imagining how the church can reorient around mission

These last couple of days we have been in class I have thought a great deal about attractionallism, the traditional approach to reach out to one's community. This topic brings me back to my youth group days. My youth pastor lead a student led ministry where we were constantly figuring out new ways to attract students and how to keep them attending our youth group. I remember having a conversation with my youth pastor where he told me it is a constant battle to attract students in a world that offers so much more than a church could ever offer.

    This is where I first decided that the traditional approach (the attractional approach) simply wasn’t working, believe me, I practically lived at the church. It has been enlightening to see that there are other methods to living as the body of Christ. I think it is liberating to know that there is a much more effective method to living within the body and living incarnationally. I am excited to live incarnationally, to love the people within my context and to let God do the work in people rather than trying to do the work myself. I have tried to do the attracting myself through trying to persuade people into belief or inviting people to church in hopes that they will accept Christ. These methods never made a dent and I remember feeling discontent and useless to the Kingdom. In Short, I feel as if my eyes have been opened and a weight has been lifted in learning more about living missionally and incarnationally. The church needs to change if we want to truly live as the body of Christ but that cannot happen without each Christian's commitment to live incarnationally every day.

Until now (promptly after watching Mark Driscoll and Joshua Harris – both of whom are extremely "successful" and affluent pastors of their own independent mega-churches – interview, and at times almost interrogate, Chan about his St. Francis of Assi Assi-esque decision to leave the comforts of fame and fortune for poverty of the third world), I held Chan in the same regard as other mega-church pastors, such as Driscoll and Harris – not very favorably. Not to say that I am against everything that these modern day Christian heavyweights have done, I just have always had my own personal misgivings and hesitations – and at times nausea – when it came to mega-churches. Without being too damning and for lack of a better term or explanation – people just get nutty. read more

I am afraid.

It is a frightening thing to realize that the world in which you were raised is actually ending. Over. It is like walking out the door of your house and suddenly halting (with a firm grip on the door jamb) because the street that you would normally step onto has been replaced with the edge of a cliff. Staggering, open-mouthed, you stare at the head-spinning distance before you. And you scream silently, “Oh God! What does this mean?” read more

I once heard Karin Heller, a theology professor at Whitworth, say that she would rather see an impure church than a divided church. She is a devout Catholic, but sees great problems with her church; when asked if she would ever leave, however, she stated that the greatest way she sees fit for there to be change is only if people are willing to work from the inside out.

I began thinking about this while reading Missional Church, edited by Guder. Explaining the history of the North American church, it is brought up that denominations began to compete with one another. “No one church could establish complete domain throughout the colonies… the issue of pluralism had to be faced.” Pluralism, as we discussed in class, is the concept that all ideas brought to the table are legitimate and must be recognized. read more

                I have always heard people referring to groups gathered together, focusing on God as the Church. The phrase I have heard is, “We are the Church.” I never really thought much of this; it was just a
phrase that I identified myself with and ultimately overlooked. Reading Hayner’s Article, “The Story of the Missional Church,” I was intrigued when I read that the term Church was originally referred to as God’s people. However, the 4^th century is when this definition became vaguer and ultimately less meaningful. The building the believers met in developed the label of “Church,” rather than the people themselves being the Church. Sadly, this notion still exists widely today and even the people who attend the “Church” overlook it, such as I did. How does this affect someone’s outlook on their own faith or on the Christian belief system in general? What if someone never wants to enter, do to their understanding of the people that do enter? It breaks my heart to think about the group of people that never want to enter. Specifically, because they are so set in their pre-conceived notions of what goes on in the “Church,” along with the seemingly “self-righteous” people that come out of it, that they do not want anything to do with those that spend time there. What can we do in response? How can we as Christians affect these people in a positive way, to help better their understanding of us as a true Church body? I think it is essential to pray that God works in their hearts, to apologize for whatever initiated the bad taste towards us, and to not push anything on them. As we have talked about going out on mission, our drive should be to meet these people where they are at, letting God do the work and allowing him to change their outlook towards us to loving people with good intentions, rather than evil building dwellers.    

Missional or attractional church? It is now apparent that the traditional model of the church, the attractional model, is no longer able to reach the majority of the population; sixty to sixty-five percent of the populace in the United States is repulsed by the attractional model of church. This has led to calls for church reforms and for the development of a model of the church which is at least able to reach the whole of the population: the missional model. However, the attractional model is still able to reach up to 40% of the population with the message of Christ, so are we to completely abandon this historic form of church that has been used for 1700 years? It needn’t be an either-or question; it ought to be an “and.” We need churches that have preachers and teachers who are connected to the historical form and messages of the church, with apostolic leaders who are creatively expanding the ministries of the church into a culture that is largely ignorant of the Christian message. A church shouldn’t be limited to either/or options when both are able to reach out to a huge portion of the populace. What currently lacks for this to be a viable option for most churches is a balance of biblical leadership: Pastors, Teachers, Apostles, Evangelists, and Prophets. The church in America seems to be super loaded with pastors and teachers, but lacking the other three. We ought to begin inculcating balanced leadership within the church and searching for ways to make the gospel relevant to the entire populace; some of this will entail an attractional model, most will require something entirely new and specific to the cultural contexts which an individual church finds itself in.

God bless folks,

"It cannot be denied that the missio Dei notion has helped to articulate the conviction that neither the church nor any human agent can ever be considered the author or bearer of mission.  Mission is, primarily and ultimately the work of the Triune God, Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier, for the sake of the world, a ministry in which the church is privileged to participate"     –David Bosch

When our group read this quote in our Missional Church class, my right hand automatically reached down to my left wrist.  There beneath my sleeve was a small band—a piece of green yarn—cut and tied and kept there as a reminder.  It came from a Wednesday night, last December 15^th, when five girls that I lead in a youth ministry small group and I studied Romans 6.  In verse thirteen, Paul says, “…offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.”  The bracelet is a tangible reminder of our dedication to both thank God for His grace and to offer ourselves as a means to show His love to others. read more

Is it just me or is trying to get plugged into a church like trying to find a pair of shoes? I am speaking not of the church as the body of Christ but as a congregation that meets in a building (A church). I, of course, can’t speak for everyone, but this is how I see it. I don’t look for new shoes too often, but when I do there are certain things I always take into consideration. First of all, they have to fit me perfectly. I have a bad back so I need arch support. I look at the style and color and think does this fit my personality or my wardrobe? How well will this pair of shoes express who I am and match with what I already wear? Finally, I look at what can this new pair of shoes offer me that I haven’t experienced in an old pair of shoes. I think that choosing a church goes the same way in our heads. Will this church provide what I need it to? Will it change who I am or does it bring out positive qualities in me? Does it have support in all the right areas? Is it a perfect fit? I think that looking for the perfect fit has become something that modern Christians are too comfortable doing. We trust that some church out there is tailor-made just for us. I think the sad reality too is that new churches are looking to do just that. There are too many churches today looking to fit a specific niche; to reach a specific group of people. I wonder what would happen if churches didn’t worry about fitting into a niche or following a trend (or breaking an old one!), but instead opened their doors with the intention of reaching out to all people and exciting people about the church being a collective body not a building or a certain, isolated group of people.
-Jack

For the month of January there will be 22 guest posters on "The Drum" from a course I teach at Whitworth University to upper level theology majors entitled, "The Missional Church."  The blog will get a bit flooded, but also will bring insightful and provocative thoughts about missionality from a brilliant group of young people.

I hope you enjoy!