Defining Missional Church

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For 'missional church' to mean anything, it can't mean everything.

What it isn't.

The phrase ‘the missional church' seems to have come to the point where it has passed its ‘sell-by' date. For the past number of years the innovators have given way to the early adopters who have now seen the term become so much a part of mainstream evangelical language that it is almost not worth using anymore. Leaders, churches and denominations have all used the term ‘missional' to describe anything and everything from a women's fellowship to their latest evangelism program. In many circles the term has become tired and those who once wore the badge proudly are shying away from it altogether.

However, at Forge Canada, we don't want to give up on the term just yet. Admittedly, even saying ‘missional church' is misleading. It seems to us as if it is like saying ‘a bouncy trampoline.' Yet we believe there is still value in the phrase.

Becoming a missional church does not mean that you have adopted a new model of church. Many have used the term in their search for the latest silver bullet as they look for success and significance. Nor does it mean a new approach to evangelism. Although this may be a part of becoming missional, it more than likely points to the fact that the leader or church is still captive to a more modern mindset and has not yet grasped the holistic nature of the term. Becoming truly missional is about moving in a different direction.

Other Definitions

Many scholars and practitioners have walked this journey ahead of us and have defined missional church from their perspective. We thought it might be helpful to list some of the ones that we thought were most helpful and got us headed in the right direction. These include:

Alan Hirsch

A community of God's people that defines itself and organizes its life around its real purpose of being an agent of God's mission to the world.

Lois Barrett

A missional church is a church that is shaped by [or "The expression of the body of Christ that is truly missional is shaped by ..."] participating in God's mission, which is to set things right in a broken, sinful world, to redeem it, and to restore what God has always intended for the world. Missional churches see themselves not so much as sending, as being sent. A missional congregation lets God's mission permeate everything that the congregation does-from worship to witness to training members for discipleship. It bridges the gap between outreach and congregational life, since, in its life together, the church is to embody God's mission.
Lois Y. Barrett and others, Treasures In Clay Jars: Patterns in Missional
Faithfulness, (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2004)

Micah Challenge

God by his grace has given local churches the task of integral mission. The future of integral mission is in planting and enabling local churches to transform the communities of which they are part. Churches as caring and inclusive communities are at the heart of what it means to do integral mission. People are often attracted to the Christian community before they are attracted to the Christian message.

Forge Canada Definition

In the developing Forge Network across Canada, we have adopted the basic ideas of Charles Ringma and would describe missional church in the following way.

The missional church vision is not a programmatic response to the crisis of relevance, purpose and identity that the church in the Western World is facing, but a recapturing of biblical views of the Church all too frequently abandoned, ignored, or obscured through long periods of church history. It is a renewed theological vision of the church in mission, which redefines the nature, the mission and the organization of the local church around Jesus' proclamation of the good news of the Kingdom. Missional Churches seek to respond to God's invitation to join Him in His mission in and for the world, as a sign, a servant and a foretaste of this Kingdom.

Other Resources

There are a number of other key articles that one could and should read in this area. Check out the links listed below.

www.allelon.org (search missional church for helpful articles - Al Roxburgh)

www.theologymatters.com/TMIssues/SepOct04.pdf

www.ctlibrary.com/le/2008/fall (see Alan Hirsch's article entitled, Baggage Check)

www.missionalchurch.org/resources (Centre for Parish Development)

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