Oikos intro talk 10th Nov 2013

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10.11.13 Oikos series – (Edited version) It’s a Greek word and it’s all about the culture that we want to be at the heart of our missional communities. So important. Communities without oikos would be like a body without a beating heart 4 week series spread over 5 weeks 1. Intro 2. The gathering 3. The community of the kingdom of heaven 4. What makes community work 5. The prize and the price of community Oikos intro talk ‘It’s how life was meant to be’ New wall displays of MCs – growing, giving, going Mock up of a newspaper headlines – Would we survive? But it’s not just a question of survival, but our society may have abandoned the very culture that is most needed The problem: Extract from Mike’s blog ‘Living as oikos has been the norm for almost every culture for most of human history. It’s just how family was—not 2.4 children in a single-family home but a wider community sharing life, and work, and celebration, and commerce together. Only in the last hundred years or so in the West have we lost this sense of being extended families on mission. For a whole host of reasons, we have unwittingly embraced the fragmentation of the extended family and tried to live primarily as individuals and nuclear families. The results of this experiment have been utterly disastrous, and you probably see the aftermath all around you. Loneliness and depression are rampant, we are more stressed and busier than ever, and many people feel they are barely keeping their heads above water as they try to advance in their careers, raise their children, and seek some semblance of meaning in life.’ So what is oikos? Oikos: ‘the Greek word for home, house or household. It was the primary social unit in NT times. It generally included immediate family, extended family, servants, work colleagues, neighbours, and friends. It could number from 10-50 (or even 70). The house would be the centre of accommodation, community and commerce, even if not all lived there. As the good news penetrated the oikos, it became the natural vehicle for the gospel to become embedded in the culture and spread through all the connections of that oikos. It was the natural place for mission, nurture and discipleship.

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