A demographic study of PCC and our geographic location

The big project of CL7532 is a “quantitative” study.  How do you make that relevant to Pacific’s ministry?  It just so happens the leaders at PCC are interested about things like, who lives in Cloverdale, what is our demographic profile, what are the missional connects, etc. etc..  This fits into a broader desire to discern prayerfully, thoughtfully and communally about where God is leading us.

 The reason my course of studies include such a task is because this program believes that too often theologians and pastors (and by implication churchs) too quickly ignore sociology. The mistake is much the same as shopping for a car without researching and driving the car–you risk making big decisions that miss the obvious or the unyet seen.

I’ve added two links that get us started in this direction.  Soon I will attach a survey and following the results an analysis of the survey results.  All of this becomes useful information to help us all see what’s going on and where things seem to be going.  It might inspire us to move forward.  It might challenge us to change. Who knows? Discerning is the work of God’s community. Such research is one ingredient to help us do that.

Demographic Study of Pacific done by Outreach Cananad 2010

Initial Ethnographic Study of Pacific 2010

Survey (Late January/Early February)

Survey Results and Analysis (March)

Converting our Imagination-rethinking Revelation

Through the winter and into spring we at Pacific Community Church have been preaching through the book of Revelation. It has been one of the most challenging and stimulating series done at Pacific. I just came across Scott McKnight’s “Converting our Imagination” posts.  They are worth the reading as the series challenges the normalized assumptions about interpreting Revelation.  The posts are summaries and responses to Ted Gorman’s book on Revelation, “Reading Revelation Responsibly“.  Gorman has a few things to say about the “Left Behind” Theology.

…check out Scot Mcknight’s blog for more…

Scot states, “He finds three kinds of problems: hermeneutical, theological and political.Hermeneutical problems for Left Behind:

1. Not fiction simply but theology combined with an attempt to be almost like a documentary. Left Behind is like an advance DVD.
2. The Bible is a puzzle to be put into a futurist script. Hopscotch method.
3. It is selectively literal.
4. Misunderstands the nature and function of both prophetic and apocalyptic literature.
5. Finds a two-fold “coming” of Christ in Rapture and then Parousia.
6. Dispensationalism is a 19th Century approach.
7. We are on the brink of the Rapture and Tribulation … that’s what matters.
8. Misses the richest theological content: Alpha and Omega.

Theological and Spiritual Problems

1. End times is about the period between First and Second Coming.
2. To much about Rapture, and unhealthy concern with details that are unknowable.
3. Fear dominates.
4. Discipleship is reduced … in a number of ways.
5. Escapist.
6. It is inherently militaristic.
7. Anti-Catholic.
8. Fails to see the Church as the peaceful alternative.

Political problems.

1. Uncritically pro-American.
2. Privileges the modern State of Israel uncritically.
3. Suspicious of everything connected to United Nations.
4. Wars in the Middle East are justified and justifiable.
5. It is survivalist and crusader in approach.

He sees this as “thoroughly misguided.” It is dangerous theology. Killing for Jesus is justified.”

Class 6: Church Revitalization II — 7532 (January 2011)

Luther has crafted a very focussed set of courses.  There are no selectives to choose from apart from a book each course and of course the subject matter of the upcoming dissertation/thesis. Each of the courses build upon and layer upon one another and take you on a journey which provides you opportunity to develop one’s theological framework and equip you with greater skill for congregational leadership and mission. As for me, the “first bona fide evangelical,” as one professor commented, the theology work has not been overwhelmingly lutheran.  They can’t help be lutheran but despite it they have created an outstanding context that allows sufficient freedom to develop in one’s own traditional heritage–at least in my mind they have.

In this course we focus more directly on the church and its particular local mission. For me and Pacific Community Church this is great timing as Pacific is in a season of discerning more clearly its mission. For what it’s worth the DMin courses have corresponded remarkably well with the developments of Pacific’s life in the last few years. Once again this course seems to target a needed a bulls eye. By virtue of this course I will be immersed into a statistical sea of numbers and research as I research the demographics of our local church,  Cloverdale, Surrey at large along with Langley City and Langley Township.  What will be the hope? To discern what God is up to in our own community and to understand more intimately what is happening in our own community around us.  If we believe that the church should be an incarnational presence of Christ what does that mean for us and our extended community.  Thus the goal is to help us as a community of leaders and congregation to discern well the mission of God for us here (and even abroad).  As a start, I have put together a preliminary ethnographic study of Pacific Community Church.  It is preliminary (thus needing much more work) but it already begins to suggest some key realities and also some interpretive insights. Ultimately this works requires the efforts of more than one to interpret properly. But someone usually has to start.  Please read and comment. Hopefully you join in on the process as we unfold it more clearly in the upcoming months (January-March 2010)

Ethnographic Study of Pacific Community: This is a preliminary study.  It is more like a house just framed in contrast to house trimmed up and finished.  But it will serve to get the conversation going.  In my previous course I wrote about the existing partnerships at Pacific. That paper provides a lot of information about some of the values that are shaping us.  I think it is a helpful read as we seek to understand what God is up to at Pacific.

Class 5: Revitalizing the Church I — 7531 (July 2010)

Class 5 marks the halfway point in my five year DMin journey. This class begins a set of two classes on the subject of revitalizing the local church.  Interestingly, this first course was focussed more on the church’s relationship to the world instead of just dealing with the church and “itself”.  It seemed to take me and the class off guard as the title led one to think introspectively. But the move was ingenious in a way. How can one think about the church outside of its relationship to the world? If you read my final paper for the course you will note some theoretical concepts that are becoming particularly key for me. Moreover, we got into some serious sociological theory and skill development. Luther is serious about equipping its students with more than a modicum of sociological skill.  The final paper was a honing of skills that come out of Grounded Research Theory.  You will have to read the paper (or skim it) if you want to know more.  I attached three papers that were written for the course.

• Global Civil Society and Globalization: This is my initial foray into the concepts of Global Civil Society and Globalization.  Well, I added Globalization. Surprisingly this is a particularly huge subject matter that I have, up until this point, in my theological journey, have not been so aware of.  This paper are my initial thoughts and beginnings. Perhaps it will get you started too.
• Leadership reflections inspired by two authors: Clay Shirkey and Robert Bellah: Two good books. One is popular.  One is seminal. It is always sorta fun interacting with a couple of authors.  I really liked both texts and especially loved Clay’s theories about organizations.
• Final Paper which explores the CSO partnerships existing at Pacific: This was a demanding paper.  I didn’t expect it but the research demand using Grounded Research Theory not only was a new experience but took me into new territory as far as research is concerned. I changed the names in the  paper so as to protect the innocent.  I changed the names to some of my favorite Aunts in my ethnic dutch tribe.

Missional Video

Missional is a new word. Microsoft word always underlines in red because it is not a legitimized word of the dictionary. Nevertheless many in the church world are using the word to give expression to how the church should orient itself. This video is a simple and effective video that gets at the main ideas.

Class 4: Missional Leadership 7522 (January 2010)

Last course of year two (moving ahead!)!  Three more years to go.  Last course was a focus on what it might mean to be a missional church and more specifically in this course we explore what is implied in being a missional leader.  Missional is adjectival to the word leader.  Every generation of pastors needs to understand what it means to be a leader in the context of the church and culture.  There are many values embedded in the descriptor “missional.”  Not all of them are new but some of them are.  At the heart of a missional leader is the awareness that the traditional forms of leadership require a transformation that is in keeping with the shift in our culture and times but more importantly rooted in the New Testament witness.   The major project of this course is to examine existing church structure and life, evaluating it from a missional perspective and recommending actions that could be implemented to help the church move forward as a missional community.

The Bellah Tickle Review–This is a review of two books.  Both provide an assessment of North American culture.  Tickle’s book provides a helpful way to enter into the confusing array of missional options.  Bellah’s book is a classic in that it explores the reality of individualism and the impact on culture.

Strangers at Worship–This was a challenging book in that it helped me to understand the role and purpose of worship in new ways but in particular it revealed to me some of my inadequate understandings of how to shape worship for those who are curious but on the margins of christian community.

Cultivating a Missional Leadership Community–This is the final project of this course. It is a paper that attempts to develop a new model of discipleship by first describing the major shifts that have occurred in ministry and culture and what the Spirit seems to be doing in our midst. I appeal to a number of others who help frame and provide insight into a rough model of discipleship at Pacific.

A Note of Thanksgiving

I’m assuming the email I received from Luther may have been a slight “tongue in cheek” notice but nevertheless the point made is not to be missed. There are people with great hearts and resources who make studying at Luther accessible even those who are not “lutheran” in a technical and ecclesial sense. Thank-you, supporters of Luther. Not only I but many are being blessed by your generous gifts. Here is the email notification.

Luther Seminary has once again narrowly averted a massive tuition increase that would have resulted in student tuition tripling in cost. All students would have been responsible for covering the entire cost of their seminary education, roughly $33,000 a year. Thanks to incredibly generous donors, students will continue to pay only 1/3 of the true cost of education.

Every year gifts from donors cover 2/3 the cost of every student’s education at Luther Seminary.

You are invited to a 3/3 Day, a celebration of partnership between students and the many donors with incredible generosity. Together – Luther Seminary education is possible!

Join us on Wednesday, November 11th in the OCC anytime between 11:30-1:00 for music, games, prizes, free community lunch, and a chance to DUNK YOUR PROFESSORS and the PRESIDENT!

November 11 marks 1/3 of the way through the academic year-the day when tuition dollars stop paying for education and donor dollars kick in.

Conversation Team

One of the tasks in my studies is to create a team within the church who will engage periodically with what I am studying and thinking.  It provides a great way for others to explore some of the material that I am wrestling with and at the same time to explore how some of this relates to the life of Pacific.  A lot of my studies are directed right at Pacific.  My course of  study has a very basic assumption built into it.  Theology is most at home in the church not in the academic institution.  Certainly the academic institution has a role but in terms of the central location and context for theological reflection, debate and development–that belongs to the church.  It is the place where faith meets reality.  Theology is simply the interaction of Christian truth with others (past, present, those in and those out) with the hopeful result that God’s reality is being lived out in all the dimensions of life and community.  The (theological) conversation helps us to evaluate, consider, and reform our ways so that they are more in line with God’s revealing truth.  When you think about it, this should probably be the goal of any good Bible study or gathering of Christians where in the context of care, prayer and study new life is embraced and pursued.  Anyways, the most exciting part of my Dmin studies is how it is helping me to become a more developed leader and pastor in the context of Pacific.

The hopeful conversation piece of the next conversation team will be the term Paper of my third class.

Class 3: Missional Church CL7521 (July 2009)

Here are three assignments written for this course.  The course is about missional theology and what it means for the local church context.   Missional theology is not so much a recent fad but rather the result of a new and profound conclusion that mission is not just a project of the church but is descriptive of God’s nature.  In the last fifty years plus there has been a theological convergence among ecumenicals and missiologists that God is a missionary God (missio dei).  The implications of that singular and biblical insight turns a lot of existing understandings of the church on its head.  No longer can we maintain a separation between church and mission.  If God is on mission so it would seem that the church would be on mission locally and globally.  In this course we read some great books and the leading one is by David Bosch, Transforming Mission.  It is one of the seminal books on missional theology and is not for the faint of heart.  His writing is lucid and it is very well researched and supported.  He traces the history of missions from the New Testament up until the recent.   It is a masterful treatment that will challenge many of your pre-existing opinions and inspire you to consider what it is that God is doing in our world today.

Microsoft Word – Reflections on Recent Writings in Ecclesiology

Being Reshaped Around a Table CL7521 Term Paper

Class 2: Pastoral Identity, Leadership and Spirituality CL7512 (January 2009)

This is the second course completed.  It was focussed on Leadership and Spirituality.  You can check the Syllabus for more information.  Do keep in mind that these papers are explorations.  If you are shocked  by some of the assertions that might be made by yours trully, just relax and let’s have a conversation about them.  These courses are part of a journey and even as I post some of these papers while  being in the midst of my third course (CL7521) I know some of my assertions and opinions already are shifting and developing.

About Being a Missional Leader CL 7512

Spirit, Community, Leadership

Life and Ministry assessment and planning