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Andrews University Digital Commons @ Andrews University Professional Dissertations DMin Graduate Research 2019 A Cosmopolitan Theology for Creating an Urban Missional Small Group to Reach Postmodern Generations in the City of Lacombe, Alberta Lyle Milton Notice Andrews University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dmin Part of the Practical Theology Commons Recommended Citation Notice, Lyle Milton, "A Cosmopolitan Theology for Creating an Urban Missional Small Group to Reach Postmodern Generations in the City of Lacombe, Alberta" (2019). Professional Dissertations DMin. 724. https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dmin/724 This Project Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Research at Digital Commons @ Andrews University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Professional Dissertations DMin by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Andrews University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ABSTRACT A COSMOPOLITAN THEOLOGY FOR CREATING AN URBAN MISSIONAL SMALL GROUP TO REACH POSTMODERN GENERATIONS IN THE CITY OF LACOMBE, ALBERTA by Lyle Milton Notice Adviser: Baraka G. Muganda ABSTRACT OF GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH Project Document Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary Title: A COSMOPOLITAN THEOLOGY FOR CREATING AN URBAN MISSIONAL SMALL GROUP TO REACH POSTMODERN GENERATIONS IN THE CITY OF LACOMBE, ALBERTA Name of researcher: Lyle Milton Notice Name and degree of faculty adviser: Baraka G. Muganda, DMin Date completed: October 2019 Problem Many youths within the Canadian city of Lacombe, Alberta, are having difficulty finding traditional church attractive, engaging, relevant, and meaningful. Because of the prevalent postmodern mindset of youth in the community, thoughts toward church, religious gatherings, and organized religion are pessimistic and skeptical. Research has pointed out that faith-based community initiatives have been either lacking or ineffective in addressing the disengagement and disillusionment being demonstrated by postmodern millennials. Method The purpose of this study was to see if an urban missional small group made up of 10 to 15 youth would have a positive social spiritual impact on their personal lives. The focus was to bring postmodern youth together for a period of 12 weeks to create an urban missional small group intended to foster a sense of community and belonging. It was to employ open dialogue but also allow for discourse and debate, and it was to facilitate individual and collective spiritual development and growth. The dialogue would center on studying and reflecting on the life of Christ; however, the dialogue would also remain open to natural discussion points and personal sharing as raised by the participants. Results The results were reviewed and evaluated by conducting entry and exit surveys. The results of the survey evidenced that implementing a 12-week urban missional small group in an urban city had a substantial spiritual impact on the group participants. The key six areas evaluated were (a) personal life, (b) community life, (c) spiritual life, (d) urban life, (e) church life, (f) church experience/small-group experience. Each of these six categories included a series of questions. The study showed, overall, that 64% participants’ responses indicated positive and constructive improvement since before the participants had joined the small group. This ultimately revealed that urban missional small groups can have a positive, meaningful, constructive, and measurable impact on young urban churched and unchurched postmodern millennials. Hence, a new urban missional church plant is scheduled to be planted September 2019. Conclusions In business, the term disruptive innovation means an idea that disturbs the status quo and changes the nature of the previous model or version that came before it. One may consider urban missional small groups as a type of disruptive innovation because they have the unique power to reach postmodern millennials. Small groups are a new and different way for young unchurched urban youth to meet spiritually, they focus specifically on mission in the city, and they foster a sense of diversity inclusivity, and they are, above all, user friendly. As a result of this small group endeavor is that there is currently a core group of new urban missional leaders who are empowered and equipped to (a) share the gospel with others, (b) disciple new believers, and (c) successfully lead other small groups that will ultimately attract this niche demographic and impact it spiritually for Christ. Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary A COSMOPOLITAN THEOLOGY FOR CREATING AN URBAN MISSIONAL SMALL GROUP TO REACH POSTMODERN GENERATIONS IN THE CITY OF LACOMBE, ALBERTA A Project Document Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Ministry by Lyle Milton Notice October 2019 © Copyright by Lyle Milton Notice 2019 All Rights Reserved A COSMOPOLITAN THEOLOGY FOR CREATING AN URBAN MISSIONAL SMALL GROUP TO REACH POSTMODERN GENERATIONS IN THE CITY OF LACOMBE, ALBERTA A project document presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Ministry by Lyle Milton Notice APPROVAL BY THE COMMITTEE: _____________________________ _____________________________ Adviser, Director, DMin Program Baraka G. Muganda Kleber D. Gonçalves _____________________________ _____________________________ Orville Brown Dean, Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary Jiří Moskala October 14, 2019 _____________________________ _____________________________ Allan Chichester Date approved TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ....................................................................................... viii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 1 Description of the Ministry Context ....................................................... 1 Statement of the Problem ....................................................................... 2 Statement of the Task ............................................................................. 2 Delimitations .......................................................................................... 2 Description of the Project Process.......................................................... 3 Theology ......................................................................................... 3 Literature ......................................................................................... 3 Demographics and Culture .............................................................. 3 Incarnational Ministry ..................................................................... 3 Urban Missional Small Group ........................................................ 4 Data Collection ............................................................................... 5 2. A THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION FOR URBAN MISSION .......................... 7 Mission in the Old Testament ................................................................ 7 Jonah as an Urban Missionary................................................................ 9 Nehemiah as an Urban Missionary/Ezra as Urban Pastor ...................... 11 Jeremiah’s Urban Missionary Initiative ................................................. 13 Build Houses and Live in Them ..................................................... 14 Plant Gardens and Eat Their Produce ............................................. 14 Get Married and Raise a Family ..................................................... 14 Seek the Welfare of the City ........................................................... 15 Mission in the New Testament ............................................................... 16 The Apostle Paul and the Urban Missionary Mindset ........................... 21 Urban Living .......................................................................................... 23 Theology of Place ................................................................................... 24 The Need for Christians to Be in the Cities............................................ 26 Contextualization.................................................................................... 27 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 28 3. LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................... 30 Introduction ............................................................................................ 30 iii Urban Ministry ....................................................................................... 30 Cosmopolitan Theology ......................................................................... 36 Race: A Human Construct ...................................................................... 40 Small Groups .......................................................................................... 42 Transformational Groups ................................................................ 42 Assimilation .................................................................................... 44 Ethnic and Cultural Diversity ......................................................... 45 Mission ............................................................................................ 46 Incarnational ...................................................................................

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