Missions v. Missional Part 4
This perspective of a missional church starkly contrasts the typical church today that sees itself as a church that has missions. In these churches, missions are always done by a specially called person who is a missionary. Missions is always done in a foreign country. Missions is a program or ministry that is run by a committee in the church. The church goes on mission trips, has a missions fund, and has a missions bulletin board in the foyer with a map of the world with colored pushpins in it. Missions is completely separate from the church and exist out of the church. The church has missions.
Whereas a missional church understands the opposite—the mission of God has a church. This perspective changes everything. This means that the mission field is where the church is. We are all missionaries. There is no missions program. Instead, every program and ministry is a missional program. The church doesn’t run missions—the mission runs the church. The church doesn’t have a mission. The mission has a church. This is what it means to be a missional church. Being missional isn’t the next catchy fad, but instead it is being caught up in the mission of God.
Missions v. Missional Part 3
The word missional also gets its meaning and understanding from John 20:21 when Jesus tells his disciples, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” We must understand that the Father sent Jesus. God is a missionary God. God is on a mission to reconcile the entire world to Himself. Therefore, the Father sent Jesus into the world to usher in the Kingdom of God in order to begin this reconciliation. This is what theologians call the Missio Dei (Latin for Mission of God).
Jesus then tells his disciples that he is sending them on the same mission. Jesus calls his church to go into the world and to share that the King has come and that we can be reconciled to the Father. Being a missional church means that you understand that the church is sent on mission as an instrument and as a sign of the Missio Dei. Although the word missional has only been used for a few years, the concept has been around since the 1950s. Darrell L. Guder and Lois Barrett tell us the following:
By mid-century, the emphasis in mission thought shifted toward a theocentric approach that, in contrast, stressed the mission of God (Missio Dei) as the foundation for the mission of the church. The church became redefined as the community spawned by the mission of God and gathered up into that mission. The church was coming to understand that in any place it is a community sent by God. “Mission” is not something the church does, a part of its total program. No, the church’s essence is missional, for the calling and sending action of God forms its identity. Mission is founded on the mission of God in the world, rather than the church’s effort to extend itself.[1]
A missional church exists because of and for the mission of God.
[1] Darrell L. Guder and Lois Barrett, Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998), 82.
Missions v. Missional Part 1
What is the difference between a church that has missions and a missional church? This seems to be the question that everyone is asking lately, and it has been one that I’ve been developing a personal answer to for a while.
There always seems to be a new buzzword in Christian circles every few years. The words enter our vocabulary quickly and leave just as fast. People reword mission and purpose statements around them, and some even restructure their entire church around them. “Seeker-sensitive,” “purpose-driven,” “organic,” and “emerging” are just a few, but the newest to be added to the list is the word “missional.” It is the new buzzword of our day. There are missional churches, missional small groups, missional preaching, missional books, missional degrees, and even missional missiology.
But what does “missional” mean exactly? Most people use it without even stopping to determine what it means. Worst yet, some simply make it mean what they want it to mean to give themselves license to do idiotic and irrelevant acts. This is a sad thing, because the word missional has a deep and beautiful meaning for our churches today.
What is a Disciple of Jesus? – Part VII – Being on Mission
Jesus was sent on mission into our world. God the Father sent Jesus into this world to “seek and save the lost.”[i] As we are made into the image of Christ we are sent too. From the beginning, Jesus’ desire wasn’t for us to receive his gift of salvation and then be whisked off to heaven. Jesus’ prayer for us as his disciples was clear and simple.
I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.[ii]
As Christ followers, we have been blessed with a great gift. Jesus has trusted us to share his good news with those around us. This is a beautiful and simple task, but it isn’t easy. Just as the world was against Jesus, it will be against us. Jesus didn’t send us into the world alone though.
When Jesus told his disciple to love one another in John 13:34-35, he wasn’t telling them to live in loving community for the benefit of each other (although there are benefits to living in loving community). It was for the benefit of those around them. “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”[iii] We are called to share the good news of Jesus through the instrument of community.
There are two areas that can hurt our mission to image Jesus to the world that are found in Jesus’ prayer in John 17:14-18. The first is if we are part of the world. Jesus was not of this world. He lived differently than everyone around him. He handled money differently. He handled relationships differently. He handled work differently. He handled family differently. He handled love differently. Jesus lived a life different from the world around him. We are called to do the same thing. By living differently than the world around us, we bring the focus to Jesus who is the instrument of salvation.
The second area that can hinder our mission is if we separate ourselves from the world. Jesus was different as he was in the world. He didn’t escape the dirt and evil of this world, but instead dived deep into it to shine His light into the darkness. He ate and drank with alcoholics, corrupt city officials, prostitutes, self-righteous religious leaders, disease- infested street dwellers, and blue-collar workers. Who cares if we have the hope of Jesus if it doesn’t make a difference in the world around us? Like Jesus, we are sent into the world and share that hope. We glorify Jesus when we are in the world but not of the world. Spend this week focusing on how you are sent to be a light in this dark and dying world.
[i] Luke 19:10 (ESV)
[ii] John 17:14-18 (ESV)
[iii] John 13:35 (ESV)
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