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The Great Co-Mission: a Postmodern Missiology Greg G Digital Commons @ George Fox University Doctor of Ministry Seminary 3-1-2014 The Great Co-Mission: A Postmodern Missiology Greg G. Glatz George Fox University, [email protected] This research is a product of the Doctor of Ministry (DMin) program at George Fox University. Find out more about the program. Recommended Citation Glatz, Greg G., "The Great Co-Mission: A Postmodern Missiology" (2014). Doctor of Ministry. Paper 75. http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/dmin/75 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Seminary at Digital Commons @ George Fox University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctor of Ministry by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ George Fox University. GEORGE FOX UNIVERSITY THE GREAT CO-MISSION: A POSTMODERN MISSIOLOGY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GEORGE FOX EVANGELICAL SEMINARY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF MINISTRY BY GREG G. GLATZ NEWBERG, OREGON MARCH 2014 George Fox Evangelical Seminary George Fox University Portland, Oregon CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL ________________________________ DMin Dissertation ________________________________ This is to certify that the DMin Dissertation of Greg G. Glatz has been approved by the Dissertation Committee on February 24, 2014 for the degree of Doctor of Ministry in Leadership and the Emerging Culture. Dissertation Committee: Primary Advisor: Randy Woodley, PhD Secondary Advisor: David McDonald, DMin Copyright ©2014 by Greg G. Glatz. All rights reserved. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible. ii Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................. VI ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... XI 1. INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................... 1 On the Inside Looking Out ........................................................................................... 1 The Great Co-Mission................................................................................................... 6 Churches (Conservative and Liberal) Aren’t Growing ............................................... 10 Moving beyond the Conservative/Liberal Divide....................................................... 16 Getting Past “Stalled and Dissatisfied”....................................................................... 20 The Desert of the Real ................................................................................................ 27 On a Missional Journey Together ............................................................................... 31 An (Ab)Original Vision .............................................................................................. 35 2. SCRIPTURAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE MISSIO DEI ...................................... 37 The Hermeneutic Circle .............................................................................................. 37 Mission as Sending ..................................................................................................... 41 The Blessing of Abraham ........................................................................................... 45 A Babylonian Twist .................................................................................................... 54 Missional Mutuality, Interdependence, and Inter-Subjectivity ................................... 59 Cast-Offs as Co-Missionaries ..................................................................................... 65 3. LEAVING CHRISTENDOM .................................................................................... 70 A Deal with the Devil ................................................................................................. 70 The Rise of Christendom ............................................................................................ 72 iii A Vanishing Kin-dom ................................................................................................. 81 Embracing Chaos and Complexity ............................................................................. 85 The Promise of Post-Christendom .............................................................................. 89 The UnKingdom ......................................................................................................... 92 Shifting Allegiance ..................................................................................................... 96 Repentance and Resistance ......................................................................................... 99 4. RETHINKING MISSION ........................................................................................ 110 The Protestant Missionary Movement ...................................................................... 110 Missions in China ..................................................................................................... 118 Missions in Africa ..................................................................................................... 125 Missions in Canada ................................................................................................... 134 Assumptions of Cultural Superiority ........................................................................ 142 Assessing the Protestant Missionary Movement ...................................................... 146 Mission in a Postcolonial Context ............................................................................ 152 Negotiating Mission .................................................................................................. 159 Mission as Inreach .................................................................................................... 163 A Partnership Missiology ......................................................................................... 168 5. MOVING INTO THE MARGINS .......................................................................... 175 Living Betwixt and Between .................................................................................... 175 Liminality and Communitas ..................................................................................... 176 Communication of Sacra .......................................................................................... 183 Cultural Borderlands ................................................................................................. 187 God at the Crossroads, Borderlands, and Fronteras ................................................. 197 iv A Fusion of Horizons ................................................................................................ 202 6. EXPLORING CO-MISSION ................................................................................... 209 Liquid Modernity ...................................................................................................... 209 Failing and Forgiven Saints ...................................................................................... 212 Journeying Out .......................................................................................................... 214 Seeking Spatial Justice .............................................................................................. 217 The Two Loops Theory of Change ........................................................................... 219 An Oblique Approach to Mission ............................................................................. 223 Bridging Social Capital ............................................................................................. 228 Making Good Things Together ................................................................................. 231 Sailing into the Stormfront........................................................................................ 235 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................... 238 v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The reference to co-mission in the title of this dissertation not only applies to the working out of mission in partnership with others, but also to the collaborative means by which we develop our understanding of the missio Dei. I am deeply grateful to those inside and outside of churches, of all beliefs or no beliefs, for the missional insight and understanding they have shared with me along the way. My recent foray into the United Church of Canada has prompted a great deal of creative thinking around the missio Dei. I am grateful for the opportunity to minister alongside the people of Westminster Church in Winnipeg Presbytery, and especially grateful for daily ministry and quarterly staff retreats with my friends and colleagues, Robert Campbell and Nathan Poole. I also offer thanks to my fellow Winnipeg presbyters, to friends and colleagues in the Conference of Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario, and to the moderator of the United Church of Canada, Gary Paterson, who included me in the Moderator’s Pilgrimage to the Greenbelt Festival in August 2013. From 1993 to 2010, I had the privilege of serving as pastor of Central Baptist Church in Winnipeg. Working with the people of this small but stimulating congregation sparked my interest in missional church studies, and the years I spent with this church will continue to shape my understanding of the
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