Module Title: Challenges to Missional Thinking

Level: Level 4

Credit Rating: 30 Credits

Duration: 300 hours of student learning time

Contact time: 26 hours

Academic Responsibility: Roger Aubrey

Module Aims:

This module aims to enable the student to read and reflect on current literature that discusses the challenges facing today’s church in communicating the Gospel to contemporary society. The students will be able to compare critically the tensions the church faces between proclaiming what is viewed to be an unchanging message and living in a rapidly changing world. There will be an examination of contemporary culture. Further, the students will be equipped to “read” films in order to gain an understanding of contemporary culture and thus enhance greater incarnational mission.

Intended Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this module students should be able to:

1. Articulate the main issues that arise when trying to describe any culture, but especially a post-modern culture.
2. Describe and assess the way the New Testament Church adapted to the cultures of her time.
3. Understand and appreciate the order and relationship between Christology, Missiology and Ecclesiology.
4. Be aware of contextual changes in contemporary society and assess critically the extent to which churches respond to those changes.
5. Assess critically the arguments advanced both for and against the emerging church movement.
6. Evaluate the importance of film as a reflection of contemporary culture and propose creative ways of using film in a missional context.

Indicative Module Content:

Students will be introduced to the philosophical concept of postmodernism and assess the extent to which it describes society today. They will then examine and evaluate the way in which churches have changed their method of communicating and living out the Gospel of the kingdom in the light of the cultural changes that surround them. They will examine the theological relationship between Christ, his mission and his Church through a reading of Bosch and Guder. Students will have the opportunity to study in depth and critically evaluate three books from a range of authors seeking to find ways of enabling the church to be missional in today’s society. The students will also assess the extent to which the medium of film not only gives information concerning cultural changes in society, but also suggest ways it can be incorporated in Christian communication.

Learning and Teaching Strategies:

The module will involve a series of 27 x 60 minute lectures/seminars:

6 hours: An Introduction to Postmodernity

6 hours: Missiology

9 hours: The New Testament Church, Mission and Culture

9 hours: Film, Culture and Theology

9 hours: World views

The module will also include approximately 9 hours of film viewing: students will watch contemporary films and evaluate the ways in which the films reflect contemporary culture, find ways of connecting the films to theology and appraise what Christian communicators could learn from the film producers.

3 hours: The students will hear from those who have been at the forefront of developing “Seeker Services” in the UK and with them will critically evaluate the process.

Assessment:

Indicative Assessment tasks:

Formative work:

Individually write a 1,000 word reflective piece entitled: “What culture is around me in today’s world?” In small groups peer review each other’s work and produce a portfolio of the review process (this may include the use of small group forums in a VLE with a North American Institution). (Learning outcome 1)

Prepare for an assessed tutorial discussion: “Why would you expect a people with apostolic leadership to be more “mission minded” and less institutional in their thinking?” (Learning outcomes 2,3,4,5)

Watch 3 contemporary films and for each write a 500 word reflective piece entitled: “How the film I just watched informed my understanding of contemporary culture.” Peer review each other’s work in small groups and write a summative reflective piece on the “My thoughts” section of the learning blog. (Learning outcome 6)

Discuss a contemporary film in groups and then make a presentation showing the potential of that film to be incorporated in Christian communication. (Learning outcome 6)

Summative work:

1 x 2,500 word essay on a selected challenge to communicating the Gospel message to contemporary society. (Learning outcomes 1,2,3,4,5, and 6)

Illustrative Bibliography:

Barsotti,C. And R. Johnston (2004) Finding God in the Movies Grand Rapids: Baker.

Boyd, D. (2008) You Don’t Have to Cross the Ocean to Reach the World: The Power of Local Cross-cultural Ministry. Grand Rapids: Chosen

Carson, D.A. (2005) Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Chilcote, P.W. and L.C. Warner (Eds.) (2008) The Study of Evangelism: Exploring a Missional practice of the Church. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Deacy,C. and Ortiz, G.W. (2007) Theology and Film: Challenging the Sacred/secular Divide. Oxford: Blackwell.

Detweiler, C. (2008) Into the Dark: Seeing the Sacred in the Top Films of the 21st Century. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.

Dix, A (2008) Beginning Film Studies. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Drane, J.W. (2006) Celebrity Culture. Edinburgh : Rutherford House.

Drane, J. (2000) The McDonaldization of the Church: Spirituality, Creativity and the Future of the Church. London: Darton, Longman and Todd.

Drane, J. (2008) After McDonaldization: Mission, Ministry, and Christian discipleship in an age of uncertainty. London: Darton, Longman and Todd.

Eswine, Z. (2008) Preaching to a Post-Everything World: Crafting Biblical Sermons that Connect with our Culture. Grand Rapids: Baker.

Frost, M. (2006) Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture. Peabody: Hendrickson.

Gibbs, E. and Bolger, R. (2005) Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.

Grenz, S. (1996) A Primer on Postmodernism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Johnston, R.K. (2007) Reframing Theology and Film: New Focus for an Emerging Discipline. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.

Johnston, R.K. (2006) Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.

Kreitzer, L.J. (2002) Gospel Images in Fiction and Film: On Reversing the Hermeneutical Flow. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.

Minatrea, M. (2004) Shaped by God’s Heart: The Passion and Practices of Missional Churches. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Nelstrop, L. and Percy, M. (Eds) (2008) Evaluating Fresh Expressions: explorations in emerging church. Norwich: CanterburyPress

Raschke, C. (2008) Globo Christ: The Great Commission Takes a Postmodern Turn. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.

Riddell, M. (1998) Threshold of the Future: Reforming the Church in the Post-Christian West. London: SPCK.

Stetzer, E. And Putman, D. (2006) Breaking the Missional Code: Your Church Can Become Missionary in Your Community . Nashville: Broadman and Holman.