What makes Fuller Seminary instructor Reggie McNeal, pictured left, the man to teach Lutherans? Read more below.
The pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church, Madison, Wisconsin, Robert Knippel, WELS, is using a Fuller Seminary book for an adult study.
Here is the WELS church blurb:
CHRISTIANITY OR CHURCHIANITY?
Robert Knippel 12/29/2006 10:32:33 AM
THE PRESENT FUTURE~Six Tough Questions For The Church
Steeped in tradition, many churches are caught up in a game of numbers and attendance tally sheets in an attempt to prove ‘success’ in the religious community. Often, when new members cannot be recruited, the bottom falls out of a church's ministry. In The Present Future, church consultant and church leadership trainer Reggie McNeal clarifies the importance of getting a church out of the ‘traditional rut’ and focused back on building God's kingdom according to His purposes.
In order to meet people's physical, spiritual and emotional needs, McNeil says that current church members will need to be released from some of their church offices and duties in order to have the time (and energy) to be effective outreach personnel in workplaces and expanded communities. He feels that the training of these outreach people should be patterned on the model used by Jesus.
McNeil knows that his book may seem demanding, even harsh; so, he has inserted a section meant to thwart negative feelings he may have unintentionally stirred. This book is important reading for anyone with a heart for Christian outreach.
Join Pastor Knippel for this 10-week challenging and invigorating discussion on the state of the church! Do we practice “Christianity” or “Church-ianity”?
Friday Morning Bible Class
Begins February 2, 2007 at 6:30 AM
Reserve your copy of this important book by emailing Pastor Knippel or signing up on the sign up sheet on the board.
***
When I searched for more about McNeal, I found this at the Fuller Seminary site:
Fuller Theological Seminary Presents a Dynamic Workshop Experience
"The Present Future:
Tackling Six Tough Questions for the Church"
with Dr. Reggie McNeal
"...McNeal identifies the six most important realities that church
leaders must address...
[He] contends that by changing
the questions church leaders
ask themselves about their congregations and their plans,
they can frame the core issues
and approach the future with
new eyes, new purpose,
and new ideas."
- The Present Future
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The Church of the Nazarene likes McNeal:
Dr. Reggie McNeal is the Director of the Leadership Development Office at the South Carolina Baptist Convention. His past experience involves twenty years in local church leadership, ten years in various staff roles and ten years as a founding pastor of a new church. Reggie has lectured or served as adjunct faculty for multiple seminaries, including Southwestern Baptist (Ft. Worth, TX), Golden Gate Baptist (San Francisco, CA), Fuller Theological (Pasadena, CA), Trinity Divinity School (Deerfield, IL), and Columbia International (Columbia, SC).
In addition, Reggie has served as a consultant to local church, denomination, and para-church leadership teams, as well as seminar developer and presenter for thousands of church leaders across North America. He has also resourced the United States Army Chief of Chaplains Office, Air Force chaplains, and the Air Force Education and Training Command. Reggie’s work also extends to the business sector, including The Gallup Organization.
Reggie has contributed to numerous denominational publications and church leadership journals, including Leadership and Net Results. His books include Revolution in Leadership (Abingdon Press, 1998), A Work of Heart: Understanding How God Shapes Spiritual Leaders (Jossey-Bass, 2000), The Present Future (Jossey-Bass, 2003) and Practicing Greatness (Release date – Spring 2006).
Reggie’s education includes a B.A. degree from the University of South Carolina and the M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees both from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Reggie and his wife Cathy, have two daughters, Jessica and Susanna, and make their home in Columbia, South Carolina.
***
In a puff interview at Becoming Missional, McNeal tells all:
Friday, December 29, 2006
Missional Interview with Reggie McNeal
I had the privilege to sit and talk with Reggie McNeal over lunch during one of his conferences.
Reggie is best known for his book The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church you can also get a copy of his seminar on the book here. I would highly recommend both.
You can also find his bio here.
We talked and then I asked him several questions.
The following is the answers he gave me.
Q. 1. Reggie how do you define missional?
A. Joining God in His redemptive work, here and now. It's something to be done and not just talked about.
Q. 2. What flipped your missional switch?
A. It's always been on my mind. I did the church growth "thing" during that movement, but I was never really satisfied with it. I've always been about asking the question "How can the Church be the Church?" that answer is not found in a bigger institution or better leadership. So I've always been moving towards a missional mindset.
Q. 3. How will missional change come to the church?
A. It will come in stages. It will not happen overnite but will slow and dramatically change. But I must say this, renewal will not happen for the church, when we are trying to renew the church. If making a greater church is our goal, then we will fail. Renewal will come when we ourselves have been renewed with God's missional passion and we in turn pass that along to our churches.
What will happen to the institutional church?
A. The IC will become just one form among many. There will be many different forms of church meeting many different needs. Maybe a family will move into a high rise of 300 apartments and claim that as their mission field and start an organic group there. Knowing that 95% of the people in that building don't go to church. That family will becoming the church to that place.
Q. 5. What one book would you recommend?
A. The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church
Thanks Reggie for taking the time to answer and share these insights with us! In my opinion Reggie is really one of the fathers of the missional church movement. His thoughts are practical and moving. If you've not read 6 questions you need to.
***
[GJ - The author of the Becoming Missional blog does not reveal his denomination.] I did find there was a Missional Community. That is the apparent tie between the blog and the author. This seems to be another avatar of the Church Growth Movement, like Purpose-Driven. I would be wary of acronyms. Who wants to join the BMs?
***
A lovely young woman--studying for her degree at Fuller Seminary--has this excited commentary on her class with McNeal:
Today I'm focusing on Reggie...we're going missional! Advancing into the Present Future. One of Reggie's premises is that God is always up to something new.
Key to taking your church missional is asking the right questions. Reggie reviews six wrong questions, and then asks six tough questions:
How do we 'deconvert' from 'Churchianity' to Christianity?
How do we transform our Community?
How do we turn members into missionaries?
How do we develop followers of Jesus?
How do we prepare for the future?
How do we develop leaders for the Christian movement?
If you've not read Present Future order one today! Read it and let Reggie take you missional. His humor, thoughts and tough questions are sure to fast forward you to your future today.
***
Eureka! I found the castle keep of Becoming Missional - Fuller Seminary:
Missional God, Missional Church (Unabridged) by Fuller Theological Seminary
Learn from Michael Frost as he shares his studies, discoveries, and missional experiences. It addresses the questions of what does it mean for a church to be missional?, �what does it mean to live incarnationally?, and what does it truly mean to live in community?
FTS - The Purposeful Church (Unabridged) by Rick Warren, John Maxwell, Peter Wagner, Reggie McNeal
Does your congregation view the church as a refuge for believers or as a mission for the unchurched? This series examines today�s cultural shifts that drive the church to search for new paradigms of effective ministry.
And -
7/1/2007 - New Course with Reggie McNeal
Fuller's Doctor of Ministry Program and Continuing Education Office will offer a new course Monday-Friday, August 6-10, Missional Leadership: Character, Context and Challenge, led by leadership expert Reggie McNeal. Those in pastoral ministry can audit at substantial savings. Pre-course work will be required. For details, email dmin-office@dept.fuller.edu or guy@fuller.edu.
***
Covenant churches like McNeal too:
From Pastor Art: This note was sent to all Covenant churches within a
two hour drive of MCC. Please plan to attend. THIS GUY IS "OFF THE TABLE."
Marin Covenant is hosting a two day gathering with Reggie McNeal, author
of the much read book, _Present Future_.
I wanted to make sure that our Covenant churches knew about this and
could do everything to get here for it.
Gary Gaddini, from Peninsula Covenant in Redwood City, attended a
similar gathering with him last month and was so excited about it that
he is bringing more from his church up to this meeting in Marin.
Here are the specifics:
*Reggie's point:* There are some things the church had better get figured
out about why she is here. There will be discussion revolving around
what is in the book, but even if you haven't yet read it, you won't feel
left out. If you have read it, you won't feel like this is redundant,
according to those who have been at other venues.
*Dates and times:* Monday, August 8th, 8-5, Tuesday, August 9th , 8-noon.
*Location:* Marin Covenant Church, 195 North Redwood Drive, San Rafael.
415-479-1360
***
More BMs from a Fuller Seminary professor, who noted that McNeal is hosting the BM workshop.
And a Presbyterian BMer has much to say on this.
***
GJ - Stick with me, even if this is like getting root canal work without any pain killer. The evidence on the Net suggests that McNeal and his Fuller cronies are the energy behind the WELS Church and Change apostasy. Like Orwell's Animal Farm, we peek in the window and cannot tell the Baptists from the Presbyterians from the Covenanters from the Pentecostals from the Wisconsin Synod Lutherans.
