03.09.08
what makes a church missional
A somewhat helpful discussion at Christianity Today..
“In many cases, the phrase missional church simply puts new clothes on old trends, such as the seeker-sensitive church movement, the church-growth movement, and so on. Often, those critiqued by the authors of Missional Church are now themselves claiming to be missional.
“For example, church-growth specialists have long wanted churches to create mission statements, so some church-growth consultants now claim it is missional to try to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of ministry. Yet the original meaning of missional church referred to God’s mission in the world, not to management advice for accomplishing our own projects. Indeed, the mission of God doesn’t fit the formulas of measurable results and effectual outcomes. It focuses instead on the church living into the coming reality of God’s new creation.
“For others, the missional impulse has been translated into a consumer-oriented mentality—again, an approach that the authors of Missional Church explicitly reject. Some pastors I know are being pressured with missional language to focus their preaching on felt needs. Thus, preaching on “How to Be a Better Spouse” or “How to Be Financially Successful” is considered missional, while preaching straight through a book of the Bible, a common Reformational practice, is seen as an old habit of Christendom. When our needs set the agenda, how can we learn to embody the gospel that is not just our story, but first and foremost God’s? The seeker-sensitive mentality reflects a profoundly different ecclesiology from that of Missional Church, which claims that God’s people need to rediscover the centrality of God’s action in shaping our witness to the world.”
Related: Stopping Cultural Drift
brad said,
March 9, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Len, thanks for the links to these provocative articles. Frustrating how it is SOOO very easy to look only at surfacey things and think we’ve captured the reality, when in fact, a lot of shifts to “missional” or “emerging-friendly” methods in churches are nothing but shell games.
I’ve basically come to the conclusion that many Christian leaders are sincere at wanting to make a constructive impact through their ministry efforts … but we are, in fact, quite lazy. We do not want to think for ourselves, or to think deeply. Oh, yeah, we are busy – and we choose not to take time to reflect and consider, because we have so many many other responsibilities. But since when has quantity of activity been a legitimate measurement of qualitative growth?
Our own paradigms, and those of whomever we choose to let influence us, seem destined to lock us into pragmatic programs and value-added actions. If only we would think critical, discern deeply, and lead wisely, maybe we could slow down this runaway locomotive instead of just put more fuel in the engine and try to end the madness by continuing to go at twice the speed in the wrong direction. Surely this churchicidal pace cannot be what the Lord intended, lest it be the Lord of the Flies …
Okay, rant over.
len said,
March 10, 2008 at 2:53 pm
brad, reminds me of a friend who used to say,
Hurry is not OF the devil.. it IS the devil…