Releasing Missio Dei Behaviour: The Creation and Testing of a Cultural Model Based on the Relationship Between Ethos, Worldview and Habitus in the Context of an Inner City Ministry

Abstract

Missio Dei is God's active will to restore a broken relationship between humanity and Himself. The church as a collective body of believers perpetuates the act of reconciliation by actively volunteering works of service as an expression of faith. Community Night is an urban ministry of Toronto Alliance Church that contextualizes the Gospel message by creating a place of safety and trust. It is a place where ministry volunteers converge to perform compassionate works of service to those who are marginalized and poor and is supported by a wide network of partner churches that represent the cultural diversity of Toronto and beyond. The objective of the project was to effectively equip volunteers with missio Dei behaviour through the creation and testing of a cultural model that was based on the intrinsic relationship between ethos, habitus and worldview. The model was derived using action research as the overarching framework and involved a strengths-based mixed methods research approach. Additional participatory action research cycles involved one-to-one mentoring, group coaching and team learning sessions in order to facilitate behavioural change. The research demonstrated that cultural model was successful in releasing missio Dei behaviour to ministry volunteers.