Missional Encounter of the Gospel Engaging Cultural Edges as Agents of Adaptive Change

Abstract

The significance of Newbigin’s question on Gospel and culture has not changed the traditional church’s maintenance-based ministry. The church is captured in a selfcentred and self-serving methodology. This article reviews the work of Newbigin and its implications for the South African context. The proposed missional-practical theological methodology employed is functional and contextual. A critique on the church’s role and identity will be developed. The church’s vocation is to be missional in its calling and response. The applied case study illustrates how the church could become a contributing factor touching upon human dignity on the fringes of society. Cultural shifts manifesting themselves in today’s world create a glocal culture of discontinuous change. The church finds itself in unfamiliar territory and may lack the necessary skills and knowledge to deal with these new challenges. This causes edge issues, and the church, more often than not, is unable to deal with the accompanying challenges. The need for a re-reading of Newbigin and Bosch is of paramount importance. Three adaptive agents of change can assist in the re-intervention and innovation of the present day church. This means that churches should unlearn and relearn the missional implications for its existence and work. The need for research and experiments on how to be missional in the local church should not be underestimated.