mansfield: keltic theology

still processing meetings with a pretty smart dude.

Day 3 of our meetings Mansfield outlined 7 ministry philosophies that he found in the ministry of St Patrick as Ireland saw transformation. I love the missional components in these ideas.

Here they are with my 2 sense:
Tap into heritage
-what good is in the history of our target people?
-at some point people care about who they are
-understanding people means knowing their past

Understand their pain
-what is the greatest challenge our target people face?
-compassion is essential in reaching people
-we must learn how to demonstrate true care and love

Affirm their righteous hope
-What are the deep desires of our target people?
-we need to know what people hope
-a persons hope is their passion

Understand that if God is reaching someone they are in some kind of trouble
-without God all people are missing something
-God usually needs to make us desperate in order to get our attention

Create a vehicle for relationship
-how can people build community in our context?
-relationship + community = discipleship

Figure out how to package content so that it is culturally relevant
-what are the needs of the culture?
-Are we explaining truth so that people can understand it?

Understand that our church culture is our net
-What are the cultures we are creating in our churches? Serving? loving? compassion? growing? learning? genuine relationships?
-Do we have negative cultures? overworking? control?
-Culture takes constant clear communication of vision and values. In 1 word can you describe what your church is about?