Theology on Mission

Should the church protest in the streets? Should the church engage in direct, non-violent action? And if so, how? These are some of the questions David Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw discuss as they wonder about the violent world we live in. They end asking, "Has the church outsourced martyrdom as its witness against violence?"

FROM THE *MISSIONAL COMMONS* hosted by Northern Seminary and Ecclesia Network. In this special episode, pastor and professor David Fitch talks about this difference between preaching and teaching, and how we need to proclaim the gospel in the pulpit, around the dinner table, and the everywhere else.

"You make void the word of God by our traditions" says Jesus (Mark 7:13). Is this slow shift from the Spirit to the Letter inevitable? "Have our denominations shifted from their spirit of mission to the letter of institution?" wonder Fitch and Holsclaw as they talk about the past and future of denominations and our place within them.

FROM THE *MISSIONAL COMMONS* hosted by Northern Seminary and Ecclesia Network. In this special episode, author, speakers and pastor Mandy Smith discusses how vulnerability and limitation is the true source of ministry effectiveness. Let us all learn to boast in our weakness. Check out her new book "The Vulnerable Pastor".

What you're NOT thinking about is often the most important thing about you. This is the impact of "ideology", the hidden assumptions that effect our thoughts and provoke our emotions. In this new episode David Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw talk about the "making of misunderstanding" caused by the different ideological assumptions we bring into our relationships and our churches. "Oh wretched humanity! Who will set us free from this body of Ideology? Thanks be to God through Jesus our (subversive) Lord!"

Has "manhood" been hijacked by a false sense of invulnerability? Has "masculinity" been defined by what it ISN'T, rather than what it really IS? These are the questions that Geoff Holsclaw and special guest Nate Pyle talk about as they wonder about what it might mean to be "Man Enough".

What is the focus of the Local Church? Should it focus on being...LOCAL? Dave and Geoff talk about the importance of practicing the presence of Christ in the neighborhoods we find ourselves. This special episode is the first time in front of a live audience.

In the aftermath of the Ashley Madison hack, churches begin picking up the pieces after their pastors fall. But David Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw ask, "What should have been happening BEFORE these pastoral scandals happen?" They talk about the need for evangelicals to have a more robust understanding and process of sanctification, not just for pastors, but for everyone.

A worship "experience"? A time for "teaching"? Is the time on Sundays for our heads or our hearts, or something else? Fitch and Holsclaw talk cast a different vision for the worship gathering as a time of corporate spiritual formation.

What is leadership? And how does it look in the church? Beyond Hierarchy (one on top) and Democracy (all on bottom) is a Spirit-guided leadership through gifts and calling. Fitch and Holsclaw discuss the theological and personal reasons we tend toward unhealthy leadership structures, the difference between vision-casting and consensus-building, and the foundations of being led in Christ by the Spirit.

Check out "The Mission of Preaching", Missional Learning Commons on Nov. 6-7 (http://guestli.st/344433). In an image driven culture, why do we still have sermons? What good can a Sunday sermon have when everyone is bombarded by other messages all week long? What is preaching for anyway? David Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw talk about what preaching is and how the "imagination" is essential for it.

Worldwide, the victims of oppressive patriarchy are not just women, but men too. Carolyn Custis James, author of "Malestrom: Manhood swept into the Currents of a Changing World", sits down with Geoff Holsclaw to discuss the challenges of being a man in the 21st century.

How should the church relate to culture? What is 'culture' for that matter? And is power a bad thing? Dave and Geoff talk about different ways of thinking about church and culture(s), from H. Richard Niebuhr to James Davison Hunter, and why this matters to the local church.

Even if the Bible is inerrant, who is going to interpret it? And how? These and other questions are tackled by Fitch and Holsclaw in this new episode. Beyond a book of facts or a library of experiences, beyond the conservative/progressive divide, God speaks to us through Scripture, interpreting us as we try to interpret it.

Is being "missional" merely adding something to "church", something like justice? Geoff and Dave discuss how adding a "justice" ministry, but keeping everything about your church the same, is not missional and doesn't help much with justice as Jesus knows it. Justice is too relational to be a program added to a church.

Deepening the previous episode on moving beyond the conservative/progressive divide, Geoff Holsclaw and David Fitch talk about the "Gospel" beyond personal vs. social salvation, beyond getting to heaven vs saving the earth. The Gospel is not a plan of salvation, but the PERSON who saves, Jesus, the Son of God. And this changes everything.

“A justification for our own sorry existence as evangelicals.” Or, why they don’t fit in anywhere. Dave Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw make a first attempt at articulating another way, a third way, for theology and mission for evangelicals, beyond the conservative/progressive dichotomy. Dave and Geoff talk about some historical roots for this dichotomy and hint toward an alternative life in community. The next two episodes will flesh out this third way farther by exploring the topics of “Gospel” and then “Scripture”, showing how our theological commitments make a really missional difference (subscribe so you don’t miss them). If you don’t fit in as an conservative evangelical, but don’t feel drawn to progressive framework, then check out this episode.

In our hyper-connected world are we more likely to merely talk than walk? To "like" than live? In this new episode David Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw talk about the place of social media and long-distance funding within a life of mission. Does our social media involvement enhance our mission or expand existing antagonisms?, that is the question.

At it again, David Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw talk about the difficult issue of "mutual submission" (from Eph. 5:21). They discuss why people don't want to talk about it (from rightful fear of abuse to not wanting to submit to anyone...ever), the theology of mutual submission and the difficult practice of it. Also, as usually Dave and Geoff talk about the books they are reading and through in a little "Fitch vs. Fitch" to end it all.

In this new episode of "Theology on Mission" David Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw talk about bi-vocational ministry, how it is an opportunity to rethink pastoral vocation and church ministry, all wrapped in personal stories.