EVTC #3

Colin Greene, theologian/missiologist from Durham, presented on his book "Metavistas." If we no longer, in the postmodern age, have an undisputed "meta-narrative" (i.e. the Bible) or an agreed metaphysics (view of the universe), how then shall we proclaim the Gospel? Perhaps by looking forward together into the "metavista,"the open space created by the fact that we are living in the dying of one age and the new birth of another. None of us know what the church (or the world) will really look like in the next decades, but does this not invite us to be open to new possibilities for mission and ministry in the days and years to come?
His book suggests several marks of the church in these days -- (1) the sometimes volatile interplay of scripture (narrative), tradition (knowing where you come from and valuing that history), and culture (rather than "reason" or "experience"); (2) grassroots ecumenism with churches cooperating "on the ground;" (3) an interfaith context (respectful conversation between the world's religions); reform of seminary education (incorporating ecumenical perspectives, cultural studies, political science, truly biblical theology, etc. and eschewing "denominational silos"); (4) understanding the upside and downside of globalization; and (5) really being willing to live into a counter cultural lifestyle and reality.