The interviews I conducted for a research project in early 2010 resulted in four key findings. In parts 1 and 2 of my blogs on these findings, I noted that missional practitioners seem to have a focus on or passion for renewed theology and reshaped leadership. Part 3 of the Interview Results reveals a new topic: re-prioritization of holistic discipleship.
Reprioritization of Holistic Discipleship
Another pragmatic approach revealed to be true in the missional communities led by the respondents is a reprioritization holistic discipleship in the church. Reacting to the programmatic and event-driven nature of the contemporary church, a majority of respondents stated that the church needs to again make reproducing disciples its primary focus. Respondents also claimed that the church needs not only to reprioritize discipleship, but also to abandon discipleship approaches based only on knowledge and add instead include approaches that include experience-based discipleship as well knowledge based discipleship. Though not every respondent used the terminology of experienced-based discipleship, six of the seven spoke about viewing discipleship as holistic, implying that discipleship pertains to every area of life. More specifically, missional discipleship means teaching people who to live on mission for God in every area of their life and in everything they do. One respondent said that in his old, contemporary church he would meet an actor and say, “I need to get this actor onto my drama team.” With a missional mindset, though, the same respondent would now say, “I need to help this actor be the best actor he can be so he can be a missionary to other actors.”
The strongest belief about discipleship that was revealed by the data collected from the interviews pertains to community. Every respondent remarked about the importance of community for the disciple and for the discipleship process. Community to the respondents is not found in small groups, church programs, once a week worship gatherings. Instead, community is about developing a rhythm of life together with others. This rhythm requires sacrifice of time and frequent proximity. The rhythm includes doing mission together on a regular basis as well as other common discipleship tools such as Bible study, prayer, and fellowship. A vast majority of contemporary churches also teach the importance of community, claiming that it is the place where discipleship happens best. Missional churches do not claim discipleship happens best in community. Instead, they teach that disciples live out the mission of God best in community.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Understanding Missional - Interview Results Part 2 of 4
Review
Yesterday I concluded that the 7 interviews done with missional practitioners from across the country revealed that the key belief driving the missional movement was "the belief that the Western Church has lost its true identity." The way these practitioners said the church could regain its true identities is "through the renewal of theology, the reshaping of leadership, and the reprioritization of holistic discipleship and entering the long-term transition process." Part 1 (posted on 5/4) detailed what a renewed theology might look like. Part 2, todays post, details a reshaped leadership.
Reshaped Leadership
Since each of the respondents interviewed was involved in a local missional movement at some level, it is not surprising that they offered practical steps the church can take to regain its true identity as well as theoretical frameworks for regaining the lost identity. Six of the seven respondents either alluded to or directly stated the belief that the church needs to reshape the way it does leadership. Respondents’ comments imply that a reshaped leadership begins with a shared or team-based approach. Speaking to this point, one respondent described the leadership team as his friends with whom he spends every Sunday afternoon relaxing, playing games, and sharing food. This family or friendly feeling seemed to permeate the majority of leadership teams described by the respondents. As friends and family, it was natural for leaders to share responsibility, make decisions together, and develop a more flattened hierarchy than is often seen in contemporary churches. The reason a flattened hierarchy metaphor frequently surfaced as made clear by one respondent who is leading a church planting church. He said, “If you want to build a big church, all you need are two to three superstar staff members, but if you want to develop a church planting movements, you need to be reproducing lots of leaders who share the vision, values, and direction of the team.” Building a team of this manner happens best for those in the missional movement when they are friends, peers, and family instead of bosses and employees.
Respondents also suggested a reshaped leadership focuses upon equipping people for ministry. While many contemporary churches would also say the same of leadership, those in the missional movement seem to take the belief one step further. In fact, one respondent admitted that he was actually out of a job because he had just equipped someone to take over his role in the congregation. In order to be true to his title as equipper, he stepped aside to let the new person fill the role, leaving himself without a source of income.
The radical stepping aside of the respondent aforementioned reveals one of the strongest beliefs about leadership in the missional movement: leaders cannot only teach their followers from the pulpit, in the classroom, or through curriculum and Bible studies. Instead, the respondents strongly claimed that missional leaders must model missional living for the members of the congregation. Six of the seven respondents made this point about leadership, each one of them telling stories about leaders who were able to do much more than anyone imagined simply because they modeled what missional living might look like for their followers. Though not as strongly stated, it was often suggested that leaders need not have everything about living missionally figured out, but that they must be willing to practice mission in community with others. Through the process of success, failure, and eventually, learning, both the leader and the community grow in their understanding of how to live on mission for God. This process may seem chaotic, but leadership, according to the respondents, is a messy process that involves asking questions instead of answering them, offering suggestions instead of giving orders, and pointing in a direction instead of drawing out the map.
Tomorrow, part 3 of 4 will detail the necessity for prioritizing holistic discipleship.
Yesterday I concluded that the 7 interviews done with missional practitioners from across the country revealed that the key belief driving the missional movement was "the belief that the Western Church has lost its true identity." The way these practitioners said the church could regain its true identities is "through the renewal of theology, the reshaping of leadership, and the reprioritization of holistic discipleship and entering the long-term transition process." Part 1 (posted on 5/4) detailed what a renewed theology might look like. Part 2, todays post, details a reshaped leadership.
Reshaped Leadership
Since each of the respondents interviewed was involved in a local missional movement at some level, it is not surprising that they offered practical steps the church can take to regain its true identity as well as theoretical frameworks for regaining the lost identity. Six of the seven respondents either alluded to or directly stated the belief that the church needs to reshape the way it does leadership. Respondents’ comments imply that a reshaped leadership begins with a shared or team-based approach. Speaking to this point, one respondent described the leadership team as his friends with whom he spends every Sunday afternoon relaxing, playing games, and sharing food. This family or friendly feeling seemed to permeate the majority of leadership teams described by the respondents. As friends and family, it was natural for leaders to share responsibility, make decisions together, and develop a more flattened hierarchy than is often seen in contemporary churches. The reason a flattened hierarchy metaphor frequently surfaced as made clear by one respondent who is leading a church planting church. He said, “If you want to build a big church, all you need are two to three superstar staff members, but if you want to develop a church planting movements, you need to be reproducing lots of leaders who share the vision, values, and direction of the team.” Building a team of this manner happens best for those in the missional movement when they are friends, peers, and family instead of bosses and employees.
Respondents also suggested a reshaped leadership focuses upon equipping people for ministry. While many contemporary churches would also say the same of leadership, those in the missional movement seem to take the belief one step further. In fact, one respondent admitted that he was actually out of a job because he had just equipped someone to take over his role in the congregation. In order to be true to his title as equipper, he stepped aside to let the new person fill the role, leaving himself without a source of income.
The radical stepping aside of the respondent aforementioned reveals one of the strongest beliefs about leadership in the missional movement: leaders cannot only teach their followers from the pulpit, in the classroom, or through curriculum and Bible studies. Instead, the respondents strongly claimed that missional leaders must model missional living for the members of the congregation. Six of the seven respondents made this point about leadership, each one of them telling stories about leaders who were able to do much more than anyone imagined simply because they modeled what missional living might look like for their followers. Though not as strongly stated, it was often suggested that leaders need not have everything about living missionally figured out, but that they must be willing to practice mission in community with others. Through the process of success, failure, and eventually, learning, both the leader and the community grow in their understanding of how to live on mission for God. This process may seem chaotic, but leadership, according to the respondents, is a messy process that involves asking questions instead of answering them, offering suggestions instead of giving orders, and pointing in a direction instead of drawing out the map.
Tomorrow, part 3 of 4 will detail the necessity for prioritizing holistic discipleship.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Understanding Missional - Interview Results Part 1 of 4
After interviewing 7 different respondents from across the country, here are the conclusions I reached about what is driving the missional movement. Enjoy!
Results of Qualitative Research
According to the data collected from every respondent interviewed, the primary belief driving the missional movement in the West seems to be the belief that the Western Church has lost its true identity. Whereas Scripture teaches that the church is the kingdom people of God called and sent to participate in God’s mission in the world, those in the missional movement believe that the church has instead become a place and a program focused on growth and success instead of mission. The missional movement is not simply another church growth tool or a new thing for Christians to do. Instead, the missional movement is all about the identity of the church. Most importantly, the missional movement is focused upon helping the church realize that the loss of its true identity is not a problem to be ignored. Rather, the missional church is teaching that the Western church must regain its true identity through the renewal of theology, the reshaping of leadership, the reprioritization of holistic discipleship, and entering the long-term transition process.
Renewed Theology
According to the respondents, the renewed theology driving the missional movement begins with the belief that God is a missionary God. The missionary nature of God is seen both in his huge mission of complete and total reconciliation and in his sending nature. Reconciliation, restoration and renewal seem to be the respondents’ favorite descriptors of God’s purpose for the world. When God is seen in this light, the Gospel becomes a narrative about the fulfillment of God’s mission or purposes. One respondent described the Gospel as more “robust,” “exciting,” and “alive” among missional churches. Instead of seeing the Gospel as a story about how God wants Christians to go to heaven, the same respondent said that it is a story about how God wants Christians to bring heaven to earth.
The final major theological category identified by respondents is ecclesiology. Four of the seven respondents claimed it is only in the identity of a missionary God and the story of God’s mission found in the Gospel that the church can fully understand its identity as the sign, foretaste, and instrument of God’s kingdom (also referred to as God’s reign, mission, and purpose). Perhaps more than in any other section of the interviews, respondents spoke most passionately and fluidly about the need for the church to seriously consider its current self-awareness and how this awareness would compare to the church seen in Scripture as the people of God sent to live under God’s rule for the blessing of the world and the glory of God.
Up next, reshaping leadership in the missional church.
Results of Qualitative Research
According to the data collected from every respondent interviewed, the primary belief driving the missional movement in the West seems to be the belief that the Western Church has lost its true identity. Whereas Scripture teaches that the church is the kingdom people of God called and sent to participate in God’s mission in the world, those in the missional movement believe that the church has instead become a place and a program focused on growth and success instead of mission. The missional movement is not simply another church growth tool or a new thing for Christians to do. Instead, the missional movement is all about the identity of the church. Most importantly, the missional movement is focused upon helping the church realize that the loss of its true identity is not a problem to be ignored. Rather, the missional church is teaching that the Western church must regain its true identity through the renewal of theology, the reshaping of leadership, the reprioritization of holistic discipleship, and entering the long-term transition process.
Renewed Theology
According to the respondents, the renewed theology driving the missional movement begins with the belief that God is a missionary God. The missionary nature of God is seen both in his huge mission of complete and total reconciliation and in his sending nature. Reconciliation, restoration and renewal seem to be the respondents’ favorite descriptors of God’s purpose for the world. When God is seen in this light, the Gospel becomes a narrative about the fulfillment of God’s mission or purposes. One respondent described the Gospel as more “robust,” “exciting,” and “alive” among missional churches. Instead of seeing the Gospel as a story about how God wants Christians to go to heaven, the same respondent said that it is a story about how God wants Christians to bring heaven to earth.
The final major theological category identified by respondents is ecclesiology. Four of the seven respondents claimed it is only in the identity of a missionary God and the story of God’s mission found in the Gospel that the church can fully understand its identity as the sign, foretaste, and instrument of God’s kingdom (also referred to as God’s reign, mission, and purpose). Perhaps more than in any other section of the interviews, respondents spoke most passionately and fluidly about the need for the church to seriously consider its current self-awareness and how this awareness would compare to the church seen in Scripture as the people of God sent to live under God’s rule for the blessing of the world and the glory of God.
Up next, reshaping leadership in the missional church.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
The Foundation of Any Church
Louis Giglio reminded us of an important truth at the Exponential conference in Orlando, Florida yesterday. Before I go down to the hotel lobby to eat some breakfast, I thought I would share his points.
Bascially, Louis asked "Where does our power come from as church planters? What should we do as church planters?"
His answers were simple, but spelled out in profound ways. Our foundations, as church leaders, are these three simple things:
1. The teachings of Jesus
2. The resurrection of Jesus
3. The power of the Holy Spirit.
Giglio went on to make a few interesting point son each topic.
1. It is not about preaching well so that people compliment us. Preaching is simply about helping people to hear the word of God and doing that well.
2. In evangelicalism, we need to talk more about the resurrection, because it is the hope of the world.
3. We need to appreciate the power of the Holy Spirit. Think about it, have you ever called the Spirit an "it" instead of a "him." If we call the Spirit it, we lose the power of thinking about Him as the Spirit of the Living God.
Passionate preacher, good stuff. Makes me want to continue my journey to be a man of the Word with much more vigor!
Bascially, Louis asked "Where does our power come from as church planters? What should we do as church planters?"
His answers were simple, but spelled out in profound ways. Our foundations, as church leaders, are these three simple things:
1. The teachings of Jesus
2. The resurrection of Jesus
3. The power of the Holy Spirit.
Giglio went on to make a few interesting point son each topic.
1. It is not about preaching well so that people compliment us. Preaching is simply about helping people to hear the word of God and doing that well.
2. In evangelicalism, we need to talk more about the resurrection, because it is the hope of the world.
3. We need to appreciate the power of the Holy Spirit. Think about it, have you ever called the Spirit an "it" instead of a "him." If we call the Spirit it, we lose the power of thinking about Him as the Spirit of the Living God.
Passionate preacher, good stuff. Makes me want to continue my journey to be a man of the Word with much more vigor!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The Lifelong Task of Forming Self to God
Quote from Thomas Merton
The person "who attempts to act and think for others or for the world without deepening his own self-understanding, freedom, integrity and capacity to love, will not have anything to give others. He will communicate to them nothing but the contagion of his own obsessions, his aggressiveness, his ego-centered ambitions, his delusions about ends and means, his doctrinaire prejudices and ideas."
My Reaction
As I read this quote this morning over my 6 a.m. cup of coffee, it totally rocked my world. It is so easy for me to shout that the church needs to be different and needs to adopt missional theology, ecclesiology, and lifestyles. If I do not attend to God, all I will be doing is shouting my anger, my thoughts, and my pride. It would be better for me to attend to God and never to speak at all then to shout at the world through my own voice.
My Prayer
Father, speak through me, be it a whisper or a shout or anything in between, the words you want your church to hear. Remind me to always attend to you first, so that my words are never my own. For all those who, like me, desire to prophetically call the church to change, draw them first to you and then send them out into the world. Amen.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Great Lecture by Mike Frost - Mission
In a recent 1-hr session taught by Mike Frost, author of Exiles and co-author of The Shaping of Things to Come, Frost discussed his perspectives on mission.
Here is a brief summary of his points:
1. The Source of Mission - the missio dei. God, in his nature, because of his love, is a sent and sending God. God is sent in the fact that his love compels him to extend out beyond himself for others. God is sending in that as Trinity, each person sends the other out of love into the world to bring about the purpose of salvation, reconciliation, and restoration. (I was a little fuzzy on the sent nature of God, but I am simply trying to record his points so I kept it in the post)
2. The Goal of Mission - alert the world of the reign of God through Christ. Our goal in participating in God's mission is to make people aware of the simple fact that our God reigns. The goal is not church growth, ecological restoration, extending the kingdom of God or the mission statement of a particular church. Frost argues our goal is simply to alert others that this world is God's and he reigns completely, though we do not yet fully realize, understand, or live under his reign.
3. The Method of Mission - Announcement and Demonstration. As the church, we announce God's reign and we demonstrate it. To announce the reign, we must ask "What does the reign of God look like in this context?" and communicate the answer to the context. To demonstrate God's reign, we must live under the reign in the context and work to bring others' lives under the reign of God as well.
4. The Outcome of Mission - the church. The outcome of God's mission for the world is the church, local and universal. A particular church does not concoct its mission for God. The mission of God concocts the church.
Much more could be written on this, but for now, this will do. Mike Frost - read his stuff. Good guy, great thinker, a new friend.
Here is a brief summary of his points:
1. The Source of Mission - the missio dei. God, in his nature, because of his love, is a sent and sending God. God is sent in the fact that his love compels him to extend out beyond himself for others. God is sending in that as Trinity, each person sends the other out of love into the world to bring about the purpose of salvation, reconciliation, and restoration. (I was a little fuzzy on the sent nature of God, but I am simply trying to record his points so I kept it in the post)
2. The Goal of Mission - alert the world of the reign of God through Christ. Our goal in participating in God's mission is to make people aware of the simple fact that our God reigns. The goal is not church growth, ecological restoration, extending the kingdom of God or the mission statement of a particular church. Frost argues our goal is simply to alert others that this world is God's and he reigns completely, though we do not yet fully realize, understand, or live under his reign.
3. The Method of Mission - Announcement and Demonstration. As the church, we announce God's reign and we demonstrate it. To announce the reign, we must ask "What does the reign of God look like in this context?" and communicate the answer to the context. To demonstrate God's reign, we must live under the reign in the context and work to bring others' lives under the reign of God as well.
4. The Outcome of Mission - the church. The outcome of God's mission for the world is the church, local and universal. A particular church does not concoct its mission for God. The mission of God concocts the church.
Much more could be written on this, but for now, this will do. Mike Frost - read his stuff. Good guy, great thinker, a new friend.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Missional Literature Review - Part 11 - The Key to Understanding Missional
The Key to Understanding Missional
Seemingly every major scholarly presentation about missional living begins with a disclaimer, which notes how missional has become a buzz word used by churches, parachurch organizations, and Christians alike to refer to everything from world mission strategies to church growth. The disclaimer is then often followed by a few pages detailing the major world councils, the work of Leslie Newbingin, the efforts of the Gospel and Our Culture Network, and the seminal work edited by Darrell Guder, Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America, as the foundations of the true meaning of missional. Summing up these foundations, missional living is characterized by a covenanting community engaged in cultural analysis and theological reflection in order to live out God’s mission in the world.
Seemingly every major scholarly presentation about missional living begins with a disclaimer, which notes how missional has become a buzz word used by churches, parachurch organizations, and Christians alike to refer to everything from world mission strategies to church growth. The disclaimer is then often followed by a few pages detailing the major world councils, the work of Leslie Newbingin, the efforts of the Gospel and Our Culture Network, and the seminal work edited by Darrell Guder, Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America, as the foundations of the true meaning of missional. Summing up these foundations, missional living is characterized by a covenanting community engaged in cultural analysis and theological reflection in order to live out God’s mission in the world.
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