Comments on: Missional: More Than a Buzz Word

By: The Life of Paul … « Tangence

The Life of Paul … « Tangence — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 03:57:25 +0000

[...] 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 [...]

By: michael mcmullin

michael mcmullin — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:30:11 +0000

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.

By: AJ

AJ — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:24:20 +0000

Brad, thanks for the clear, vivid summary. I’m bookmarking this post to refer people to.

By: Georges Boujakly

Georges Boujakly — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:42:56 +0000

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

By: Wayne Park

Wayne Park — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:58:06 +0000

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.

By: Brad Brisco

Brad Brisco — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:45:00 +0000

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.

By: Jeremy Myers

Jeremy Myers — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:06:22 +0000

What article is this from? Is it one available through your website?

By: Eric Turner

Eric Turner — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:57:02 +0000

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!!!

By: Jeremy Myers

Jeremy Myers — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:06:45 +0000

Michael,

I agree. I’ve been in some “missional” churches that are little more than institutional churches with cooler music and candles.

By: Michael Crane

Michael Crane — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:39:24 +0000

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.