At this year’s Think Tank, we shared rich and meaningful conversation around story and missional church. I offered a few remarks on Sunday night to frame our time of listening to God and each other around this theme. Those remarks included a story from our congregation in Buffalo Gap about a man named Don.
I’ll post a manuscript of my remarks here. The extended version of the story about Don is available online. You can listen to the audio file here.
Three spiritual leaders told stories of their congregations on Sunday night:
Ike, Ben, and Doug, flanked by Stephen and Mark
3 Partnership for Missional Church Spiritual Leaders told stories last night
Great participants, a wondeful supper, and some true missional stories from PMC pastors that provoked conversation and questions about leadership, relationships, and things that are very hard to do. Reunions, too – with last year attenders and with partners from long ago!
Stay tuned. Peace. Pat Ellison
On Sunday afternoon we will launch our 2011 Missional Church Think Tank, an event for invited guests only, who come from various social locations in the church specifically to think with one another about what it means to be missional church, gathered and sent. This is the 4th year we’ve held a Think Tank rather than a conference, and we are very excited about the guests who’ve been able to accept our invitation. I look forward to seeing many old friends and meeting many new ones as we prepare to spend 48 hours together, Sunday supper through Tuesday afternoon, listening to one another and listening for God in our conversations. Watch this blogspot for posts throughout the event! Peace to your house.
Pat Ellison
Be sure to watch your email for the registration link to the 2011 Think Tank in Dallas, in January! This Think Tank will take up the question: How do stories work to form Christian community around the mission of God in the world? We will take up the theme of story, discernment, and identity in the mission of God. The church is not the center of its own story but a participant in God’s story.
Please join us – if you have not received an invitation contact BMiller@churchinnovations.org
A lay leader in a congregation I know well, whose pastor of two years has been preaching and embodying the missional church, recently literally bumped into me at a shop near our home. After we greeted one another, I asked her how it was going at her church. She smiled and said, “I can’t speak for anyone else, but I feel as though I just got a brand new pair of glasses for my neighborhood. I am seeing things I was missing before.”
What a remark about “how the missional church looks”!
Hilary’s delightful blog and article in the Church Innovations’ newsletter at http://www.churchinnovations.org/05_news/pii_v10_i2/pii_v10_i2_livingston.html have made me hungry to hear what ideas and innovations were sparked at last month’s Think Tank meeting.
Pittsburgh Young Missional Pastors who are talking with one another anyway – what are you saying this week? What early church practice are you working on this summer? What early church practice might the planning team for next year’s Think Tank begin to engage as we listen for God’s call for our shared work?
Missional Executives and Systems Leaders, what should the planning group be paying attention to right now as we build next year’s meeting?
PMC and Scholarly Leaders, anyone else who’s reading, what should the planning team be paying attention to? Peace to your houses. Pat Taylor Ellison
It’s nearly a month since we met in Pittsburgh in our Missional Think Tank. Back in daily life, I have been on the lookout for stories and pictures and accounts of the missional church and how it looks. And I’m curious about what everyone else has been finding. What are you seeing and hearing? Peace to your house. Pat Taylor Ellison
and these cohort catergories are ready for your use. Enjoy connecting with the other members of your group and continuing the conversation.
Please visit the Resources Page to download them.