What Do Missional Leaders Look Like? #7
March 16, 2007 | Filed Under leadership, missional |
The last in our series on key characteristics of missional leaders is:
They believe the Kingdom of God is bigger than the church.
Missional leaders understand that the activities of God can and do take place outside the realm of the church. Therefore, they move out in ministry expecting that God is already at work in the lives of people. Morgan states “when the community of faith reaches out into their community, they find people prepared by him [the Holy Spirit] to believe. They find opportunities for service and witness. They find a door of ministry opened by him.”
Moreover, missional leaders see the church as “an outpost of the Kingdom that exist to bring God’s influence into the affairs of men.” In the words of Darrell Guder, the church exists to represent God’s reign as its community, its servant and its messenger. Tom Sine speaks of the mission of the church with the triad of “words of love, deeds of love and life of love.”
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Brad,
When are you going to get to the point and just tell us how to attract more people to our Sunday services?
Just kidding.
This series has been awesome! Some affirming, some challenging. Thanks for sharing with us!
Rustin
I think the next series will be “How to Attract More Marginal Christians From Other Churches Through Self-Centered, Consumeristic Means.” That is as long as you link it to your site.
Brilliant! Why hasn’t Dallas Willard thought of this yet?
Really though: I have a friend in Africa who talks about American missions in the past being based in a mindset that says “We are going to take Jesus to this or that place.” Instead he says we do not ‘take’ Jesus, but we ‘follow’ Jesus into the places he already is at work - when we arrive, we first have to stop and ask “where is Jesus already working in this place?” This seems to be a simple way of describing the heart of what it means to be “missional”.
Yes I think that is the heart of what it means to be missional, look for where He is already working. Again as the last point states, the Kingdom is bigger than the church but in the church many times we confuse the two and think they are one in the same.
I really like the focus and attention this post brings to God. “Building a church” seems daunting and at the same time small and uninspiring. However, entering into God’s Kingdom and partnering with Him in the redemption of Creation is almost more than my mind can take on. The thought of working in step with the Holy Spirit is inspiring and causes a stirring deep in my soul. I think so many are bored with church because we have been calling people to too small a vision (bigger building, more staff, more programs…) It seems to me we need to turn our attention awakening people to the beauty, depth, mystery and truth of the Kingdom. For me a shift occurs from attaining success someday in the future to enjoying Jesus in the present moment.