The Missionary Congregation, Leadership, and Liminality

by Roxburgh, Alan J.

• ISBN13: 9781563381904
• ISBN10: 1563381907
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-09-01
• Publisher: Bloomsbury T & T Clark

Summary

The urgent question for Christian mission in North America today has to do with churches and congregations and the crisis of their identity in the culture of modernity. According to Alan J. Roxburgh, the church has shifted from the center of culture to the margins. This text examines this shift and explores Victor Turner's work on liminality (a term describing the transition process that accompanies a change of state or social position).

Table of Contents

PREFACE TO THE SERIES	vii
INTRODUCTION	1	(4)
1. MARGINALIZATION, MODERNITY, AND LOSS OF CENTER	5	(18)
The Christendom Argument and the Experience of Marginality	6	(4)
Modernity, Loss of Center, and the Experience of Marginality	10	(2)
A Decentered Context for North American Churches	12	(3)
Aspects of a Marginal Consciousness in Current Pastoral Roles	15	(8)
2. LIMINALITY: A MODEL FOR ENGAGEMENT	23	(34)
The Meaning of Liminality	23	(4)
The Stages of Liminal Transition	27	(4)
The Liminal and Religious Experience	31	(1)
The Potential for the New in the Liminal Experience	32	(1)
Two Types of Liminality in Modern Societies	33	(10)
Pastoral Identity and Liminality	43	(4)
The Liminal and the Liminoid	47	(2)
Communitas	49	(8)
3. TOWARD A MISSIONARY ECCLESIOLOGY	57	(10)
Pastor/Poet	58	(2)
Pastor/Prophet	60	(1)
Pastor/Apostle	61	(6)
CONCLUSION	67	(1)
NOTES	68	(2)
REFERENCES CITED	70