| |  Village Children,
Eastern Cape
of South Africa.In this usage "missional" has rapidly entered the lexicon of the growing emerging church movement whose participants have popularized the term, enabling participants in this movement to recognize each other across denominational lines. Different emergents may use the term with different nuances and connotations, but the term persists as essentially a postmodern alternative to the ecclesiology and missiology of Evangelical Christians. The practical outworking of emergent, missional living does not coincide with the emphases on propositional evangelism, teaching, and holiness found in historic Christianity. Missional believers are more inclusive than exclusive, refusing to identify boundaries that could be perceived as an "us vs. them" mentality. Within this atmosphere so-called missional believers seek to enhance the lives of all postmoderns regardless of their belief system or lifestyle. In his book, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God Dallas Willard says "The most telling thing about the contemporary Christian is that he or she has no compelling sense that understanding of and conformity with the clear teachings of Christ is of any vital importance to [their] life, and certainly not that it is in any way essential..Such obedience is regarded as just out of the question or impossible." Missional living is a commonality displayed in emergent churches. In its broadest form, it is the belief that all believers are active missionaries of Christ in their daily lives. In contemporary, postmodern usage "missional" has become more narrow in scope than traditional terms such as "mission" and "outreach" which infer the inclusion of propositional evangelism and instruction. Jason Zahariades identifies the difference between a traditional "disciple making," evangelical church and a missional church as fundamentally theological. Missional churches are non-traditional in more than methodology. Their non-traditional methodology and tolerance results from an embrace of postmodern epistemology that changes their theological self-understanding. Any differences in activity result from this difference in identity. This postmodern identity causes missional believers and churches to identify with culture rather than consider themselves alien "prophets" to it. Understanding Missional The Oxford English Dictionary defines missional as "relating to or connected with a religious mission; missionary." In contemporary use "missional" is an alternative for the adjective "missionary." "Missional then, no matter what noun it is modifying, must qualify the meaning of that noun by referencing God’s mission as defined by Scripture. More specifically, missional limits any noun that it modifies to the temporary mission task of the Church to make disciples of all ta ethne for God’s glory and worship … Therefore, a local church is missional when it intentionally pursues God’s mission for His glory among all peoples by following His patterns and His ways of expanding His kingdom." The missional living concept is rooted in the Missio dei, which means “the sending of God” in Latin. In 1934, Karl Hartenstein, a German missiologist, coined the phrase in response to Karl Barth and his emphasis on actio Dei (Latin for “the action of God”). According to Lesslie Newbigin and Jesus' statements in the Gospel according to John, every Christian has been sent by Jesus with the gospel together in community to those in the surrounding culture for the sake of the King and His kingdom: “The Church is sent into the world to continue that which he came to do, in the power of the same Spirit, reconciling people to God.” Jesus said, “As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you” (John 20:21). "No one can say: ‘Since I’m not called to be a missionary, I do not have to evangelize my friends and neighbors.’ There is no difference, in spiritual terms, between a missionary witnessing in his home town and a missionary witnessing in Katmandu, Nepal. We are all called to go—even if it is only to the next room, or the next block.”" A missional (missionary) perspective Missional living is the embodiment of the mission of Jesus in the world by incarnating the gospel. "It is imperative that Christians be like Jesus, by living freely within the culture as missionaries who are as faithful to God the Father and His gospel as Jesus was in his own time and place." This embodiment of the gospel is often referred to as "contextualization" or "inculturation." "Both refer to more than a simple translation of the gospel into different languages and cultures in the way that one translates a history book or a science text. Rather, they point to the embodiment of the living Word in human culture and social settings in such a way that its divine nature and power are not lost. True contextualization is more than communication. It is God working in the hearts of people, making them new and forming them into a new community. It is his Word transforming their lives, their societies, their cultures." These five biblical distinctives form the foundation of a missional perspective: | Sent Jesus sent His disciples on a mission. The missional church defines itself in terms of its mission—being sent ones who take the gospel to and incarnate the gospel within a specific cultural context. "Jesus was the first apostle. He was sent by his Father. He, in turn, sent the Twelve. They went to people who would then take the gospel to the rest of the world. Whoever received it would understand that they, too, had been sent. With the gospel being what it is, the church as bearer of the gospel is bound to be apostolic." Cross Jesus said that He came to earth to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10). He accomplished salvation through the cross. By dying on the cross, He paid the penalty for sin and satisfied God’s wrath. According to Scripture, without the cross, there is no salvation, no forgiveness, and no hope; because of the cross, there is eternal life. The mission and message of Jesus surround the cross. “For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18). Community Jesus loves the Church and He gave His life to redeem the Church. Community exists for Mission! Christians are to bring the gospel together to the culture. "The church is called to do the work of Christ, to be the means of his action in and for the world..Mission, in its widest as well as its more focused senses, is what the church is there for. God intends to put the world to rights; he has dramatically launched this project through Jesus. Those who belong to Jesus are called, here and now, in the power of the Spirit, to be agents of that putting-to-rights purpose." Culture George Peters notes, “If man is to be reached, he must be reached within his own culture.” This principle is observed when God became a man in the form of Jesus to come to earth and incarnate the gospel. As missionaries sent by Jesus, every Christian must learn to exegete their surrounding culture, uncovering the language, values, and ideas of the culture. Using this information, they take steps to reach people with the gospel message in the context of the surrounding culture. King and Kingdom The kingdom was central to Jesus' message and mission. The Acts of the Apostles ends with Paul, under house arrest in Rome, “proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance” (Acts 28:31). Christians are sent to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom so that others may enter the kingdom. George Hunsberger conveys the idea that the Church is pointing beyond itself to the kingdom of God. The Church is not an end in itself; God has a mission that goes beyond the Church which includes the kingdom. The kingdom and the Church must never be divorced, yet they also must never be equated. In a similar way, “the reign must never be separated from the One who reigns.” The kingdom is always at the heart of the King. As the term has come to be closely associated with the emerging church movement, it has come to represent the belief that the Spirit of God is alive and active in the people of God, namely the church as a whole. This approach tends to emphasize the importance of the involvement of "laymembers" and "lay-leaders" in churches. Mark A. Driscoll (PastorMark), for example, helped start theresurgence.com, a repository of missional theology resources, and has contributed to the "Faith and Values" section of the Seattle Times. As such, many emergent churches actively seek to involve members in ministry, inviting them to participate in the mission of Christ using the talents and skills they have. Members are encouraged to find a place where they can contribute to the local community of believers. Due to the young nature of the missional and emergent movement, specific “missional living” practices vary greatly between churches. Further "Missional Christian" Reading Theological and Philosophical Background - Lesslie Newbigin. The Open Secret, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (February 1995).
- Lesslie Newbigin. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (December 1989).
Practical Implications - George R. Hunsberger and Craig Van Gelder eds., The Church Between Gospel and Culture: The Emerging Mission in North America, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (March 1996).
- Darrell Guder (Editor), Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (February 1998).
- Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch. The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21 Century Church, Hendrickson Publishers (November 2003).
- Ed Stetzer and David Putman. Breaking the Missional Code, B&H Publishing Group (May 2006).
- Alan Hirsch. The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church, Brazos (2007).
- Alan J. Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk. The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World, Jossey-Bass (April 7, 2006).
- Michael Frost. Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture, Hendrickson Publishers (July 25, 2006).
- Dan Kimball. They Like Jesus But Not the Church Zondervan (2007)
Other online resources see also: the emerging church
The forum for Missional Conversation is South Africa
Christian and Missionary Alliance | |