My understanding of it is that a missional church could become an alternative community, having a different set of values from the "traditional" church, i.e. not being inward focused on programs and marketing to build numbers and to serve it's own membership. But being a church that has core values based on serving the needs of the community OUTSIDE the church, as in feeding the hungry, clothing the needy, etc...
It means looking at "success" in a different way. Rather than the size of the building, the number of attendees and how big is the budget for this program or that, but looking at what impact we are having on the community around us. Are we seeing the lost come to Jesus? Are there people around us that have needs that we can meet? If we can't meet them, can we network with someone who can? Are we equipping believers to be something more than someone who invites a friend to a meeting when we should be equipping missionaries to go out into our community? Are we carrying out the great commission?
I'll paraphrase from a book I'm reading called "Breaking the Missional Code" by Ed Stetzer and David Putman. Missional thinking is a shift in what we think as well as how we think it.
It is a paradigm shift:
- From programs to processes
- From demographics to discernment
- From models to mission
- From attractional to incarnational
- From uniformity to diversity
- From professional to passionate
- From seating to sending
- From decisions to disciples
- From additional to exponential
- From monuments to movements
Now, what does a missional church look like?? Pretty much anything you can imagine - A church where people are exploring and rediscovering what it means to be Jesus' sent people as their identity. Engaging WITH the culture and BEING Jesus to them rather than just sitting inside the building singing songs about it, while looking out the doors and saying "someone should do something about..."
I guess I could sum this whole diatribe up like this... DO justice, LOVE mercy, WALK HUMBLY with God. The good news isn't something we just talk about among ourselves on Sunday, because if it really is GOOD news, we will want to share it with everyone we meet!!
