So, what do we mean by “missional” church? At a time where churches are in decline and there are so many outreach experiments in play, the term “missional” gets thrown around by just about everyone in ministry. Indeed, if you want to make a new programme sound cool, you tag the adjective “missional” on to the front of the title, as in, for example, “Come join our new missional catering committee!”
I’ve found one of the most helpful books about this to be: “Introducing the Missional Church: What It Is, Why It Matters, How to Become One.” Alan J. Roxburgh and M. Scott Boren, Baker Books, 2009.
GOING RATHER THAN COMING
The first thing to note is this: The adjective “missional” stands in contrast to the word “attractional” — the church growth-oriented approach, as in the approach summarised by: “If you build it, they will come.”
The attractional approach moves churches to provide the best set of spiritual goods and services they can muster, in order to attract outsiders to their menu of activities and their organisation. It’s slowly dawning on us that no matter how well we build it, people are not coming! Church attendance and engagement is at an all time low in most western societies.
Instead of trying to make the church and its programmes bigger and better, to get more people to come, maybe the contrasting approach is for a faith community to attune itself to God’s mission out there in the world. As Rowan Williams, former archbishop of Canterbury, puts it: “It is not the church of God that has a mission. It’s the God of mission that has a church.”
Rather than getting more people interested in what we are doing, what if we circulate in our neighbourhoods watching in order to discern what God, (already on mission ahead of us) is doing in our local contexts. We then align ourselves with that, and become participants in God’s redemptive work. We go to our communities as God’s hands and feet rather than expecting them to come to us - we view life through “missional” lenses.
I’ve found one of the most helpful books about this to be: “Introducing the Missional Church: What It Is, Why It Matters, How to Become One.” Alan J. Roxburgh and M. Scott Boren, Baker Books, 2009.
GOING RATHER THAN COMING
The first thing to note is this: The adjective “missional” stands in contrast to the word “attractional” — the church growth-oriented approach, as in the approach summarised by: “If you build it, they will come.”
The attractional approach moves churches to provide the best set of spiritual goods and services they can muster, in order to attract outsiders to their menu of activities and their organisation. It’s slowly dawning on us that no matter how well we build it, people are not coming! Church attendance and engagement is at an all time low in most western societies.
Instead of trying to make the church and its programmes bigger and better, to get more people to come, maybe the contrasting approach is for a faith community to attune itself to God’s mission out there in the world. As Rowan Williams, former archbishop of Canterbury, puts it: “It is not the church of God that has a mission. It’s the God of mission that has a church.”
Rather than getting more people interested in what we are doing, what if we circulate in our neighbourhoods watching in order to discern what God, (already on mission ahead of us) is doing in our local contexts. We then align ourselves with that, and become participants in God’s redemptive work. We go to our communities as God’s hands and feet rather than expecting them to come to us - we view life through “missional” lenses.
Going to our communities means being intentional and positive, but also being open to it being messy rather than having a pre-set. You're going to be building the boat as you're sailing it!
More about that next time.
