Theology on Mission

FROM THE *MISSIONAL COMMONS* hosted by Northern Seminary and Ecclesia Network. In this special episode, pastor and professor David Fitch talks about this difference between preaching and teaching, and how we need to proclaim the gospel in the pulpit, around the dinner table, and the everywhere else.

"You make void the word of God by our traditions" says Jesus (Mark 7:13). Is this slow shift from the Spirit to the Letter inevitable? "Have our denominations shifted from their spirit of mission to the letter of institution?" wonder Fitch and Holsclaw as they talk about the past and future of denominations and our place within them.

FROM THE *MISSIONAL COMMONS* hosted by Northern Seminary and Ecclesia Network. In this special episode, author, speakers and pastor Mandy Smith discusses how vulnerability and limitation is the true source of ministry effectiveness. Let us all learn to boast in our weakness. Check out her new book "The Vulnerable Pastor".

What you're NOT thinking about is often the most important thing about you. This is the impact of "ideology", the hidden assumptions that effect our thoughts and provoke our emotions. In this new episode David Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw talk about the "making of misunderstanding" caused by the different ideological assumptions we bring into our relationships and our churches. "Oh wretched humanity! Who will set us free from this body of Ideology? Thanks be to God through Jesus our (subversive) Lord!"

Has "manhood" been hijacked by a false sense of invulnerability? Has "masculinity" been defined by what it ISN'T, rather than what it really IS? These are the questions that Geoff Holsclaw and special guest Nate Pyle talk about as they wonder about what it might mean to be "Man Enough".

What is the focus of the Local Church? Should it focus on being...LOCAL? Dave and Geoff talk about the importance of practicing the presence of Christ in the neighborhoods we find ourselves. This special episode is the first time in front of a live audience.

In the aftermath of the Ashley Madison hack, churches begin picking up the pieces after their pastors fall. But David Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw ask, "What should have been happening BEFORE these pastoral scandals happen?" They talk about the need for evangelicals to have a more robust understanding and process of sanctification, not just for pastors, but for everyone.

A worship "experience"? A time for "teaching"? Is the time on Sundays for our heads or our hearts, or something else? Fitch and Holsclaw talk cast a different vision for the worship gathering as a time of corporate spiritual formation.

What is leadership? And how does it look in the church? Beyond Hierarchy (one on top) and Democracy (all on bottom) is a Spirit-guided leadership through gifts and calling. Fitch and Holsclaw discuss the theological and personal reasons we tend toward unhealthy leadership structures, the difference between vision-casting and consensus-building, and the foundations of being led in Christ by the Spirit.

Check out "The Mission of Preaching", Missional Learning Commons on Nov. 6-7 (http://guestli.st/344433). In an image driven culture, why do we still have sermons? What good can a Sunday sermon have when everyone is bombarded by other messages all week long? What is preaching for anyway? David Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw talk about what preaching is and how the "imagination" is essential for it.