The Bible and Mission

1. The Bible and Mission Scripture Union: Regenerate Feb 09 2006

2. The Bible and Mission

3. The Bible and Mission • What makes Harry Potter so popular? • Style, characterisation, content? • Could it be the importance of family?

4. The Bible and Mission • The Weasleys and The Burrow?

5. The Bible and Mission • The Dursleys and Privet Drive?

6. The Bible and Mission • The Potter Phenomenon attempts to regain what has been lost in the development of individualism and the nuclear family – note the cuddly chancellor and Narnia and… • An attempt to regain Paradise Lost? • Evil is that which opposes this new world of family values?

7. The Bible and Mission

8. The Bible and Mission No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. MEDITATION XVII Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, John Donne

9. The Bible and Mission • What is he on about? • I thought we were supposed to be talking about the Bible and Mission… • We are…but what kind of mission does the Bible talk about all the time? • Not missions to foreign lands, or school missions or beach missions…

10. The Bible and Mission • Walter Brueggemann – Biblical Perspectives on Evangelism: Living in a Three Storied Universe • Stanley Hauerwas/William Willimon – Resident Aliens • Gilbert Bilezikian – Community 101 • Richard Bauckham – The Bible and Mission

11. The Bible and Mission God’s people are here to tell God’s story and that’s all that it is about… • Mission is simply telling people God’s story – heilsgeschichte! The Holy Story, the salvation story, the story of what God has done… • Mission is simply telling His story/History

12. The Bible and Mission God’s people are here to tell God’s story and that’s all that it is about… • The Biblical Story is about family making; the struggle to find community; of nationhood and the salvation of a people; about society not individuals • George Bilezikian intro – God is all about community…one plus one plus one = one

13. The Bible and Mission God’s people are here to tell God’s story and that’s all that it is about… • God’s story is family/community-orientated and it is to be retold in the family/ community – passover – child orientated • The role of the church is to continue to tell that family/community story through the new Christian family/ community.

14. The Bible and Mission God’s people are here to tell God’s story and that’s all that it is about… • The subject of the story: what God has done • Myth as the ultimate ground of culture – values and framework in which to understand what happens around you – the role of fairy tales… • The Bible as Christian Mythos

15. The Bible and Mission • What’s the myth? • God and his actions… • God – what kind of God, what does he do, what has he done, what will he do? • God – who is he, what is he like, what is he not like, who are his enemies, who are his friends? • God – what does he demand of his friends? • God – can I be his friend?

16. The Bible and Mission • What’s the story to be told? • “The news that God has triumphed means that a transformed life works to bring more and more of life, personal and public, under the rule of this world-transforming, slave-liberating, covenant-making, promise-keeping, justice-commanding God.” Walter Brueggeman, Biblical Perspectives • “The confessing church seeks the visible church, a place, clearly visible in the world, in which people are faithful to their promises, love their enemies, tell the truth, honour the poor, suffer for righteousness, and thereby testify to the amazing community-creating power of God.” Stanley Hauerwas, Resident Aliens

17. The Bible and Mission • The Bible then is all about mission – God’s mission – missio dei • Most clearly seen in Christ’s story –missio Christi • Our mission is always an extension of that mission – our story – missio humanitatis • Joined together in God’s new family – the church’s story -missio ecclesiae • Stories…stories…stories

18. The Bible and Mission • But stories backed up by a community which lives the story…puts it into practice • Fahrenheit 451 • Hudson Taylor • Stories are foundational but foundations actually make a difference • Guidance for action • Path for life…your words are a lamp unto my feet and light unto my ways

19. The Bible and Mission • What’s the life to be lived? • “The news that God has triumphed means that a transformed life works to bring more and more of life, personal and public, under the rule of this world-transforming, slave-liberating, covenant-making, promise-keeping, justice-commanding God.” Walter Brueggeman, Biblical Perspectives • “The confessing church seeks the visible church, a place, clearly visible in the world, in which people are faithful to their promises, love their enemies, tell the truth, honour the poor, suffer for righteousness, and thereby testify to the amazing community-creating power of God.” Stanley Hauerwas, Resident Aliens

20. The Bible and Mission • Question… • What is the story our lives tell of God? • What is the story our actions tell of God? • What is the foundational myth to who we are?

21. The Bible and Mission Scripture Union: Regenerate Feb 09 2006