[In the New Testament, Church is] what happens when the news and presence of Jesus, raised from the dead, impact upon the human scene, drawing people together in a relationship that changes everyone involved, a relationship which means that each person involved with Jesus is now involved with all others who have answered his invitation, in ways that are painful and demanding but are also lifegiving and transforming beyond imagination. Rowan Williams, quoted in Moynagh "A Church For Every Context." This presentation largely draws on, and summarises, the discussion in Moynagh's book "A Church For Every Context."

1. What is Church For?
Caféchurch 16/9/14

2. How Do People Stay
Christian?
• It sems to me to need two top level things
• Personal spirituality (prayer, meditation, Scripture
reading, etc)
• Good church (a bit less clear exactly what we mean by
that)
• Further:
• You have to want it, and appropriate it for yourself (God
has no grandchildren)
• Culture isn’t just going to give it to you
• So, in Caféchurch we are going to work on those
two things (what we do in our solitude, and what
we do together)

3. Some Extrinsic Benefits of
Church
• Social
connectedness is
good for us
• Spirituality is good
for us
• Social capital is good
for society
• Christianity is the
tap-root of our
civilisation

4. However…
How does it look from
the inside? What does
church have to say for
itself? That’s the
burden of our
discussion tonight.

5. Reading
The rest of this
presentation is drawn
from Church for Every
Context: An Introduction
to Theology and
Practice, M Moynagh,
Kindle Edition. Quotes
are from this, unless
otherwise indicated.

6. Jesus and the Kingdom
When he came to Nazareth, where he had been
brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath
day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the
scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He
unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was
written:
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’
And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the
attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the
synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to
them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your
hearing.’
Luke 4:16-21

7. Kingdom and Church
• “Jesus talked about
the Kingdom, but we
got the church.”
• What do these two
things have to do
with each other?

8. Church-shaped Kingdom
• “The church is where the
kingdom is made real in the
present”
• The Spirit lives, and operates,
chiefly in and via the church
• The world doesn’t have much
(or anything) good to
contribute
• The purpose of church is to
bring people into church, so
that they can, in turn, bring
more people into church

9. Question
• Can you think of a
church where this is
the operative model?
• What were the good
and bad aspects of
it?

10. World-shaped Church
• The role of the church
is chiefly to see the
Spirit at work in the
world and point it out to
people
• The church doesn’t
necessarily have
anything very
substantive to offer

11. Question
• Can you think of a
church where this is
the operative model?
• What were the good
and bad aspects of
it?

12. Kingdom-shaped Church
• A synthesis of CSK and WSC
views
• The Spirit is at work in the
world
• The church “has its roots in the
future and branches in the
present” – we have something
distinctive to offer
• The church is the foretaste of
the kingdom – of something far
more expansive and wonderful
than exists in the church (or
world) now.

13. Discussion
• Do you see how this
operates as a
synthesis?
• Do you think the idea
is plausible (or
indeed
comprehensible)?

14. Summary
• Church-shaped kingdom
• Through the Spirit, the church makes the
kingdom present.
• World-shaped kingdom
• The kingdom is present in the world and the
church points to it.
• Kingdom-shaped church
• The kingdom, though present in the world, is
distinctively present in the church.

15. The Essence of Church
• What is the
fundamental nature of
church?
• The underlying
question is: what does
God reveal of Godself?
• Is God primarily
revealed in mission, or
in relationship?

16. Mission
“Some have argued that mission –
being sent by God to serve the
world – is the defining feature of the
church.... God has revealed himself
to be missionary in his nature. The
only way we know God is by
encountering him in his missionary
activity. Scripture reveals what God
is like by relating what God does,
which is to go out in mission. The
people of God are first the product
of God’s mission, and then
participants in it. “
(Loc. 3058)

17. Question
• Can you think of a
church where this is
the operative model?
• What were the good
and bad aspects of
it?

18. Community
The church participates in the
communion of the triune God. The
mutual giving and receiving within
the church reflects the perichoretic
Trinity, a technical term for the
persons of the Godhead indwelling
and interpenetrating each other.
What constitutes the church is
participation in the perichoretic
dance of the triune God. ‘The holy
Trinity is beckoning the emerging
Church to model a way of being a
spiritual community that reflects the
very nature of the Trinitarian
Godhead’

19. Question
• Can you think of a
church where this is
the operative model?
• What were the good
and bad aspects of
it?

20. Four Relationships
Of (The Whole
Church)
Up (God)
Out (Mission)
In (Community)

21. [Church in the NT is] what happens when the news
and presence of Jesus, raised from the dead, impact
upon the human scene, drawing people together in a
relationship that changes everyone involved, a
relationship which means that each person involved
with Jesus is now involved with all others who have
answered his invitation, in ways that are painful and
demanding but are also lifegiving and transforming
beyond imagination.
R Williams, quoted in Moynagh Loc. 3109