1. Introduction

The church in New Zealand is on a decline according to the

Census data compiled by Statistics New Zealand1. Unless the

church in New Zealand makes radical changes in its missional

initiatives, it appears that this downward trend would

continue. Stone, in his book “Evangelism after Christendom:

The Theology and Practice of Christian Witness”2, makes a plea

for churches to return to the biblical narrative where the

life and witness of the church community is evangelism. The

church needs to focus on a missional praxis that works in New

Zealand rather than just focusing on keeping the right

theology. As Nouwen argues, theology is not being “primarily a

way of thinking but a way of living”3. This essay examines the

theology and practice of mission of Parklands Baptist

Community Church in light of the “Mission of the Church in the

21st Century” course, and to explore what changes need to be

made in order for the church to be the church on mission in a

post-Christian world.

The mission of Parklands Baptist Community Church (PBCC) is to

“partner with Jesus in a broken world”4. Their aim is to make a

1 Statistics New Zealand, “2013 Census QuickStats about Culture and Identity - Statistics New Zealand”, 2013, n.p. [cited 8 June 2014]. Online: http://www.stats.govt.nz/Census/2013-census/profile-and-summary-reports/quickstats-culture-identity/religion.aspx.2 Bryan Stone, Evangelism after Christendom: The Theology and Practice of Christian Witness (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2007).3 Henri Nouwen, Gracias: A Latin American Journal (New York: OrbisBooks, 1983), 159.4 “Our Vision & Mission,” Parklands Baptist Community Church, 2011, n.p. [cited 3 June 2014]. Online: http://parklands.org.nz/about-us/our-vision-a-

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positive difference in North-East Christchurch through meeting

the physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs of

community. The logo of the organization is shown below5.

The picture of the leaf is taken from the Bible (Ezekiel

47:12; Revelation 22:2) and it symbolizes healing for the

community. The dark green part of the circle symbolizes the

broken world that the church is in. This logo was chosen a few

months before the first earthquake hit in September 2010. As

soon as the quakes hit the city, PBCC found itself in the

midst of a world that is broken physically, emotionally and

spiritually. The light green part of the circle symbolizes

transformed lives filled with hope. The logo thus speaks of

PBCC being the leaf of healing in a broken world to bring hope

and transformation to the community it is in.

There are three parts to this essay. The first part explores

and analyses the theology of mission of PBCC and how this

theology is fleshed out in practice. The second part reviews

the key theological and biblical themes that came out of the

readings, lectures and conference for the “Mission of the

Church in the 21st Century” course. By engaging with these

materials, a rethinking of the theology of mission is

presented. The final part is to explore how an understanding

and application of this theology of mission could work out in

praxis at PBCC.

mission.html.5 Ibid.

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2. The Theology and Practice of Mission of PBCC

In a document produced in November 2008 entitled “Parklands

Baptist – a church on a mission”6, PBCC lays out its strategy

for future. In this document Ponniah writes “The elders and I

have worked through this manual because we realize Parklands

Baptist must change if we are to take the living Jesus into

the dying world of North-East Christchurch. I thank God for

the elders who were prepared to take a bold step in examining

how we can be a church in the 21st century and lead the church

towards this new path.”7 This document presents the theological

and missiological thinking of the church and it is used to

influence the church’s praxis.

PBCC, historically, has been a very outward focused church.

Over the years the church had planted a number of

congregations. Members were taught how to do personal

evangelism. It was a church with a strong mission emphasis.

However evangelism and mission were only part of a number of

other programmes and activities of the church. A visible focus

of the church was the maintenance of the main activities that

cater for the members’ needs for worship, pastoral care and

fellowship. This led to the leadership deciding that there

needed to be a change of focus where the church exists to

serve, not itself, but the wider community. This led to the

church calling their present Senior Pastor in 2006.

6 Chris Ponniah, “Parklands Baptist - A Church on a Mission” (Parklands Baptist Community Church, November 2008).7 Ibid., 3.

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In developing the strategic plan, the leadership wanted the

church to move from “a culture of membership to a culture of

discipleship”8 where the focus was to shift from attracting

people to the church to developing disciples who live a

missional lifestyle in the world. There was a recognition that

a fundamental paradigm shift was needed to move PBCC from

being a church with a mission focus to being a church that

exists as missionaries in the world. The leadership embraced

the theology of the missio Dei where they recognized God as

the God of mission, and that mission is the character of God.

The church then is called and sent to participate in God’s

mission in the world9. “The Father planned the work of

redemption. The Father sent the Son into the world to

accomplish redemption. The Father and the Son sent the Holy

Spirit into the world to create the church and lead it into

participation in God’s mission.”10 This belief led to PBCC

developing its philosophy of ministry which recognizes that

the church is called, formed and sent by the Spirit of God to

participate in God’s mission in the world by engaging in the

local context in which it exists. The mission of PBCC was to

continue the redemptive work of Christ in the world where

illnesses were healed (Matthew 1:4-5), evil spirits cast out

(Mark 1:39), and natural circumstances changed (Mark 6:47-52),

and the poor hear the gospel of the Kingdom as good news (Luke

4:18-19). By doing that PBCC sought to become the local

expression of God’s mission in the world. This theological

8 Fred Hiltz, “Go to the world!Go, Struggle and Pray: Bishops, Theological Schools, and Mission,” Angl. Theol. Rev. 90, no. 2 (2008): 307.9 Ponniah, “Parklands Baptist - A Church on a Mission,” 16.10 Ibid.

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journey led to PBCC adopting their mission statement in March

2010 – “To partner with Jesus in a broken world”11. PBCC saw

itself as God’s presence, life and witness in and for the sake

of the world.

This theological understanding led to PBCC establishing its

values12. To develop the culture of missional discipleship

within the church, PBCC saw 5 values as becoming a key part of

that culture. These values are godly spirituality, gifted

ministry, grace-extending community, giving lifestyle and

global focus. Godly spirituality meant that the church wanted

to develop a culture where the foundation of Scripture and

prayer is laid so that everything it does as a church flows

out of that foundation. The church sought to challenge people

to be fully devoted followers of Christ and to offer reverent

and relevant styles of worship that connected people with God.

Gifted ministry was a value that recognized the work of God’s

Spirit to empower people with spiritual gifts and that as a

church it recognized and sought the working of these gifts

within the church. It is through the ministry of spiritual

gifts within the life and mission of the church that people

can experience spiritual, physical, emotional and mental

healing and support. As a grace-extending community, the

church sought to connect people with each other so that grace

is extended to one another within the community. PBCC saw that

in extending God’s Kingdom in north-east Christchurch, the

church had to build bridges of grace into the wider community

so that they meet Christ through healing, love and acceptance11 “Church Organisation and Leadership Policy” (Parklands Baptist Community Church, March 28, 2010), 1.12 Ponniah, “Parklands Baptist - A Church on a Mission,” 8–9.

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by God’s people. Another value the church wanted to inculcate

within its culture is a giving lifestyle where it becomes

faithful stewards of the resources God has provided and to use

these resources to serve one another and the wider community

with no strings attached. Finally global focus stresses the

importance for the church to be actively involved in the work

of God’s Kingdom locally as well as globally so that the

gospel is making a difference in a broken world.

From 2008 to 2010, PBCC set out to create a culture that

embraced this theological and missional thinking. A number of

preaching series focusing on the five values and the mission

statement were given during that time. A number of ministries

developed and grew as the church built bridges into the wider

community. The journey of fleshing out the church theological

and missiological understanding was very difficult. The

leadership had read a lot of literature and knew a number of

theories but for the leadership team this was a whole new

learning experience. Somehow what was unfolding in our

practice was very different from the thinking and ideas that

we had. We started missional communities where people shared

life together, carried our spiritual practices and explored

how they could develop incarnational mission in their

neighbourhood. But the reality was many people were already

involved in running various programmes and ministries of the

church. We kept revisiting the strategic plan and making

changes so that we could put into practice this theology of

mission that we had. It became a messy journey filled with

many failures because of the newness of the missional journey

for the church. We struggled to transition a programme-focused

church into a missional community.

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The earthquakes that took place from September 2010 forced the

church to explore ways to serve a broken community as a result

of these earthquakes. With the greater damage taking place in

February and the subsequent earthquakes, the residents in

Parklands were affected deeply leading to distress,

frustration and anger. To serve this broken community, PBCC

set out to seek ways to better serve and bring hope back to

the community. This led to the development of a number of

community programmes and services that created a very busy

church schedule. We ended up running programmes for children

and family, youth and older adults because there were not many

social activities available in the Parklands suburb after the

earthquakes. Being so programme oriented, PBCC began to get

worn out.

Six weeks ago, the elders and staff at PBCC identified

challenges facing the church (See Appendix 1). These

challenges indicated that even though PBCC had become strongly

outward focused and was engaging with non-Christians, it was

very much programme oriented. The series of earthquakes had

helped the church build bridges into the community and the

church was now viewed as an asset in the community because of

its presence and its facilities.13 However a number of

challenges identified by the leadership pointed to the fact

that instead of being a missional presence in the local

context, the focus has been on the delivery of programmes.

This has, amongst other things; led to weariness, burn out,

13 “Minutes of the Parklands Network Meeting Dated 26th March 2012”, March 26, 2012.

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loss of volunteers, work overload and an increasing sense of

apathy within the church.

Theologically the church wanted to partner with the God of

mission in the world. But in practice, and as a consequence of

the earthquakes, this was not happening. Instead of following

a discerning process to discover what God was doing in their

local context, PBCC was focusing on what it could do to

support the people in North-East Christchurch. Even though the

mission focus was still very strong in the church, PBCC was

still a church with a missions programme instead of becoming

the missional church participating in the mission of God where

people are being reconciled to Him. PBCC needs a clearer

theology and practice of mission to get it back on track.

3. Developing a fresh vision for a theology of mission from

the readings, lectures and conference in the “Mission of

the Church in the 21st Century” course

In the course description of the “Mission of the Church in the

21st Century”, it says “In a context of secularization,

increasing pluralism and declining church attendance,

understanding and living out the mission of the church in the

21st century is one of the most significant and challenging

tasks of the church in the west”.14 One of the aims of the

course was to present a fresh vision of a theology of mission

for the church. This was what PBCC needed, a fresh vision to

help them get back on track. Three keywords presented in the

title of the course are worth reviewing and reflecting on.

These three keywords are “mission”, “church” and “21st

14 Mark McConnell, “609.830 The Mission of the Church in the 21st Century” (Laidlaw College, 2014).

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century”. Highlighting and reviewing the key theological and

biblical themes found around each keyword will help in the

development of this fresh theology of mission.

The word “mission” reveals the purpose of why the church

exists in the world. John Stott, in his book “Christian

Mission in the Modern World” states in the introduction “one

can hardly discuss church-world relations and omit the concept

of mission”. He goes on to argue that “mission is a

comprehensive word that embraces everything which God sends

His people into the world to do, including evangelism and

social responsibility”15 Stott, almost prophetically, set the

tone for mission in the 21st century way back in 1975. He

redefined mission by shifting the emphasis from a mission

mandate of Matthew 28: 18-20 to a mission model of John 20:21.

This has become the overarching theme for missions in the 21st

century. Stott’s assertion that “the living God of the Bible

is a sending God”16 has become the assertion for the missional

movement of this century.

Mission then is participating in the mission of the Father

initiated by the Son. God is a God mission. He sent Jesus to

carry out this work of mission. The focus of mission in John

20:21 is not so much the sending of the disciples, but on the

sending of the Son. It is the Father who sends the Son. In

the Greek, “As the Father has sent me” implies a sending in

the past that continues to hold good in the present.17 “The

15 John Stott, Christian Mission in the Modern World (Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1975), 35.16 Ibid., 21.17 George R. Beasley-Murray, Word Bible Commentary (vol. 36; Dallas: Word Incorporated, 2002), 378–380.

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mission of Christ is here regarded not in the point of its

historical fulfillment (sent), but in the permanence of its

effects (hath sent). The form of the fulfillment of Christ’s

mission was now to be changed, but the mission itself was

still continued and still effective. The apostles were

commissioned to carry on Christ’s work, and not to begin a new

one”18. In other words, in sending out the disciples, they were

to continue the work of the Father that Christ started in the

power of the Holy Spirit. Mission then is the work of the

Trinity. The imago Dei sends the Son in the power of the Holy

Spirit. The Son sends the disciples out to continue that work.

This mission that the Father sent Christ into the world to

fulfill is the work of atonement. Human beings, created as

“Eikons” (images) of God to be in relationship with the Triune

God and to be His representative in the world, needed to be

reconciled back to God because of the fall. This work of

atonement becomes the key mission that the church continues in

the world. In the Bible narrative, humans “are created as

Eikons, cracked in their present Eikonic struggle, shaped into

Christ-like Eikons as they follow Jesus, and destined to be

conformed to Christ in union with God and communion with

others in eternity.”19 That is what the body of Christ does as

it participates in the mission of Christ. “Atonement is not

just something done to us and for us, it is something we

participate in—in this world, in the here and now. It is not

just something done, but something that is being done and

18 Ibid., 380.19 Scot McKnight, A Community Called Atonement (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2007), 20.

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something we do as we join God in the missio Dei”20. If the

Kingdom of God is the new society “in which the will of God is

established to transform all of life”21, then mission is being

part of this atoning work of God in the world. Atonement

brings reconciliation with God and extends to our relationship

with each other “so that they form a society (the ecclesia, the

church) wherein God’s will is lived out and given freedom to

transform all of life.”22.

The mission of atonement is about inviting people to encounter

God and His Kingdom and be reconciled to him and to others in

God’s Kingdom. McKnight is right when he said that the gospel

is more than just a personal conversion experience that takes

us to Heaven. Instead of seeing the gospel just as ‘the gospel

of sin management’23, a broader picture of the gospel must be

embraced that includes a call to enter God’s Kingdom and be

discipled as part of this new community. The intention of

Jesus was not just to generate a salvation culture but a

gospel culture that “carried within it the power, the

capacity, and the requirement to summon people who want to be

in to be The Discipled”.24 Instead of reducing the gospel to

individual salvation through the forgiveness of sins, it needs

to be broadened to include the communal story of salvation25.

20 Ibid., 30–31.21 Ibid., 9.22 Ibid.23 Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Lifein God (San Francisco: Harper, 1998), 35–39.24 Scot McKnight, The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 33.25 David E. Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw, Prodigal Christianity: TenSignposts into the Missional Frontier (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2013),84-86.

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The gospel must be seen as “the saving Story of Jesus

completing Israel’s Story, and Jesus clearly set himself as

the center of God’s saving plan of Israel”.26 This is the same

gospel proclaimed by the apostles. The apostle Paul presented

“the salvation-unleashing Story of Jesus, Messiah-Lord-Son,

that brings to completion the Story of Israel as found in the

Scripture of the Old Testament”.27 For Peter the gospel is

about Jesus being “both Messiah of Israel and Lord of the

whole world”.28 The gospel must be a Spirit-led invitation into

a radical encounter with God’s Kingdom that breaks into the

lives of people29. This understanding of the gospel will

determine how the church functions in mission within society.

If the gospel is merely about personal forgiveness, then being

involved in mission is about doing evangelism or stating the

church’s position on social or moral issues, instead of living

out the Kingdom life through word and deed. However, if

mission is about being a community of faith in the world, then

participating in God’s mission involves entering into our

world incarnationally and becoming a witness who embodies the

reality of God’s Kingdom in the world.

An integral part of mission is the proclamation of the gospel

“summoning people to respond”.30 A more complete presentation

26 McKnight, The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited, 111.27 Ibid., 61.28 Ibid., 122.29 Fitch and Holsclaw, Prodigal Christianity: Ten Signposts into the Missional Frontier.30 McKnight, The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited, 133.

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of the gospel must include a response that allows the biblical

story to shape people31, immersing them in the story of Jesus,32

contextualizing the biblical story as a church for a different

culture and for a different generation, developing counter

stories that go against individualism, consumerism,

nationalism, moral relativism, scientific naturalism, new age,

postmodern tribalism, and salvation by therapy33, and finally

embrace the story so that they are transformed by the gospel

story34. If the church embraces a true gospel culture, it will

result in personal transformation by this gospel, leading to

“serving others in love and compassion”.35

This clearer understanding of mission leads to a clearer

understanding of the church. The church is a community of

disciples who have responded to the invitation to be part of

the Kingdom community and is willing to embrace the gospel

culture set out in the gospel story. If the gospel is Jesus,

then being part of His body is not an option but a necessity

in fulfilling that gospel. By receiving salvation, an

individual becomes part of the faith community and adopts its

“practices, patterns and politics”36. Membership and

involvement in a Christian community becomes an inseparable

part of the gospel.

According to McKnight the church is called to embody and

extend God’s atoning work by seeking the holistic welfare of

31 Ibid., 153.32 Ibid.33 Ibid., 157.34 Ibid., 158.35 Ibid., 160.36 Ibid, 188.

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the society it is in, to stand for justice that is both

restorative and relational, and to be part of God’s mission in

the world37. Instead of the church focusing on being a

community of forgiven sinners, it needs to focus on being a

community where people are challenged to live under the

Lordship of Christ. That has been the core focus of the

redemptive story of the Bible. There is a cost involved. By

declaring Jesus as Lord, it brings the new community into

conflict with the other ‘lords’ in their lives. The church is

the new community “wherein God’s will is lived out and given

freedom to transform all of life.”38. The church is called to

embody and extend God’s atoning work by seeking the holistic

welfare of the society it is in, to stand for justice that is

both restorative and relational, and to be part of God’s

mission in the world. It becomes the fulfillment of Micah 6:8

where God calls for his people to “act justly, love mercy and

walk humbly with God”. Evangelism is demonstrated as the

church lives out certain virtues in the world. These virtues,

which include presence, patience, courage and humility, cause

the church to stand with the poor and marginalized and to

stand against oppressive powers influencing society. As Stott

says, “In our servant roles (like Jesus) we can find the right

synthesis of evangelism and social action”.39

As the church exists as a new community, the practice of

evangelism finds its fulfillment in the “beauty of holiness

made real in the church”40. Through the Christian community

37 McKnight, A Community Called Atonement.38 Ibid., 9.39 Stott, Christian Mission in the Modern World, 25.40 Ibid, 12.

14

sharing life together and being involved in spiritual

practices like rituals, service and spiritual formation, the

church demonstrates the beauty of holiness and becomes a “new

and unprecedented social existence”41 in the world. Therefore

evangelism cannot be about methods or techniques but a

Christian practice done communally with other followers of

Christ. When the community of faith is present in the world in

a distinctive way it allows the beauty of holiness to be

touched, tasted and tried42. This picture is portrayed in the

Maori word for gospel, “Te Rongopai” which literally means

good taste or good feeling. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not

one that just targets the mind but one that allows the world

to taste and experience the goodness of God. For the church to

be that beauty of holiness in the world, it needs to return to

the biblical narrative where the church is the salt and light,

not through coercive means, but through the shape of life that

the church presents in and to the world. This shape is seen in

and through the practices that show the world a new way of

life and invites the world to share in that life. The church

should not get caught up with the “creative reconstructions of

evangelism”43 where it falls into the trap of reinventing a

Christendom model of evangelism.

When we become this new community of faith, we become the

church that the apostle Paul had a vision for. The church was

to be a community where “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave

or free, male or female” (Galatians 3:28). Instead the church

would be the gathering of all kinds of people who belong to

41 Ibid, 16.42 Ibid, 21.43 Ibid, 13.

15

Jesus. For Paul, there was the coming together of the

different cultures, classes, and genders to become a community

of faith that embraces the many differences that exists. It

was not about a Gentile becoming a Jew to be a follower of

Christ. Rather a Gentile can still remain a Gentile and still

be a Christian. The church in Paul’s mind was based on

ecclesial salvation and formation, not just personal salvation

and individual transformation (Ephesians 2: 11-22). This makes

the church a fellowship of differences, rather than an

assimilated community, that presents to the world how the

gospel can create peace in the midst of differences. To

function as this fellowship of differences, there needs to be

grace and love, which is found in the gospel of the Kingdom.

Finally the church on mission needs to engage with the 21st

century so there needs to be an understanding of what the 21st

century looks like. Western culture has shifted away from a

Christendom culture to a new culture that the church in the

west needs to understand if they are to be relevant to the

majority of people it serves. The church must change from

relating to a Christendom culture to a post-Christendom

culture.

The Christendom culture was influenced by what Stone refers to

as the “rival narratives”44 to the biblical narrative and this

has influenced and distorted the church’s understanding and

practices of true evangelism as found in the biblical

narrative. Israel, as God’s chosen people, was called to bear

witness to God’s peace in the world. Jesus came announcing the

presence of God’s Kingdom and that it is available to everyone

44 Ibid., 111–170.16

who would respond. The early church presented the apostolic

message by focusing on Jesus as the fulfillment of the long-

promised reign of God’s peace that is now made known through

the church. Through the Biblical narrative, Stone presents

evangelism as the faithful, virtuous witness to God’s peace in

the world45. However this biblical narrative changed when the

“rival narratives” influenced the church. Stone specifically

looks at the narratives of Constantine and modernity and how

these narratives influenced the church’s response to

Christendom culture. The narrative of Constantinianism created

a shift of ecclesial identity when the church identified

itself with the imperial power and became its main influence,

rather than identifying itself with the servanthood and

sacrifice of Jesus and his followers. This became the

beginning of Christendom where church and state became

entwined together. As a result of this merge, the church no

longer allowed the world to be in a place of disbelief46. The

church expected society to hold on to their beliefs. In

modernity, the individual became the central focus where they

had the freedom to pursue their private ends and self-

interests. This led to the church adopting modernity’s

emphasis on the individual and turned evangelism to an

individual’s decision to follow Christ.

When culture shifted to post-Christendom, the church continued

to assume the role they had in Christendom. But the world

around the church had changed and the church suddenly found

itself no longer in the place they used to be. Society held or

45 Stone, Evangelism after Christendom: The Theology and Practice of Christian Witness.46 Ibid.

17

promoted beliefs that went against the beliefs of the church.

To describe this post-Christendom culture Fitch and Holsclaw

uses three words. These three words are post-attractional,

post-positional and post-universal.47 In post-Christendom,

people no longer gravitate to church and are not connected to

church. They are more likely to be repelled than attracted to

church. The church no longer holds the position of influence

within society like they used to have. They now exist in the

fringe of society and ignored by many. Finally in post-

Christendom, there is no longer a belief in universal truth.

Fitch and Holsclaw, in using these three words, helped paint a

picture of the “far country” of post-Christendom that the

church is engaging as missionaries. Without understanding this

new culture, missional engagement is impossible because

mission is about entering incarnationally into the new

culture. The starting point in any missional engagement is

understanding this new culture.

4. Putting this Theology of Mission in practice at PBCC

Having analyzed the theology and practice of mission at PBCC,

and having reviewed and developed a theology of mission from

the “Mission of the Church in the 21st Century” course, the

issue then is to explore how this new understanding of the

theology of mission could work out in practice in PBCC.

Fitch and Holsclaw’s ten signposts48 would be a helpful guide

for the church to work through as it seeks to participate in

the mission of God in North-East Christchurch. The signposts47 Fitch and Holsclaw, Prodigal Christianity: Ten Signposts into the Missional Frontier, 6–8.48 Fitch and Holsclaw, Prodigal Christianity: Ten Signposts into the Missional Frontier.

18

highlight the key areas that PBCC should engage with. The

first area on the journey is to understand post-Christendom

culture. To better engage with the post-Christian culture,

there needs to be an entering into their world where they

live, work and play. Running programmes does not get the

church engaging with people in their own culture. Rather, they

bring people into a culture that is neither churched nor non-

churched. It is an artificial environment created by the

church to engage with others. To truly engage with the

culture, the church must be prepared to enter the post-

Christian world and engage with people there. It is only by

engaging with people where they are that Christians will be

able to earn the respect and the right to be heard. When the

church is willing to sit in the world of the non-churched and

listen, they will then be able to speak into that world. Out

of this listening, learning and relating, the church is able

to re-teach the redemptive narrative in a culture where the

narrative is viewed with suspicion. By understanding this

first signpost of post-Christendom will PBCC be able to engage

better with the culture.

Secondly, PBCC need to understand how the life of the triune

God empowers its journey. They need to understand the concepts

of missio Dei, Jesus Christ, the sent one of God to carry out

the work of mission in the world, and the presence of the Holy

Spirit in the work of mission. If PBCC is to continue the work

of the Father that Christ started in the power of the Holy

Spirit, there needs to be a major pruning of its activities so

that there is a shift from being programme-focused to being a

missional community. Major pruning of the programmes will

allow PBCC to focus on discipleship where lives are

19

transformed and God’s will and mission lived out through these

transformed lives. Discipleship was a key part of the

strategic document49 where the focus was spending time creating

disciples who could disciple others. However the church got

distracted when the earthquakes hit and focused on programmes

rather than intentional missional discipleship. PBCC needs to

return to the core of discipleship.

Thirdly, PBCC needs to understand what it means to be a church

embracing mission, how it lives in Scripture, and how it

embodies the gospel story. As individuals are reconciled with

God, they are welcomed into the community of faith where they

also reconciled with others and share life together with them

as a fellowship healed and restored by the gospel of Christ.

Encountering the gospel must challenge PBCC to live under the

Lordship of Christ and to be an integral part of God’s Kingdom

community in their local context. Lordship of Christ must

include being part of Christ’s body. This would mean adopting

the way of life PBCC has chosen to follow. PBCC will need to

develop spiritual practices and disciplines that enable the

church community to live in Scripture and to embody the gospel

story. It needs to offer to the world a way of life that can

be touched, tasted and tried so that people who come in

contact with PBCC are able to taste the goodness of God. By

living out the kind of church the apostle Paul presented in

his writings, the church becomes a community of atonement in a

broken world

49 Ponniah, “Parklands Baptist - A Church on a Mission,” 36–49.

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Finally, the church needs to engage with the tough issues

facing it in the 21st century. These tough issues include

sexuality, social justice and pluralism. When PBCC becomes a

church that is governed by love and grace, its members living

lives embracing justice, mercy and humility, then they will be

able to tackle these tough issues in a way that will bring

healing and transformation.

5. Conclusion

In the age of Christendom, the church occupied a central and

influential place in society and the Western world considered

itself both formally and officially Christian. Now the church

finds itself in a strange place where it no longer influence

culture and society and where the west no longer regards

itself as Christian. It is in this situation that the church

needs to rediscover mission in the 21st century. If not it will

continue to decline.

Mission can no longer merely be an activity of the church.

Mission has to be God’s initiative, and has to be rooted in

God’s purpose of reconciling all things to Christ. The church

participates in this mission and must be willing to engage

society quite differently from the ways they have done in the

past. For PBCC, this journey must take them through the

signposts identified by Fitch and Holsclaw so that they can

see what God is doing in their post-Christian context and to

partner with Jesus in the work of atonement in the broken

world.

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BibliographyBeasley-Murray, George R. Word Bible Commentary. Vol. 36. Dallas:

Word Incorporated, 2002.Fitch, David E., and Geoff Holsclaw. Prodigal Christianity: Ten

Signposts into the Missional Frontier. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2013.

Hiltz, Fred. “Go to the world!Go, Struggle and Pray: Bishops, Theological Schools, and Mission.” Anglican Theological Review 90, no. 2 (2008): 307.

McConnell, Mark. “609.830 The Mission of the Church in the 21st Century”. Laidlaw College, 2014.

McKnight, Scot. A Community Called Atonement. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2007.

———. The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011.

Nouwen, Henri. Gracias: A Latin American Journal. New York: Orbis Books, 1983.

Ponniah, Chris. “Parklands Baptist - A Church on a Mission”. Parklands Baptist Community Church, November 2008.

Statistics New Zealand. “2013 Census QuickStats about Culture and Identity - Statistics New Zealand”, 2013. No pages. Cited 8 June 2014. Online: http://www.stats.govt.nz/Census/2013-census/profile-and-

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summary-reports/quickstats-culture-identity/religion.aspx.

Stone, Bryan. Evangelism after Christendom: The Theology and Practice of Christian Witness. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2007.

Stott, John. Christian Mission in the Modern World. Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1975.

Willard, Dallas. The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God.San Francisco: Harper, 1998.

“Church Organisation and Leadership Policy”. Parklands BaptistCommunity Church, March 28, 2010.

“Minutes of the Parklands Network Meeting Dated 26th March 2012”, March 26, 2012.

“Our Vision & Mission.” Parklands Baptist Community Church, 2011. No pages. Cited 3 June 2014. Online: http://parklands.org.nz/about-us/our-vision-a-mission.html.

Appendix 1 Challenges facing Parklands Baptist CommunityChurch

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(An email was sent out to elders and staff on 29th April 2014to identify challenges facing the church. Results presented tothe leadership on 1st May 2014)

1 Church Life and Mission

1.1 Vision / Strategy Focusing on programme delivery rather than building

community Being missional as a community is more effective

than doing it on your own Lack of clear direction due to people moving in

different directions

1.2 Staff Burnout Staff is overloaded/overwhelmed with the task ahead Health and well-being Earthquake fatigue Maintaining a healthy relationship between

governance & operations Strengthening staff team

1.3 Church Members / Volunteers Volunteering Challenge Demands on people’s lives (work, school, sport etc.)

limits the time they have to volunteer Burnout Volunteer management and Care Motivation of volunteers Health and well-being Negativity and criticisms Earthquake fatigue

1.4 Church Life Lack of openness and transparency – a reluctance to

follow Matt. 18 principles when real or perceivedproblems occur between one another

Limited connectedness for a number beyond Sundaymorning.

Reduced involvement and attendance at churchactivities – Commitment issue

Pastoral Care

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Sense of community could be better Integration and accommodation of new comers is very

weak As people get isolated they miss out on the support

of their fellow believers. We have a children's ministry, youth ministry and

older people ministry but no focus on the 25-45 agegroup. Is this a reason why this age group is notrepresented well in our church?

Children’s ministry lacks helpers Declining congregation A sense of apathy in attendees. Tiredness, weary or

have been lulled into apathy through the quakes. Lack of intentional discipleship A certain amount of post-earthquake tiredness or

malaise with on going repair delays etc. Weakness in Prayer Ministry

1.5 Mission Many are being Christians in their workplace and/or

the place where they play (sport, hobbies), which isgreat but as they are busy with that they don 'thave time to supports church life

A challenge for PBCC is to find our way to beauthentic in this post-Christendom world

Lack of commitment to intentional disciple-making atschools, workplace or neighborhoods

Lack of conversions and baptisms

2 Church Administration

2.1 Operations Focusing on programme delivery rather than building

community Being missional as a community is more effective

than doing it on your own Appropriate administration support – Admin base too

small to support all the activities taking place People continuing in roles even though they want to

step down Building security – Too many people having keys;

unauthorized use of facilities; failure to bookfacilities

Facilities left in a mess

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Identifying and reviewing Policies – health andsafety; hazards identification, Fire safety;emergency management’ use of facilities, etc.

Regular police checks of all ministries tovulnerable people

Ensuring all ministries are following proceduresregarding use of facilities – signing in, openingfire exits, etc.

Putting together a manual to provide information toall staff and ministry leaders regarding policiesand procedures

Taking of stuff from office without permission /Easy access to offices

A Safe needed for money in the office

2.2 Finances Giving is on the decline. People struggling financially Funding challenges Staff frustrations with dealing with accounts and

with treasurer’s expectation Funding needed with regards to growth in our

community services Replacing Alan Smith as Treasurer

2.3 Redevelopment Settlement of the insurance claim and decision

regarding repairs and/or commencing the newrenovations.

Aged facilities, building in need of repair andupgrade. 

A repair of the building will be a challenge if allthe things going on in the building during the week.

Lack of storage facilities Making redevelopment a reality

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