The video below (produced/edited by Bill Kinnon) is an interesting conversation between Alan Roxbugh and Pat Keifert. They discuss a wide range of issues, including definitions/descriptions of missional church, common views of the contemporary church, and leadership in missional congregations.

In the discussion on leadership I appreciate Keifert’s emphasis on leadership being more about time than about a position. He speaks about the leader cultivating segments of time to assist the congregation in discerning what God is doing in their local context. It is about taking the time to create environments for people to dwell in the Word. It is about having the time to be patient — to hear from God and to hear from each other.

Another topic that I found interesting dealt with Keifert’s journey towards the missional church conversation. He shares how it involved both “failure” and “discovery.” The failure involved disenchantment with his own ministry experience in a traditional church. The discovery included the reading of Newbigin’s “Foolishness to the Greeks.”

I think Keifert’s journey parallels the experience of many. There is a deep sense of  uneasiness, frustration, or even failure in a current ministry setting. Church leaders recognize something isn’t right about how they do ministry. They sense that something has changed, but they are unsure about the essence of the change, or what changes might be necessary. At some point, however, they “discover” that others have experienced the same anxiety. They “discover” authors that begin to give language to these changes. Perhaps, like Keifert its Newbigin, or Bosch; or more recently, maybe it is Guder, Van Gelder, Hirsch, or Frost. But regardless of the author, they rediscover the missionary nature of God and His church, and the reality that the church is sent into the mission field that is now North America.

This has certainly been my journey. I wonder about your experience. Has failure + discovery propelled you into the missional conversation?

The videos below include two segments of a conversation between Alan Roxburgh and Simon Carey Holt. The videos are a companion resource to an excellent workbook written by Roxburgh titled “Moving Back into the Neighborhood.” The MBiN workbook can be downloaded here. As mentioned before, I initially thought the $30 price tag for a 77 page download was a little pricey, however I have discovered the workbook to be worth the investment.

In the videos Holt shares from his book “God Next Door: Spirituality and Mission in the Neighborhood.” His emphasis is that the neighborhood is a place where God is, and it is a place where God calls us to participate with Him. In the first video, Holt shares a tragic story that played a significant role in his journey towards an emphasis on the local context.

In the second clip, Holt speaks to the importance of fighting against the neglect of our neighborhoods. Even though most people live in a series of relational networks that function outside of the neighborhood context, we must recognize that neighborhoods remain an important piece of the fabric of society. While watching the second video, I was reminded of my favorite Eugene Peterson quote: “The way of Jesus is always local and ordinary.”

Here is the new Switchfoot video from their song The Sound (John M. Perkins’ Blues). If you are not familiar with John Perkins check out the wiki page on Perkins, or better yet, go to the John M. Perkins Foundation for Reconciliation & Development (JMPF.org).

I really like this short video of Michael Frost talking about the importance of developing new “measuring sticks” or “scorecards” for the church. He emphasizes the need to find new ways to measure where the rule/reign of God is flourishing. What sort of things can we “measure” that will illustrate evidence of the Kingdom?

This video made me reflect on why we are apparently quite good at measuring church stuff; such as buildings, butts, and bucks, yet seemingly struggle with identifying measurables for activity outside of church life. I am afraid it boils down to the fact that as church people we know very well how to live in the church, but struggle mightily with knowing how to live in the Kingdom.

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In this latest video clip from Michael Frost he speaks to the self-preserving use of resources by the church in North America and how such use leads to an unbiblical separation from the “world.” In the clip Frost shares a great statement when he contends that, “Your missional effectiveness is directly proportional to your relational capacity.”

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Here are two additional videos clips of Michael Frost speaking on the priority of mission. The first focuses on the catalyzing nature of mission, while the second deals with the “dis-ease” that the Holy Spirit brings upon individuals as they engage in mission.

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This past weekend I had the privilege of attending the launch of Forge America in Chicago. It was a great time of networking and hearing how God is moving in various contexts around the world.

It was also fantastic to hear from Deb and Alan Hirsch as they shared the heart of their new book Untamed: Reactivating a Missional Form of Discipleship. I am more excited than ever to begin reading the book later this week.

The most challenging time for me, however, was the last session of the day on Saturday. Micheal Frost shared on how the church must “step into” the way of mission as exemplified by Jesus. I was once again reminded of Frost’s prophetic voice, raised up to push back on the safe, consumerist culture of the American church. Now two days later, Frost’s words continue to challenge me deeply.

A portion of Frost’s talk focused on John 20:21, a passage very popular in the missional conversation. However, Frost’s emphasis was not on the ever so familiar second portion of the passage – that we are “sent” by Jesus – but instead his focus was that we are sent “just as” Jesus was sent. And how, or to whom, or better yet, into what was Jesus sent?

Frost contends, Jesus was sent “into the crap of life.” He was sent to the broken, the homeless, the lost, the lepers, the prostitutes, the oppressed, the outcasts. Frost’s point was that the church loves to focus on the second part of John 20:21. We love to talk about how we are sent. We are a sending church. We are a sent people. (If you are not convinced of the sending nature of God and His church you can check out this page!) But as helpful as it is to recognized that we are a called and sent people of God, we do not really “step into the mission of Jesus” if we are not sent into the broken parts of the world, “just as the Father” sent Jesus.

This means, at least in part, that we must moved beyond proximity (which is certainly a start) to a place of “presence.” We must “move into the neighborhood” (Jn 1:14, MSG), not just geographically, but with our hearts. We must embody the Gospel among the people that we have been sent to.

What else does stepping into the way of mission as illustrated by Jesus do for us, and to us? Here is another short video where Frost speaks of how mission is the catalyst for genuine community and worship.

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Here is another short, yet challenging video from Michael Frost (thanks again to almost an M). I am looking forward to hearing more from Frost on Friday and Saturday at the Forge Missional Conference in Chicago.

I attended a half day conference yesterday that dealt with trends that were impacting the American church. It didn’t take long for me to become frustrated with the “list” of trends seeing that it did not include what I believe to be the most crucial “trend” to understand – that being the shift towards a post-Christian culture.

Without a clear understanding that the church in America no longer sits in the dominant seat of culture, the church is totally incapable of making the necessary missiological and ecclesiological changes. Below are two short videos of Michael Frost speaking to the importance of this topic.

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For further study of the post-Christendom shift I still find Stuart Murray’s Post-Christendom: Church and Mission in a Strange New World to be a great resource. For a brief (23 pages) overview of Murray’s work you might also check out this article: christendom-murray.

While there are several classic McNeal nuggets in this 30 minute conference session from earlier this year, there was one particular metaphor that stood out that I had never heard/read from Reggie before.

He uses a helpful technology metaphor when speaking of the differences of extracting oil out from under the sands of Saudi Arabia (“as easy as sticking a straw in the sand and sucking the oil out”) and pulling oil out of difficult areas such as western Canada. He contends that alternative technologies must be used to make contact with the difficult to reach, embedded pools of oil. He then moves to say that he wants to challenge the existing church “to sponsor these alternative and parallel technologies that are going to reach deeply embedded pockets of our population that are never going to be church people, no matter what we do with church.”

By the way, we will be hosting Reggie McNeal for a one-day conference here in Kansas City on September 14th. If you would like to know more about that conference shoot me an email.

Here is an interesting video dialog (produced/edited by Bill Kinnon) between Alan Roxbugh and Pat Keifert. They discuss a wide range of issues, including definitions/descriptions of missional church, common views of the contemporary church, and leadership in missional congregations.

In the discussion on leadership I appreciate Keifert’s emphasis on leadership being more about time than about a position. He speaks about the leader cultivating segments of time to assist the congregation in discerning what God is doing in their local context. It is about taking the time to create environments for people to dwell in the Word. It is about having the time to be patient — to hear from God and to hear from each other.

Another topic that I found interesting dealt with Keifert’s journey towards the missional church conversation. He shares how it involved both “failure” and “discovery.” The failure involved disenchantment with his own ministry experience in a traditional church. The discovery included the reading of Newbigin’s “Foolishness to the Greeks.”

I think Keifert’s journey parallels the experience of many. There is a deep sense of  uneasiness, frustration, or even failure in a current ministry setting. Church leaders recognize something isn’t right about how they do ministry. They sense that something has changed, but they are unsure about the essence of the change, or what changes might be necessary. At some point, however, they “discover” that others have experienced the same anxiety. They “discover” authors that begin to give language to these changes. Perhaps, like Keifert its Newbigin, or Bosch; or more recently, maybe it is Guder, Van Gelder, Hirsch, or Frost. But regardless of the author, they rediscover the missionary nature of God and His church, and the reality that the church is sent into the mission field that is now North America.

This has certainly been my journey. I wonder about your experience. Has failure + discovery propelled you into the missional conversation?

Here are the links to two very good presentations from Alan Hirsch on the topic of cultural distance in a post-Christendom context. The first video is a 19 minute talk given at the Q conference. The second clip is an expansion on the same topic in a 47 minute session at Velocity.

Following is a short video (produced and edited by Bill Kinnon) that recently “resurfaced” on the internet. It is an interview between Alan Roxburgh and Craig Van Gelder.

Van Gelder is professor of congregational mission at Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He is author of “The Essence of the Church,” “The Ministry of the Missional Church,” “The Missional Church in Context,” “The Missional Church and Denominations,” and editor of “Confident Witness — Changing World” and “The Church Between Gospel and Culture.” (All of which are excellent, but the last two are my favorites)

There are a couple of issues raised in this video I think are important to consider. First, I appreciate Van Gelder’s emphasis on the theological foundation of missional church. Like many others in the missional church conversation, Van Gelder sees the necessity to shift the starting point for any discussion on missional church to the topic of mission.

Instead of beginning with questions surrounding the mission activities of the church, we must start first with questions concerning the missio Dei, or what is God’s mission in our context. Or to use David Bosch’s famous quote, “It is not the church which undertakes mission; it is the missio Dei which constitutes the church.”

Second, this emphasis on participating with what God is doing raises the crucial issue of discernment. When we start with God’s mission it is imperative that we discern how He is working. We must ask, “What is God doing in my neighborhood, workplace, or school?” And the follow-up question, “In light of our gifts and resources, how does God want us to participate with Him?”

Craig Van Gelder & Alan Roxburgh – What is Missional Church? from Allelon on Vimeo.

Most of you that follow this blog are familiar with The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch. It is certainly one of the most significant books in the present missional conversation. If you are not familiar with the book you can read a series of post I did here. I would also highly recommend the more recent The Forgotten Ways Handbook, which I wrote about briefly here.

To move the conversation beyond the written word, and to hear directly from Hirsch himself, check out the training videos created by Lance Ford at Shapevine. The training involves eight sessions, or “podules,” that include an introduction, a session on chaos theory, and a session on each of the six mDNA elements described in The Forgotten Ways. The eight session training is priced at $39.95, however Shapevine is currently running a special which includes the same online training in a DVD format. In other words, you can get instant access to the online training while having the DVDs shipped in the next couple of weeks.

For those of you in the Kansas City area, keep a watch out for the development of some local learning cohort groups as we work through this excellent training together.