... but these are somewhat ambiguous. Snyder argues that a careful look at the New Testament reveals the missing pairs. The church is..
DIVERSE as well as ONE
CHARISMATIC as well as HOLY
LOCAL as well as CATHOLIC or UNIVERSAL
PROPHETIC as well as APOSTOLIC
He spells this out in detail on pages 22-25. Then he moves on to talk about DNA.
“The church’s fundamental DNA makes the church the sign, foretaste, and initial embodiment of the reign of God and a reflection or echo of the Trinity. In this sense, the church may be described as a community that is missional, alternative, covenantal, and Trinitarian.
“The church is genetically missional because it is the community of Jesus Christ, God’s great missionary. It is the body of Christ, the community called into existence by the mission of God. This is the starting point for all ecclesiology.
“A missional church is an alternative community called to build its own culture, economy, and lifestyle in the world and among all peoples. A faithful church is a visible alternative to both neopagan society and to ecclesial models of Christendom that clash with the church’s basic DNA. Alternative .. is a slippery word. Alternative to what? The church is an alternative community when its mission is the kingdom of God.
“The church is the covenant community of God’s reign. The covenant calls the church to ministry and mission, to “equip [God's people] for the work of service” and to structure its life accordingly. A covenant community focused on ministry and mission must pay attention to several key points.
1. it must have some form of small covenant groups 2. the meaning of “member” needs to be rethought 3. the split between clergy and laity must be overcome in thought and practice 4. healthy communities practice plural leadership 5. the theology and practice of ordination needs to be rethought 6. structure must be consistent with the organic nature of the church and missionally functional.
“The Trinitarian nature of the church is important as it teaches us about ecclesiology and Christian mission. 1. The church is a Trinitarian worshipping community 2. The Trinitarian community is sent to the poor 3. The church’s ministry is grounded in the Trinity : Spirit empowered, non-hierarchical.” pp 49-56
Robert Campbell said,
January 4, 2007 at 9:36 am
This book has been on my shelf for a while. I will move it up on the list.
David Fitch said,
January 4, 2007 at 7:46 pm
I have found Howard Snyder to be seminal for my own thinking on the church. Few people have his scholarly and pastoral girth that simply cannot be ignored by any younger thinkers coming up. This book is a good one. Thanks for doing such a fine summary …
Alan Hirsch said,
January 5, 2007 at 12:50 am
Len, I think Howard is one of the most consistently fertile thinkers on mission alive today. His work on Wineskins and the community of the King are nothing less than prescient. But a point of difference between his use of DNA and mine. What I have attempted to do is to take a phenomenological look at movements in order to find their basic phenomenology. That is, what dynamics and elements come together to create exponential, transformative movmements. What I am trying to describe here is the actual DNA of apostolic movements themselves, not just use DNA as a handy way to describe a philosophy of ministry. Its scary how this seems to fit with all movements that achieve some level of what Roland Allen callled ‘spontaneous expansion.’
len said,
January 5, 2007 at 9:36 am
SNyder’s work has been significant to me since my early years as a believer.. I still have Community of the King, Wineskins and The Radical Wesley on my shelves. But I think it was his Liberating the Church that really got “under my skin.” Incidentally, there is an MP3 of Snyder speaking at the AEF Call conference.. found at desertpastor’s blog..
len said,
January 5, 2007 at 10:00 am
Alan, I think the uniqueness in your own use of the metaphor is coming across quite well. In some ways you are combining the DNA perspective with the QM mantra: the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. That’s helpful, because it has the potential to invite us beyond mechanistic application of the knowledge. At some point in the reflection I’ll link a PDF of Roland Allen’s short book here for those who havent yet discovered it.
alan hirsch said,
January 7, 2007 at 12:01 am
Len, your grasp on things is amazing. Most times it takes a bit of time to get the ‘wholeness’/systemic paradigm across. People nowadays use DNA as a kind of synonym for what we used to calll a church’s ‘philosophy of ministry’. That is not what I mean and the danger of using the metaphor made me add the little ‘m’ before DNA to say mDNA.
Journeyfiles » Blog Archive » Erste Besprechungen von Alan’s Hirschs Buch "The Forgotten Ways” said,
January 15, 2007 at 2:24 am
[...] Da haben wir zu dem Buch direkt Besprechung 1 und Besprechung 2, zu Karl Barth (ein Australier bringt uns diesen Theologen zurück, man überlege sich das…) und einem Vergleich zu “Organic Church” von Neil Cole bzw. “Decoding the church” von Howard Snyder. Interessante Meinungen und Einblicke. Zwei Zitate aus dem Buch: “Nothing is more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than achieving a new order of things.”? Machiavelli [...]