Statements about and Definitions of Incarnational Mission:
…Christ was not simply a loanword adopted into the vocabulary of humanity; he was fully [incarnated], taken into the functional system of the language, into the fullest reaches of personality, experience, and social relationship…in Christ’s great act of [Incarnation] Christ added nothing to humanity as made in God’s image… (Andrew Walls, The Missionary Movement in Christian History)
The most difficult step for many missionaries and urban church planters in the United States to take is to rearrange our lives. Jesus rearranged His life for us, and it is imperative that we rearrange our lives for the people he died for. (Harvie Conn & Manuel Ortiz, Urban Ministry, 335)
By incarnational mission, I mean the understanding and practice of Christian witness that is rooted in and shaped by the life, ministry, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. (Darrell Guder, The Incarnation and the Churches Witness, xii)
(Photographic art by Suburban Poetica, piece entitled “Christ Mural“)
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June 3, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Jake Belder
Excellent stuff, Tony. As I’ve been painting our house, I’ve been listening to the Goheen lectures you posted awhile ago from the conference he was at in San Diego. So this is putting it real simply as to the point Goheen seemed to be getting at a lot. The Church, as “Christ” on earth (not physically, of course, but representatively) does not do the work of Christ. The Church is to be Christ on earth. This is a properly grounded ecclesiology, and to forsake that Incarnational character is to cease to be the Church. That’s powerful and deeply impacting. Wow.
June 4, 2008 at 12:14 pm
setsnservice
Yeah Jake I really like Goheen. Can you believe that they are releaseing so much audio for free these days. Its so helpful for guys who don’t have the time or money to make it to all the events they’d love to go to isn’t it.
The three quotes above were pulled straight out of the “Dwell Urban Church Planters” conference in NYC notes. That conference was jam packed with a lot of great lectures as well
June 4, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Jake Belder
Awesome. I was thinking about downloading those too as I still have a couple days of painting left in our new place. Now I will for sure!
November 4, 2009 at 3:02 pm
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