Missio Alliance | Awakenings 2019: Recent Episodes
Missio Alliance
What does worship look like for a church that is economically, educationally, and culturally diverse? In this workshop, we will explore the guiding principles of worship for communities that facilitate reconciliation across dividing lines.
Come hear and interact around the story of Tampa Underground, an organic network of over 200 microchurches in Tampa Bay, interweaved with an organizational structure designed to launch and serve microchurches. We’ll explore how to help cultivate a calling-driven culture, the complexity of eqipping an organization so the big exists to serve the small, and how to allow both the organic and the structural coexist toward a wild ecosystem of apostolic energy.
Everyone knows transitions are hard. Child to adult, separation to divorce, employed to unemployed, wife to mother—these are just some of the transitions that pepper our existence. When people transition from single to married and from life to death, even nonmembers ask for the church’s liturgical help. What if we offered help in other transitions?
The blended ecology way is about vintage and fresh modes of church working together in life- giving synergy. Existing congregations planting fresh expressions of church are experiencing forms of revitalization. This workshop will o er practical tools for re-missioning congregations for the new missional frontier.
Rethinking the Enneagram—not as an end—but as a means to discipleship, we will brie y explore the Types, and then pair them with spiritual practices and biblical narratives based on personality. This session is a sample of a workshop meant to help you discern whether bringing this cost-effective workshop to your community might partner with your vision to make disciples while also creating new conversations with those in your region who do not follow Jesus but are interested in the Enneagram.
The Apostolic Era used the dinner table as their primary form of church for the first three centuries. That historic sociology of church is making a strong comeback in the past decade. Interestingly, secularized populations are again flocking to these Agape’ dinner tables to eat & talk about Jesus.
Whether you work in a husband and wife team or in the context of an APEST team, these five principles will shift everything you knew about leadership, servanthood, and church leadership. Join Pastors Dele & Oneya Okuwobi, as they reveal five timeless principles needed to build the Kingdom of God in the 21st Century Church. in the context of husband & wife APEST teams.
The Church is in a state of crisis. We feel it, we know it, the writing is on the wall. All of our previously held tactics and tools: great preaching, great worship, great programs, even great websites are not strong enough to carry us into our precarious future. Can we move beyond the Church Industrial Complex? Can we recover the Church as a Movement? Join us for a plunge into the raging waters of movement and discover the necessary competencies for swimming in the current of God’s in-breaking Kingdom.
Today, it’s no longer enough to be spiritually competent: increasingly, ministry leaders must develop cross-cultural competence to advance the gospel and the church in a rapidly changing society. Cultural Intelligence (CQ) is the capability to function effectively across various cultural contexts.
Sometimes discussions of power and privilege imply that those on the margins cannot exercise power until the dominant culture gives it to them. Power to the People is designed for those on the margins who, as Howard Thurman (Jesus and the Disinherited) puts it, are people whose “backs are against the wall.” Christians who appear powerless in the world have power that comes from the Gospel of Jesus.
In a time when one’s sense of personal identity, purpose and place of belonging feel increasingly fragmented, how does the church equip young adults to live fully integrated lives? During this session we will explore what it looks like for our communities to engage and equip young adults to navigate complex conversations and create practices of theological reflection that shape the integration of their many different spheres of life and influence.
We know the religious landscape in North America has changed. We know it when we see the statistics and feel it when our churches struggle. For those of us tasked with leading in this Post-Christian context, how often do we stop and pay attention to our hearts?
In this new ministry frontier we must find ways of keeping our hearts from despair and ensuring our lives are Jesus-centred and receptive to the Spirit. To do this, we believe we need to cultivate intentional habits and postures as we lead.
In order to companion and form leaders who survive and thrive in the wild and chaotic frontier of ministry today, we need pathways to deepening their faithfulness and resilience. This workshop will suggest a fresh way rooted in proven and timeless practices for nourishing leaders. Drs. Loyd and Morse, experienced church planters and authors, will demonstrate a model that works for churches committed to engaging the world in the ways of Jesus.
For centuries Christianity has occupied a privileged place within secular Western society. As this reality fractures, however, the Church faces a new missionary situation. This situation is far different than taking the Christian message to people and places that have never heard it before. Instead, we are faced with the challenges of re- presenting and re-embodying the gospel among people and in a place that have already been exposed to it in a variety of forms.
Thus, we face challenges on multiple levels. How might we revisit our theological assumptions from more missionary perspectives? What will it mean and look like for our churches to develop more missionary self-understandings and practices? In what ways does facing a missionary future impact how we think about and cultivate discipleship? Can our Christian institutions and denominations reinvent and restructure themselves to accommodate our emerging missionary future?
These forums provide a space to lean into these kinds of questions, hearing from a variety of leaders about how they are seeking to experiment their way into this future and what they’re learning in the process.
For centuries Christianity has occupied a privileged place within secular Western society. As this reality fractures, however, the Church faces a new missionary situation. This situation is far different than taking the Christian message to people and places that have never heard it before. Instead, we are faced with the challenges of re- presenting and re-embodying the gospel among people and in a place that have already been exposed to it in a variety of forms.
Thus, we face challenges on multiple levels. How might we revisit our theological assumptions from more missionary perspectives? What will it mean and look like for our churches to develop more missionary self-understandings and practices? In what ways does facing a missionary future impact how we think about and cultivate discipleship? Can our Christian institutions and denominations reinvent and restructure themselves to accommodate our emerging missionary future?
These forums provide a space to lean into these kinds of questions, hearing from a variety of leaders about how they are seeking to experiment their way into this future and what they’re learning in the process.
For centuries Christianity has occupied a privileged place within secular Western society. As this reality fractures, however, the Church faces a new missionary situation. This situation is far different than taking the Christian message to people and places that have never heard it before. Instead, we are faced with the challenges of re- presenting and re-embodying the gospel among people and in a place that have already been exposed to it in a variety of forms.
Thus, we face challenges on multiple levels. How might we revisit our theological assumptions from more missionary perspectives? What will it mean and look like for our churches to develop more missionary self-understandings and practices? In what ways does facing a missionary future impact how we think about and cultivate discipleship? Can our Christian institutions and denominations reinvent and restructure themselves to accommodate our emerging missionary future?
These forums provide a space to lean into these kinds of questions, hearing from a variety of leaders about how they are seeking to experiment their way into this future and what they’re learning in the process.
Multiculturalism is a broad and important reality for the church as we seek to witness to the good news of God’s in-breaking kingdom. It’s broad and important not merely because of what it signals about the world we inhabit, but because it reflects something intrinsic to the very character of God and thus something imperative to the identity and integrity of the Church as the body of Christ.
Differences in our languages, histories, technologies, geographies, genders, and so much else are all key ingredients to the multicultural realities of our lives and our stories. They are the gloriously inescapable characteristics of existence and the context in which God, in Christ, is reconciling all things to himself.
Far from being a boutique enterprise or something for just a niche group to pursue, stewarding the inherently multicultural nature of groups of people gathered together around the person, teaching, and work of Jesus is essential to the witness and mission of the Church. As our world becomes increasingly polarized around competing values and struggles for power, in many instances violently so, the Church is called to embody a counter-reality in which our multicultural differences can be respected, enjoyed, and celebrated in common submission to the Lordship of Christ over all things.
These forums provide an opportunity to consider the breadth of what it means for the Church to embrace multiculturalism as a defining characteristic and to engage in conversations about the kinds of leadership and practices that it requires.
Multiculturalism is a broad and important reality for the church as we seek to witness to the good news of God’s in-breaking kingdom. It’s broad and important not merely because of what it signals about the world we inhabit, but because it reflects something intrinsic to the very character of God and thus something imperative to the identity and integrity of the Church as the body of Christ.
Differences in our languages, histories, technologies, geographies, genders, and so much else are all key ingredients to the multicultural realities of our lives and our stories. They are the gloriously inescapable characteristics of existence and the context in which God, in Christ, is reconciling all things to himself.
Far from being a boutique enterprise or something for just a niche group to pursue, stewarding the inherently multicultural nature of groups of people gathered together around the person, teaching, and work of Jesus is essential to the witness and mission of the Church. As our world becomes increasingly polarized around competing values and struggles for power, in many instances violently so, the Church is called to embody a counter-reality in which our multicultural differences can be respected, enjoyed, and celebrated in common submission to the Lordship of Christ over all things.
These forums provide an opportunity to consider the breadth of what it means for the Church to embrace multiculturalism as a defining characteristic and to engage in conversations about the kinds of leadership and practices that it requires.
When we talk about the “ancient-future” dynamic of the church, we are talking about much more than surface-level adaptations of worship styles. We are talking about the profound reality that to be part of the church is to be part of something that has a 2000 year old, global history to it. And even that history is grounded in an even deeper tradition of God’s creation and formation of a people called to be a “light to the nations.”
In other words, we neither get to, nor do we have to, just “make it up as we go along!” We are inheritors of a very great and diverse Christian tradition that provides tremendous wisdom and rich resources for our journey.
At the same time, we face issues and challenges of ever-increasing complexity. That complexity is cultural as well as theological. How exactly we access the great tradition of the church, across its many iterations and expressions, and seek to apply that learning to our contemporary realities is an enormous task! Yet if we are wise, we receive that task as an opportunity to bring us closer to one another rather than an occasion to keep to ourselves.
In all this, these forums are meant to give us an opportunity to imagine together what it might mean to pursue a socially engaged orthodoxy, nurtured by its rootedness in a diverse, yet shared Christian history.
When we talk about the “ancient-future” dynamic of the church, we are talking about much more than surface-level adaptations of worship styles. We are talking about the profound reality that to be part of the church is to be part of something that has a 2000 year old, global history to it. And even that history is grounded in an even deeper tradition of God’s creation and formation of a people called to be a “light to the nations.”
In other words, we neither get to, nor do we have to, just “make it up as we go along!” We are inheritors of a very great and diverse Christian tradition that provides tremendous wisdom and rich resources for our journey.
At the same time, we face issues and challenges of ever-increasing complexity. That complexity is cultural as well as theological. How exactly we access the great tradition of the church, across its many iterations and expressions, and seek to apply that learning to our contemporary realities is an enormous task! Yet if we are wise, we receive that task as an opportunity to bring us closer to one another rather than an occasion to keep to ourselves.
In all this, these forums are meant to give us an opportunity to imagine together what it might mean to pursue a socially engaged orthodoxy, nurtured by its rootedness in a diverse, yet shared Christian history.
This national gathering has been convened at the intersection of two purposes: to continue the conversations that began two years ago with respect to accenting the person and work of the Holy Spirit as the basis of the life of the Church, and to turn our attention to God’s purposes for the Church in and for the sake of the world amid some of the most pressing questions and challenges of our day and contexts. Our Conference Forums are designed to provide an orienting space to the theme of the gathering - the life of the Church for the sake of the world. By bringing the voices and perspectives of four diverse leaders together in conversation and in spending time listening to the questions and comments of fellow attendees, these forums provide a sampling of the different ways the conference theme can be thought about, engaged, and teased out practically from a variety of leadership and contextual angles. Though each Conference Forum features different panels of leaders, the conversations will each take shape around the same set of questions:
- What do you see as one of the most significant challenges/ opportunities facing the North American Church right now in terms of living more fully and faithfully into its God-ordained purposes in and for the sake of the world?
- What sort of theological imagination must we have to grapple with that challenge/opportunity and give us one example or story of how you have witnessed that theological imagination playing itself out on the ground?
This national gathering has been convened at the intersection of two purposes: to continue the conversations that began two years ago with respect to accenting the person and work of the Holy Spirit as the basis of the life of the Church, and to turn our attention to God’s purposes for the Church in and for the sake of the world amid some of the most pressing questions and challenges of our day and contexts. Our Conference Forums are designed to provide an orienting space to the theme of the gathering - the life of the Church for the sake of the world. By bringing the voices and perspectives of four diverse leaders together in conversation and in spending time listening to the questions and comments of fellow attendees, these forums provide a sampling of the different ways the conference theme can be thought about, engaged, and teased out practically from a variety of leadership and contextual angles. Though each Conference Forum features different panels of leaders, the conversations will each take shape around the same set of questions:
- What do you see as one of the most significant challenges/ opportunities facing the North American Church right now in terms of living more fully and faithfully into its God-ordained purposes in and for the sake of the world?
- What sort of theological imagination must we have to grapple with that challenge/opportunity and give us one example or story of how you have witnessed that theological imagination playing itself out on the ground?
This national gathering has been convened at the intersection of two purposes: to continue the conversations that began two years ago with respect to accenting the person and work of the Holy Spirit as the basis of the life of the Church, and to turn our attention to God’s purposes for the Church in and for the sake of the world amid some of the most pressing questions and challenges of our day and contexts.
Our Conference Forums are designed to provide an orienting space to the theme of the gathering - the life of the Church for the sake of the world. By bringing the voices and perspectives of four diverse leaders together in conversation and in spending time listening to the questions and comments of fellow attendees, these forums provide a sampling of the different ways the conference theme can be thought about, engaged, and teased out practically from a variety of leadership and contextual angles.
Though each Conference Forum features different panels of leaders, the conversations will each take shape around the same set of questions:
- What do you see as one of the most significant challenges/ opportunities facing the North American Church right now in terms of living more fully and faithfully into its God-ordained purposes in and for the sake of the world?
- What sort of theological imagination must we have to grapple with that challenge/opportunity and give us one example or story of how you have witnessed that theological imagination playing itself out on the ground?
This national gathering has been convened at the intersection of two purposes: to continue the conversations that began two years ago with respect to accenting the person and work of the Holy Spirit as the basis of the life of the Church, and to turn our attention to God’s purposes for the Church in and for the sake of the world amid some of the most pressing questions and challenges of our day and contexts. Our Conference Forums are designed to provide an orienting space to the theme of the gathering - the life of the Church for the sake of the world. By bringing the voices and perspectives of four diverse leaders together in conversation and in spending time listening to the questions and comments of fellow attendees, these forums provide a sampling of the different ways the conference theme can be thought about, engaged, and teased out practically from a variety of leadership and contextual angles. Though each Conference Forum features different panels of leaders, the conversations will each take shape around the same set of questions:
- What do you see as one of the most significant challenges/ opportunities facing the North American Church right now in terms of living more fully and faithfully into its God-ordained purposes in and for the sake of the world?
- What sort of theological imagination must we have to grapple with that challenge/opportunity and give us one example or story of how you have witnessed that theological imagination playing itself out on the ground?
This national gathering has been convened at the intersection of two purposes: to continue the conversations that began two years ago with respect to accenting the person and work of the Holy Spirit as the basis of the life of the Church, and to turn our attention to God’s purposes for the Church in and for the sake of the world amid some of the most pressing questions and challenges of our day and contexts. Our Conference Forums are designed to provide an orienting space to the theme of the gathering - the life of the Church for the sake of the world. By bringing the voices and perspectives of four diverse leaders together in conversation and in spending time listening to the questions and comments of fellow attendees, these forums provide a sampling of the different ways the conference theme can be thought about, engaged, and teased out practically from a variety of leadership and contextual angles. Though each Conference Forum features different panels of leaders, the conversations will each take shape around the same set of questions:
- What do you see as one of the most significant challenges/ opportunities facing the North American Church right now in terms of living more fully and faithfully into its God-ordained purposes in and for the sake of the world?
- What sort of theological imagination must we have to grapple with that challenge/opportunity and give us one example or story of how you have witnessed that theological imagination playing itself out on the ground?
This national gathering has been convened at the intersection of two purposes: to continue the conversations that began two years ago with respect to accenting the person and work of the Holy Spirit as the basis of the life of the Church, and to turn our attention to God’s purposes for the Church in and for the sake of the world amid some of the most pressing questions and challenges of our day and contexts.
Our Conference Forums are designed to provide an orienting space to the theme of the gathering - the life of the Church for the sake of the world. By bringing the voices and perspectives of four diverse leaders together in conversation and in spending time listening to the questions and comments of fellow attendees, these forums provide a sampling of the different ways the conference theme can be thought about, engaged, and teased out practically from a variety of leadership and contextual angles.
Though each Conference Forum features different panels of leaders, the conversations will each take shape around the same set of questions:
- What do you see as one of the most significant challenges/ opportunities facing the North American Church right now in terms of living more fully and faithfully into its God-ordained purposes in and for the sake of the world?
- What sort of theological imagination must we have to grapple with that challenge/opportunity and give us one example or story of how you have witnessed that theological imagination playing itself out on the ground?
Awakenings 2019, Plenary 5: The Sending of the Church for the Sake of the World
Before the historical Jesus ascended into heaven he left His church with a mission- a mission to be His witnesses to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the utter most parts of the earth. Unfortunately instead of being open witnesses for Christ, many Christians still operate as if they are secret agents who are performing an impossible task. But no matter how daunting the mission may seem, it’s outcome is non-negotiable- it must be completed. This message will turn our attention toward the non- negotiable mission assigned to us by the head of the Church- Christ Himself. We are charged to share the good news with all who will hear about a God who accepts believers from every nation, tribe and tongue. This mission seems impossible but we are empowered by Christ - the one who triumphs -to ensure that it is completed.
Awakenings 2019, Plenary 5: The Sending of the Church for the Sake of the World
Recognizing our call as “sent ones” for the sake of the world, the Church in North America has often rooted herself in stories that are a distorted vision of the kingdom story that disfigures the witness of the Church. When the world cried #metoo, the church echoed #churchtoo. The call for the bride of Christ is to offer a drastic alternate way of living, but sometimes our cross-gendered relationships and partnerships look more like the world’s than the kingdom story. This not only harms the witness, but when rooted in the wrong storylines, gifted women and entire people groups are held back from living as sent ones. Let us awaken to and reclaim the redemptive story of men and women not only rooted, but connected in God’s story as we together embrace our call as sent ones.
Awakenings 2019, Plenary 4: The Character of the Church for the Sake of the World
One of the prevailing realities throughout the history of the church is the dissonance between power and character. We see it in the ongoing scandals in the life of the church. For centuries, the measure of power that is held by pastors and leaders has not been proportionate to the character needed to sustain it. But Jesus, from the very beginning of the church has sought to anchor us in a cruciform life, broken and vulnerable enough to lead in a way consistent with his kingdom. In this session, 5 cruciform questions will be explored for the sake of the future life of the church.
Awakenings 2019, Plenary 4: The Character of the Church for the Sake of the World
Morality refers to the difference between right and wrong, while virtue is choosing between competing goods. It is character that helps people to do the right thing in the right way. The emphasis in the church on morality over the last several decades, while necessary, has often come at the expense of virtue. The current moral crises in the church stem, in part from a lack of virtue, and it will require virtue to address these situations and to avoid falling into further error as we do so. The effectiveness of our witness in the world depends not only on the truth of our message, but on the character with which it is delivered and modeled.
Awakenings 2019, Plenary 3: The Future of the Church for the Sake of the World
Everywhere we look, we observe deep-seated divisions between people groups. And as we examine the role of the Church in all this, it’s not so much that she is the problem, it’s that she hasn’t been the solution. As a result, the world is missing the example of what self-sacrificial love and unity look like, especially as expressed across differences. In this session, we explore how the Church can regain her role and lead the way into a multicultural future.
Awakenings 2019, Plenary 3: The Future of the Church for the Sake of the World
The ancient church is often cherry-picked for “new” ways of doing public worship, for a lectionary-based method of reading the Bible, or to make use of the church calendar. But a richer, more full line of inquiry begs our attention: what was the aim of the church in practicing these things? Understanding these aims and practices informs ancient- future ways to faithfully engage spiritual formation and mission in the midst of cultural challenges.
Awakenings 2019, Plenary 3: The Future of the Church for the Sake of the World
The missionary impulse of the Church pushes her to reinvention and ingenuity around strategy. In this session, we’ll consider the ways the Spirit of God has and continues to launch the local church out into the edge of her missional calling and vocation.
Awakenings 2019, Plenary 2: The Witness of the Church for the Sake of the World
The Holy Spirit is awakening the Church to rise up and encounter the outpouring of the Spirit’s power. It is only when the Church wholeheartedly surrenders to the Spirit that our witness becomes the sort of prophetic voice to the nations that reflects God’s own heart. With renewed visions and dreams, the Church is empowered to step into God’s mission. The Spirit is calling, rousing the Church from its slumber to a new and glorious day!
Awakenings 2019, Plenary 2: The Witness of the Church for the Sake of the World
There are many helpful approaches to Christian apologetics, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. This session will explore a gospel- based apologetic, examining the basic tenets of the Good News of Jesus and how this message meets our most fundamental human needs in an unprecedented and unparalleled way.
Awakenings 2019, Plenary 2: The Witness of the Church for the Sake of the World
The incarnation of God in Christ provides a Missional Ecclesiology of Empowerment for the church today. This is especially important as the church rediscovers its mission in an ever- increasing multicultural yet deeply divided and polarizing mission eld. God in Christ takes on the form of a Jewish, multiethnic, and marginalized minority. He also lives out a liberating and reconciling mission thru solidarity with the oppressed, marginalized, and poor. This talk explores one miraculous example of this revelation of God.
Awakenings 2019, Plenary 1: The Nature of the Church for the Sake of the World
Maybe the most unfortunate reality plaguing the church today is its inability to see itself rightly; we are a means of God’s grace to be at work in this world. And yet, because we often look to the world for our examples of power - which are not compelling at all - our tendency then is to overcorrect, take on a posture of weakness that’s not Christ-soaked, and ultimately downplay our ability to enact change through the life- giving source of the Spirit. But we’re more powerful than we realize! The stories about the Tower of Babel and the day of Pentecost will give us glimpses of the holy mischief the church can get itself into.
Awakenings 2019, Plenary 1: The Nature of the Church for the Sake of the World
In the last 50 years, the magnitude of cultural change has decimated the place of church in our lives as Christians – and in our culture. In response, churches turned either defensive or accommodative, seeking after relevance. In the aftermath, we ght amongst ourselves, making enemies of the culture. As a result many have
lost imagination for what the church is, what the church is called to be, what the church could be in God’s mission amidst the injustices, hopelessness and antagonisms of our society. We’ve lost imagination for the church. We need an ecclesiology - a new imagination for church - where church is not a set of programs but a whole way
of life, where church is the fullness of His presence in the world amidst its antagonisms, where the church inhabits the world, not out of a posture of power, but as the space of His presence working in the world. But this imagination for church cannot come from
our own dreams, our own work. It must be the work of the Spirit,
a proclamation of the gospel, a birthing of a new counter social existence of His reign, a demonstration plot of His Kingdom. This plenary is about this call for this kind of re-imagination of church.