Tom Peters, Missional Theologian

I just saw this post about missional Christianity by Tom Peters.

OK, so it wasn't really about that. But it seems to paint a pretty accurate picture of two philosophies within the church.

Strategy 1

• Go on offense.
  
• Give everybody a shot.
  
• Decentralize.
  
• Try a bunch of stuff.
  
• Make it up as you go along.
  
• Get some stuff wrong.
  
• Laugh a lot.
  
• Get some stuff right.
  
• Become a "success."
  

Strategy 2

• Extract "lessons learned" or "best practices."
  
• Thicken the Book of Rules.
  
• Become evermore serious.
  
• Enforce the rules to increasingly tight tolerances.
  
• Go on defense.
  
• Install walls.
  
• Protect-at-all-costs today's franchise.
  
• Centralize.
  
• Calcify.
  
• Install taller walls.
  
• Write more rules.
  
• Become irrelevant and-or die.
  

The first strategy sounds like a missional approach to Christianity. The second sounds like the institutional Christendom approach.

That's just what we need, taller walls and more rules.

May God save us from ourselves!

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"