Missional Church

Hey everyone, I found a pretty cool article that attempts to summarize and extrapolate what it means to be a “missional” church and to be people with a mission (essentially the same thing). As with everything, this is by no means infallible or comprehensive but I felt that it was worthwhile and very effective. Read critically. Check out Friend of Missional for the full article.

An excerpt.

“One important note before you continue: On this website, the term “church” refers to the people of God; the called out ones; those formed for his dwelling and bearers of his presence in the world. It doesn’t refer to a building, denomination or physical location. So when you read “church,” think of yourself and your faith community, not that building you go to each Sunday.

In an article titled, “The ‘Missional Church’: A Model for Canadian Churches?” David Horrox writes, “The church should stop mimicking the surrounding culture and become an alternative community, with a different set of beliefs, values and behaviors. Ministers would no longer engage in marketing; churches would no longer place primary emphasis on programs to serve members. The traditional ways of evaluating ’successful churches’ – bigger buildings, more people, bigger budgets, larger ministerial staff, new and more programs to serve members – would be rejected. New yardsticks would be the norm: To what extent is our church a ’sent’ community in which each believer is reaching out to his community? To what extent is our church impacting the community with a Christian message that challenges the values of our secular society?”

Dan Kimball in “The Emerging Church” (Zondervan, 2003) describes the missional church “as a body of people sent on a mission who gather in community for worship, encouragement, and teaching from the Word that supplements what they are feeding themselves throughout the week.”

Both Horrox and Kimball capture much of the essence and heart of what it means to be missional, but can we probe deeper and articulate a more definitive understanding? I think we can and what follows is an imperfect attempt to explore and develop our appreciation of what it means to be missional.”