Insider church? An evaluation of the contextualized ecclesiology of insider movements missiology
[Thesis]
[Thesis]
[Thesis]
[Thesis]
S. Swingle
Ott, Craig
Trinity International University
2015
310
Committee members: Netland, Harold
Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-1-321-70918-6
Th.M.
Mission & Evangelism
Trinity International University
2015
The question of insider movements remains an area of controversial debate among mission agencies, missiologists, and cross-cultural workers who serve among Muslims. A central issue is whether or not believers from Muslim backgrounds (BMBs) can and should retain Muslim religious and social identity for the purpose of facilitating a movement to faith within Muslim family and social networks. This debate involves a whole nexus of other issues and questions, one of them being ecclesiology, and what it means to faithfully contextualize the biblical nature and identity of the church. The present study examines and evaluates the ecclesiology of insider movements missiology from the perspective of the nature and identity of the church. The biblical nature and identity of the church is grounded in biblical theology as a part of the overarching redemptive-historical narrative of the people of God beginning with Abraham and Israel, climaxing with the community of Jesus and the apostolic church, and concluding with the eschatological gathering of the redeemed. The nature and identity of the church is then defined theologically from a variety of vantage points: the theological nature of the church, the local church, the universal church, the visible/invisible church, the attributes and marks of the church, the relationship of the church and salvation, and the relationship of the church and the world. The contextualization of the church is then discussed, defining the meaning of contextualization in light of Scripture and missiological literature, as well as defining the parameters of what counts as an authentic contextualization of the church. After defining the nature and identity of the church and what it means to contextualize the church, the ecclesiology of insider movements missiology is described and evaluated in light of these biblical, theological, and missiological parameters for contextualizing the church. This study concludes that insider movements ecclesiology compromises the biblical nature and identity of the church and therefore fails to represent an authentic contextualization of the church.
Religion; Biblical studies; Theology
Philosophy, religion and theology;Church planting;Contextualization;Ecclesiology;Insider movement;Muslim ministry;Religious identity