I continue to hear rumblings about the need for "a new scorecard." Wanting to get away from the modernist, church-growth, Willow, scorecards, people with a missional orientation are looking for some new markers, some new measures. I wonder, however, if this isn't still a indication of how well-formed we still are by a modernist worldview.
In ch.18 of The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (one of the core texts of the missional orientation), Newbigin suggests 6 characteristics that should serve as a congregational hermeneutic of the good news:
1. It will be a community of praise. This is perhaps its most distinctive characteristic. Praise is an activity which is almost totally absent from modern society.
2. It will be a community of truth. the reigning worldview can only be challenged by people who are fully integrated inhabitants of an alternative worldview.
3. It will be a community that is deeply involved in the concerns of its neighbourhood. the local congregation must be perceived in its own neighbourhood as a place from which good news overflows into good action.
4. It will be a community where men and women are prepared for and sustained in the exercise of their priesthood in the world. The church gathers every Sunday to renew its participation in Christ's priesthood. But the exercise of this priesthood is not within the walls of the church, but in the daily business of our lives in the world.
5. It will be a community of mutual responsibility. we grow into our true humanity only in relationships of faithfulness and responsibility toward one another.
6. It will be a community of hope. the gospels offers an understanding of the human situation which is both eager and patient even in the most hopeless situations.
2. It will be a community of truth. the reigning worldview can only be challenged by people who are fully integrated inhabitants of an alternative worldview.
3. It will be a community that is deeply involved in the concerns of its neighbourhood. the local congregation must be perceived in its own neighbourhood as a place from which good news overflows into good action.
4. It will be a community where men and women are prepared for and sustained in the exercise of their priesthood in the world. The church gathers every Sunday to renew its participation in Christ's priesthood. But the exercise of this priesthood is not within the walls of the church, but in the daily business of our lives in the world.
5. It will be a community of mutual responsibility. we grow into our true humanity only in relationships of faithfulness and responsibility toward one another.
6. It will be a community of hope. the gospels offers an understanding of the human situation which is both eager and patient even in the most hopeless situations.
We need to have practices that make these characteristics tangible, observable, measurable, but please, can we leave aside the 'scorecard' language.
Dan...
I had a similar thought. The idea of a 'scorecard' is off-putting and as you note a throw back to the (still prevalent) modernist vision of things. I find the language of 'scorecard' repugnant. (About as repugnant as the trend I am observing in the wake of The Shack to call God "Papa"!)
I also agree that we do need to develop some ways of making our more abstract language operational...otherwise, how will we know whether we are making progress in, e.g., the criteria you list above?
As an ex (and old!) behaviorist, it seems to me that part of the value of some form of publicly available measure is critical for a group to know whether progress is being made.
Perhaps that can be accomplished, at least in part, through a constant invitation to what a friend of mine calls a "story fest'...i.e. giving time/space to members of the Body to share their stories of such victories.
Can someone tell us a story of how someone questioned you about your hope this week? Can someone tell us a story about a time when someone gave praise to God because of a blessing you bestowed? Can a few of you tell us about how you blessed your neighborhood this week?
Oh..I feel a blog post coming on! Thank you for your thoughts!
Posted by: Jim Street | May 29, 2009 at 08:40 AM
Was it "modernists" who used to have testimony nights in church in the 70's? Cause that's what I'm recalling from my old (young) days as I read Jim's comment. Jim's probably referring to something a little less "hick" than my old memories, but doesn't it seem to be that in all our talk of modernism and post-modernism, the post-modernists are thinking more like pre-modernists? I don't know. It just seems like we're traveling through time in a circular motion as though we've been this way before. It reminds me now a little of Dylan: I was so much older then, I'm younger now.
Posted by: Ken Peters | June 08, 2009 at 12:20 AM
healthy story-telling should include both insider and outsider perspectives. I think that was part of the 'testimony night' problem, Ken -- we just heard one side of the story (the subjective/ego-driven side). if my wife doesn't believe that I am getting more Christ-like, then I'm probably not -- even if I can tell a good story :)
Posted by: Dan | June 10, 2009 at 04:24 PM
Good point. And I'm sure she does.
Posted by: Ken Peters | June 10, 2009 at 06:38 PM