The Church and Its Vocation

by
Michael W. Goheen
 About the Author
• Michael Goheen is the director of Theological
Education at Missional Training Center, scholar-in-
residence for the Surge Network of Churches
(Phoenix), and professor of missional theology at
Covenant Theological Seminary (St Louis). 1
• Goheen introduces a new generation of Christians
to the influential teachings of Lesslie Newbigin’s
Missionary Ecclesiology​.
• In this book, Goheen combines Newbigin’s life and
work. He summarizes Newbigin’s thinking in the
context of his life’s work, character, and personal
spirituality.
1. https://missionworldview.com/
 Leslie Newbigin
• Missionary who served
for over 40 years in India. (p.2)
• In 1974, when he returned to England after
his time of missionary service, he discovered
that the church had been impacted by the rise
of the modern scientific worldview. (p.2)
 Newbigin’s teaching about the
very purpose of the Church.
(p.1)
Thesis and
Argument
Newbigin’s missionary
ecclesiology. (p.3)
 Ecclesiology is the church identity, who we are and
who we serve. (p.1)

Newbigin’s The Church has existed as part of God’s

redemptive work in history and not only as an
Ecclesiology ecclesial institution in society.

For Newbigin, Ecclesiology was about much more

than simply the internal life of the instructional
church. The work of Ecclesiology is recovering the
church missionary identity.
 Chapters One and Two
The Biblical Story as Universal History

• For the Bible , the source of ultimately reliable truth is a narrative series of historical events that disclose God’s
purpose for the world. (p. 21)
• The Bible tells the true story of the whole world is nothing less than the very nature of the Christian faith. (p.23)
• Newbigin’s understanding of the Christian Faith:
1. The Bible is universal history that narrates the true story of the whole world from creation to consummation.
2. A central thread in the biblical narrative is that God has chosen people to be the bearers of the end meaning of story.
3. At the center of the story, Jesus reveals and accomplishes the end and therefore the purpose of universal history.
4. This cosmic story is comprehensive and so is incompatible with all other cultural stories. (p.18)
The Good News of the Kingdom and the Missionary Church
• God’s work of redemption is far more than the Western notion of individual salvation. (p.41)
• The good news is a message about the fullest revelation and the final accomplishment of the end of
universal history - the comprehensive restoration of all creation and the whole of human life in the
kingdom of God – present and coming in history in Jesus Christ and by the Spirit’s power. (p. 42)
 Chapters Three and Four

Missionary Church and Its Vocation in the World

• The Church’s mission to all the nations is a participation in the work of the triune God (p.68)
• The church’s missionary existence is rooted in God’s mission (p.103)
• The church continues the mission of Jesus (p. 103)
• The mission of the missionary church is to embody and tell the true story of the world (p.103)
Missionary Church and Its Life Together
• If the church is to be a faithful sign of the kingdom there must be careful attention to the
institutional expression or gathered form of the church.
• Worship, leadership, and ecclesial structures must be brought into live with the missionary identity
of the church. (p.136)
• If the church is to be a faithful witness of the kingdom. (p.136)
 Chapters Five and Six
A Missionary Encounter with Culture
• Newbigin’s view of how the church can embody and witness to a comprehensive gospel in the midst
of a culture that is itself shaped by another equally comprehensive yet incompatible story.
Gift
• He is acutely aware of the essential reality of a missionary encounter and has wrestled with ways to
faithfully live in the painful tension it fostered. (p.162)
Challenge
• His challenge to embrace the painful tension of a missionary encounter and pursue a path of faithful
contextualization is a call we must embrace if we are to be faithful to our missionary vocation.
(p.162)
Church’s Encounter with Western Culture
• Most powerful, pervasive, dangerous and resistant to the Gospel. (p.165)
• Western culture has deep Christian roots but has rejected the Gospel as public doctrine relegating it
to the sphere of private opinion.
• Individualistic, syncretistic, anti-authoritatian, scientific, and increasingly hostile to biblical truth.
 Chapter Seven

Legacy for Today

• The church faces a perennial challenge to maintain its biblical identity and kingdom mission
• Newbigin’s teachings are as relevant today.
• The problem is not new.
Application Comments

• Challenge the contemporary church in its mission

• Challenge that the church faces.
• The church must continue to find its identity in Scripture or it will grow increasingly irrelevant and
impotent