Reimagining The Church as Missional Church
Reimagining The Church as Missional Church
What does it mean to be a missional church? "Missional" means being agents of God's mission to the world; "missional" means being passionately faithful followers of Jesus Christ and therefore incarnate models of God's message of love and redemption to the world.
I believe that God is calling us to:
Surrender all that we are and all that we have to God. Build working communities of missionary-followers who are passionately faithful to Jesus Christ and each other. Go into the world as messengers and messages of God's love and redemption. Turn unbelievers into missionary-followers according to the Holy Spirit's power and according to the Holy Spirit's revelation of God's Word.
Here are some specific posts on Alan Hirsch's blog that I found particularly helpful:
Surrender all that we are and all that we have to God:
"Yahweh’s claim is absolute—it claims all. “When God invades man’s consciousness, man’s reliance on ‘peace and security’ vanishes from every nook of his existence. His life as a single whole becomes vulnerable. Broken down are the bulkheads between the chambers which confine explosions to one compartment. When God chooses man, He invests him with full responsibility for total obedience to an absolute demand.” Yahweh’s lordship is at once complete and graceful salvation, as well as total unqualified demand. In Biblical faith; salvation and lordship are inextricably linked."
http://www.theforgottenways.org/blog/index.php/2007/06/20/christocentric-monotheism-part-two-ohh/#more-212
Build working communities of missionary-followers who are passionately faithful to Jesus Christ and each other:
"So a working definition of missional church is that it is a community of God’s people that defines itself, and organizes its life around, its real purpose of being an agent of God’s mission to the world. In other words, the Church’s true and authentic organizing principle is mission. When the church is in mission, it is the true Church. The Church itself is not only a product of that mission, but is obligated and destined to extend it by whatever means possible. The mission of God flows directly through every believer and every community of faith that adheres to Jesus. To obstruct this is to block God’s purposes in and through his people."
http://www.theforgottenways.org/blog/index.php/2007/07/11/a-working-definition-of-missional-church/
"Communitas not Community: The most vigorous forms of community are those that come together in the context of a shared ordeal or, communities who define themselves as a group with a mission that lies beyond themselves—thus initiating a risky journey. Over-concern with safety and security, combined with comfort and convenience, have lulled us out of our true calling and purpose. Everyone loves an adventure. Or do we? The chapter on communitas aims at putting the adventure back into the venture."
http://www.theforgottenways.org/blog/index.php/2006/12/10/the-six-elements-of-apostlic-genius/
“The spontaneous expansion of the Church reduced to its element is a very simple thing. It asks for no elaborate organization, no large finances, no great numbers of paid missionaries. In its beginning it may be the work of one man and that of a man neither learned in the things of this world, nor rich in the wealth of this world. What is necessary is faith. What is needed is the kind of faith which uniting a man to Christ, sets him on fire” – Rolland Allen The Compulsion of the Spirit, 47-48.
http://www.theforgottenways.org/blog/index.php/2007/06/02/just-to-make-a-point/#more-213
"As soon as I act in reliance on a value, I discover that there are two possibilities. Either I have to make and keep this value valid by my own act of confidence, or this value is there as the sustaining foundation of my trust and exists entirely independent of my inventing or sustaining it by my devotion to it. In other words, according to Luther, that in which I trust is either a self-chosen object of faith to which I adhere, or I have found the ground which will hold my anchor forever, independent of my choice and action. Luther is clear on this, all objects of reliance apart from what we receive by the self-revelation of God are “our own fictitious thoughts and dreams” made into a god, and in the end have no foundation outside of themselves. The bible calls idols ‘vain’; in the end, they are ‘nothings’. Pretty black and white eh?"
http://www.theforgottenways.org/blog/index.php/2007/03/19/missional-thinking-truth-or-idol/
Go into the world as messengers and messages of God's love and redemption. Turn unbelievers into missionary-followers according to the Holy Spirit's power and according to the Holy Spirit's revelation of God's Word:
"The power of Christianity lay not in its promise of otherworldly compensations for suffering in this life, as has so often been proposed. No, the crucial change that took place in the third century was the rapidly spreading awareness of a faith that delivered potent antidotes to life’s miseries here and now! The truly revolutionary aspect of Christianity lay in moral imperatives such as "Love one’s neighbor as oneself," "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," "It is more blessed to give than to receive," and "When you did it to the least of my brethren, you did it unto me." These were not just slogans. Members did nurse the sick, even during epidemics; they did support orphans, widows, the elderly, and the poor; they did concern themselves with the lot of slaves. In short, Christians created "a miniature welfare state in an empire which for the most part lacked social services." It was these responses to the long-standing misery of life in antiquity, not the onset of worse conditions, that were the '‘material' changes that inspired Christian growth." (From "The Real Story of How Christianity Became an Urban Movement and Conquered Rome," by Rodney Stark)
http://www.theforgottenways.org/blog/index.php/2006/11/22/69/
"We can only live changes: we cannot think our way to humanity. Every one of us, every group, must become the model of that which we desire to create." -- Leo Tolstoy
"The greatest proof of Christianity for others is not how far a man can logically analyze his reasons for believing, but how far in practice he will stake his life on his belief." -- T. S. Eliot
"There can be no way around the fact that our actions, as manifestations of our total being, do actually speak much louder than our words. There is a clear non-verbal message being emitted by our lives all the time. We are faced with the sobering fact that we actually are our messages.
Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, called this “existence-communication” and by that term he meant that our lives—our very existence—is our communication. Our existence as an authentic human being communicates more than what we say or even what we think."
http://www.theforgottenways.org/blog/index.php/2007/07/16/existence-communication/
"Passion requires participation, involvement, faith. Soren Kierkegaard can say, “…if passion is eliminated, faith no longer exists”. The truth of God can be found only by such a passionate search and by applying one’s whole personality existentially. The criterion of the genuine search for truth is what Kierkegaard called “inwardness” which requires an intense personal concern with it to be able to understand and assimilate it. Perhaps more widely known for this kind of approach was the American revivalist preacher, Jonathan Edwards, made popular by his spiritual classic, The Religious Affections. Edwards maintained that if the heart was left unmoved by the God, no abiding action could, or would, take place. Spirituality, what he called true religion, must include at core, redeem and direct, our spiritual passion. It must involve the heart. And then he goes on to affirm that all great actions spring from the heart."
http://www.theforgottenways.org/blog/index.php/2007/07/22/staying-close-to-jesus/#more-249
“Surely there is no missionary who goes forth to preach the Gospel to others who does not know that it is only by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit that his words can accomplish anything. And surely there is no pastor who does not acknowledge that it is only by the work of the Holy Spirit in his congregation that holy lives can be produced. It may seem that in stressing the role of the Holy Spirit in the mission of the Church I am simply repeating what everyone knows. And yet I have become convinced that, even when this belief is present and vivid, there are factors in the structures and traditions of our work which can prevent the belief from becoming effective.” — Lesslie Newbigin, The Mission Of The Triune God, 29.
http://www.theforgottenways.org/blog/index.php/2007/07/14/mission-and-the-triune-god/#more-240
In closing, here is a simple way to think of the difference between the traditional/institutional church and the missional church. The traditional/institutional church is primarily programmed for and organized around attracting a crowd from the world and ministering to them on campus. The missional church is primarily passionate for and organized around sending out a crowd and doing life with unbelievers in the world. Rather than offering particular ministry programs, the ministries of the missional church will be varied according to those things that characterize particular unbelievers as well as those things which characterize the missionary-followers sharing life with them. Rather than the individuals in the crowd being ministered to, the emphasis is on the individuals in the crowd doing life with and for the sake of unbelievers.
What does it mean to be a missional church? "Missional" means being agents of God's mission to the world; "missional" means being passionately faithful followers of Jesus Christ and therefore incarnate models of God's message of love and redemption to the world.
I believe that God is calling us to:
Surrender all that we are and all that we have to God. Build working communities of missionary-followers who are passionately faithful to Jesus Christ and each other. Go into the world as messengers and messages of God's love and redemption. Turn unbelievers into missionary-followers according to the Holy Spirit's power and according to the Holy Spirit's revelation of God's Word.
Here are some specific posts on Alan Hirsch's blog that I found particularly helpful:
Surrender all that we are and all that we have to God:
"Yahweh’s claim is absolute—it claims all. “When God invades man’s consciousness, man’s reliance on ‘peace and security’ vanishes from every nook of his existence. His life as a single whole becomes vulnerable. Broken down are the bulkheads between the chambers which confine explosions to one compartment. When God chooses man, He invests him with full responsibility for total obedience to an absolute demand.” Yahweh’s lordship is at once complete and graceful salvation, as well as total unqualified demand. In Biblical faith; salvation and lordship are inextricably linked."
http://www.theforgottenways.org/blog/index.php/2007/06/20/christocentric-monotheism-part-two-ohh/#more-212
Build working communities of missionary-followers who are passionately faithful to Jesus Christ and each other:
"So a working definition of missional church is that it is a community of God’s people that defines itself, and organizes its life around, its real purpose of being an agent of God’s mission to the world. In other words, the Church’s true and authentic organizing principle is mission. When the church is in mission, it is the true Church. The Church itself is not only a product of that mission, but is obligated and destined to extend it by whatever means possible. The mission of God flows directly through every believer and every community of faith that adheres to Jesus. To obstruct this is to block God’s purposes in and through his people."
http://www.theforgottenways.org/blog/index.php/2007/07/11/a-working-definition-of-missional-church/
"Communitas not Community: The most vigorous forms of community are those that come together in the context of a shared ordeal or, communities who define themselves as a group with a mission that lies beyond themselves—thus initiating a risky journey. Over-concern with safety and security, combined with comfort and convenience, have lulled us out of our true calling and purpose. Everyone loves an adventure. Or do we? The chapter on communitas aims at putting the adventure back into the venture."
http://www.theforgottenways.org/blog/index.php/2006/12/10/the-six-elements-of-apostlic-genius/
“The spontaneous expansion of the Church reduced to its element is a very simple thing. It asks for no elaborate organization, no large finances, no great numbers of paid missionaries. In its beginning it may be the work of one man and that of a man neither learned in the things of this world, nor rich in the wealth of this world. What is necessary is faith. What is needed is the kind of faith which uniting a man to Christ, sets him on fire” – Rolland Allen The Compulsion of the Spirit, 47-48.
http://www.theforgottenways.org/blog/index.php/2007/06/02/just-to-make-a-point/#more-213
"As soon as I act in reliance on a value, I discover that there are two possibilities. Either I have to make and keep this value valid by my own act of confidence, or this value is there as the sustaining foundation of my trust and exists entirely independent of my inventing or sustaining it by my devotion to it. In other words, according to Luther, that in which I trust is either a self-chosen object of faith to which I adhere, or I have found the ground which will hold my anchor forever, independent of my choice and action. Luther is clear on this, all objects of reliance apart from what we receive by the self-revelation of God are “our own fictitious thoughts and dreams” made into a god, and in the end have no foundation outside of themselves. The bible calls idols ‘vain’; in the end, they are ‘nothings’. Pretty black and white eh?"
http://www.theforgottenways.org/blog/index.php/2007/03/19/missional-thinking-truth-or-idol/
Go into the world as messengers and messages of God's love and redemption. Turn unbelievers into missionary-followers according to the Holy Spirit's power and according to the Holy Spirit's revelation of God's Word:
"The power of Christianity lay not in its promise of otherworldly compensations for suffering in this life, as has so often been proposed. No, the crucial change that took place in the third century was the rapidly spreading awareness of a faith that delivered potent antidotes to life’s miseries here and now! The truly revolutionary aspect of Christianity lay in moral imperatives such as "Love one’s neighbor as oneself," "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," "It is more blessed to give than to receive," and "When you did it to the least of my brethren, you did it unto me." These were not just slogans. Members did nurse the sick, even during epidemics; they did support orphans, widows, the elderly, and the poor; they did concern themselves with the lot of slaves. In short, Christians created "a miniature welfare state in an empire which for the most part lacked social services." It was these responses to the long-standing misery of life in antiquity, not the onset of worse conditions, that were the '‘material' changes that inspired Christian growth." (From "The Real Story of How Christianity Became an Urban Movement and Conquered Rome," by Rodney Stark)
http://www.theforgottenways.org/blog/index.php/2006/11/22/69/
"We can only live changes: we cannot think our way to humanity. Every one of us, every group, must become the model of that which we desire to create." -- Leo Tolstoy
"The greatest proof of Christianity for others is not how far a man can logically analyze his reasons for believing, but how far in practice he will stake his life on his belief." -- T. S. Eliot
"There can be no way around the fact that our actions, as manifestations of our total being, do actually speak much louder than our words. There is a clear non-verbal message being emitted by our lives all the time. We are faced with the sobering fact that we actually are our messages.
Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, called this “existence-communication” and by that term he meant that our lives—our very existence—is our communication. Our existence as an authentic human being communicates more than what we say or even what we think."
http://www.theforgottenways.org/blog/index.php/2007/07/16/existence-communication/
"Passion requires participation, involvement, faith. Soren Kierkegaard can say, “…if passion is eliminated, faith no longer exists”. The truth of God can be found only by such a passionate search and by applying one’s whole personality existentially. The criterion of the genuine search for truth is what Kierkegaard called “inwardness” which requires an intense personal concern with it to be able to understand and assimilate it. Perhaps more widely known for this kind of approach was the American revivalist preacher, Jonathan Edwards, made popular by his spiritual classic, The Religious Affections. Edwards maintained that if the heart was left unmoved by the God, no abiding action could, or would, take place. Spirituality, what he called true religion, must include at core, redeem and direct, our spiritual passion. It must involve the heart. And then he goes on to affirm that all great actions spring from the heart."
http://www.theforgottenways.org/blog/index.php/2007/07/22/staying-close-to-jesus/#more-249
“Surely there is no missionary who goes forth to preach the Gospel to others who does not know that it is only by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit that his words can accomplish anything. And surely there is no pastor who does not acknowledge that it is only by the work of the Holy Spirit in his congregation that holy lives can be produced. It may seem that in stressing the role of the Holy Spirit in the mission of the Church I am simply repeating what everyone knows. And yet I have become convinced that, even when this belief is present and vivid, there are factors in the structures and traditions of our work which can prevent the belief from becoming effective.” — Lesslie Newbigin, The Mission Of The Triune God, 29.
http://www.theforgottenways.org/blog/index.php/2007/07/14/mission-and-the-triune-god/#more-240
In closing, here is a simple way to think of the difference between the traditional/institutional church and the missional church. The traditional/institutional church is primarily programmed for and organized around attracting a crowd from the world and ministering to them on campus. The missional church is primarily passionate for and organized around sending out a crowd and doing life with unbelievers in the world. Rather than offering particular ministry programs, the ministries of the missional church will be varied according to those things that characterize particular unbelievers as well as those things which characterize the missionary-followers sharing life with them. Rather than the individuals in the crowd being ministered to, the emphasis is on the individuals in the crowd doing life with and for the sake of unbelievers.
Labels: Church, Discipleship, Missional
posted by wasabi at 3:33 PM
1 comments
