Alan Hirsch has suggested that we move away from the term “church planting” in order to advocate a more biblically faithful term–“gospel planting.” Is Hirsch correct? Do you think the terminology should be changed? Does it matter?
HT: BH
Category: Missional Church
A Note of Thanks
Just a note of thanks for all of you who prayed for me during the Acts 29 Bootcamp. Appropriately, the Spirit led me to do some last minute editing in my plenary session (Spirit-led Ecclesiology: How to Follow the Spirit Thru Church Planting!) that proved helpful to a number of people. Thank you for praying. The breakout session on Building MIssional Core Teams also went well. It was fun to co-lead that with Rick White. The Village/Acts 29 recorded both talks, so the audio should be up sometime soon. At that time, I will post notes and a manuscript. With you in Jesus.
Acts 29 Bootcamp
I’m in Dallas all week for the Acts 29 Bootcamp. Here’s a schedule of speakers and events. I’ll be pretty busy with assessments, coaching, speaking, and break-out sessions, so I may not update the blog until the weekend. I’d appreciate your prayers for my speaking opportunities—that I would be Spirit-led and a blessing to those around me. I also expect to learn a lot from being with my A29 brothers.
Beyond Contextualization: Metatheology
Perhaps it is time that missional conversations move beyond contextualization. Renown missiologist Paul Hiebert does just this in his outstanding work, Anthropological Reflections on Missiological Issues. Heibert devotes considerable attention to what he calls metatheology, a word likely coined but not developed by Bosch in his Transforming Mission There has been very little explicit writing on metatheology. And yet, its essence has filled the centuries of church history and flowed from the pens of many a theologian.
So what is or is not, metatheology? The term, “metatheology” could be misleading. It is not, according to Heibert, a transcultural formulation of theological essentials, a kerygma on steroids. Instead, metatheology is methodology, a way to do theology. It refers to the process whereby a Christian can effectively theologize within his or her culture. It is a transcultural paradigm for theologizing that fosters both theological unity and diversity within a broad range of orthodoxy. Hiebert defines metatheology as, “a set of procedures- by which different theologies, each a partial understanding of the truth in a certain context, could be constructed.” Here are some benefits of a possible metatheology:
- Create a strong theological center in an increasingly destabilized American church. Something more broad than what the Gospel Coalition is doing and more narrow than the World Council of Churches of Lausanne.
- Rampant growth of Christianity in the 2/3rds world is giving way to syncretism. Metatheology could bring a helpful corrective.
- Metatheology could foster unity between denominations, networks, and agencies in the mission of the church.
- May serve to prevent the political and cultural fissure between the Protestant and Roman Catholic Church in promoting unity in the common efforts to relieve the poor and persecuted
- Could provide criteria for authoritative interpretation that is critical and not relative. This would benefit individuals and churches in determining meaning in texts. It could unite Protestants in orthodoxy and mission.
What separates metatheology from traditional hermeneutics? It’s attempt to provide a universal paradigm for theological unity. Thus, the method is “meta” in that it is intended to indiscriminately enable peoples of all cultures to engage in theological reflection in an honest, self-regulating way that will promote orthodoxy around the world.
So what do you think? Should we advance the metatheology discussion or is it too far reaching? Should we attempt to develop a paradigm of theological unity for the global church, yet again?