Podcast: The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch - INTRO

Download: Podcast Episode 8 - The Forgotten Ways Intro

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Our podcast discussion of The Present Future has ended, and we have decided to move into a discussion of The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch, which explores "reactivating the missional church" and explores the missional DNA which exists in all churches, planted there by the Holy Spirit.

I would love to have you in on the discussion. If you have any posts, comments, or questions about chapter 1 of The Forgotten Ways, leave them in the comments here or make a new post if you want. We will be recording the podcast on Thursday, Sept 11.

Here are my notes for the Intro:

The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch

Intro quotes

“I have to confess that I do not think that the inherited formulas will work anymore. And what is more, I know I am not alone in this view. There is a massive roaming of the mind going on in our day as the search for alternatives heats up. However, most of the new thinking as it relates to the future of Christianity in the West only highlights our dilemma and generally proposes solutions that are little more than revisions of past approaches and techniques. Even much of the thinking about the so-called emerging church leaves the prevailing assumptions of church and mission intact and simply focuses on the issue of theology and spirituality in a postmodern setting. This amounts to a reworking of the theological “software” while ignoring the “hardware” as well as “operating system” of the church. In my opinion, this will not be enough to get us through.” – p 17

And it’s not that reaching into our past is not part of the solution. It is. The issue is simply that we generally don’t go back far enough; or rather, that we don’t delve deep enough for our answers. Every now and again we do get glimpses of an answer, but because of the radical and disturbing nature of the remedy we retreat to the safety of the familiar and the controllable. – p 17

…missional ecclesiology is dynamite. Mainly because the church (the ecclesia), when true to its real calling, when it is on about what God is on about, is by far and away the most potent force for transformational change the world has ever seen. It has been that before, is that now, and will be that again. This book is written in hope that the church in the West can, by the power of the Holy Spirit, arouse and reengage that amazing power that lies within us. – p 17

Another feature of this work is the consistent critique of religious institutionalism. Because this could be unsettling to some, a word of clarification is needed to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings later on. I am critical of institutionalism not because I think it is a bad idea, but only because through my study of the phenomenal Jesus movements I have come to the unnerving conclusion that God’s people are more potent by far when they have little of what we would recognize as church institution in their life together. – p 23

Missional DNA (or mDNA) – Jesus is Lord, Disciple Making, Missional-Incarnational impuse, Apostolic Environment, Organic Systems, Communitas Not Community. – pp 24-25

Notes

Hirsch will explore this missional ecclesiology by examining the early church from AD 100 to AD 310 and the explosion of the Chinese church under intense oppression.

I have two criticisms of this book so far. One is the allusions to pop culture that “the power has been in us all along… we just didn’t know it.” I think it just plays to our arrogance. It may be true, but only as the Holy Spirit indwells us, each and every one of us. And Two, his use of academic terminology in the mDNA makes it hard to understand at a glance. I’m hopeful I can find clearer terms for his descriptions.