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Toward a Communally Embodied Gospel: Exploring the Role of Worship in Cultivating an Evangelistic Character Among God’S People Within the Missional Church Movement

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Toward a Communally Embodied Gospel: Exploring the Role of Worship in Cultivating an Evangelistic Character Among God’S People Within the Missional Church Movement Toward a Communally Embodied Gospel: Exploring the Role of Worship in Cultivating an Evangelistic Character among God’s People within the Missional Church Movement by Christopher James Schoon A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Wycliffe College and the Pastoral Department of the Toronto School of Theology in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Theology awarded by Wycliffe College and the University of Toronto © Copyright Christopher James Schoon 2016 Toward a Communally Embodied Gospel: Exploring the role of worship in cultivating an evangelistic character among God’s people within the missional church movement Doctor of Theology Christopher James Schoon Wycliffe College and the University of Toronto 2016 Abstract This project explores the relationship between worship, discipleship, and evangelism within the missional church movement by looking closely at the role of worship in cultivating an evangelistic character among God’s people. Engaging contributions from liturgical theology, Christian ethics, and post-Christendom evangelism, this project proposes a missional approach to worship that, when integrated with a praxis-oriented discipleship, cultivates Jesus’ character among God’s people. Along the way, the project attends to the Holy Spirit’s transformative presence, the liturgical rhythms of remembering and anticipating, and the practices of hospitality and compassion. In the end, the thesis argues that the Spirit works through this integration of worship and discipleship to form communally embodied expressions of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In other words, God’s people become evangelistic, or as Newbigin said, “the hermeneutic of the gospel.” ii To Hennie my faithful partner and confidant, the one I laugh with, live for, dream with, love and To our children: Josh, Nate, Tim, and Karis who continue to open my heart to possibilities I had not imagined iii Acknowledgments With deep gratitude, I recognize that this project, as with the whole of life, is not truly my own. Those influencing my engagement with these ideas far outnumber the references included in the footnotes. As this project draws to an end, I see the crowd of witnesses surrounding me and know that this project – faults excepting – is as much theirs as it is mine. To briefly name a few for whom I am particularly grateful: Thank you to the three congregations that have graciously welcomed me into their communities as a seminarian, outreach pastor, and senior pastor: Madison Square CRC, Plymouth Heights CRC, and First Hamilton CRC. You have reminded me again and again that it all comes back to God’s scandalous grace in Jesus Christ. Thank you to the academic communities with whom I have journeyed. For the faculty and staff of Calvin Theological Seminary among whom I learned to value the life of the mind as a gift meant to be given in service within God’s kingdom. For Wycliffe College and Toronto School of Theology, especially John Bowen, David Reed, and Bill Kervin, who have advised, encouraged, taught, and befriended me, as they walked with me through every stage of my doctoral program. Thank you to my friends and family who have challenged, sacrificed, encouraged, rebuked, endured, tolerated, comforted, humored, indulged, and loved me in a thousand other ways. Among them, I want to particularly recognize the Demik family for their generous gift of housing when we moved to Ontario; the guys weekend crew: Brad, Tom, Kris, and Jason, along with my brothers-in-law, Brandon and Ryan – who welcome me home each year and remind me of who I am; and the Heeremas whose friendship embodies God’s goodness – even when camping. iv Thank you as well to our families. To our siblings – Gerrit & Kathy, Tess & John, Rol & Sheryl, Tam & Ry, Amy & Jeremy, and Megan & Brandon – who have endured my theological rabbit trails, long-winded responses to the simplest of questions, and persistent academic distractions, and yet somehow have still found it in your hearts to love me. To my in-laws, Hank & Rolina, who have remained steadfast in their support and prayers, and whose love has been a constant encouragement to us. To my mom, Ruth Schoon, who has been my cheerleader, listening to my crazy ideas and challenging me to seek God’s face. She continues to inspire me with her consistent devotional life and her pervasive compassion for the least of these. To my dad, Steve Schoon (2011), whose generous hospitality taught me so much about the love of God, whose love for words cultivated my imagination, and whose love of telling others about Jesus continues to encourage me. I only wish he could be here to celebrate the end of this journey with us. Josh, Nate, Tim, and Karis: Thank you for your incredible patience as I’ve been in school. You remind me daily that life is way more than books and ideas. You amaze me with your insights. You encourage me with your curiosity. You inspire me as you discover how to follow God with everything God has entrusted to you. I am absolutely delighted to be your dad. Hennie, you have freely given more than I ever could have asked. You believed in this dream before I did and you have not wavered in your steadfast love and encouragement along the way. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I could not have begun and would not have finished this project without you. v Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................. ii Dedication ............................................................................................................................ iii Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents ................................................................................................................. vi Abbreviations ..................................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1. Introduction ...........................................................................................................1 Thesis Statement and Other Introductory Matters ........................................................1 Methodology ............................................................................................................. 17 Delineating the Missional Church Movement ............................................................ 20 Procedure and Outline ............................................................................................... 47 Chapter 2. Literature Review ................................................................................................ 51 Previous Enquiries .................................................................................................... 53 Identifying Gaps in the Conversation ........................................................................ 96 Chapter 3. Missional Ecclesiology ...................................................................................... 103 What Makes the Church the Church? ...................................................................... 104 Reaction against Christendom Ecclesiology ............................................................ 109 Toward Character Marks: Outlining a Missional Ecclesiology ................................ 118 Chapter 4. A Missional Approach to Worship ..................................................................... 134 The Transformative Presence of the Holy Spirit ...................................................... 134 Smith’s Reflections on the Formative Capacity of Christian Worship ...................... 143 Proposing a Missional Approach to Worship ........................................................... 147 Missional Worship Needs a Praxis-Oriented Discipleship ....................................... 168 vi Chapter 5. Integrating a Missional Approach to Worship with a Praxis-Oriented Discipleship ........................................................................................................... 170 Integrating Worship with Discipleship: Remembering and Anticipating .................. 171 Three Contours of a Praxis-Oriented Discipleship ................................................... 187 Hospitality and Compassion .................................................................................... 196 Chapter 6. Communally Embodying the Gospel of Jesus Christ ......................................... 201 Jesus Christ’s Evangelistic Character ...................................................................... 201 Two Missional Perspectives on Evangelism ............................................................ 208 Affirmations from Conversations in Post-Christendom Evangelism ........................ 217 Communally Embodied Expressions of the Gospel of Jesus Christ .......................... 228 Implications and Potential Contours for Further Conversation ................................. 231 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................... 236 vii Abbreviations ASM American Society of Missiology CRCNA Christian Reformed Church in North America GOCN The Gospel and Our Culture Network MCM missional church movement viii Chapter One: Introduction Thesis Statement and Other Introductory Matters Thesis Statement and Primary Research Question This dissertation contends that the missional church movement (MCM)
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