Missional: More Than a Buzz Word
June 2, 2008 | Filed Under missional |
Here is a short article on the use of the word “missional” I wrote recently for our Baptist state convention paper.
The term “missional” has become a popular buzz word in Southern Baptist circles over the past couple of years. Because of its frequent use, some people have assumed that “missional” is a new word. However, the term was used by Dr. Francis DuBose, former professor at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, in his book “God Who Sends” published in 1983.
Despite the fact that missional terminology has been in use for at least a quarter of a century, it is being applied today in such a wide variety of ways that many times it results in confusion. While any word is defined at least in part by the intention of the person using it, I believe there are some essential distinctives that can be identified to bring clarity and explanation to the use of the word missional. I would argue for the inclusion of three key elements to best understand what it means for a church to be missional.
The Missional Church is about the missionary nature of God and His church.
The church is a vital part of the missional conversation. However, the church is seen not as “a place where” religious goods and services are provided, but instead it is understood as the gathered and sent people of God. The Missional Church understands the purpose of the church is derived from the very nature of God.
Scripture is replete with language that speaks to the missionary nature of a Triune God. God the Father sends the Son, and God the Father and the Son sends the Spirit, and God the Father and the Son and the Spirit sends the church. In the Gospel of John alone, Jesus describes Himself more than thirty times as “one sent.” In the final climatic sending passage in John’s Gospel Jesus sees himself not only as one sent but also as one who is sending: “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21).
Therefore missional churches are those communities of Christ-followers who see the church as a missionary people sent, individually and collectively on a mission. They understand that the church does not simply do mission, instead it is mission.
The Missional Church is about the church being incarnational rather than attractional.
Those with a missional perspective no longer see the church service as the primary connecting point for those outside the church. The missional church is more concerned about sending the people in the church out among the people of the world, rather than getting the people of the world in among the people of the church. Others have described this distinction as a challenge to “go and be” as opposed to “come and see.”
Missional churches see their primary function as one of actively moving into a community to embody and enflesh the word, deed and life of Jesus into every nook and cranny. I love Eugene Peterson’s “incarnational” rendering of John 1:14 in the Message paraphrase when it says, “The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.”
The Missional Church is about actively participating in the missio Dei, or mission of God.
Many times we wrongly assume that the primary activity of God is in the church, rather than recognizing that God’s primary activity is in the world, and the church is God’s instrument sent into the world to actively participate in His redemptive mission.
As the sent, missionary people of God, the missional church understands its fundamental purpose as being rooted in God’s mission to restore and heal creation and to call people into a reconciled relationship with Himself. It is God’s mission, or missio Dei, that calls the church into existence. Or in the words of South African missiologist David Bosch; “It is not the church which undertakes mission; it is the missio Dei which constitutes the church.”
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Great post. Thanks.
I read this yesterday in David Bosch’s book “Transforming Mission”:
“Kingdom people seek first the Kingdom of God and its justice; church people often put church work above concerns of justice, mercy, and truth. Church people think about how to get more people into the church; Kingdom people think about how to get the church into the world. Church people worry that the world might change the church; Kingdom people work to see the church change the world” (p. 378).
(He’s quoting Howard Snyder, “Liberating the Church” 1983).
Jeremy, thanks for the comment and the Bosch quote.
[...] Missional: More Than a Buzz Word « Missional Church Network (tags: missional MissionalChurch) [...]
[...] Brad recently wrote an article for his denomination’s magazine on the use of the word “missional”: Missional-More Than a Buzz Word [...]
This is a good word for this that audience. I appreciate that you emphasized the theological foundation of missional. If being missional is not grounded in missio dei, then it quickly becomes nothing more than a superficial gimmick.
On the earliest use of the word missional, see Andrew Jones’ blog: http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com/tallskinnykiwi/2008/01/missional-first.html.
Michael,
I agree. I’ve been in some “missional” churches that are little more than institutional churches with cooler music and candles.
Brad-
Loved the article…I read the paper before I saw it on the blog and I was sitting there highlighting the paper!
I liked the part about the church going to the “non-Christians” rather than the world coming to the church for their first encounter with Jesus Christ.
How though do you begin to turn the church mindset to missional as you defined it in the article?
Do you start a new program to “reach out to the community”? But then isn’t that just another “program” and is no different in mindset than other programs in the church? Or is that the point…it isn’t in the church it is outside of the church?
I have been thinking a lot about this as I am over half way through “The Forgotten Ways”.
Thanks Brad…I always enjoy the blog!!!
What article is this from? Is it one available through your website?
Jeremy, I simply posted the same article here that was published in the June issue of The Baptist Digest, which is our Baptist state convention paper.
Eric, unfortunately — because I am a little jaded and because church planting is the best answer
— I think the best we can hope for with most of our existing churches is to see incremental changes in the use of certain resources. In other words, I would try to get a church to “reallocate” certain resources such as prayer, staff, time, volunteers, facilities, and finances in a more externally/missional focused direction.
The question I hear you asking however is how to get a congregation to move in this direction? Well I believe a great place to start is by seriously discussing/reflecting on the missionary nature of God and His church as a congregation. Additionally I think it is important to try to capture the “missional imagination” of people by tapping into the power of stories which illustrate what it looks like to live with a missional perspective.
I think this is a great summary definition of the (oft-overused) word missional:
I often tell my people that it simply means: our culture has become the mission field all over again.
Good job and well put, Brad.
A simple trifold description of missional is attractive to people in our churches who are learning the wrong definition of missional(going on a mission trip).
Eric,
How to develop a mindset for missional in the average church? Hmmm… I venture out with a few suggestions
1. Intentionally talk it up constantly.
2. Undergird the talking by long seasons of prayer with a few interested ones who get it, in your church and the denomination.
3. Model it.
4. Story it.
5. Chose the next generation of leaders from the ones you train to be missional leaders.
Doing this without programming it may be tricky. So don’t formalize it.
As you can see, Eric, this is no zap-it-in-the-microwave-for-thirty-seconds-approach and-voila. Change normally happens in all of us in small degrees. Think about how much we have read, experienced, and thought in order to begin to think missionally! So we join with Reinhold Niebuhr and pray in the context of our existing churches: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
–Reinhold Niebuhr
Brad, thanks for the clear, vivid summary. I’m bookmarking this post to refer people to.
Enjoyed the article. I agree with the “go and be” instead of only “come and see”. Attractional often means “extractional” where people are taken out of their context never to go back again and share the good news of their transformation.
[...] is much talk about the word missional these days. There is much talk of it here on this blog. However, I think it is best understood in [...]