Theology on Mission

Is the Spirit at work in the world? Or in the Church? Yes, the Spirit is. The Spirit of Mission is at work in the neighborhoods in and through the local churches. With special guest Alan Roxburgh, Geoff Holsclaw and David Fitch discuss the church in Northern America, the God who is on mission, and the opportunity we all have to participate. Please check out Al's newest book, Joining God, Remaking the Church, Changing the World: The New Shape of Church in our Time, and see also Missional: Joining God in the Neighborhood.

What does Pentecost have to do with leadership? And how does it look in a local church? Beyond Hierarchy (one on top) and Democracy (all on bottom) is a Spirit-guided leadership through gifts and calling. In this rebroadcast of "The Spirit of Leadership", Fitch and Holsclaw discuss the theological and personal reasons we tend toward unhealthy leadership structures, the difference between vision-casting and consensus-building, and the foundations of being led in Christ by the Spirit.

What does it mean that "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life?" Is this messages distorted amid a culture of affluence and ease? Are we prepared for bad things to happen? Fitch and Holsclaw discuss what it means that God loves us and how this intersects with evil in the world. They talk about how God’s love is not for PROTECTION, but solicits our PARTICIPATION. And in a violent and selfish world, participating in the love of God will be costly and painful.

Does the Reformation help us engage in mission? Does typical protestant theology have a power problem and a context problem which work against mission? And what does it matter anyway? David Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw discuss two different problems facing Protestantism and its theological framework (the problem of power and the problem of context).

(Rebroadcast) Is being a bi-vocational pastor a necessary evil or a positive opportunity? In this episode of “Theology on Mission”, David Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw discuss bi-vocational ministry; how it is an opportunity to rethink pastoral vocation and church ministry, all wrapped in personal stories.

Does your understanding of salvation makes sense of the entirety of Jesus’ life? Does your theory of the atonement integrate every part of Jesus’ life, his life, his death, his resurrection? Or do we tilt toward just Jesus' death? Fitch and Holsclaw talk about a popular way of explaining salvation (the Bridge Illustration) and ask if it needs to be changed. Tune in if you wonder about how to connect Jesus' death with his life, and how Penal Substitution fits with Christus Victor.

What does complimentarianism and equalitarianism have to do with church planting? Is there a third way concerning women in ministry? And what is the role of the Holy Spirit in all this. Fitch and Holsclaw tackle the tangled issues of openness to the Holy Spirit, openness to women in ministry, and "opening" a new church.

Dread? Fear? Hope? Optimism? All words people are feeling about the current presidential primaries. But the truth is, whoever is in the White House is not the savior, nor the destroyer, of the world. Fitch and Holsclaw talk about different options for understanding politics (the Lutheran "Two-Kingdoms" view and the "Kuyperian" view), and ask "What is the Church to do?"

"Enjoy the Show!" and other things that shouldn't be said about a worship service. David Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw talk about whether 1) a worship service is a central, peripheral, or complimentary part of a church (plant), and 2) if it matters whether people come to your worship service or not.

Is Lent a time of punishment or preparation? Is Lent at time for binding the flesh or building up faith? Remember that you will die. After Fitch confesses that he's been wearing the same clothes for three days, Holsclaw and Fitch talk about Lent as a time to remember how God builds faith in us, to remember that we will die, and to remember that we will live in Christ.