In December and January, our 9:00 am Adult Bible Education hour will be a missional conversation for the whole church as we explore who God is calling us to be!  Each week, a link to a summary of the conversation  will be posted in the missional section on our homepage and links to other weeks and articles will be available there and at the bottom of this page.

We also encourage you to continue the conversation by email throughout the week by sending your thoughts and questions to missional@hopechurchonline.org. Tom Kelly, Pastor Kirk and the elders will be copied on your email and would love to dialog with you more on what being missional means for Hope!

 A Definition of Missional Church

In using the term missional as an adjective to describe the church, a connection is being made between missiology and ecclesiology. The very nature and essence of the church is being defined as the people of God who have been sent into their immediate context to bring the kingdom of God. Van Gelder (2007) comments:

It is worth noting that the adjective missional reframes the whole discussion of what had previously been referred to as “church and mission” . . . the missional church invites a different conception: it sees the church as being missionary in its very nature. It is also a perception that views every context as a missional context, and every congregation as a missional congregation that is responsible to participate in God's mission in that context. (p. 27)

At its root, the term missional church attempts to communicate that the church is more than a place to dispense spiritual goods and services to and for itself. Bevans and Schroeder (2004) note, “The point of the church is not the church itself . . . the point of the church is rather to point beyond itself, to be a community that preaches, serves and witnesses to the reign of God” (p. 7). Thus, the missional church sees itself as God’s missionary presence that joins with what God is already doing in its surrounding community and the rest of the world. As MacIlvaine describes, “A missional church is a unified body of believers intent on being God’s missionary presence to the indigenous community that surrounds them, recognizing that God is already at work”(What is the Missional Church Movement, January-March 2010, p. 92). The missional church believes that God is at work in her community and she is to join him in what he is already doing.

What the Missional Church is Not

Like the term missional, the phrase missional church has been blurred. When missiology and ecclesiologyare combined, most people combine their picture of mission and church. The common perception of mission is something that the church does to benefit those outside the church, and the common understanding of church is something that happens inside a building to and for those who are a part of the church world. (Roxburgh & Boren, 2009). Thus, when missiology and ecclesiologyare combined, these pictures come together to imagine a church “that attracts, worships, equips, and then sends” (Roxburgh & Boren, 2009, p. 30). While these ideas are biblical, this picture of the church too often leads to a few individuals who “do missions” while the majority of the body “attends church.”

This understanding of mission and the church leads to the misunderstanding of the term missional church. Roxburgh and Boren (2009) call this misunderstanding “an extreme problem [asserting] missional church has become a label used to describe practically everything a church does” (p. 31). To clarify the intended meaning of the concept and to delineate their definition from others, Roxburgh and Boren (2009) list the following eight trends that are not missional church.

Missional church is not: 1. “A label to describe churches that emphasize cross-cultural missions.” Missional church is more; it understands that all believers are missionaries in their sphere of influence.

 2. “A label used to describe churches that are using outreach programs to the externally focused.” Missional churches live on mission all the time not just at particular events or programs.

3. “Another label for church growth and church effectiveness.” While growth results from believers being on mission, growth is not the focus of the missional church. Instead it’s about caring for people and pointing them to Christ.

4. “A label for churches that are effective at evangelism.” The missional church is about more than effective evangelism, it’s about bringing the fullness of the kingdom of God.

5. “A label to describe churches that have developed a clear mission statement with a vision and purpose for their existence.” Vision and mission statements are key organizational tools that help facilitate a missional culture, but having a mission statement does not make a church missional.

6. “A way of turning around ineffective and hopeless church forms so that they can display relevance in the wider culture.” Missional is being relevant and contextual, but it’s for the purpose of translating the message of the gospel into understandable language and not just about being relevant to attract a crowd.

7. “A label that points to a primitive or ancient way of being the church.” A missional church may utilize an ancient future ministry strategy, but the missional church is about more than a ministry philosophy.

 8. “A label describing new formats of church that reach people who have no interest in traditional churches” (p. 31-33). The missional church may have new formats, but those strategies are intended for people who are not yet connected to Christ.

The point of distinguishing the missional church terminology is to protect it from the notion that this is new, trendy language to describe practices that the church is already doing. Missional church is not intended to be an updated label. In fact, the missional church terminology is an invitation to re-examine the current understanding of the church. It is a call to see the church as moving from being internally focused to externally alert, from developing programs to developing people, and from building a church to extending the kingdom (McNeal, 2009).

What the Missional Church Is

Having explained the misunderstandings of the missional churchterminology, this section will describe what is intended by the nomenclature. Because of the number of authors interacting in the conversation, there are a diversity of opinions and nuances incorporated in the term. Those nuances create a varied description of the meaning. The following comments from several different authors highlight this point. In describing the actions of the missional church, MacIlvaine (2010) identifies these practices:

With respect to worship. Missional Christians view corporate worship as an event that celebrates God’s eternal mission and the work that His people have done during a given week. . . .

With respect to the world. They practice the principle of cultural flexibility without moral or spiritual compromise as a way to express God’s common grace (1 Cor. 9:19–23). In a missional church, expressing common grace involves six qualities: showing hospitality to strangers (Heb. 13:1); loving those of diverse races, political orientations, and sexual preferences without sacrificing biblical principles (Mark 8:1–9); serving those who cannot pay them back (James. 1:26–27); being wisely generous with financial and material resources, even to the point of sacrifice (2 Cor. 8:1–3); taking a collaborative role among the arts community within a given culture (Exod. 31:1–6); and taking a collaborative role, even a leadership role, in the civic structures within a given culture (Dan. 6:1–3; Jer. 29:4–7).

With respect to the gospel. Once they have built a bridge of common ground through common grace, missional Christians find ways to express the gospel. Sometimes this takes place in the context of a serving event (Acts 9:36, 39). Other times this takes place as a believer exposes friends to the destructive idols of culture (17:22–23). At some point the believer invites his friends into the context of the redeemed community, where Christ is experienced and His message is seen in action (9:17–19).

With respect to ordinary life. Missional Christians are always mindful that they are living in the presence of the risen Christ and are on mission at all times. . . . In general the missional Christian realizes that he leads best through prayer. . . .

With respect to discipleship. Missional churches take spiritual growth seriously but with a missional bent. They do not disciple for the purpose of increasing head knowledge. They disciple for the purpose of missional life change . . . missional Christians encourage high levels of accountability and supportive prayer (Eph. 6:10–20).

With respect to cultural trends. Missional Christians recognize that much of North American culture is postmodern and post-Christian and in many ways is anti-Christian. They are committed to studying and learning about the culture so that they can be more effective in reaching people in it. (What is the Missional Church Movement, January-March, pp. 105-106)

In addition to these hallmarks, Frost and Hirsch (2003) argue that:

The missional church isincarnational, not attractional, in its ecclesiology. By incarnational we mean it does not create sanctified spaces into which unbelievers must come to encounter the gospel. Rather the missional church disassembles itself and seeps into the cracks and crevices of a society in order to be Christ to those who don't yet know him.

The missional church is messianic, not dualistic, in its spirituality . . . Instead of seeing the world as divided between the sacred (religious) and profane (nonreligious), like Christ, it sees the world, and God's place in it, as more holistic and integrated.

The missional church adopts an apostolic, rather than hierarchical, mode of leadership. It abandons the tri-angular hierarchies of the traditional church and embraces a biblical, flat leadership community that unleashes the gifts of evangelism, apostleship, and prophecy, as well as the currently popular pastoral and teaching gifts. (p. 12)

There are other writers within the missional conversation who add their ideas as well. Thus, with the diversity of authors comes a range of nuanced opinions. While these nuances exist, all writers would maintain that the missional church is comprised of a missional people who are attempting to be the missionary presence of God in the midst of a hurting world. In detail, this means that the missional church is about partnering with the Spirit in bringing the gospel and the kingdom of God into her community and the rest of the world. The missional church believes that she does not exist for her alone. She understands that she ceases to be the church when she ceases to care for those outside of her. Nevertheless, as Roxburgh and Boren (2009) note, “missional church cannot be codified in a simple definition” (p. 45).

In summary, the missional church is comprised of a missional people who are attempting to be the missionary presence of God in the midst of a hurting world. The missional church’s practices and behaviors are focused on the one goal of seeing all of God’s people joining with what God is doing in the surrounding community and around the globe. “This includes worship, preaching, communion, loving one another, social justice, caring for the poor, and sharing Jesus’ gospel. Being missional is about all of it, not part” (Roxburgh & Boren, 2009, p. 54).