A Review 1

        The missional leader walks through what a missional church looks like and how the mission that God has given the church impacts the daily lives of the congregations, as well as giving a plan to transition an existing seeker – sensitive church into a missional church.ⁱ This currently is a place where many churches find themselves today. After the church growth movement of the 80’s and 90’s, churches are now finding that what worked 20 years ago to reach their community, no longer works. It does not connect with the current world that we live in, it is outdated.ⁱⁱ

In the past, a preacher could stand up, give a gospel presentation and know with a sense of certainty, that many people already knew the story. Evangelism rested on presentations of lists, laws, facts about the resurrection, the existence of God, etc; but according to Lifeway research, “A majority of unchurched Americans are turned off by the institutional church and don’t have a biblical understanding about God and Jesus, yet they believe Jesus makes a positive difference in a person’s life and would enjoy an honest discussion with a friend about spiritual matters” (Unchurched Americans turned off by church, open to Christians (2000)). Now, evangelism centers more on our stories, gaining a hearing by how we live instead of what we know. People outside of the church do not start with a Judeo-Christian worldview; instead they may follow the teachings of Buddha, Mohammed, Kaballah, Jesus, or a combination of the aforementioned. Their view of Christianity is not often a positive one, as pointed out by several recent books.ⁱⁱⁱ

Many people do not question the validity of Christianity, instead they question whether or not Christians actual follow the teachings of Jesus. As Dan Kimball in his book They like Jesus but not the church points out through various stories, people in our culture are “into” Jesus, He is more hip than ever. The problem is, most Americans do not associate the teachings of Jesus with the church, and this is where we find ourselves.

In many churches, the effectiveness of the church is measured by the Sunday worship gathering. The goal is to get as many people as possible to come to church, to see what we do and because of the relevant impact this has on each person, they will be convinced to join us. It is becoming more apparent, that the lists and facts that we once based our evangelism on and the processes that we use to woo our community is having less of an impact than 20 years ago.^iv This process gives people an opportunity to observe what we do, kick the tires and check things out. For some, this is a great way to find God. The missional church contends that most people in our culture are not looking for this when it comes to their spirituality. They do not want to come into a large room with people they don’t know, observe our rituals and traditions (anonymously) and then leave. What the authors propose (2006, p. 147 – table 8.1) is that the church is to be in the culture, doing things, making an impact in the world they inhabit. The church is to exist outside of Sunday morning and the front door to the church may be a Sunday morning gathering, but more often than not, it will be a small group, a serving project or a mission’s trip.

The problem in many churches is not the lack of desire to become like this, but a lack of vision and leadership from the top. In my experience, if the senior leader does not get behind something, it will not make it. This does not always have to be the lead pastor, but typically it is. It is one thing to say a vision; it is a completely different thing to embody it. People will not jump on board to a vision that the leader is not already doing.

One of the most interesting things the authors took issue with was business leadership principles entering the church. One of the more popular principles comes from Jim Collins book Good to great (2001) where he states that what makes a great company is “they first get the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) and then figured out where to drive it” (p. 41). As one looks at scripture “there is nothing in these stories about getting the wrong people off the bus and getting the right ones on to accomplish great ends and become the best organization in the world. This God who pursues us is always calling the wrong people onto a bus that isn’t expected to arrive” (Roxburgh and Romanuk, 2006, p. 18).

What needs to be rediscovered in our churches is not the pastor/leader as the CEO speaking out God’s vision from up on high. What we need are more leaders who want to serve as guides for the people in their churches. So that together we will discover what God’s mission is for our individual community. Too often, we look to one leader to go away and come back with God’s vision, but what if it came from the community, embodied by that community, instead of given by a single leader with the hope everyone will buy into it? Leadership “is cultivating an environment that releases the missional imagination of the people of God” (Roxburgh and Romanuk, 2006, p. 122). This means, leaders must create places where people can hear from God, where people can be able to dream about what God might do among us, what God might call us to as a community. A place where anyone can come and say, “Here is what God is saying to me about our community…” The question the leaders then ask is “Is this what God is calling us to? Is this for us right now?” It must always go back to what God is calling us to and that is to live and embody the mission of God.

What is that mission, what does missional church look like? Roxburgh and Romanuk (2006) define the missional church as “a community of God’s people who live into the imagination that they are, by their very nature, God’s missionary people living as a demonstration of what God plans to do in and for all of creation in Jesus Christ” (p. xv). Dan Kimball said, “Being missional means the church sees itself as being missionaries, rather than having a missions department. We see ourselves as representatives of Jesus “sent” into our communities. We see the church not as a place we go only on Sunday, but something we are throughout the week. We understand that we don’t “bring Jesus” to people but that we realize Jesus is active in culture and we join him in what he is doing” (2007, p. 20).

This is very different from what many churches look like today. For many leaders, this is a radical shift in how they think about church, evangelism, community, culture and leadership. It is a shift that needs to happen if we are going to regain ground in our culture and help people find God.

The missional leader was a great book, one that should be read by leaders who want their church to be more of what God dreamed the church could be. It is a book that calls churches back to their mission of God, being missionaries in their cultures. For too long, churches have lost the mission, become more passive in our culture, more defensive, trying to keep the culture out. Jesus told his disciples “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Gates in the 1^st century were used to keep people out, they were defensive. As a church, we are to be on the offense. I like to say that our job is to storm the gates of hell armed with our super soakers; we need to recapture this mission, this passion. This is what our world is looking for; this is what our world is hoping the church could be like. It is time we be what God has called us to be.

i

Footnotes

^ Defined as “a movement within Evangelical Christianity which emphasizes missionary work combined with sociological awareness of the target population.” (Found on January 15, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeker_sensitive)

iiHawkins, G., Parkinson, C. (2007). Reveal: Where are you. Barrington: Willow Creek Association.

iii Kimball, D. (2007). They like Jesus but not the church: Insights from emerging generations. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Kinnamann, D., Lyons, G. (2007). unChristian: What a new generation thinks about Christianity…and why it matters. Grand Rapids: Baker.

iv Barna, G. (2005). Revolution: Finding vibrant faith beyond the walls of the sanctuary. Wheaton: Tyndale.