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01 May 2009

Alan Hirsch

Alan Hirsch is an author, trainer, strategist and missional church leader from Australia. He is the author of The Forgotten Ways as well as the The Shaping of Things to Come and the recent ReJesus, both of which he co-wrote with Michael Frost.

Here is a taster from Alan's interview:

What would you say to a pastor or leader of a traditional church who sees the need for missional church and wants to transition, and yet is stuck in a very institutional structure?

One of the biggest problems we have is the issue of imagination. It's how we conceive of ourselves in the world and of our function. So the first battle to be won is on the level of paradigm or imagination. If I use the phrase "idea of church", we operate largely in the West on the "idea of church" that has been developed out of the 17th century, which stems primarily from Constantine and his deal with the church. That has really framed the way we see ourselves fundamentally. And it's very hard to see ourselves beyond that…So the first step in helping a congregation is to begin to see themselves differently. This is not an easy task, but it is a critical task because unless we actually recalibrate on that level, we're just going to reproduce what we currently know…