However, missional is also a dangerous word. It could kill your church. You cannot bolt "missional" onto your church like you could bolt cells onto your church or any other structure. Missional goes to the heart of the church. It will kill our church but it won't kill the church of Jesus Christ. It should and probably will kill centralised, over-led churches, consumer Christianity, passivity in the pews etc. By "kill" I mean these people will in all likelihood, leave your church. However, at the end of the day we are looking for churches that are:
•Less leadership driven and more every person driven. Although leadership still has a key role to play.
•Every saint is aware of holding the DNA of Jesus and the seeds of the church within them.
•Every saint furthers the vision of making disciples.
•Lowering the bar of permission to do Jesus ministry yet raising the bar of connectedness with leadership.
This is risky, exciting church!
This is risky, exciting church!
I like the four summary points.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree that cells is something you can bolt on to an existing structure. Many attempt to do that, but they do not result in true cells. I believe that if the transition is done thoroughly, it goes to the heart of the church. However, that is a transition that brings clear missional value and practice –– which, as you say, will kill off the sense of consumer ownership and leader control.
Bottom line is, I am all for those four values you listed and if it takes a lot of time and effort to achieve, it's the only realistic way of seeing "Your kingdom come".