Should My Church Be Missional?

i believe every church has a calling. it has a purpose. it has a mission. i am not talking about the organization's mission or purpose statement, necessarily. i am talking about the things that god has called that specific church to accomplish for the kingdom. i think there are some things that every church ought to be about. these certainly include, but are not necessarily limited to, preaching/teaching the gospel and discipling believers. but churches are to do more than just that. also, how to do that will look differently in different churches. i was in a church recently that sees their mission as reaching the next generation. they have had this mission long enough that they likely are reaching their second "next generation". in reality, this church is constantly innovating to capture the hearts of young men and women with the gospel of jesus christ. some churches are missions-oriented churches. there is a church in toronto that is known for their support of and outreach through missions. churches i an urban setting have long reached out to meet the physical needs of their community. they often do this by feeding and clothing the poor or homeless, providing shelter, and some financial assistance.

but none of this answers the question: "should my church be missional?" if you use the more commonly demonstrated model of the missional church, i have to say "no". this view makes the mission of the church too small. the local church is a body of believers that has a multi-faceted mission. we are reach out with physical help, but we are to reach out with the gospel. by the way, when christians say that we should meet physical needs so that we have the opportunity to meet spiritual needs, they are only partly right. we should do that. i love the concept of "giving people what they need (spiritual) in the context of what they want (physical)". but that should not be our only motive for meeting physical needs or doing other good deeds. jesus said that we should let our light shine before all men so they may see our good works, and glorify our father in heaven. good works bring glory to god. that is reason enough to do good works. paul wrote in ephesians 2: "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." as followers of jesus christ, our salvation is by god's grace through faith. it is god's gift to us. no amount of works is enough and any attempt to work for it is an insult to god. but also, as followers of jesus christ, we are called to do good works. god has prepared these good works beforehand. if i want my children to wear a particular clothing outfit on a particular day, i prepare them beforehand. this should make it almost natural to wear these clothes. in the same way, god has prepared good works for us to walk in.

to truly be a missional church, it must walk in both parts of ephesians 2. it must show the way to salvation by grace through faith and it must walk in the good works that god has prepared for it to do. if that is the definition of mission, then the answer is, "yes, my church should definitely be a missional church.

What is a Missional Church?

there are an unbelievable number of labels for churches today. of course, there are the old stand-by denominational names. let's not forget names like conservative, liberal, fundamental, evangelical, etc. then there is the latest generation of monikers. these carry descriptors like purpose-driven, seeker sensitive, emerging, emergent, and - one of the latest names - missional. a church can, and probably should, be more than one of these. over the course of a few scattered posts, i am going to share some thoughts and answering some questions related to the term "missional church".

the term "missional church" is only about ten years old, but there are hundreds of thousands of hits on google for the term. with that many web pages related to the term, it is anybody's guess as to how many definitions there are for it. since everyone seems to be taking the liberty to define it how they see fit, i think i will do the same. i am finding it difficult to boil it down to just a few words. the origins of the phrase seem to be in discussing missio dei, or the mission of god. perhaps by the end of this post, i can cobble something together.

i wish i could avoid describing missional in negatives, but i am going to start there. one thing missional is not is missions. missions has been a program or a department within the local church. missional is a descriptor for the local church. it describes the whole church body.

there are many church leaders who describe themselves as missional. what they mean by that varies by leader. one hallmark of missional seems to be gaining consensus. this is the idea that being missional should focus on the kingdom message of jesus as recorded in the synoptic gospels. this does not take into account the other teachings of scripture. in the march issue of christianity today, todd billings describes it like this: "hearing (brian) mclaren and others, the kingdom often sounds like nothing more than a set of ethical activities in which anyone - christian, muslim, or atheist - can participate. the centrality of jesus christ himself can be eclipsed by the ethical 'message of jesus'." i love the idea of being missional, but not at the sacrifice of the truth of the word of god. it seems you can be in any faith tradition, keep that doctrine (or no doctrine at all), and be missional. many who claim the term missional say that traditional church has focused on doctrine to the exclusion of the rest of the mission of god. i cannot argue with that. most missional churches focus on the earthly aspects of the mission of god to the exclusion of evangelism, discipleship, and solid doctrine. the truth is that it is not an either/or, it is a both/and. i contend that you cannot be missional without embracing both aspects of the role of the church in the world. i would like to clarify something. i love the term missional church. i think it is what god has called the church to be. i do not like the meaning most missional churches give it. it seems to focus too narrowly on good works. if we are to truly be missional, we must be about sharing the good news of the savior, teaching true doctrine, and meeting the needs of those around us, both within and without the church. that is to be missional. missioal should be the sum of what the church is.