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The Missional Church

April 9, 2010

The Gospel of John opens with the Father sending the Son and ends with Jesus sending his disciples. This pattern of being “sent” is evidenced by more than thirty references to this sender-sent relationship in the Gospel of John alone. We can draw from this a theology of mission in which the Father’s sending of the son serves as both a model and the grounds for the Son sending his disciples. The sending of the Holy Spirit empowered the Church to continue the mission of Jesus.

The Father sent the Son | The Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit | The Holy Spirit sends the Church.

The mission of Jesus was no less than to manifest the in-breaking Kingdom of God. His mission was redemptive and reconciliatory. He modeled the abundant life and reflected the benefits of access to Kingdom life in his words and actions. We would be wrong to conclude that Jesus’ sole mission was to die for our sins and birth the Church. It was so much more than that. Salvation was the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The benefits of the Kingdom extend to the whole of our lives and transcend just the spiritual aspects we ascribe to it.

To think and to live missionally, therefore, means seeing all of life as a way to be engaged with the mission of God in the world. Being missional is a posture by which we orient our whole life in the engagement of that mission. We are partners in the missio Dei, God’s mission. The missional church believes it is God who is on mission and that we are to join him in it.

To put it simply, the missional church is the people of God partnering with God in his redemptive mission in the world.

Missional is NOT A DESTINATION you arrive at, IT IS A DIRECTION in which you are moving.

Being the missional church requires us to embrace the following:

  • People are created in the image of God (imago Dei) – People matter to God therefore they matter to the people of God. People deserve to be blessed simply because they are people, not just so we can “witness” to them.
  • God is on mission (missio Dei) – Ever since the disruption caused by sin, God has proactively inserted himself into the human saga to woo mankind back to an intimate relationship with him. God is still on that mission. The supreme expression of that activity was demonstrated through Jesus. He demonstrated the divine commitment to humanity and the full human potential when lived completely connected with God. The Spirit is still on mission to draw people into relationship with him.
  • God’s mission is redemptive and we partner with him on that mission (participatio Christi) – God wants to restore not just the nature of his intended relationship with people but its benefits as well. This means that missional Jesus followers are engaged in all aspects of human experience— political, social, economic, cultural, physical, psychological, and spiritual – to work for those things that enhance life and to oppose those things that steal life.
  • God doesn’t postpone his mission waiting for the church to “get it” – the missional church movement recognizes that the Spirit is at work in extraordinary ways. We need to run to catch up!
  • The church is NOT the target of God’s love, the world is (John 3:16). Church is not the destination—abundant Kingdom life is the destination! Blessing people and manifesting this tangible Kingdom life as missionaries is what the missional church is about.
  • The Church is in the Kingdom but the Church is NOT the Kingdom. The church was birthed out of the “in breaking” Kingdom of God manifested in Jesus. We are his primary Kingdom agents that attempt to introduce kingdom realities to every domain of life and culture, even the church.

The missional church expression requires a new scorecard to measure its vitality and effectiveness. Our current expression of church is tied to a definition of church being a destination and a dispenser of religious goods and services. Participation in these activities and consuming the goods provided was the measurement of church health and spiritual growth. The missional scorecard will educate people to new possibilities, resulting in new behaviors and even greater movement toward missional expressions of Christianity.
In order to embrace what the missional church requires, there at least three major shifts that must take place.

The following is adapted from Missional Renaissance by Reggie McNeal –

  • From an Internal Ministry focus to an External Ministry Focus
    Internally focused churches consume the overwhelming amount of resources the church has. Calendar space is primarily occupied with church activities for church constituents. Serving opportunities are mainly for the support of internal programs and services.
    Externally focused churches look for ways to bless and serve the communities they are located in. Much of the calendar space, financial resources and organizational energy is spent on people who are not part of the organization.
  • From Program Development to People Development
    In the program driven church, the assumption was that if the church was doing well at providing and executing programs, people who participated in them automatically experienced personal growth.
    In the people development modality, leaders focus on helping people shape their path for personal development. The shift is from discipleship programs that merely transmit information to making disciples who actually intend to obey Jesus.
  • From church-based to Kingdom-based leadership
    Church based leadership is obsessed with church growth. Mainly concentrates on institutional maintenance.
    Kingdom-based leadership is consumed with Kingdom impact. Mainly concentrates on incarnational influence.
    These shifts all require a recalibration of our faith back to its Founder—Jesus. He alone defines our ecclesiology—What is the Church, Who is the Church and How we do Church.
    A careful study of Scripture, Jesus’ teachings about the Kingdom, how Jesus taught his disciples and Paul’s instructions to the Church, all demonstrate that there is a great disconnect from the Kingdom and our modern church structures and systems.