The basic definition of the church is “the people of God who are called and sent to re-present the reign of God.”
- George Hunsberger, The Gospel and Our Culture Network
Monthly archive: February, 2007
Missional More Than Buzz
“The word missional has been in the dictionary for 100 years, defined in the 1907 Oxford English dictionary as something that is of, or pertaining to, missionaries. But those who use the word today have broader applications, focusing on the church’s role in the culture.
It refers to a philosophy of ministry: that followers of Christ are counter-cultural, on a mission to change the culture. Missional refers to the specific activity of churches: to build the Kingdom of God in all settings where church members are at work, rather than building up the local congregation, its programs, numbers, and facilities.
Many users of the term refer to a change of heart – that missions is not a distant program to which we send a check or boxes of used clothing – but instead something we’re personally involved in. The whole life of a believer is to be dedicated to faithful sharing, giving, and going – more than studying, hearing, and sending others.
Those steeped in a missions tradition would contend it is the recovery of an old ethic. If the number of websites and recent books using the word are any measure, missional is hot and spreading. Time will tell if it is the successor to ‘church growth’ and the antidote to consumer-driven church.”
- Eric Reed, Leadership
Hirsch & Missional Church
“A missional church is a church that defines itself, and organizes its life around, its real purpose as an agent of God’s mission to the world. In other words, the church’s true and authentic organizing principle is mission. When the church is in mission, it is the true church. The church itself is not only a product of that mission but is obligated and destined to extend it by whatever means possible. The mission of God flows directly through every believer and every community of faith that adheres to Jesus. To obstruct this is to block God’s purposes in and through his people.”
- Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways
The Way of Jesus
A statement that has had a significant impact on my thoughts and actions the past year comes from Eugene Peterson.
“The way of Jesus is always local and ordinary”
It is local in that we are to serve and love those who are local to us; in other words those who are right in front of us throughout the day.
And the way of Jesus is ordinary in that it does not have to be spectacular. It is simple. It is a cold Coke for the trash men. It is a good tip for the Sonic carhop. It is a sincere “thank you for serving us” to the flight attendant. It is taking the time to listen to the neighborhood kids. It is praying for those who God brings to the forefront of our minds throughout the day.
Next Missional Network Gatherings
Here are the dates for the next network times. This month Georges Boujakly will be leading us in a discussion on the concept of spiritual growth with a specific emphasis on understanding how spiritual growth occurs in the life of a believer. We will then discuss the implications of such a model of spiritual growth for each of our ministry settings and brainstorm possible solutions to the barriers that might keep spiritual growth from taking place.
KC Network
Thursday, February 22nd
5:00pm-8:00pm
Kansas City Association
8745 Ballentine
Overland Park
Wichita Network
Friday, February 23rd
12:00 – 3:00pm
The Journey
7th and Plum
Newton, KS
What Is Missional?
There is a good article in the latest Leadership Journal on becoming missional with thoughts from TallSkinnyKiwi and Mike Breen author of Passionate Church.
When asked, “What kind of church do you serve?” leaders are finding that denominational qualifiers or adjectives such as innovative, emergent, contemporary, liturgical and purpose-driven don’t get to the heart of the question; they tend to over-emphasize a particular aspect of the church.
Leaders are (re)discovering that the essential calling of the church has less to do with the way a church is organized, its doctrinal distinctions, or its style of music, and more to do with the missio Dei (mission of God).
UK blogger Andrew Jones explains: “Missio Dei stems from the Triune God: the Father sends the Son, the Father and the Son send the Spirit, the Father and Son and the Spirit send the church into the world.” So a missional church is about doing God’s work in the world today. In this sense, the missional church isn’t a new emphasis, but is a renewed focus on what has been (or should have been) there all along.
Mike Breen, pastor at Community Church of Joy near Phoenix, Arizona, believes the missional church is something very old, very fundamental, and very much at the core of what it means to be church.
Missional church is radical only in the sense that radical means root,” he says. “The missional church is rooted in not just the New Testament church of Acts, but in the mission of Jesus himself. A missional church lives out the church’s three-dimensional calling: to be upwardly focused on God in worship that is passionate; to be inwardly focused on community among believers that is demonstrated in relationships of love and compassion; and to be outwardly focused on a world that does not yet know God.”
DMin Project
This is a new site established to act as a “clearing house” for the research and writing of a DMin project in 2007. The project will focus on equipping pastors and church leaders in leading their churches towards developing a missional mindset.
I believe churches allocate the majority of their resources on programs and ministries for the benefit of church members rather than to impact the lives of those outside of the church. As a result churches are missing opportunities to influence their communities. Therefore, participants in the project will learn how to lead a church towards developing a missional mindset by the reallocation of resources – including but not limited to prayer, people, time, facilities, finances and technology – for the purpose of influencing their local communities.
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