Thursday, February 10, 2011
Attractional Questions: Introduction
Over my next few posts, I am going to be taking some time to look through the ideas of Attractional Ministry. I'm thankful that the conversation in Missiology has changed recently from "Missional VS. Attractional" to "Missional AND Attractional" because it has built a bridge between the camps so they are no longer opposed to each other (We are ALL the Church, regardless of ministry philosophy). However, I want to look at the deeper issues of Attractional life. I do not believe it's a question of IF we are attracting people, but WHO are we attracting, TO what, WITH what, and FOR what? We will look at these over the next few posts.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Book Review: Right Here, Right Now by Alan Hirsch and Lance Ford
As one who is aspiring to be a Missional Leader, I consistently am drawn to any and all books discussing the ideas of the mission of God and how He develops His missional people (the church). I am a huge fan of Alan Hirsch (Forgotten Ways is one of my most influential books), so I immediately picked up this book.
The intention of this book is to equip the everyday person to live a life as God's Missionaries in the world they are sent. The Subtitle (Everyday Mission for Everyday People) greatly summarizes this concept. This book (co authored by Hirsch and Lance Ford), was written in a unique fashion. Hirsch, who tends to be very technical in his writing, lays the foundation for a missional people while Ford does much of the application to Hirsch's theoretical snidbits. I find this to be very nice for the average reader. While I enjoy the thick language of some of Hirsch's previous works, this has much more of an approachable sense that the every-day Christian can understand the concepts.
They take quite a bit of time throughout the book to discuss reasons why many people are not living missional lifestyles, specifically Consumerism. Hirsch has stated repeatedly elsewhere that he believes the greatest threat to the Christian Missional lifestyle is not paganism but Consumerism. They do an awesome job of debunking the myths of Consumerism and call each of us to reorient our whole lives, including our finances and lifestyle, around Mission.
To go along with the book, they have put together a website (http://www.righthererightnowbook.com/) filled with additional resources to help engage the reader in missional living. They have videos to go along with each chapter as well as discussion questions that you can go through with others to challenge one another. Although I did use them too much in my reading, these can me exteremly helpful to take the reading to another level.
Filled with stories and examples of how normal people are fulfilling an extraordinary calling, this is a great read for all believers to truly understand their standing and calling as Missionaries. I highly reccomend it. A-
Pick up the Book HERE!
The intention of this book is to equip the everyday person to live a life as God's Missionaries in the world they are sent. The Subtitle (Everyday Mission for Everyday People) greatly summarizes this concept. This book (co authored by Hirsch and Lance Ford), was written in a unique fashion. Hirsch, who tends to be very technical in his writing, lays the foundation for a missional people while Ford does much of the application to Hirsch's theoretical snidbits. I find this to be very nice for the average reader. While I enjoy the thick language of some of Hirsch's previous works, this has much more of an approachable sense that the every-day Christian can understand the concepts.
They take quite a bit of time throughout the book to discuss reasons why many people are not living missional lifestyles, specifically Consumerism. Hirsch has stated repeatedly elsewhere that he believes the greatest threat to the Christian Missional lifestyle is not paganism but Consumerism. They do an awesome job of debunking the myths of Consumerism and call each of us to reorient our whole lives, including our finances and lifestyle, around Mission.
To go along with the book, they have put together a website (http://www.righthererightnowbook.com/) filled with additional resources to help engage the reader in missional living. They have videos to go along with each chapter as well as discussion questions that you can go through with others to challenge one another. Although I did use them too much in my reading, these can me exteremly helpful to take the reading to another level.
Filled with stories and examples of how normal people are fulfilling an extraordinary calling, this is a great read for all believers to truly understand their standing and calling as Missionaries. I highly reccomend it. A-
Pick up the Book HERE!
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