Missional?

Matt Overton has asked in a comment below... what do I mean when I use the term 'Missional' - some thoughts then, and very much not a complete definition or list...

• Missional as opposed to Mission/s refers to a core value or DNA of community purpose - i.e. not a Church that 'does' Mission but a Church that is Missional... that exists to be Missional and frames it's theology and eclesiology in that context.  As Vatican 2 puts it The Church is "missionary by it's very nature."   or as Bosch says "The Church's mission is not secondary to it's being; the church exists in being sent and in building up itself for it's mission" - Missional Church is a sent church... not a come to us church.
• Missional refers to a community that is truly incarnational - that seeks to continue the incarnation of Jesus - not simply a 'readdressing of the Gospel" as Theilicke puts it, although this is significant too, but a life lived in culture, affirming that in culture which is not contrary to Scripture, existing in context, and enabling local expression - incarnation and inculturation hand in hand.
• Missional Community is one where sacrificial hospitality is the norm... i.e. hospitality that extends beyond what is comfortable to the church and does not reinforce cultural stereotyping nor enforce acceptance criteria but sees individuals as children of God regardless of culture, history etc.
• To understand the nature of Mission as wholistic and transformational - not simply in terms of Evangelism, but seeing a dynamic of Mission that includes personal reconcilliation, community restoration and cultural (systems of power and oppression) reversal in a Global/local context.  Therefore it means being Regnocentric - seeing Mission as a Kingdom act... personal, local and global transformation... and Trinitarian.
• To be Missional to me means to understand God as Missional - to see Mission not as "an activity of the church but as an attribute of God" - to seek not to take God out from church into a Godless world but to engage in the continuing Missio Dei.

Missional Church does not engage in some holy grail quest for a model or practice that will work- it isn't about looking for a solution but hearing the Mission heartbeat of God in a particular context/culture.

I like this quote...

A missional ecclesiology is rooted in God’s character and purpose as a sending or missionary God.  Therefore, it’s starting point is the missional nature of The Trinity. God the Father sent the Son.  God the Father and the Son sends the Spirit. God the Father, the Son and the Spirit sends the Church (Matthew 28:18-20; John 20:21; Acts 1:8).  The church is God’s sent missional people.  So just as Jesus was the fullness of God incarnated and embodied in a human being, the missional church follows Jesus’ model, learning from him how to embody the fullness of God as a new way of being human for the sake of the world. That is it’s very identity and essence. 
Jason Zahariades  The Off Ramp

Andrew Jones explains what he means by the increasingly used term Emerging/Missional
Larry Chouinard has a pretty well thought out 'list' of characteristics
Ed Stetzer in The Christian Index
Steve Taylor has a piece on emergingchurch.info - which I can't seem to get onto at the moment - will update later.

Anyway... for me to be Missional means to engage with the above... not to get it right necessarily, but to attempt the journey... for life to be lived as a sacrament to God and a sacrifice for others... what it definitely isn't is faith as a transaction where I am the customer - in return for my confession and religious observance I get my free pass through the pearly gates!

Technorati Tags: Church: Emerging Church: Mission

Comments

[Matt]

Wow, thanks for the response. That was rather unexpected. If hospitality is something that you are trying to live into, this was certainly an example.

I am right with you, I think, on the use of the term missional. I cannot speak for the U.K., but I know that the in the States it is being used more and more.

Unfortunately, I think it is not being used carefully and in informed ways. It is often just slapped onto a church's purpose statement with no sense of the theological depth behind the term. I am writing my paper here for one of my professors, Darrell Guder, who helped bring the term "missional" to the forefront of theology. He is quite interested in how the term is being appropriated in the "emerging" churches.

Thanks for your informed response. It is more rare than it should be. Peace.

Matt Overton

[Brandon]

Matt, after reading Guder's book "Continuing Conversion of the Church" and "Missional Church" (in which he was the gen. ed.) I have to say I'm envious of you having him as a professor.

Mark, I think your statement about hearing the Mission heartbeat of God in a particular context/culture, along with the quote you provide, is one of the most concise summaries of missional church I've seen. It's particularly powerful in light of the fact that you are actively working it out and pursuing a more faithful expression of these things in your context in Telford.

[topher]

Amen. Amen and Amen. I'm so very encouraged by what I have seen here. Though I have not explored your entire blog yet, I am so impressed with this posting. My personal faith journey has been anything but simple and the best word to describe where I am at today would be "liminal."

I have been leadership in a number of churches for the last decade or so, one of those being a famous "emerging" church affiliated with Acts 29. I discovered that as the Lord was guiding me to a better understanding of Missio Dei, the clergy and laity of my church grew increasingly nervous about my role in the church. Eventually I was asked to leave because I "asked too many questions" and wasn't willing to "get onboard fully with their vision for the church."

Our church, though "emerging" and postmodern... was extremely divided between the clergy and the laity. And we were very focused around our services... and making sacred zones for the members to enjoy.

God started laying on my heart, the need to focus more on empowering the lay people to be missional by practicing a more wholistic expression of christianity that was able to flourish outside of the building. And God laid it on my heart not only that it would be important for people to be more disciplined and consistant INDIVIDUALLY, but also learn what it meant to share that life, side by side.

After moving to a new church, I discovered that they were resistant to these ideas as well. After much prayer and difficulty, I decided that it would be much better to set out on my own and not be a member of ANY church... but pursue others who shared a similar kingdom-view as I did.

It's been 3 years now, and I have still not found ONE person in my zip code that shares my heart for these things. Every Christian that I have met here is heavily involved in a church and doesn't have time or resources to join me in this journey.

I have found a group of brothers and sisters that live 150 miles away, in Seattle, so I have been meeting with them as much as I can for discipleship, nurture, and accountability....

Sometimes it seems like besides them, I'm the only person that feels this way. I thank the Lord for this liminal time of my life. I have grown tremendously. I just want you to know that it is an encouragement... that when I google Missio Dei, I'm finally starting to discover blogs that I can really say Amen to.

-topher