Incarnational

Sentralized Missional Conference

May 14, 2011, by No comments yet

I am very excited to share some details about a conference scheduled for this September here in Kansas City. I believe the Sentralized Conference is going to play a significant role in the ongoing missional conversation in the United States.

There were at least two major reasons for organizing a conference like Sentralized. First, we believed there is a need to continue to bring clarity to the missional conversation. Even with the considerable amount of writing and dialog around missional concepts over the past decade, the use of missional terminology remains confusing in many circles. Unfortunately some view “missional” as the latest church growth strategy, or a better way of doing church evangelism. Others see missional as a means to mobilize church members to do missions more effectively. While still others believe missional is simply the latest Christian buzz word that will soon pass when the next trendy topic comes along.

However, we would argue that those who believe missional is merely an add-on to current church activities, or perhaps even a passing fad prevalent only among church leaders, have simply not fully grasped the theological and missiological magnitude of the missional conversation. While it may sound like hyperbole; the move towards missional involves no less than a complete and thorough recalibration of the form and function of the church of Jesus, as it attempts to discern how to participate in God’s mission. By bringing together some of today’s best missional thinkers and authors; we desire to assist God’s people in thinking deeply about God’s mission in the world.

Second, we want to ensure the missional conversation moves beyond theory. We want to inspire and propel the church to engage in God’s mission in life changing ways. That is why a significant feature of the conference will focus on practical engagement; through the stories and personal examples of some of the best missional practitioners around, participants will struggle with how to practically organize the church around God’s mission.

The conference will kick off with a book release party involving two new books that will be released in October; “The Road to Missional” by Michael Frost and “Sacrilege” by Hugh Halter. In addition to Frost and Halter other speakers throughout the conference will include Alan and Deb Hirsch, Dan Kimball, Neil Cole, Mike Breen, Lance Ford, Mindy Caliguire, Helen Lee, Kim Hammond, Michael Stewart, Eric Mason, Rickie Bradshaw, and Geoff and Sherry Maddock.

For more information on the conference schedule, speaker bios, and registration go to the Sentralized Conference website here. I hope to see you in KC this September.

Conversation Between Hirsch & Stetzer

May 14, 2011, by 1 comment

Following is a good conversation between Alan Hirsch and Ed Stetzer. Topics include, among other things, the theological foundation of the missional conversation, the importance of recognizing the missionary nature of God, how missiology must inform our ecclesiology, and how existing congregations can begin to make a missional transition.

The Church in a Broken World

April 20, 2011, by 1 comment

Check out these two challenging and inspiring talks by Micheal Frost from the recent Upstream Collective Vision Tour in Prague.

Attractional (or Extractional) Church & Cultural Distance

February 21, 2011, by 1 comment

When I posted the two videos last week from the AND conference I wanted to include a shorter, more concise, Q conference presentation that Alan Hirsch did on the same topic of cultural distance. However, the link to the Q presentation had been eliminated. After contacting the Q site they have reposted the video, titled “Post-Christendom Mission.” You can now view the presentation here.

I find this conversation to be crucial on two fronts. First, it provides a conceptual tool to understand the cultural barriers that exist in a Post-Christendom context. Second, it provides a nuance of language (“extractional” rather than “attractional”) that adds clarity to the missional conversation. You can find a brief written explanation on the topic in the final chapter of Alan’s and Lance Ford’s new book Right Here, Right Now. Below is a excerpt from that chapter:

When we use the term attractional, it is an attempt to describe how we conceive of our church in relation to our culture. In other words, it describes our missionary stance or the expectations we have about the role that church plays in our contexts.

To grasp the importance of this, consider the idea of cultural distance. This is a tool that we can use to discern just how far a person or a people group is from a meaningful engagement with the gospel. In order to determine this, we have to see it on a scale that goes something like this:

m0            m1            m2            m3            m4

l——————l—————-l—————-l—————-l

Each numeral with the prefix m indicates one significant cultural barrier to the meaningful communication of the gospel. An obvious example of such a barrier would be language. All would agree that if you have to reach across a language barrier, you have got a problem and it’s going to take some time to communicate meaningfully. But others could be race, history, religion/worldview, culture, etc. The more boundaries one has to cross, the harder meaningful communication will be. So for instance, in Islamic contexts, the gospel has struggled to make any significant inroads because religion, race, and a whole lot of history make a meaningful engagement with the gospel very difficult indeed. But this is not limited to overseas missions; it is directly related to missionality right here, right now. . . .

And remember the obstinate little truth that it is we who are the “sent” people of God, and whatever that means to our identity as God’s people, it must also sometimes mean we must go to where the people are. If we fail to “go” to the people, then to encounter the gospel meaningfully they must “come.” This is the inbuilt assumption of the attractional church; and it requires that the nonbeliever do all the cross-cultural work to find Jesus, and not us! Make no mistake: for many people, coming to church involves some serious cross-cultural work for them. They have to be the missionaries!

Another very important fact must be remembered here. We know from old research that within three to five years of a person becoming a Christian, they will have no meaningful relationships with anyone outside the church. So, assuming that we bring them to our church, and we happen to do a good job at it and effectively socialize them into our church community, we are in effect snapping the natural, organic connections that they have with the host community they come from. This is very problematic because we know that the gospel travels along relational lines. Sever the relationships and we effectively stop the outward movement of the gospel into the broader culture. In other words, attractional evangelism in missionary contexts results in extracting them from their previous relationships and cultural context.

Right Here Right Now: Everyday Mission For Everyday People

January 17, 2011, by 4 comments

I am often asked to recommend a book that does a good job of introducing the missional church conversation. While there are several great resources that deal with missional church issues, I sometimes struggle with recommending the precise book because the majority of books written in the past decade are directed either towards church leaders or academic circles.

I am excited to say that the latest edition to the missional church literature, a book titled Right Here, Right Now, co-authored by Alan Hirsch and Lance Ford, will make the task of book recommendations much easier. Not only is “RHRN” an excellent introduction to the missional conversation, but it is really the best attempt to date, to equip all believers to live missionally regardless of “vocation or location.” The book is designed, as stated by Alan in the preface, to “make missional church what it should be: a movement of the whole people of God in every sphere and domain of society.”

The format of the book is unique to most co-authored books. As stated in the introduction, “The contents of the book are sandwiched between a briefing chapter (“Right Here”) in the beginning and a debriefing chapter (“Right Now”) at the end, both written by Alan. These are designed to provide a framework for new thinking and acting. The middle sections are written by Lance, but Alan inserts himself into the conversation all along the way, like a resident heckler or a built-in commentator of sorts.” I found this format to work well.

In Alan’s briefing chapter he provides an excellent summary of key missional ideas. This very accessible overview is organized around four movements, including the need to: move out (into missional engagement), move in (burrowing down, or incarnational living), move alongside (engaging in relational networks), and move from (challenging certain aspects of our culture). I believe this twenty-nine page chapter would serve as a very helpful introduction to anyone new to the conversation. In the last chapter of the book Alan challenges the reader to do more serious reflection on the nature of the church, mission and evangelism.

Sandwiched between Alan’s “bookend” chapters, Lance provides nine, very practical, yet significant chapters on topics including: cultivating “missionary eyes”, beholding others, rediscovering the joy of hospitality, and a chapter on the collective power of scattered believers living on mission, creatively titled “Salt Blocks and Salt Shakers.” While each of the nine “middle” chapters are replete with helpful illustrations and practical encouragements, in my opinion the most effective (or biting) chapters include a series of three chapters where Lance deals with the topic of Western affluence and the stranglehold it places on our attempts to live a truly missional lifestyle. One of my favorite lines in this section comes from a chapter titled “Freeing Ourselves to Live Missionally” where Lance writes, “Storage units have become the ‘spare tire’ around the waistline of American consumption.”

The bottom line is that there is much to like about this book. I am thankful to Alan and Lance for taking the time to create a resource that helps to turn theory into practical reality. The sub title of the book, which is “Everyday Mission for Everyday People” is certainly fitting. They have also created a website with additional resources, including videos that coincide with each chapter. You can find the site here.

The Ministry of Presence

December 2, 2010, by 1 comment

More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time to practice this simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not as simple as it seems.

My own desire to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings, conferences, study groups, and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause, and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress. But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them.

-  Henri Nouwen

Tim Keller & Urban Mission

October 25, 2010, by 4 comments

This is an excellent video of Tim Keller from the Cape Town 2010 Lausanne Congress. Keller contends there are two major ways to reach cities with the gospel; planting/renewing contextual churches and city-wide gospel movements. He does a great job in just 18 minutes to unpack each. You can also download a copy of the advance paper written by Keller that helps to lay a foundation for this session here: Tim Keller Lausanne Urban Mission paper

Hugh Halter & Incarnational Posture

October 19, 2010, by 2 comments

Following is a video from a short session with Hugh Halter at the Verge conference from last year. It was one of the more impactful moments of the conference for me. Halter spoke on the power of an incarnational posture. He does an outstanding job of retelling the story of the woman caught in adultery (starts at 8 min mark). Months later I still often reflect back on this session. I continue to be challenged by Halter’s statement that “the incarnation is to be an advocate for lost people.” I would love to hear your thoughts.

Hugh Halter: Creating Incarnational Community [VERGE 2010 Main Session] from Verge Network on Vimeo.

Missional: Does the Word Still Have Value?

October 13, 2010, by No comments yet

Below is another helpful video produced by Bill Kinnon that captures a discussion between David Fitch and Gary Nelson on the value of the word “missional.” I particularly like how Fitch highlights four themes that need to be maintained for the word to continue to be valuable. Those themes include: 1) Post Christendom as the defining cultural position of the church in the West, 2) The Incarnational Logic of the church, 3) The idea of Witness as the primary mode of communicating the gospel in a post Christendom context, and 4) The concept of Missio Dei.

Most readers of this blog are already aware of Fitch’s work, but might not be as familiar with Nelson. I became aware of Gary Nelson’s work in Canada a few months ago as I read his excellent book “Borderland Churches: A Congregation’s Introduction to Missional Living” upon the recommendation of Len Hjlmarson. You can also learn more about Nelson on Bill’s post here. Be sure to check out additional videos from Bill on the Missional Channel page on Vimeo.

Nelson/Fitch – Missional – Does the word still have value? from Bill Kinnon on Vimeo.

Transitioning From Traditional to Missional

May 20, 2010, by 21 comments

Over the past few months I have had an increasing number of conversations with pastors and church leaders about moving existing churches in a missional direction. I have been asked what key issues or topics need to be considered when attempting to transition a traditional church. The following list is certainly not conclusive or comprehensive, but here are nine elements that I believe need to be considered when making a missional shift:

1. Start with Spiritual Formation

God calls the church to be a sent community of people who no longer live for themselves but instead live to participate with Him in His redemptive purposes. However, people will have neither the passion nor the strength to live as a counter-cultural society for the sake of others if they are not transformed by the way of Jesus. If the church is to “go and be,” rather than “come and see,” then we must make certain that we are a Spirit-formed community that has the spiritual capacity to impact the lives of others.

This means the church must take seriously its responsibility to cultivate spiritual transformation that does not allow believers to remain as adolescents in their spiritual maturity. Such spiritual formation will involve much greater relational underpinnings and considerable engagement with a multitude of spiritual disciplines.

One such discipline should involve dwelling in the word, whereby the church learns to regard Scripture not as a tool, but as the living voice of God that exists to guide people into His mission. If we believe the mission is truly God’s mission, then we must learn to discern where He is working; and further discern, in light of our gifts and resources, how He desires a church to participant in what He is doing in a local context.

2. Cultivate a Missional Leadership Approach

The second most important transition in fostering a missional posture in a local congregation is rethinking church leadership models that have been accepted as the status quo. This will require the development of a missional leadership approach that has a special emphasis on the apostolic function of church leadership, which was marginalized during the time of Christendom in favor of the pastor/teacher function.

This missional leadership approach will involve creating an apostolic environment throughout the life of the church. The leader must encourage pioneering activity that pushes the church into new territory. However, because not all in the church will embrace such risk, the best approach will involve creating a sort of “R&D” or “skunk works” department in the church for those who are innovators and early adopters.

A culture of experimentation must be cultivated where attempting new initiatives is expected, even if they don’t all succeed. As pioneering activities bear fruit, and the stories of life change begin to bubble up within the church, an increasing number of people will begin to take notice and get involved.

3. Emphasize the Priesthood of All Believers

Martin Luther’s idea of the priesthood of all believers was that all Christians were called to carry out their vocational ministries in every area of life. Every believer must fully understand how their vocation plays a central part in God’s redemptive Kingdom.

I think it was Rick Warren who made popular the phase “every member is a minister.” While this phrase is a helpful slogan to move people to understand their responsibility in the life of the church, God’s purpose for His church would be better served if we encouraged people to recognize that “every member is a missionary.” This missionary activity will include not just being sent to far away places, but to local work places, schools and neighborhoods.

4. Focus Attention on the Local Community

As individual members begin to see themselves as missionaries sent into their local context the congregation will begin to shift from a community-for-me mentality, to a me-for-the-community mentality. The church must begin to develop a theology of the city that sees the church as an agent of transformation for the good of the city (Jeremiah 29:7). This will involve exegeting each segment of the city to understand the local needs, identify with people, and discover unique opportunities for the church to share the good news of Jesus.

5. Don’t Do It Alone

Missional activity that leads to significant community transformation takes a lot of work and no church can afford to work alone. Missional churches must learn to create partnerships with other churches as well as already existing ministries that care about the community.

6. Create New Means of Measuring Success

The church must move beyond measuring success by the traditional indicators of attendance, buildings and cash. Instead we must create new scorecards to measure ministry effectiveness. These new scorecards will include measurements that point to the church’s impact on community transformation rather than measuring what is happening among church members inside the church walls. For the missional church it is no longer about the number of people active in the church but instead the number of people active in the community. It is no longer about the amount of money received but it is about the amount of money given away.

A missional church may ask how many hours has the church spent praying for community issues? How many hours have church members spent with unbelievers? How many of those unbelievers are making significant movement towards Jesus? How many community groups use the facilities of the church? How many people are healthier because of the clinic the church operates? How many people are in new jobs because of free job training offered by the church? What is the number of school children who are getting better grades because of after-school tutoring the church provides. Or how many times do community leaders call the church asking for advice?

Until the church reconsiders the definition of ministry success and creates new scorecards to appropriately measure that success, it will continue to allocate vital resources in misguided directions.

7. Search for Third Places

In a post-Christendom culture where more and more people are less and less interested in activities of the church, it is increasingly important to connect with people in places of neutrality, or common “hang outs.” In the book “The Great Good Place” author Ray Oldenburg identifies these places of common ground as “third places.”

According to Oldenburg, third places are those environments in which people meet to interact with others and develop friendships. In Oldenburg’s thinking our first place is the home and the people with whom we live. The second place is where we work and the place we spend the majority of our waking hours. But the third place is an informal setting where people relax and have the opportunity to know and be known by others.

Third places might include the local coffee shop, hair salon, restaurant, mall, or fitness center. These places of common ground must take a position of greater importance in the overall ministry of the church as individuals begin to recognize themselves as missionaries sent into the local context to serve and share.

In addition to connecting with people in the third places present in our local communities, we need to rediscover the topic of hospitality whereby our own homes become a place of common ground. Biblical hospitality is much more than entertaining others in our homes. Genuine hospitality involves inviting people into our lives, learning to listen, and cultivating an environment of mercy and justice, whether our interactions occur in third places or within our own homes. Regardless of our setting, we must learn to welcome the stranger.

8. Tap into the Power of Stories

Instead of trying to define what it means to be missional, it is helpful to describe missional living through stories and images. Stories create new possibilities and energize people to do things they had not previously imagined. We can capture the “missional imagination” by sharing what other faith communities are doing and illustrate what it looks like to connect with people in third places, cultivate rapport with local schools, and build life transforming relationships with neighbors.

Moreover, we can reflect deeply on biblical images of mission, service and hospitality by spending time on passages such as Genesis 12:2, Isaiah 61:1-3, Matthew 5:43; 10:40; 22:39; 25:35; and Luke 10:25-37.

9. Promote Patience

The greatest challenge facing the church in the West is the “re-conversion” of its own members. We need to be converted away from an internally-focused, Constantinean mode of church, and converted towards an externally-focused, missional-incarnational movement that is a true reflection of the missionary God we follow.

However, this conversion will not be easy. The gravitational pull to focus all of our resources on ourselves is very strong. Because Christendom still maintains a stranglehold on the church in North America – even though the culture is fully aware of the death of Christendom – the transition towards a missional posture will take great patience; both with those inside and outside the church. Many inside the church will need considerable time to learn how to reconstruct church life for the sake of others. At the same time, the church will need to patiently love on people, and whole communities, that have increasingly become skeptical of the church.