Area

Directors Retreat, (St. Louis, January 26-28, 2015)

Module 2: Biblical and Theological Foundations for Mission
Pertinent texts from the Old and New Testament are studied as well as key elements of
Lutheran missiology. This course also includes the historical genesis and the theological
discussion on the concept missio Dei, the Lutheran contribution to that concept, the overall
missiological direction of theology, and the relationship of church/congregation and missions.
I.

II.

Readings:
a. Mission, in Christian Dogmatics. Edited by Carl E. Braaten and Robert Jenson
(Fortress Press, Philadelphia, 1984), 235-236.
b. Raghav Krishna, Krishna Bhakti to Christianity to Krista Bhakti, in
Rethinking Hindu Ministry II. Papers from the Rethinking Forum, pp. 913.
c. Klaus Detlev Schulz, Theses on the Missionary Nature of the Church. (Handout)
d. Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways (Grand Rapids: Brazon Press, 2006), 149-177.
e. Ralph Winter, The Two Structures of Gods Redemptive Mission (Handout)
f. Olaf Petri, Mission and the Church (1841). (Handout)
g. Christian Keysser, A People Reborn (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1980), pp.
288-290 (Handout)
h. Klaus Detlev Schulz, Mission from the Cross (St. Louis: CPH, 2009)

Reflection or Discussion Points
a. Please comment on the truthfulness of these two hermeneutical perspectives:
The writings that now comprise our Bible are themselves the product of
and witness to the ultimate mission of God...Mission is not just one of a
list of things that the Bible happens to talk about, only a bit more urgently
than some. Mission is...what its all about. Christopher Wright, The
Mission of God (Downers Grove: IVP 2006), 22.
Lesslie Newbigin, in his essay The Logic of Mission (p. 116): There has
been a long tradition which sees the mission of the church primarily as
obedience to a commandthis way of putting the matter is certainly not
without justification, and yet it seems to me that it misses the point. It
tends to make mission a burden rather than a joy, to make it part of the
law rather than part of the Gospel.
b. Many missiologists call the missio Dei term a Trojan horse. Whats the point
they wish to make?
c. In the mission article (Braaten) what do you think is in need of clarification?

d. How does the Krista Bhakti article match up with Lutheran ecclesiology? Is
there something we must be aware of in terms of strategizing for the Eastern
context?
e. What point are some missiologists making with their use of the term missional
and in what way could Lutheran theology/missiology contribute to that
discussion? (Schulz Theses)
f. What should apostolic mean for the mission of the church and is Hirschs
proposal for a revival of apostolicity (or apostle leadership) with the ADEPT
model (Eph 4:12) helpful and exegetically trustworthy?
g. Describe your understanding of the relationship between church/congregations
(modalities) and mission societies (sodalities)? Do you think that Winters
conclusion is correct that sodalities have always existed alongside modalities?
How does Petri connect the church and mission societies, and how does that
inform the missionarys responsibility?
h. How did the first article of creation influence Keyssers understanding of
baptism?