Here is a great quote from The Missional Leader.
Today, we give up on congregations that we declare are out of touch with the culture. We run to big, successful places with marquee-name leaders to find out how to be successful. In so doing we are going in exactly the opposite direction from everything we see in the Biblical narratives.
We have forgotten that God’s future often emerges in the most inauspicious places. If we let our imagination be informed by this realization, it will be obvious that we need to lead in ways that are different from those of a CEO, an entrepreneur, a super leader with a wonderful plan for the congregation’s life. Instead, we need leaders with the capacity to cultivate an environment that releases the missional imagination of the people of God.
The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church To Reach A Changing World by Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk (ht)
How can we cultivate such an environment?
I believe 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 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, Luke 10:25-37 and others.
What else would you recommend?
I think the most important thing for a leader to do to cultivate a missional atmosphere within their community is to live it themselves. If people see them hanging out in the coffee shops, malls, gym clubs, HOG chapters, of the area, then they might think, “Hey, I can do that to.”
It is important to provide teaching which emphasises a proper understanding of the kingdom of God, but I think it is equally (if not more) important that we SHOW others how to live in the kingdom of God.
Chad, yes I agree. The leader’s model/example must be an important part of cultivating that environment. Hopefully many of the stories that help capture that the imagination are stories from the leader’s life.
Notice also that Roxburgh is calling into question a particular language and introducing a new and different language. The language of planning and success so common in our consumerist society is impugned; in its place, a language of cultivation and imagination is offered. Language not only describes, but creates. To create a missional imagination in a people, an alternative language (to that used by the dominant culture) must be used. At the same time, this language has to be comprehensible to this culture–the work of contextualization. (To use an obvious example, you would not choose to speak English in a largely non-English-speaking context.)
I think all of these have been good! When I think of cultivating a shift toward missional thinking I immediately think of language (like Josh) and attitude (which is often affected by the Holy Spirit). In my opinion, they play a huge role in fostering missional thinking. How we refer and talk about other groups (e.g. other Christians, not-yet-Christians, Muslims, etc) can hinder or propel missional ideas.
I’m also thinking about how a pastor handles a person in their congregation that “has an idea.” Especially when that idea may not exactly follow the pastor’s plans. I think that scenario happens quite frequently, and it can stifle imagination and creativity.
There is a fuller extent of this thought of Roxburgh’s quoted in Hirsch’s book THE FORGOTTEN WAYS (this is from memory) that the role of church leadership is to cultivate an environment whereby the Holy Spirit may create and call forth the missional imagination of the people of God. I love this.
Many churches gather but, offer no format that allows for the people of God to tell accounts of seeing Jesus in their week. I am attempting to use stories, some mine some theirs of Jesus working in and around us. Their missional imaginations are sparked greatly as they see, hear, or participate in what Jesus is doing