Centre for Missional Leadership

Last updated

Logo banner tall.jpg

The Centre for Missional Leadership(CML) was a theological centre specialising in applied theology. It was based in Watford, 20 miles northwest of central London, England.

Contents

CML taught applied theology with the aim of equipping Christians for practical evangelism. Located on the Watford High Street, CML was an urban centre for Christian learning in the fields of applied theology and Christian mission. The centre trained Christians for ministries that are both in and outside the church. Many non-church ministries were also developed. [1]

Workplace ministry

Movements that aim to equip people in the workplace are trying to create a shift in attitude from seeing work as a "necessary evil" to a vehicle for evangelism. [2]

CML rejected what it believed to be a false dichotomy and dualism of the sacred and secular divides. [2] An early proponent of this thinking was the theologian John Stott who, through his seminal work with the Lausanne movement, sought to affirm belief in the central calling to ministry and mission of all Christians, regardless of their field of work. Stott wrote: “Every honourable work should be seen by Christians as some kind of co-operation with God, in which we share with Him in the transformation of the world which He has made and committed to our care”. [3] A particular expression of Stott’s thinking reached culmination in the founding of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC) in 1982, [4] now led by Mark Greene who has been a visiting lecturer at CML. The aim of LICC is to encourage evangelical Christians to put all areas of their lives under belief in the lordship of Jesus Christ.

C. S. Lewis has spoken about William Tyndale's rejection of the secular/sacred divide. [5] This is based on the Puritan ideals of leading an ordered and disciplined life that integrates both secular and religious aspects.

The Business as Mission Movement also aims to assist Christians in the workplace. [6] The movement was inspired by YWAM and aims to provide "resources for Christians to live out their faith in all aspects of life and to have purpose, perspective and impact that glorifies the Kingdom of God. [7] "

CML was also influenced by the "Seven Mountains" movement that emerged after a meeting in 1973 between Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ (CCCI), and Loren Cunningham, founder of Youth with a Mission (YWAM). A consensus emerged from their meeting stating that if post-modern secular western countries were going to be re-evangelised, then the wider church needed to take seriously sending advocates into various secular spheres rather than encouraging them to leave such spheres of influence and serve the church. Seven areas of influence were highlighted, namely arts and entertainment, business, education, family, church, government and the media. These fields are seen as culture shapers that are especially influential within the post-modern era. As the Seven Mountains movement emerged, the church was encouraged to repent for its retreat from these places of influence and instead infiltrate and permeate these areas as strategic mission outposts. [1]

There has also been criticism that the church is out of touch with the pressures faced by people in secular jobs. [8] Efforts have been made to educate church leaders about this concern, such as the third Lausanne congress in Cape Town 2010.[ citation needed ]

CML was in the Evangelical tradition and non-denominational and worked with people from a number of denominations. It was part of the London School of Theology, the largest Evangelical theological college in Europe. [9] The Evangelical tradition placed emphasis on personal conversion, sharing the Gospel, belief in the inerrancy of the Bible and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as being historical events. The college aimed specifically to equip people for whole-life discipleship as reflected in courses such as Mission and Bible Overview.[ citation needed ]

History

CML was started as the Watford School of Leadership (WSOL), opening its doors in September 2009. Steve Cardell, a businessman, along with Greg Downes, an Anglican priest, theologian and evangelist, started WSOL. The college emerged relationally from St Andrew’s Chorleywood, where Cardell was a member and Greg Downes was an associate minister.[ citation needed ]

Courses

Student.nmims.shirpur.jpg

CML offered a Certificate in Missional Leadership, a one-year programme that provided a Bible overview, training in evangelism, mission and leadership skills. Everyday practitioners of these areas served as lecturers on the course including: William Challis, Gerald Coates, Charles Foster, Mark Greene and George Verwer.

Closure

The centre closed down in late 2013. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evangelism</span> Preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ

In Christianity, evangelism or witnessing is the act of preaching the gospel with the intention of sharing the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. It is sometimes associated with Christian missions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl F. H. Henry</span> American theologian

Carl Ferdinand Howard Henry was an American evangelical Christian theologian who provided intellectual and institutional leadership to the neo-evangelical movement in the mid-to-late 20th century. He was ordained in 1942 after graduating from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary and went on to teach and lecture at various schools and publish and edit many works surrounding the neo-evangelical movement. His early book, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism (1947), was influential in calling evangelicals to differentiate themselves from separatist fundamentalism and claim a role in influencing the wider American culture. He was involved in the creation of numerous major evangelical organizations that contributed to his influence in Neo-evangelicalism and lasting legacy, including the National Association of Evangelicals, Fuller Theological Seminary, Evangelical Theological Society, Christianity Today magazine, and the Institute for Advanced Christian Studies. The Carl F. H. Henry Institute for Evangelical Engagement at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding at Trinity International University seek to carry on his legacy. His ideas about Neo-evangelism are still debated to this day and his legacy continues to inspire change in American social and political culture.

The emerging church, sometimes wrongly equated with the "emergent movement" or "emergent conversation", is a Christian movement of the late 20th and early 21st century. Emerging churches can be found around the globe, predominantly in North America, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Africa. Members come from a number of Christian traditions. Some attend local independent churches or house churches while others worship in traditional Christian denominations. The emerging church favors the use of simple story and narrative. Members of the movement often place a high value on good works or social activism, including missional living. Proponents of the movement believe it transcends labels such as "conservative" and "liberal"; it is sometimes called a "conversation" to emphasize its developing and decentralized nature, its range of standpoints, and commitment to dialogue. Participants seek to live their faith in what they believe to be a "postmodern" society. Disillusionment with the organized and institutional church has led participants to support the deconstruction of modern Christian worship and evangelism, and the nature of modern Christian community.

Parachurch organizations are Christian faith-based organizations that work outside and across denominations to engage in social welfare and evangelism. Parachurch organizations seek to come alongside the church and specialize in things that individual churches may not be able to specialize in by themselves. They often cross denominational and national boundaries providing specialized services and training.

Kingdom theology is a system of Christian thought that elaborates on inaugurated eschatology, which is a way of understanding the various teachings on the kingdom of God found throughout the New Testament. Its emphasis is that the purpose of both individual Christians and the church as a whole is to manifest the kingdom of God on the earth, incorporating personal evangelism, social action, and foreign missions.

The Lausanne Covenant is a July 1974 religious manifesto promoting active worldwide Christian evangelism. One of the most influential documents in modern evangelicalism, it was written at the First International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland, where it was adopted by 2,300 evangelicals in attendance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship</span>

Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship is an evangelical Christian student movement with affiliate groups on university campuses in the United Kingdom. It is a member of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. The UCCF endorses a conservative evangelical form of Christian theology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Youth With A Mission</span> Christian missions training organisation

Youth With A Mission is an interdenominational Christian mission organization with a focus on missionary work and training for Christian missions.

The Neo-charismaticmovement is a movement within evangelical Protestant Christianity that is composed of a diverse range of independent churches and organizations that emphasize the current availability of gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues and faith healing. The Neo-charismatic movement is considered to be the "third wave" of the Charismatic Christian tradition which began with Pentecostalism, and was furthered by the Charismatic movement. As a result of the growth of postdenominational and independent charismatic groups, Neo-charismatics are now believed to be more numerous than the first and second wave categories. As of 2002, some 19,000 denominations or groups, with approximately 295 million individual adherents, were identified as Neo-charismatic.

The Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union, usually known as OICCU, is the world's second oldest university Christian Union and is the University of Oxford's most prominent student Christian organisation. It was formed in 1879.

The Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES) is an evangelical Christian student movement with affiliate groups on university campuses in Australia. It is a member of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students.

Derek John Tidball is a British theologian, sociologist of religion, and Baptist minister. From 1995 to 2007 he was the principal of London Bible College which later took the name London School of Theology.

The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, more commonly known as the Lausanne Movement, is a global movement that mobilizes Christian leaders to collaborate for world evangelization. The movement's fourfold vision is to see 'the gospel for every person, disciple-making churches for every people and place, Christ-like leaders for every church and sector, and kingdom impact in every sphere of society'.

Integral mission or holistic mission describes an understanding of Christian mission that embraces both evangelism and social responsibility. With origins in Latin American, integral mission has influenced a significant number of Protestants around the world through the Lausanne Movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Church of Christ in the Philippines</span> Christian denomination

The United Church of Christ in the Philippines is a Christian denomination in the Philippines. Established in its present form in Malate, Manila, it resulted from the merger of the Evangelical Church of the Philippines, the Philippine Methodist Church, the Disciples of Christ, the United Evangelical Church and several independent congregations.

Langham Partnership is a nonprofit Christian international fellowship working in pursuit of the vision of its founder John Stott: to foster the growth of the global church in maturity and Christ-likeness by raising the standards of biblical preaching and teaching through equipping Majority World Christian pastors, scholars, writers, publishers, and other key leaders. In 2005, TIME magazine named Stott among the 100 most influential people in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evangelical Anglicanism</span> Tradition within Anglicanism

Evangelical Anglicanism, Evangelical Episcopalianism or Reformed Anglicanism is a tradition or church party within Anglicanism that shares affinity with broader evangelicalism. Evangelical Anglicans share with other evangelicals the attributes of "conversionism, activism, biblicism and crucicentrism" identified by historian David Bebbington as central to evangelical identity. The emergence of evangelical churchmanship can be traced back to the First Great Awakening in America and the Evangelical Revival in Britain in the 18th century. In the 20th century, prominent figures have included John Stott and J. I. Packer.

References

  1. 1 2 "The New Face of Faith at Work - Reclaiming the 7 Mountains". www.reclaim7mountains.com. Archived from the original on 4 January 2011.
  2. 1 2 conversation.lausanne.org/conversations/detail/10380
  3. Stott, 1991, p. 148
  4. "Home". licc.org.uk.
  5. "The Original Puritan Work Ethic - Christian History & Biography - ChristianityTodayLibrary.com". Archived from the original on 29 October 2010. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
  6. "Issue: Business as Mission". Archived from the original on 30 October 2010. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
  7. "About Us". www.businessasmission.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011.
  8. Thank God it's Monday, Mark Greene
  9. "History - London School of Theology". Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
  10. "UK Government Company Information Service". UK Government website, Companies House section CML page. Retrieved 20 October 2023.

51°39′25″N0°23′55″W / 51.656885°N 0.398674°W / 51.656885; -0.398674