From water-skiing to living with refugees - Aussie evangelist Mike Frost laid out a bold challenge to the church in the UK to think outside its four walls and make imaginative mission its goal.
Rev Mike Frost, professor of evangelism at Sydney's Morling College in Australia, carried out a whirlwind tour of the UK this month, speaking at events in Southampton, Bristol, Oxford and London about mission-shaped churches in the 21st century.
A broad cross-section of evangelicals and emerging leaders heard how the church's life has been predominantly organised around worship, with Frost challenging the church to organise its life around mission.
Frost spoke forcefully on the need to think outside of traditional boxes and cited examples as diverse as a water skiing-based church in Western Australia and a church planted in a resettlement compound in Vietnam.
Dr Krish Kandiah, Churches in Mission Executive Director at the Evangelical Alliance said: "Mike gave an uncompromising challenge to church leaders to stop simply trying to please people in the pews but to allow God's mission to shape our vision for the church."
Keith Hagon, Chair of Bristol and District Evangelical Alliance and Chief Executive of the George Muller Foundation said: "Mike's thesis has the potential to turn the church upside down. This is the way to break new ground and re-evangelise the UK, but it depends on us listening to God and being bold enough to go to the lost rather than hoping they find us."
The mini tour - from October 3 to 11 - was organised by the Evangelical Alliance and Focus Radio, in collaboration with partner organisations such as Bristol and District Evangelical Alliance, Oxford-based Church Mission Society, London Institute of Contemporary Christianity (LICC) and London School of Theology (LST)
At each day conference, attendees had an opportunity to rediscover what a Christ-centred community really means and how they can be involved in leading mission shaped churches. There was also an opportunity to hear UK responses to Frost's ideas from academics and mission practitioners such as Conrad Gempf from LST, Daniel Strange from Oak Hill College and Antony Billington and Nigel Hopper from LICC.
The themes raised during Frost's tour are addressed in Slipstream, the Evangelical Alliance's leadership resource, www.eauk.org/slipstream, and follow on from keynote addresses at the Evangelical Alliance Council in September from Pete Grieg, Ruth Valerio and Tom Sine.
