Locating and leaving Babylon: A missional reading of Revelation 17 and 18 in light of ancient and contemporary political contexts

This article explores a missional reading of Revelation 17 and 18, focusing on the significance of “Babylon” for John’s audience in Roman Asia and for Christian communities today. John uses the symbol of Babylon to shape missional communities, inviting them to reimagine their world. In John’s 1st-century context, Revelation 17 and 18 expose the idolatry, economic exploitation, and dehumanization of the empire. The symbol of Babylon, however, does not lie frozen in a 1st-century past; it continues to speak loudly into contemporary political and economic realities. The contextual reading in this article particularly describes Babylon’s presence within the civil religion, economic practices, arrogance, and violence of the current North American context. The article then asks, What does it mean to “come out” of Babylon (Rev 18:4), both for Christians in John’s world and today? Finally, the article reflects on nine implications that emerge from John’s treatment of Babylon in Revelation 17 and 18 for the ongoing task of missional hermeneutics.

The Seldom Acknowledged Difficulties of Leading Missional Churches: Challenges Faced by Those Who Seek to Explore Different Forms of Being and Doing Church

The Church in Australia finds itself pushed to the margins of society and lacking the status it once enjoyed in previous generations. The importance and role of the church in society’s life is now questioned and it would seem that the church’s long term survival is being challenged. How should the church respond? One response is found in the exploration of new forms of church birthed out of missional theology – a theology that sees the church partnering with the God who is actively on mission in his world. This response however, does not come without its own inherent challenges. Leaders of missional communities within the Australian context were interviewed in an attempt to decipher what those challenges might be. The results can largely be covered under the rubrics of: Ambiguity, Anxiety, Audience and Abandonment.

A missional study of Ghanaian Pentecostal churches’ leadership and leadership formation

Church leadership plays an important and irreplaceable role in the planting and the configuration of the missional congregation. The key to the formation of missional communities is their leadership. In that regard, this article explores Classical Ghanaian Pentecostal Churches’ leadership and leadership formation from a missiological perspective. This was done through an exposition on their leadership system (structure). It was argued that Classical Ghanaian Pentecostal Churches’ leadership is based on the Fivefold Ministry (Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher). These leadership functions were therefore discussed in the light of their missiological implication. The conclusion arrived at is that it is not enough to discover one’s spiritual gift or calling; these gifts should be developed and nurtured through mentoring and proper theological education, with the ultimate purpose being to participate in the Missio Dei.

Led by the Spirit: Missional Communities and the Quakers on communal vocation discernment

This article argues that the term missional is an expression of the global shift towards a theocentric (rather than ecclesiocentric) understanding of mission. A Missional Community is a concrete, local embodiment of this missional ecclesiology and it comes to be through discerning its particular and ongoing vocation in the cosmic missio Dei. It is for this reason that we argued that communal vocation discernment lies at the heart of the Missional Community’s life and practice. This practice births, energises and renews the Missional Community in the wake of the boundary-breaking Spirit’s work in the local neighbourhood or context. Because communal vocation discernment is central to Missional Communities it seemed prudent to ask which other communities or traditions see discernment as central to their life and practice. In Western Christianity, the Quakers stand out as a significant example of communal discernment as their normal way of making decisions. We sought to answer whether the Quaker practice of communal discernment, in the Meeting for Worship in which Business is Conducted, is a suitable model for communal vocation discernment in Missional Communities. We suggested that it was not suitable in so far as it did not express an explicit commitment to being grounded and connected to a place or neighbourhood as a prerequisite for discernment. We suggested that it was suitable in so far as it continually reminds the community that communal discernment is not simply about making decisions or finding your vocation but at its heart is an act of worship. This awareness in the Quakers is primarily achieved through naming communal discernment spaces as worship spaces and through the strategic use of silence. We also suggested that the Quaker commitment to unity anddissent creates space for belonging, agency and responsibility in the community and that this is something which Missional Communities would do well to appropriate in their own communal vocation discernment.

Invited by God onto the worship stage: Developing missional communities through participation in Theo-drama

When the front of the church begins to resemble a stage and the preacher, musicians and other leaders act like performers whilst the congregation takes on the role of an audience, then something is wrong with worship. But not only with worship: something is wrong with the church. A church longing to be missional � that is, a church in which all Christians are participants in the mission of God � needs to express that participation in its worship. Theological dramatic theory shows us how the Trinity acts out a grand narrative in creation, redemption and glorification, and invites us to participate in the Story being performed. This same narrative can be present in worship and can invite our immediate participation. But this cannot happen if either God or the congregation is relegated to the role of mere audience. However, when the Story is told and performed in worship and when the worshipping community is able to participate alongside the Trinity in the Theo-drama of worship, then worship takes on the ability to form that community missionally. Worship is a habit repeated week after week; therefore, its power to transform a community into a missonal congregation is immense.