Theology on Mission

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.

What is the core of discipleship? Is it information about Jesus? Is it following the actions of Jesus? Is there something missing from this equation? Fitch and Holsclaw discuss the important aspect of "seeing yourself in another story" in the process of discipleship. Only in a conversion of our imagination, immersed in a different story of the world and ourselves, can we truly begin to follow Jesus.

Have we lost the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr? Have we assimilated him into the American Dream, losing the Dream he had for America? David Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw sit down with local pastor Pierre Keys and student-activist Josiah Daniels to talk about the past and future of the Civil Rights Movement.

What makes your community tick? What is the glue holding you together? Is it what you THINK of God or what you DO with God? Kicking off the New Year David Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw talk about how church's can not longer merely gather around common beliefs but common practices (practices that promise the very presence of Christ).