Missional “in quotes”

The missional church rejects the association of Christianity with American values and the association of the church with entertainment, marketing, and corporate business models. The missional church is reading both Scripture and culture with new eyes. It sees that what is determined by the Christian faith is more than being a good, upright citizen. It sees the church as something different from the smooth corporate model of business. This emerging church calls for honest, authentic faith that seeks to be church in the way of a more radical discipleship.
Robert Webber, Ancient-Future Evangelism, p. 129

Contrary to the perception of many critics of the "missional/emerging" Church, the motivation is not to make following Christ more comfortable. The motivation is to take discipleship seriously, to take Jesus seriously.

Pastor Rod

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

That’s Not a Real Disaster

There has been a lot of nonsense written about the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. I've intended to address this issue, but someone has already done a better job than I would have done.

Calvinist view of bridge collapse distorts God's character, by Roger Olsen (HT, BHT)

"What if God is in charge but not in control?"

"The God of Calvinism scares me; I'm not sure how to distinguish him from the devil."

It seems odd to me that a theology

1. that calls evil good,
   
2. that is based on a naïve, 17th century view of the human will,
   
3. that teaches determinism but calls people to accept responsibility for their "choices," and
   
4. that requires words like "world," "all," and "freedom" to be redefined to mean essentially the opposite of their generally accepted meaning
   

has been able to position itself as the intellectually robust theology.

I'm afraid that we all too easily use our theology to manufacture our own "God" who fits rather nicely in our little box and worship him instead of the true God who, in spite of what he has told us about himself, still eludes our complete understanding and remains somewhat of a mystery.

Pastor Rod

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

Missional “in quotes”

Not only do we not need God to explain the universe, we don't need God to operate the church. Many operate like giant machines, with church leaders serving as mechanics. God doesn't have to show up to get done what's being done.
Reggie McNeal, The Present Future, p. 6

Too often the church operates on a human level. We act as if everything depends upon us. We too easily forget that it is God's mission, not ours. He has invited us to participate in his mission, but it is his responsibility to accomplish it. When we rely on our puny plans and our restricted resources, we put the church in a box, one that resembles a coffin.

Pastor Rod

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

Missional “in quotes”

Rather than the leader having plans and strategies that the congregation will affirm and follow, cultivation describes the leader as the one who works the soil of the congregation so as to invite and constitute the environment for the people of God to discern what the Spirit is doing in, with, and among them as a community.
Alan Roxburgh & Fred Romanuk, The Missional Leader, p. 28

Missional leadership is real leadership. But it has little to do with what most people think of when they hear the word "leadership."

Pastor Rod

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

Missional Freedom

The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live. He has forfeited his freedom. Only the person who risks is truly free.

Anonymous

I've been thinking over a few ministry encounters that took place over the past week and how I responded to them differently than I would have before I started cultivating a missional mindset.

Freedom from the pressure to put on a good show: Few people understand the pressure a pastor feels to make sure that the Sunday service is worthwhile for those who attend. While it has been quite some time since I feel the need to be entertaining on Sundays, I only recently realized that the "quality" of the sermon was not the primary factor in the "success" of the Sunday service. I no longer believe that I am responsible for the effectiveness of the Sunday service. I leave that in God's hands.

Freedom from the desperate need to "sell" the church: Another burden pastors commonly feel is the pressure to sell the services of the church to prospective "customers." When someone would call asking questions about our congregation, I would try to sell them. When people would visit on Sundays, I would try to convince them to come back the next Sunday. Now I no longer apologize for our deficiencies. I simply invite people to join us in the journey without putting pressure on them or on me.

Freedom from the fear of wasting my time: Because I am not pouring all my time and energy into the Sunday service, I now am free to "waste" my time when ministry opportunities come up. Being with people trumps just about everything else. I no longer do a cost analysis on my time. I can afford just to hang out with people without constantly telling myself that I have to get back to the office and "get some work done."

Freedom from the fear of wasting my charity: I also have found that I am now able to give to others without calculating whether my gift is a good investment. I can take the chance that my contribution will not produce the results I intended for them to produce. This is not to say that I am frivolous with financial contributions. But I can give away money in situations where there is still a chance that the person is taking advantage of me.

Freedom from the tyranny of busyness: I no longer feel the need to prove my value by staying busy. I have learned how to relax and enjoy life. I don't have to be always hurrying to a meeting or rushing to an appointment.

Freedom from the compulsion to produce results: I no longer believe that it is my job to produce results. My job is to be faithful to my calling and to be open to the ministry opportunities that God puts in my way. The results are his responsibility.

Freedom from the need to change people: Because I believe that the results are God's responsibility, I no longer feel the need to change people. Only God's grace can chance people anyway. I am willing to be a channel of his grace, but I leave the results up to him.

Freedom from the fear of inadequacy: Because the results are God's problem, I no longer feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the needs I encounter. Of course, I am inadequate to meet those needs. But that is not my responsibility. My responsibility is to "be there" for others, to point them to the One who can meet there needs.

So what is your experience? Have you experienced a similar freedom in your ministry (whether you are a pastor or not)? Have you found other aspects of this freedom that I have overlooked?

Pastor Rod

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

Missional “in quotes”

A congregation must become a place where members learn to function like cross-cultural missionaries rather than a gathering place where people come to receive religious goods and services.
Alan Roxburgh & Fred Romanuk, The Missional Leader, p. 13

Missional does not mean being hip and trendy. It means that we are on God's mission. It means that we are here to serve, not to be served.

Pastor Rod

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

Missional “in quotes”

Overemphasis on technique can undermine solid missiological thinking. There is a lack of theological depth in much of the contemporary church planting and church growth movements because these are movements of techniques, paradigms, and methodologies without genuine biblical and missiological convictions.
Ed Stetzer & David Putman, Breaking the Missional Code, p. 184

God, save us from pragmatism and shallowness.

Pastor Rod

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

Missional vs. Church Growth

Here's an excellent article by Gailyn Van Rheenen entitled Contrasting Missional and Church Growth Perspectives at www.missiology.org.

SheHe defines missional churches as "theologically-formed, Christ-centered, Spirit-led fellowships who seek to faithfully incarnate the purposes of Christ."

This definition is not all that helpful, because most churches would say that it describes them.

It is often more helpful to talk about what missional is not. And so she contrasts a missional approach to ministry with church growth philosophy.

Church growth employs "tools from the social sciences to analyze culture and to use this analysis to develop penetrating strategies for reaching both searchers and skeptics with the gospel of Christ." However,

Practitioners succumbed unintentionally to the humanistic suppositions of the Modern Era. Assuming that they could chart their way to success by their ingenuity and creativity, Church Growth practitioners focused on what humans do in missions rather than on what God is doing. They saw the missional task as setting goals, developing appropriate methodologies, and evaluating what does or does not work.

Here is a chart she provides that contrasts the various aspects of these two mindsets:

	Missional	Church Growth
Orientation/ Perspective	Theocentric	Anthropocentric
	Theological	Practical
	Postmodern	Modern
Theological Focus	Missio Dei	Great Commission
Beginning Question	What is the gospel?	What makes the church grow?
Perspective on Scripture	Narrative of God's purposes	Propositional truth
How does missions happen?	By the Spirit (God's "surprises")	By strategic planning
Nature of community	Inclusiveness, unity of the body of Christ	People groups
Focus of Evangelism	Initiation of people into the kingdom of God; holistic understanding of "making disciples"	Differentiation between discipling and perfecting, individual salvation
Orientation toward Social Action	The Gospel, evangelism, and social action cannot be separated	Priority of evangelism and church planting over social action; Reactive to the Social Gospel

(The emphasis is mine.)

Church growth is pragmatic by design, "Church growth determines effective practice and then seeks to validate this practice by the use of Scripture. The movement emphasizes growth rather than faithful proclamation of the gospel and faithful living of the gospel."

SheHe advocates what she calls The Missional Helix. It is composed of four elements: Theological reflection, Cultural analysis, Strategy formation & Historical perspective.

The diagram is a helix because theology, history, culture, and the practice of ministry build on one another as the community of faith collectively develops understandings and a vision of God's will within their cultural context. Like a spring, the spiral grows to new heights as ministry understandings and experiences develop (emphasis in original).

In my experience, there are many who see the missional approach as simply a new form of church growth thinking. Perhaps this article will help demonstrate the difference.

Pastor Rod

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

Missional “in quotes”

Many confuse missional with being trendy. Here's a quotation Breaking the Missional Code to clear up that confusion:

You can't be missional and pick what you like at the same time.
Ed Stetzer & David Putman, Breaking the Missional Code, p. 50

Pastor Rod

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

Awesomely Bold Leadership

Here's a tongue-in-cheek critique of ego-driven leadership (HT: BHT).

Rule #13: Awesomely Bold Leaders Recognize that ALL People Have Gifts and Talents. Free Them to Use Their Gifts and Talents to Follow You.

You must recognize: You may be remarkably talented, magnetic, well-muscled, and forward-thinking. But others have talents, too. Empower them to use their talents to follow you.

This would be even funnier if there weren't pastors who live by these "principles."

Pastor Rod

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

Sticky Sermons

We've all heard our share of forgettable sermons. Some of us have preached them.

No one intends to bore people with the gospel, yet it happens every Sunday all over North America.

But this need not happen.

The most important ingredient in an effective sermon is a preacher who is filled with the Spirit. There is no substitute for the power of the Holy Spirit working in the life of one who proclaims the gospel in actions as well as words.

Yet there are some specific things that a preacher can do to produce sermons with messages that last longer than the walk to the parking lot.

In Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath list six characteristics of "sticky" ideas.

• Simple
  
• Unexpected
  
• Concrete
  
• Credible
  
• Emotional
  
• Story
  

A good sermon will have a single point. "If you say three things, you've said nothing."

A sermon should "break people's guessing machine" and then "fix it." Jesus used this when he said, "You've heard that… but I say to you… "

The message needs to be concrete rather than abstract. Preachers are also victims of "the curse of knowledge." They forget what it is like to be a non-specialist.

The content of a sermon needs a source of credibility. Some preachers try to fake this by claiming that their interpretation is "the Word of the Lord."

Facts have little power. Sticky messages have emotional impact.

Stories have power. The Bible is essentially one big story. The gospel is good news. It should never be reduced to steps, principles or tips.

This book is an excellent resource for anyone who needs to deliver any message.

Pastor Rod

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

Montoya on Missional

In the movie The Princess Bride, one of the characters keeps saying, "Inconceivable." Inigo Montonya responds, "You keep saying that word. But I don't think it means what you think it means."

I feel the same about how many are using the word "missional."

It is often confused with the church growth/seeker sensitive/purpose driven movement. Many see it as a fresh way to get more people coming to church on Sunday and to get them more involved in church programs.

Others are attracted to the philosophy of missional Christianity, but they can only think about it terms of the CG/SS/PD paradigm.

In an attempt clarify the difference between these two schemas, I have put together the following chart:

CG/SS/PD	Missional
Attractional	Incarnational
Programs	Relationships
Structured	Organic
Results oriented	Service oriented
Goal driven	Opportunity centered
Culture: marketing tool	Culture: arena for ministry
Charismatic leader	Empowering leadership
Staff-dependent ministry	Lay-initiated ministry
Centralized expertise	Distributed expertise
High "overhead"	Low "overhead"
Evangelism program	Gospel-saturated living
Excellence	Authenticity
Conversion	Transformation
Sign up for heaven	Follow Christ as Master
Bounded set	Centered set

At least that's how I see it. What do you think?

Pastor Rod

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

AD-D

We're all familiar with Attention Deficit Disorder. We even know about ADHD: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. But I think I have diagnosed a new disease within the Church.

(Technically, it is not a new disease. I am just isolating the condition and putting a name to it.)

This condition is called AD-ADD, or AD-D for short.

The name stems from a dating convention that was established in the sixth century by a monk named "Dennis the Little." He calculated the year that Jesus Christ was born based upon the historical information contained in the gospel accounts. The years before Christ's birth were eventually labeled "Before Christ" or "BC."

Contrary to popular opinion, "AD" does not stand for "After Death." It is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase Anno Domini, which means "the year of our Lord." This is why it properly belongs before the date: e.g. A.D. 2007 = "in the year of our Lord 2007."

So what's my point? Most Christians have forgotten what A.D. means.

Ancient calendars often were based on the establishment of a government. The year was calculated from the beginning of a dynasty or the reign of a ruler. The Roman calendar was based upon the traditional date for the founding of the city (A.U.C.). After the French Revolution, the new Republic started over the numbering of years to reflect the new order.

The designation A.D. is likewise an indication of a radical new order. It marks the beginning of a revolution.

Jesus established a new kingdom.

This doesn't just mean that he made it possible for us to go to heaven when we die. The "kingdom of God" is not just a different way to say "heaven." It is a real kingdom with a real king (MP3).

Jesus came to reclaim his rightful place as Lord.

The claim that "Jesus is Lord" is subversive. It means that Jesus is Lord and nothing else is. All other powers have been defeated.

Yet we live in an era of transition. The victory has been won, but the enemy refuses to concede. It is still trying to produce as many casualties as possible even though it has no chance of winning.

And we have a responsibility to advance this kingdom.

When we pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven," we are pledging our allegiance to this government. And we are committing ourselves to its advancement.

There is coming a day when it will be said, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever." In the meantime, we are agents of the new Lord. And we are called to participate in his work to bring all things under his authority.

So what is AD-D?

It is a lack of focus on the Lord (Domini) and an inclination to be distracted from his kingdom work.

We say, "Sure, I believe that Jesus died for me and that one day he will come back to take his people to heaven," but then we live in complicity with the powers that he defeated. We are unwitting collaborators with the enemy.

We say, "Jesus is Lord," on Sunday. And Monday we do whatever is necessary to get ahead and to maintain our standard of living.

Jesus is not dead. He is the reigning Lord.

We have been called to participate in his kingdom. And we cannot afford to lose our concentration.

Pastor Rod

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

Post-modern NT?

The writers of the New Testament seem to be willing to interpret Old Testament passages to mean something very different than what the original authors intended.

One example is Matthew's use of Hosea 11:1 in chapter 2 verse 15:

So [Joseph] got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."

Hosea makes no mention of the Messiah. His original clearly is referring to the exodus from Egyptian slavery. Yet Matthew invests new content in these words applying them to Jesus Christ. These words were "fulfilled" in him.

This raises several questions:

• Did the NT writers use a faulty method of biblical interpretation to arrive at these results?
  
• If so, how can we trust the conclusions they make?
  
• If not, can we use the same approach in our own interpretation?
  
• If the Bible can be used in this way, what's to prevent us from reading our own ideas and wishes into the text?
  
• If the Bible can be used in this way, how can it be any longer an ultimate authority?
  
• If we shouldn't use the Bible this way, how can it be legitimate for the NT writers to do so?
  

One important point, inspiration cannot be used to "sanitize" this method of interpretation. The apostles and early Christians used this method in all their study of the Scriptures (the Old Testament). It wasn't limited to the documents that later made up the New Testament.

My current understanding has been shaped by many influences, but primarily Peter Enns, NT Wright and Tim Keller.

The early Christians were not taking liberty with the OT Scriptures. They were not just making up whatever interpretation they wanted. They were guided by a simple principle. And this principle was taught to them by Jesus himself.

In Luke 24:27, the narrator tells us:

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Here's the principle: All Scripture is primarily about Jesus Christ. This is true whether the original author was aware of this or not.

So Matthew was not playing "fast and loose" with the text from Hosea. He was simply understanding it from the post-resurrection perspective that Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the story of slavery and exodus, of exile and return.

Likewise, we must understand Scripture from this same perspective. Not only must we do this when reading the OT, but also the NT. When Paul says, "You must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips" (Colossians 3:8), it must be understood in the context of Jesus Christ. We cannot clean up our act. We can only live in the power of God's grace as expressed in the person of Jesus Christ.

The written Word of God is essentially about the incarnate Word.

• It is not a list of rules for living.
  
• It is not a source book for systematic theology.
  
• It is not a science textbook.
  

It is the word of life about the living Word.

Pastor Rod

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

Definitive Missional Definition

I have heard complaints about the word "missional."

• Some say that it has become just another buzz word.
  
• Others say that it is only a "code word" for post-modernism, the emerging church or the social gospel.
  
• Many express their frustration at the lack of a clear definition for the word.
  

Wikipedia has a definition that is neither helpful, nor objective, nor accurate. Alan Hirsch has a "working definition" of missional church. As helpful as I've found his books, his definition was inadequate.

So I decided to formulate a more robust definition. Of course, this is my definition. Other people may mean different things when they use the word.

Missional Christianity is the view that being a follower of Jesus Christ involves both an inner transformation toward Christlikeness and an active participation in the mission of God's kingdom as it overcomes evil in every part of creation.

While this captures for me the essence of missional Christianity, it leaves room for misunderstanding about the nature of the inner transformation and the mission of God's kingdom. To help refine this even more, I offer the following statements:

• Missional Christianity is not tied to any age group or any particular style of doing church.
  
• Missional Christianity is incarnational rather than attractional.
  
• Missional Christianity sees evangelism as a part of the mission, not the entirety of the mission.
  
• Missional Christianity sees making disciples as much more than getting people signed up for heaven.
  
• Missional Christianity does not rely on strategic planning.
  
• Missional Christianity does not rely on marketing.
  
• Missional Christianity opposes a consumer mentality.
  
• Missional Christianity believes in the sacredness of all of life (no sacred and secular parts).
  
• Missional Christianity is culturally aware.
  
• Missional Christianity seeks to serve rather than to be served.
  
• Missional Christianity focuses on building the kingdom rather than on building a congregation or a denomination.
  
• Missional Christianity does not seek power, wealth or popularity.
  
• Missional Christianity takes discipleship seriously as essential for all followers of Christ rather than something optional for more advanced followers.
  
• Missional Christianity believes that a congregation's job is to participate in God's mission in the world rather than to formulate their own mission and ask God to bless it.
  
• Missional Christianity believes that God tends to work at the margins of society.
  
• Missional Christianity believes that ministry should be concentrated at the margins of society.
  
• Missional Christianity believes that God works most often through weakness, rather than through human power.
  
• Missional Christianity believes that the gospel is good news to be proclaimed, rather than an "offer" to be marketed.
  
• Missional Christianity believes that true holiness is the most powerful form of evangelism.
  
• Missional Christianity realizes that there is no culture-free expression of the gospel.
  
• Missional Christianity believes that the gospel is for all peoples, in every culture, at all times.
  
• Missional Christianity believes that "epistemological humility" does not weaken the truth claims of Christianity.
  

I don't know how complete this list is or how helpful others will find it.

Let me know what you think.

Pastor Rod

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