GOCN is a network of Christian leaders from a wide array of churches and organizations, who are working together on the frontier of the missionary encounter of the gospel with North American assumptions, perspectives, preferences and practices. We invite you to join us on this frontier.
Featured Articles and Blog Entries
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November 15, 2008(4)The emerging church. What is it? Who is it? And what exactly do they mean by church? In other words, what is the ecclesiology of the emerging church? It seems like “the church” should be easy to define. Yet throughout time and across various Christian movements people’s definitions of church – what it is, what it is for, who makes it up – have varied widely. How does the emerging church fit into this varied tradition? Is this a movement that defines church differently than it has ever been defined before? Or is the emerging church something old packaged in something new?
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November 15, 2008(1)We have probably all seen the famous painting of Jesus standing at a vine-covered door, knocking. It is a door without a doorknob, one that must be opened from the inside. It is said that the door is to the human heart. Clearly the idea for the painting is taken from this passage in Revelation. Surely there is something true about the painting. But in this passage we just read, Jesus is not knocking on the individual human heart but at the door of a church--a congregation--the faithful gathered in Laodicea. And that makes an enormous difference in the interpretation of the passage.
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January 28, 2009(0)A couple of meetings ago, I began to notice what seemed to me to be some sharp differences emerging between the various proposals being made about what a missional hermeneutic is. We had not achieved a uniform definition, it seemed to me, and perhaps not even a uniform way to pose the question. Now some of the proposals were beginning to speak to and about each other, cordially, but with some degree of candor, as well. Even where the proposals did not present themselves in that way, distinctions of approach and nuance and accent and aim were becoming more apparent, at least to me. All of this, I believed, and continue to believe, is a sign of maturation in this emerging field of hermeneutical reference. My aim here is to tease out what I believe to be four different streams of thought about what a missional hermeneutic is and how it affects biblical interpretation. I do this in order to explore how each of the foci relates to the others, and test whether these differences represent alternative and incommensurate paths, or complementary and synergistic ones. Or maybe both!?!
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January 19, 2009(1)none
As we enter 2009 a question presents itself: Will it be possible to maintain any freedom of religious belief for those of us who have an absolutist understanding of Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life in the “new mix of politics and religion”?
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January 14, 2009(0)none
Ronald Rolheiser, The Shattered Lantern: Rediscovering a Felt Presence of God suggests that “the existence of God, like the air we breathe, need not be proven. It is a question of developing good lungs to meet it correctly.” He suggests that “the way back to a lively faith is not a question of finding the right answers, but of living in a certain way.”
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November 26, 2006(0)Notes of a paper offered at the Bible and Mission: Toward a Missional Hermeneutic seminar at AAR/SBL in November 2006.
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November 1, 2006(0)We are interested in exploring a missional hermeneutics, a forum that is heartening for those of us who have become convinced (1) that truly critical hermeneutical engagement with the Bible must incorporate missional questions and (2) that solid biblical work plays a crucial role in healthy missiological research.
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March 1, 1999(0)noneReal estate agents who know the Atlanta market will tell you that the single most stable middle-income neighborhood inside the perimeter is Toco Hills. Over the years shopping centers and road widenings have nibbled at the edges of this residential community but its quiet streets and modest homes have remained virtually undisturbed. Nor is there much turnover here.