Plenary Session 2:
Church Planting in a
Postmodern Context
Excerpt from the Presentation
Stuart Murray
Churches for a postmodern culture
So, bearing in mind the need for caution in identifying
our society as postmodern and the need for diverse strategies in a plural
society, what features might characterise churches that are able to engage
effectively in mission within a postmodern culture?
(1) Doubts and Dialogue
They will be communities where faith can be sought and
doubts can be expressed without fear of censure, where people are encouraged to
explore their uncertainties rather than towing a party line. Churches in a
postmodern context will welcome those who do not yet believe to participate in
many aspects of the life of the community. The traditional believers church
order of "believing before belonging" may be reversed in a context
where a degree of belonging may be essential if the story is to be believed. Now
let’s be clear: churches where people have a sense of belonging before they
believe correctly or have learned to "behave" in the right ways can be
messy! But they are well worth the mess.
The issue of boundaries may also need to be addressed:
churches will define themselves by their core values rather than their
boundaries. They will also create space for their own members to think,
question, debate, wrestle with issues, and disagree without needing to
disengage. They will value opportunities to explore different views, will learn
to listen to other perspectives, and will not be threatened if they cannot
identify "the" answer to every question. This is not because these
churches believe nothing, but because they are not afraid to subject their
beliefs to scrutiny. Their core convictions are the basis for this free and
generous spirit.
Such churches will make more use of dialogue than
monologue. They will recognise that the lecture format represented by the
traditional evangelistic address or teaching sermon is culturally rather than
biblically determined, and a very ineffective tool in a postmodern culture.4
Authoritative pronouncements from experts who do not allow opportunity for
feedback or challenge are not conducive to sharing faith with those who are not
Christians or to stimulating growth in understanding within the Christian
community. They were of limited value in modern or pre-modern cultures, but in a
postmodern culture they can no longer be tolerated. Drawing on examples from the
early church, which used dialogue extensively,5
and recalling the methodology of Jesus, churches in a postmodern culture will
rediscover this neglected mode of evangelism and of learning together.
* * *
(3) Story
Another means of communicating truth is through the use of
story. The art of storytelling has been damaged by modern media, although there
are some signs of its recovery in a postmodern culture. Narrative theology has
become increasingly popular in recent years, and it would be good to see this
accompanied by the use of storytelling in evangelism and teaching within the
churches. This may involve the encouragement of learning through testimony,
reflecting together theologically on the experiences of individuals and
communities. It may mean a fresh encounter with the teaching methods of Jesus,
whose parables, questions, humour, and stories offer rich resources for churches
to draw on. As with dialogue, the use of stories is not just contextually
appropriate but thoroughly biblical. Adapting to postmodernity does not mean
becoming less biblical but recovering neglected biblical practices.
If the use of story fits well within a postmodern culture,
the claim that individual stories relate to a bigger story, a story that spans
space and time and connects with an eternal story, presents a clear challenge to
this culture. Postmodernism rejects this "big story" and any attempt
to develop a "metanarrative," a foundational explanation of truth and
purpose in the universe. At this point, Christianity stands squarely against
postmodernism, insisting that there is a big story, that God has revealed
himself in history as well as through individual mystical experiences, that
history is not cyclical but moving towards a climax, that there is a cosmic and
eternal dimension to the human story, and that Jesus Christ is the focus and
interpreter of this story. In their evangelism, churches in a postmodern context
invite others to participate with them in a story, to contribute their own story
to the many other stories that together comprise the big story.
And it is the story of Jesus, rather than doctrinal
beliefs about Jesus, that may prove to be our most potent evangelistic resource.
Post-Christendom is sick of institutional Christianity. Postmodernity is not
interested in doctrinal statements or abstract ideas. But the story of Jesus
retains the power to capture the imagination and change minds and hearts. Walter
Wink suggests: "In the spiritual renaissance that I believe is coming to
birth, it will not be the message of Paul that this time galvanizes hearts, as
in the Reformation and the Wesleyan revival, but the human figure of
Jesus."9 It may be that the teaching,
relationships, values, and character of the Jesus of the Gospels form the
crucial points of contact with contemporary culture.
Are we training our people to be storytellers: their own
story and God’s story, the story of Jesus?
(4) Community
This story is the story of community. The Trinity, God in
community, reaches out in creation and in redemption to form a human community
to participate in the divine community. Missionary congregations invite people
not just to make individual faith commitments, but to become participants in
communities of faith. Church planting is about establishing new communities of
faith. In a postmodern context churches will need to give careful attention to
this issue of community. There is much about this context which tends towards
fragmentation, disharmony, independence, and multiple superficial relationships.
Should churches accept this and adapt their expectations or offer a distinctive
alternative? On the other hand, there has also been a proliferation of small
groups and networks, evidence of the unchanging human need for community.
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4.
In To Preach or Not to Preach (Carlisle: Paternoster
Press, 1996), David C. Norrington surveys the history of monologue sermons and
identifies them as a creation of Christendom.
5.
For example, Acts 9:27-29; 17:2-4, 17; 18:4, 19, 28;
19:8-9; 24:25; 28:23-24.
9. Walter Wink, Engaging the Powers (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992), 263.
