Customer Reviews

Treasure in Clay Jars: Patterns in Missional Faithfulness (Gospel & Our Culture)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book gives some very good practical insights into the Missional Church movement. The examples come from a variety of churches in a variety of contexts. The principles or practices of missional churches are described and explained in real live church contexts. I'm reading this with my session (leadership board) now. So far folks seem to be tracking pretty well, but still some translation is needed to the lay reader. At least that is true in my situation.

Lois Barrett et. al. Treasure in Jay Clars: Patterns in Missional Faithfulness (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004)

Reviewed by Darren Cronshaw

Building on Missional Church, this GOCN volume offers case studies of nine diverse missional congregations across North America. It explores their `patterns' of behaviour and practice:

1. Missional vocation and identity
2. Biblical formation and discipleship
3. Taking risks as a noncomforming contrast community
4. Practices that show God's intent for the world - mutual care, reconciliation, accountability and hospitality
5. Worship as public witness - focused on God rather than believers or `seekers'
6. Dependence on the Holy Spirit with corporate prayer
7. Pointing towards the reign of God rather than inherited assumptions
8. Missional authority
9. Embodying the gospel with word and deed.

It helpfully tells stories of congregations becoming missional through processes of reinventing, relocating and refocusing, and is spiced throughout with ideas for missional engagement like ministry to commuters and the poor, the use of mission covenant groups, and bible studies in `resisting materialism'.

Originally appeared in Darren Cronshaw, `The Emerging Church: Introductory Reading Guide', Zadok Papers, S143 (Summer 2005).

Very good book. It gives many ideas about how a church (and a people) can be Missional. It gives ideas about how to accomplish goals, etc.
I think it is a good guide for accomplishing missional goals.

If you saw a missional church, what would it look like? What patterns of behavior and practice would you find there? Building on the ground laid by the book Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America (Darrell Guder et al. 1998), this book centers on case studies of nine missional congregations from across North America that are diverse in their denominational affiliations, worship styles, political stances, and socioeconomic backgrounds. The book explores eight concrete "patterns" common to these churches. Although the patterns may be different in each setting, they can be recognized in any congregation seeking to participate in God's mission in the world. The team that authored this book believes that "missional" says something not so much about the activities of the church as its character: "The church does not exist for itself, but for participation in God's mission of reconciliation... Mission is the character of the church in whatever context it exists." The congregations studied here are "clay jars," but each carries in its witness a remarkable treasure that points to God's power and purposes.

a collection of case studies to back up the missional framework outlined by the Gospel and Culture Network