All across Africa there are churches. While there may be unreached parts, one cannot deny that Africa has churches practically everywhere. The Gospel is being preached in Africa, week after week, and millions are coming to the Lord.

Yet, this map of the world shows something astounding, something that should make us ask: Is this Gospel being preached across Africa effective? Or is there something missing from it? Is it really the FULL Gospel being preached?

The map basically shows the wealth distribution of the world, taking trends from 1975 to 2002 and predicting how things will look in 2015. Notice Africa - a pencil line in comparison to a small island like Japan, on the right, which has had two nuclear bombs thrown on it and has NO natural resources to rely on.

Yet the Gospel goes out to Africa week after week and we don't see any change for the poor in Africa? You don't see true upliftment but only charity after charity, trying its best. You've got to come to the conclusion that something is wrong with the Gospel being preached in Africa, if anything. Why, after the Gospel has permeated for so many years, have we seen no change in Africa?

From a purely theological point of view you might look at what is being preached and say that there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it. So what is the problem? Why do we still see so much rampant poverty?

It may not be that the Gospel being preached is WRONG, only INCOMPLETE. The thrust of the message is one of personal salvation or believe in Jesus and you go to heaven. But there is no talking of Kingdom NOW, only Kingdom THEN. There's no talking about transformation now, but only talk about that glorious day when the Lord returns and then justice and everything will be set right. Are we really supposed to wait only then until justice happens? Doesn't this square straight against the Bible which says we are to be people of justice here, on Earth? Salt to the world?

Interestingly, it was the European reformation which helped Europe to get itself out of poverty as the Protestant work ethic became more prominent (read a book by Darrow Miller called "Discipling Nations"). Protestants came up with the whole idea of no separating between sacred and secular, yet protestant churches these days do, and they do it all the time. Another statistic shows (I don't have the reference for this, but I've heard it before, so you'll have to believe me on this) that South Africa is something like 75 percent a Christian nation. Yet, of that 75 percent, 85 percent (or thereabouts) do not believe that Christians should be involved in politics. So they will rather pray on the side while handing government over to non-believers. Is that really what Jesus wants us to do?

This post-colonial challenge goes down to your Gospel. Does it proclaim freedom and liberty to the poor? Is it about God's will being on Earth, as it is in Heaven? Is it God's will that Africa should live in such poverty? that corrupt and injust leadership should continue to rule the masses? I'm sure any Christian would say "no" so then examine your Gospel and ascertain if it is truly complete, or does it just focus on personal salvation and separate "spirituality" from practical living (which I'll argue isn't true spirituality anyway). It may be relevant to personal salvation, but is it relevant to the broad message of salvation so clear in the scriptures? That even creation itself will be redeemed!

Is your Gospel effective? Is it complete? This is a post-colonial challenge to the African church

By Daniel G. Groody, c.s.c.

Daniel G. Groody is a Roman Catholic priest, scholar, and award-winning author and film producer. He teaches at the
University of Notre Dame, where he is Assistant Professor of Theology and Director of the Center for Latino Spirituality
and Culture at the Institute for Latino Studies. He spent many years working in Latin America, particularly along the
U.S.- Mexican Border. He is also executive producer of various films and documentaries, including Strangers No Longer and
Dying to Live: A Migrant’s Journey. For more information see www.nd.edu/~dgroody or www.dyingtolive.nd.edu.

( Find this artical at http://www.nd.edu/~dgroody/Published%20Works/Other%20Articles/files/REFLECT1GROODY.pdf )

A few years ago I was working in Mexico at a border outreach center that offered material and pastoral support to those on the move. Some were traveling northwards in search of better lives, and others had tried to enter the U.S. but failed and were deported back to Mexico.

The story of Mario, Maria and Gustavo gives witness to their particular journey across the U.S.-
Mexico border, but its dynamics are universal in scope. Today there are more than 200 million people
migrating around the world, or one out of every thirty-five people on the planet, which is equivalent
to the population of Brazil. Some 30-40 million of these are undocumented, 24 million are internally
displaced and about 10 million are refugees.1 For many reasons some scholars refer to these days
as the “age of migration,” touching every area of human life.2 The immigration issue underscores
not only conflict at geographical borders but the turbulent crossroads between national security and
human insecurity, national sovereign rights and human rights, civil law and natural law, and citizenship
and discipleship.3

The only place available to them was a small plot of land, where they built a cardboard shack, located
above an animal shelter that had hundreds of dogs, which barked all through the night. “Even many of
the animals here live better than we do here,” said one refugee, part of a group from India that was
seeking work in the European Union. “It is as if we are worth nothing to the people who live here, and
if we die, it won’t matter.”

The insults they endure are not just a direct assault on their pride but on their very existence. Their
vulnerability and sense of meaninglessness weigh heavily on them; they often feel that the most difficult
part of being an immigrant is to be no one to anyone. The Imago Dei brings to the forefront the
human costs embedded in the immigration equation, and it challenges a society more oriented towards
profit than people to accept that the economy should be made for people and not people for the
economy. It is a reminder that the moral health of an economy is measured by how well the most vulnerable
are faring.5 The Imago Dei insists that we see immigrants not as problems to be solved but
people to be healed and empowered.

Crossing Borders: Jesus the Refugee

The second theological notion that is central to the immigration debate is the Verbum Dei. It declares
that God in Jesus crosses the divide that exists between divine life and human life. In the incarnation
God migrates to the human race and, as Karl Barth notes, makes his way into the “far country.” 6 This
far country is one of human discord and disorder, a place of division and dissension, a territory marked
by death and the demeaning treatment of human beings. The Gospel of Matthew says God in Jesus not
only takes on human flesh and migrates into our world but actually becomes a refugee himself when
he and his family flee political persecution and escape into Egypt (Matt 2:13-15). The divine takes on
not just any human narrative but that of the most vulnerable among us. This movement toward the
human race takes place not on the strength of any human initiative or human accomplishment but
through divine gratuity. Walking the way of the cross, overcoming the forces of death that threaten human
life, Jesus gives hope to all who go through the agony of economic injustice, family separation,
cultural uprootedness, and even a premature and painful death. Certainly migrants who cross the
deserts in search of more dignified lives see in the Jesus story their own story: he opens up a reason to
hope despite the most hopeless of circumstances. Amid these contentious debates, much has been
written about the social, political, economic, cultural dimensions of immigration. But surprisingly very
little has been written from a theological perspective, even less from the vantage point of the immigrants
themselves. Yet the theme of migration is as old as the Scriptures. From the call of Abraham to
the Exodus from Egypt, from Israel’s wandering in the desert to their experience of exile, from the holy
family’s flight into Egypt to the missionary activity of the Church, the very identity of the People of God is
inextricably intertwined with stories of movement, risk and hospitality.

Broken Borders: God’s Migration

But what exactly can theology offer to this complex issue of immigration? Here I will highlight three
Christian themes that touch directly on the migration debate and help us understand that crossing
borders is at the heart of human life, divine revelation and Christian identity. These three areas are
the Imago Dei (the Image of God), the Verbum Dei (the Word of God) and the Missio Dei (the Mission
of God).4 The notion of the Imago Dei emerges in the earliest pages of Scripture. We read in the first creation
account that human beings are created in God’s image and likeness (Gen 1:26-27). No text is more
foundational or more significant in its implication for the immigration debate. It reveals that immigration
is not just about a political “problem” but about real people.

The Imago Dei is the core symbol of human dignity, the infinite worth of every human being, and the divine attributes that are part of every
human life, including will, memory, emotions, understanding, and the capacity to love and enter
into relationship with others. Listening to stories of immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as the borders between
Slovakia-Ukraine, Malta-Libya, and others, I have discovered that a common denominator around the
world among all who migrate is their experience of dehumanization.

I recently was speaking with a group of refugees in the Spanish-occupied territory of Ceuta on the
Moroccan coast. They took me up to the mountains to meet some people from India, who were
hiding out in cardboard shacks in the mountains. The Imago Dei insists that we see
immigrants not as problems to be solved but people to be healed and empowered34 and reminds us that our own existence as a pilgrim
people is migratory in nature.

Theology offers not just more information but a new imagination, one that reflects at its core what
it means to be human before God and to live together in community. In seeking to overcome all
that divides us in order to reconcile us in all our relationships, Christian discipleship reminds us that
the more difficult walls to cross are the ones that exist in the hearts of each of us. Unable to cross this
divide by ourselves, Christian faith rests ultimately in the one who migrated from heaven to earth, and
through his death and resurrection, passed over from death to life. From a Christian perspective,
the true aliens are not those who lack political documentation but those who have so disconnected
themselves from their neighbor in need that they fail to see in the eyes of the stranger a mirror of
themselves, the image of Christ (Matt 25:31-46), and the call to human solidarity.

What impresses me most in speaking to migrants in the midst of their arduous journey is their ability
to believe in God even in the most godless of situations. They speak about trusting in God even
after all has been taken away, and they affirm God’s goodness even when their lot has been marked by
such suffering and pain. A third notion from theology that gives us a different
way of understanding immigration is the Missio Dei. The mission of the Church is to proclaim
a God of life and make our world more human by building up, in Pope Paul VI’s words, the “civilization
of love.” In imitation of Jesus, it seeks to make real the practice of table fellowship. The significance
of Jesus’ table fellowship with sinners and social outcasts is that he crosses over the human borders
that divide one human being from another. If the incarnation is about God crossing over the
divine-human divide, the mission of the Church is to cross the human-human divide. It is fundamentally
a mission of reconciliation, a realization that the borders that define countries may have some
proximate value but are not ultimately those that   define the body of Christ.

Beyond Borders: Civilization of Love

One of the most remarkable ritual expressions of this unity takes place each year near El Paso, Texas.
In the dry, rugged, sun-scorched terrain where many immigrants lose their lives, bishops, priests, and
lay people come together annually to celebrate the Eucharist. Like at other liturgies, they pray and worship
together. Unlike other liturgies, a sixteen-foot high iron fence divides this community in half, with
one side in Mexico and the other in the U.S. Amid a desert of death and a culture of fear, this Eucharist
is not just a tool for activism or social reform but a testimony of God’s universal, undivided, and unrestricted
love for all people. It speaks of the gift and challenge of Christian faith and the call to feed the
world’s hunger for peace, justice and reconciliation. In uniting people beyond the political constructions
that divide us, it gives tangible expression to the moral demands of the Kingdom of God, the ethical
possibilities of global solidarity, and the Christian vision of a journey of hope.
Immigration is arguably the most challenging issue of the new century, but this need not blind us
to the core issues that lay at the heart of every one of us. How we respond to those most in need says
more about who we are individually and collectively than it does about those on the move. Theology
supplies a way of thinking about migration that keeps the human issues at the center of the debate.

One day a group of forty immigrants arrived in the center, sojourners who had hoped to reach the U.S.
It had been a long night for them – and an even longer week. For three days they had crossed through
the Arizona desert in temperatures that reach 120 degrees in the shade. Amid the challenges of the
desert terrain – their personal vulnerability to everything from heat stroke to poisonous snakes – they
had braved a perilous journey and tried to make their way to the U.S., often under the cover of darkness.
They walked remote and diffuse trails that have taken the lives of thousands of immigrants –
an estimated 300-500 annually since 1994. Why were they willing to take such risks and leave
their home country? When I asked them, some said they had relatives back home who needed medication
they could not afford. Others said the $3-$5 a day they earned for a twelve-hour work day in Mexico
was not enough to put much more than beans and tortillas on the table. Still others said potato chips
had become a luxury they could no longer afford, and they could not stand to look their children in
the eyes when they complained of hunger. The Desert Ordeal “We are migrating not because we want to but because
we have to,” said Mario. “My family at home depends on me. I’m already dead in Mexico, and getting to the U.S. gives us the hope of living, even
though I may die.” But now they were back on the border after a week-long ordeal. While walking through the Arizona
desert, they had suddenly heard a rumbling sound on the horizon. Then a white laser-like light
cut their world in two. Within moments a border patrol helicopter surrounded them and threw the
group into chaos. “So they circled around us and then rounded us up like we were cattle,” said Maria. “I said, no, dear
God … I’ve gone through so much sacrifice to come this far … please don’t let them send us back where
we came from.” “It was an awful night,” added Gustavo. “But the worst part was when they started playing the
song, ‘La Cucaracha’ over the helicopter intercom. I never felt so humiliated in my life, like I was the
lowest form of life of earth, like I wasn’t even a human being.”

Notes

1 For more on these statistics, see the website for the International Organization for Migration, http://
www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/pid/254.
2 Stephen Castles and Mark J. Miller, The Age Of Migration: International Population Movements In The
Modern World (London: The Guilford Press, 2003).
3 Daniel G. Groody and Gioacchino Campese, eds., A Promised Land, A Perilous Journey: Theological
Perspectives on Migration (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2008)
4 This article is drawn in part from a longer essay that will appear in Theological Studies in 2009.
5 These themes are particularly brought out in Economic Justice for All: Pastoral Letter on Catholic
Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy, Washington, D.C: National Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1986.
6 Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, IV.1, “The Doctrine of Reconciliation,” trans. G. W. Bromiley, ed. G.W.
Bromiley and T.F. Torrance (London: T&T Clark International, 1956/2004), 157-210.
.

H Jurgens Hendriks
Stellenbosch University, South Africa

Trauma and conflict as prerequisites for identity transformation -
lessons from the South African Partnership for Missional Churches

ABSTRACT

This paper researches the process of identity transformation that is taking place in mainline congrega¬tions in post-apartheid South Africa. I is a descriptive study of the growth in the South African Partnership for Missional  Churches and describes the transformation by making use of the pattern found in the Psalms: orientation-disorientation-reorientation transition,
The research will test the following hypotheses that are viewed as prerequisites for identity transformation:
† Trauma and conflict caused by new power structures in society were the necessary disorientating forces that led to a theologically-based reorientation in churches;
† The change in theological epistemology led to a new culture of doing theology (including the way church meetings are held);
† Other prerequisites for a change in identity within the Southern African scenario are: leadership, the crossing of boundaries, the art of listening to “the other” and the mystery and motivation of the movement of the Spirit of God.

1 INTRODUCTION

The 2008 theme of the Religious Research Association on “Conflict and Renewal” (http://rra.hartsem.edu/conf2008call.htm - downloaded 09-18-2008) prompted this article. From a global perspective (Schreiter 1998:12; Friedman 2007:420-426), the Christian Church of the Western world is in decline, which leads to penetrating analyses on the reasons for the decline.  This phenomenon is juxtaposed by the growth of the non-Western church. Christianity’s centre of gravity is undeniably shifting southwards. Typically, mainline congregations are in decline in the West. 
In South Africa, the Christian Church has been growing ever since records were kept. How¬ever, whether viewed from a perspective on market-share or numerical figures, the trends indicate growth in the African Initiated Churches as well as in new, mostly Indepen¬dent and Pentecostal-charismatic Churches. Mainline churches are in decline (Hendriks 2005:88-111). 
The contextual situation of mainline churches in typical Western countries differs from those in South Africa. When typical mainline denominations in South Africa interpret the decline phenomenon they do so from a situation where trauma and conflict are very real entities and where power balances have shifted, placing the typical member of these churches in a vastly different position than that of their Western brothers and sisters. One example: most churches were racially divided and still are, but, especially in mainline congregations, there is a deliberate urge towards unification processes and multicultural congregations. Currently, the business and socio-political worlds are integrating racial groups by means of affirmative action that is supported and driven by legislation. Unemployment remains high and the gap between the rich and the poor is widening even after the new dis¬pensation came about in 1994 (http://www.csae.ox.ac.uk/resprogs/usam/default.html downloaded 09-18-2008). Thus, crime stays unacceptably high and skilled people are emi¬grating. Against the backdrop of this scenario, the natural tendency for a typical traditional Afrikaans white congregation is to keep their laager tightly closed in order to have at least one place “where you can be at home with your own people, language and friends.” The fact that quite a substantial number of congregations are moving away from this “natural” but theolo¬gically unacceptable position, begs investigation. The hypothesis is that a pro¬found theological transition process is taking place and is resulting in an identity transforma¬tion of the congregations involved. How can this be explained? 

2 THEORY

About the Psalms, Walter Brueggemann (1986:24) says they, “…are not used in a vacuum, but in a history where we are dying and rising, and in a history where God is at work, ending our lives and making gracious new beginnings for us.” He proposes (16):
I suggest, in a simple schematic fashion, that our life of faith consists in moving with God in terms of (a) being securely oriented, (b) being painfully disoriented, and (c) being surprisingly reoriented.
This schematic design is most helpful when explaining some of the differences between North and South with regard to mainline churches and what is happening in, and to, them. The first hypothesis of this article applies:
• Trauma and conflict caused by new power structures in society were the necessary disorientating forces that led to a theologically based re-orientation in these churches.
One could mention “Nelson Mandela” and “1994” to describe the context of what we are discussing. The country and all its peoples experienced a relatively peaceful transition of political power. However, this transition changed everything. The equilibrium, power and stability experienced by most white mainline people have disappeared and disorientation has set in. Brueggemann again (1986:22):
… the lament Psalm, for all its preoccupation with the hard issue at hand, invariably calls God by name and expects a response. At this crucial point, the Psalm parts com¬pany with our newspaper evidence and most of our experience, for it is disorientation addressed to God. And in that address, something happens to the disorientation … The other movement of human life is the surprising move from disorientation to a new orientation, which is quite unlike the status quo.
We believe that this is what is happening in the hearts and lives of many South African Christians. The context has changed and has led to disorientation. In their disorientation people once again turned to God, trusted God, and experienced the strange sensation that their hearts had changed and their eyes had begun to perceive life from a new perspective. Now “the other” is viewed differently and is found to be a brother or sister. For many a profound shift in orientation is taking place. Previously, for the privi¬leged, everything was bent on preserving the status quo. After the revelations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Tutu 1999; Krog 1998) nobody could dispute the rotten ideology on which the previous dispensation was based. This disorientation has taken the form of both confession as well as shock, because of the realities of the new dispensation that, 14 years down the road, is also very far from perfect. For many who longed for a just and peaceful society, this was the nadir of disappointment and despair. Where do we turn to now? Those who turn to God experience a mysterious new beginning, a reorientation. They are profoundly aware of their status as broken vessels, but rediscover the treasure that God, in his mercy, puts in clay jars (2 Cor 4; Barrett 2004).
Perhaps one of the most unknown realities of the difference between the West and Africa is the fact that God is a more theoretic concept in the West, while Africa’s realities force one to abandon all hope in human solutions and turn to the resources of faith that escape reason and manipulation. In Africa, faith is no theory - it’s a love affair. Although this is an extremely general statement, it is true that, by and large, God is still “feared” in Africa. For Africans, God is a reality to be reckoned with (Nürnberger 2007). This makes a difference. The West has not (not yet?) experienced the type of disorientation that so many in Africa know so well.
In South Africa, there are congregations where people live with a new attitude, a new vision and hope. These (mainline) congregations have experienced a complete change of identity. How did this happen?

3 THE PROCESS

3.1 The wells from which we drank
This article focuses on the work and growth of the South African Partnership of Missional Churches (SAPMC - http://www.communitas.co.za/ ).  The initiators of the SAPMC mostly worked and studied at Stellenbosch University’s Faculty of Theology and the church-related centres.  From the very outset, the leaders followed and attended the Gospel and Our Culture Movement’s work (http://www.gospel-culture.org.uk/resources.htm). Other institutions, such as Church Innovations (http://www.churchinnovations.org/) and Allelon (http://www.allelon.org/main.cfm ) are regarded as close partners with whom the SAPMC cooperate, learn from, and share research. A loose partnership exists between proponents of missional church movements on all continents.
During a 2002 sabbatical Prof Pat Keifert of the Luther Seminary / Church Innovations (St Paul’s MN, USA) introduced their work to South African pastors. A group of ten South African pastors then visited the USA to learn from the USA’s Partnership for Missional Churches (PMC). Subsequently, the SAPMC was formed with Keifert present at the first training sessions, which the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC), Uniting Reformed Church of South Africa (URCSA), and Anglican ministers attended. Members financed the movement. It grew rapidly and developed South African material and leadership. Lay leaders play an important role in both leadership and research. Prof Pat Taylor-Ellison of Church Innovations helped the SAPMC to develop research methodology, especially the practical aspects of ethnographic research and the coaching of the reading teams. In 2006, Stellenbosch Uni¬versity started an MTh program on Ministry: Missional transformation. From its inception, it was extremely popular and supported the process with research at both Master’s and Doctoral levels. The PMC movement’s leaders play an important role in the program and research.
The two most influential theologians who influenced these movements are Lesslie Newbigin (1978, 1984, 1986, 1989, 1995, 2003), the erstwhile Anglican Bishop in India who, upon his retirement in his home country, discovered that Britain was a more difficult mission field than India! He profoundly questioned the epistemological parameters of Western Theology. The missional church movement’s second father-figure is the South African missiologist, David Bosch, whose magna carta work, Transforming mission (1991), is an introductory work for Missiology scholars worldwide.

3.2 Statistics
Towards the end of 2008, 139 congregations were paying their dues of about R6000 a year to be guided through a process of missional transformation. Of these, 80% are DRC congrega¬tions with predominantly white Afrikaans speaking members; 85% of these DRC congrega¬tions are urban with only 16 in small rural towns with a single DRC congregation. The most conservative communities are rural. The remainder are 20 congregations from eight denominations. These 139 congregations who are involved in the PMC, by and large, are trendsetters and cooperate in 15 clusters spread quite evenly through South Africa and Namibia.

3.3 The discernment  journey
Significant transformation has taken place in most of the congregations that departed on the missional transformation journey. The Partnership for Missional Churches started operations in 2004. Working in close coopera¬tion with the Church Innovation Institute from St Paul’s Minneapolis, USA, it used and adapted a methodology that helped congregations to escape from the mould of the Christen¬dom paradigm. In this section, the process that guided the congregations will be described. 
 Congregations seeking a new way forward form a cluster after obtaining their respective church councils’ permission. They appoint leaders to guide them through the process. Laity play a key role, but not without their clergy’s integral involvement. The cluster of congregations then departs on a missional discernment journey of approximately three years. This journey has four phases during which they seek to build five capacities:
1 Discovery  building the capacity to listen.
2 Engagement   building the capacity to take risks.
3 Visioning  building the capacity to focus.
4 Practice and growth building the capacity to learn and grow.
The fifth capacity, that of sharing and mentoring, is built throughout the process.
Clusters meet nine times over the three-year period and these meetings have the following set of activities that form the agenda of each meeting:
• Dwelling in the Word
• Reflection on what was learned
• Learning from one another
• Function-orientated teaching
• Practising the teaching.
A few remarks to highlight key aspects of the journey:
• After each cluster event a protocol exists for getting things done and communicating / integrating what was learned into the congregational way of life.
• Throughout the journey “dwelling in the Word” plays a key role. In all the SAPMC meetings Luke 10:1-12 was repeatedly read, reflected upon and discussed. It becomes a well-trodden path that challenges one to “step out” in faith on a journey across new frontiers, being guided by scriptural / spiritual principles.
• Community plays a central role in the process. Not only do the different teams in a congregation together experience an exhilarating spiritual journey that usually has a contagious effect in a congregation, but the stories of the various congregations told at the cluster meetings lead to meaningful growth and learning, as well as the formation of strong bonds and the intensification of vocation.
• In small steps people of faith venture out of their laagers and break through cultural, class, racial, gender and language barriers. The Gospel is, and brings, good news. The experience of both this and the fact that people “on the other side” can be brothers and sisters is most enriching and fulfilling. Suddenly the “others” are no longer strangers but partners who face the same contextual realities, problems and challenges of any given society.
• Lives (and congregations), immersed in the self-indulgence of Western individualism on the one hand but, on the other, also in the trauma and conflict (insecurity) of intense socio-political transformation processes, discover community coupled with a vision of a better reality (the Kingdom of God). Love, faith and hope erupt in new experiences that lead to a transformation process.
• There is more to this journey than simply sociologically describing a process. In Africa, people are less secularised; they believe in the Triune God’s involvement and the power of the Holy Spirit (Nürnberger 2007:212-258).
A brief outline of the journey, examining what happens during the nine cluster events, will be helpful. Before the first cluster event, the leadership of the participating congregations appoint a number of committees who are entrusted with doing basic research and administrative work. The second hypothesis explains what now happens: by doing theology in a new epistemologi¬cal key, transformation takes place. Theological knowledge is not simply gained by studying texts, dogmatics or listening to sermons. A shift in focus takes place. A praxis based process focuses on the triune God. Both the Word and systematic theological teaching is drawn into a discernment process that is action based and continually reflected on. The nine cluster events illustrate this process.

3.4 The nine cluster events of the journey
Cluster event 1: This meeting focuses on how we discover God, his essence and character.  To become a missional congregation means taking part in God’s mission of redemption, restoration and reconciliation. The group discusses what God is doing or wants done, juxtaposed by the question: What is the church and its purpose? Church models are critically analysed and methods of analysing current church practices and culture are discussed. The Christendom and post-Christendom theological paradigms, as well as the role of leadership and the PMC in transition processes, are explained. In this process, discernment and innovation play crucial roles, which are also clarified. Louis Barrett’s (et al 2004) eight patterns of missional faithfulness are discussed and form a basic theological platform for all of the nine cluster meetings. Keifert (2006) describes and discusses the basic methodology. The skills of reflective listening and open, boundary-crossing discussion are fostered in this and all subsequent meetings. Reading and listening / observational tasks are given based on what was discussed at the first cluster. This will be reported on in the second cluster - a set pattern for all cluster meetings.
Two very important “research” or listening activities take place in the discovery phase. A listening team of three to six persons is appointed and trained to ask 24 people eight questions about the congregation. Eight must be active and influential “family members”; eight “inside members” - people who attend regularly but who are not very involved; and eight “outside members” who basically only use the church and its various services when required. The purpose of the ethnographic research is to understand the identity of the congregation. This is formulated in a “reading report” that, in a way, summarizes the message of the 24 ethno¬graphic interviews. The second research team does a community analysis. A missional God sends his people as servants to take care of “the problems and challenges” of this world. But, what are they? What gifts are present in the community that are addressing these problems and challenges? Where do things happen in either the congregation (first listening exercise) or in the community, in which the congregation can participate and make a difference?
Cluster event 2: This is the second discovery phase event. The reading report and feedback on tasks received at the first meeting form a substantial part of the second cluster – a pattern followed in all subsequent clusters. The congregations now discover patterns and partners – or a lack thereof - within their congregations and communities. Barrett’s (et al 2004) eight patterns of missional faithfulness are discussed against the background of the realities exposed by the listening team who interviewed the 24 people and read the scriptural passage of Luke 10:1-12. As such, the PMC is an example of corporate spiritual discernment. The concept and practice are explained and applied throughout the journey. The congregational guide summarises: Spiritual discernment is therefore a practice of belief or a way of thinking. When we think about matters we go to the Scripture again to align with Christ and choose for the cross and make it true in our lives. By listening to both the Word and their world, the cluster practises (by doing the exercise) and thus prepares for a congregational meeting where the same exercise will be repeated.
Cluster event 3: The steering team invites the church council to attend this discovery phase event at a retreat. The basic activities of listening to (i) the Word (Luke 10:1-12), (ii) the eight patterns of missional faithfulness and (iii) the World, the feedbacks of the listening research task teams take place. At this stage, a larger group is on board and more people revise the information. Now, at least three missional challenges should be identified as issues that the congregation feels God is putting on their agenda for their attention. Theoretical input on the difference between adaptive and technical change is discussed, emphasizing the captivity caused by setting up boundaries in the Christendom paradigm’s way of being church. This destroys a church spiritually because it no longer is true to its basic identity of being the missional body of Christ. Escaping this captivity opens the door to new missional challenges for which engagement teams are needed. The work and method of these teams are discussed and they are formed, trained and mentored. The cluster then works on planning a church council retreat where the question: What is God’s preferred and promised future for us as a congregation? is addressed. The process of discerning what the needs of the local community are is once again addressed. This spiral-like process of innovative listening, reflection and then moving towards engagement is, in itself, a discernment process into which more and more members of the congregation are drawn.

During the discovery phase, the process of evaluation about what a congregation has learnt is continuous. Congregations share their insight with the cluster, as well as with congregations in the community. This is called Sharing and mentorship. This phase takes about one year.
Cluster 4 is the first in the engagement phase. Feedback from congregational meetings and the church council retreat are discussed and the three missional challenges of each congrega¬tion in the cluster are shared. This cluster focuses on the engagement spiral and the plunge technique.  Now, the congregations must learn more about the people to whom they will reach out. These people have different views on life and different customs. Contact with people outside the traditional laager means involvement in a culture that could be alien to the missional congregation. They discover invisible walls between themselves and the “others” and learn how to build relationships with them. The listening plunge is then carefully planned and the engagement teams (maximum 2) are selected and trained. The first plunges are care¬fully reported and reflected upon. With the church council’s support, a mentor plays an important role in this. Communication with the congregation remains an essential element of this process.
Cluster 5 is the second meeting in the engagement phase. The missional challenges have been prioritised and engagement teams have been formed who reached out (plunged) to where the congregation believes God is sending them. Once these first plunges have taken place, the events are reported and reflected upon. What has been discovered and what are the reactions? Has a bridge community been established? If indeed so, the engagement spiral requires some low risk experimental work to be done, such as becoming involved in a community project. Communication and planning remain a vital part of the process.
Cluster 6 is the first cluster that deals with the visioning phase. A very thorough discernment-motivated feedback is undertaken to reflect on the plunges and experiments. The congrega¬tions are growing in their understanding of God’s missional character through their sustained contact with the Word of God. Their contact with the world (through plunges where boundaries are crossed) helps them to discover the walls that have been erected between themselves and the community over the years. These walls made them deaf and blind to their responsibility of being a sign, foretaste and instrument of God’s reign in the community. They now realize that the church is not a kingdom on its own, but a sign of the coming kingdom and, as such, a dream / vision is born of being used by God’s Spirit to erect signs of this coming kingdom in their midst. This vision appears in a process of constant deliberations and communication between all involved - the congregation, as well as the partners in the cluster.
Cluster 7 (the visioning phase) finalises the experiments and works towards consensus of the missional tasks / challenges that the congregation is addressing. Communication with the con¬gregation and information on the experiments, what happened and what was learned receive focused attention. At the cluster meeting, this is accompanied by juxtapositioning it with systematic theology on congregational vocation, identity and purpose. The central question: Who is God? is once again asked, coupled with questions such as: What is God doing in our church? and: What is God doing in our community? etc. Each congregation is challenged to phrase a clear congregational calling based on this dialogue between the Word and the world, both of which have been speaking to them.
Cluster 8. The report on cluster 7’s conclusions to the church council is evaluated. The church council must approve the report before it is shared with the congregation. Now, the vision can be spelled out in a tangible form. Cluster 8 is applied to do the detailed planning of reorganising or realigning the congregation’s staff and structures towards being missional and towards achieving the vision and goals. This must be covenanted with the staff of each con¬gregation in the cluster. Usually, the SAPMC supplies a consultant who leads the process in every congregation. Thereafter, a detailed long-term ministry plan (from the immediate first steps to a dream about what must be achieved 4 to 5 years hence) is documented. In this process, the eight missional patterns serve as a valuable theological grid. Once all involved in the teams - staff as well as those of the bridge community - agree to the long-term plan, the church council approves it. Now, it must be shared with the cluster-partners.
Cluster 9 takes place towards the end of a three-year journey and deals with phase four: “Exercise and grow.” At this stage, there should be consensus in each congregation on which of the eight missional patterns are basic strengths, as well as specifically focused upon, in the congregation. The missional challenges resulted in bridging communities and specific minis¬tries. The congregation has gone through a “wake-up” experience during which it was realign¬ed away from institutional self-care towards missional outreach, away from a focus on the self towards a focus on God and his agenda, which leads congregations out of their laagers. The last cluster not only revisits the theological parameters on being a missional church, but deli¬berately plans to establish a missional culture to broaden the church’s missional capacity.

4 CONCLUDING REMARKS

The process described above indicates the point made by the third hypothesis. The importance of taking a congregation through a series of small discernment steps and exposing them to the realities of a broken world where people are suffering is undergirded and, in a sense, propel¬led by the mysterious work of the triune God. People change and congregations experience transition. The first hypothesis stated the context that, in a way, put enough pressure (in the form of risk and insecurity of specific communities) to reach out and do something in the environment in which they live. The second hypothesis formulated the importance that transi¬tion can happen only if the set patterns of thought and theological moulds of the Christendom paradigm are dismantled. Thus, a new church culture emerges.
Two remarks in closure: transition can take place only if there are leaders who dream of an alternative future. The core of the PMC leadership group was from theological seminaries and was, in a way, “fine tuned” through Master’s and Doctoral programs that addressed the issues under discussion. The case study of the SAPMC describes one such group. There are other similar groups (http://etd.rau.ac.za/theses/available/etd-06082005-124417/restricted/BylaeFinaal.pdf - downloaded 09-18-2008).
The SAPMC is about to start a research project to acquire more direct information on the questions: what, where and how much? concerning the transformation processes in these congregations and communities. What has been achieved? What must be learned if the phenomenon is scrutinized?

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KEY WORDS: Missional church, identity, culture, transformation, trauma and conflict. 
SLEUTELWOORDE: Missionale kerk, identiteit, kultuur, transformasie, trauma en konflik.

As a congregation and its staff flourishes, the role of the clergy shifts.  In a missional church, the clergy’s role becomes more and more upon the equipping of the saints, innovating their capacities, rather than replacing them or being the congregation’s primary capacity.

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.  This task, while belonging to all congregational leadership, and all members of the staff, must be the highest priority for the pastor of the congregation, the one who has the call to such leadership.

If the pastor is to keep the main thing the main thing, the pastor must spend significant time and energy doing so personally.  Indeed, personal spiritual disciplines are the most critical activity of a missional leader.  If the missional leader loses track of their own God-centered identity and, therefore, are unable to self define in relationship to the rest of staff and membership of the congregation, it becomes extremely difficult for the pastor to keep the main thing the main thing within the system.  So the personal, often unseen, acts of leadership lie in dwelling in the Word of God, prayer and meditation.

Out of this God centered self definition, the pastor then coaches and teaches staff and leadership within the shared covenant they have to accomplish the missional vocation of the congregation.  So rather than doing most of the ministry, the missional pastor coaches, teaches, and oversees that ministry.