Meanings of Being Missional
What it means to be Missional Church
- A guide and philosophy for personal and corporate ministry, It emphasizes a holistic concern for both the spiritual and human flourishing of people impacted by the love of Christ flowing through His Followers wirthin in the larger, secular or un-churched community. It adapts patterns developed by the more successful overseas missionary movement that took culture and language seriously, building schools and hospitals (and in many other ways, large and small) demonstrating the love of Christ. While evangelism is central to our call to spread the Good News of Christ (as in the Great Commission), we do it also in the context of what Christ taught his example and teaching (including the Greatest Commandment).
- A institution, or church, that gives priority to outward-oriented (missional) approaches. The emphasis here would include an emphasis on discipleship, as in promoting and training the laity for active, winsome involvement showing genuine and attractive care for others as an integral part of evangelism.
- A movement, to which churches, institutions, or faith communities, and individuals may subscribe. Lesslie Newbigin, on returning from overseas missionary work in India, is credited with promoting the Missional Church Movement to reinvigorate evangelistic efforts in the UK and Western churches generally.
Some resources that helped us understand the meaning of Missional:
On The Missional Church — Timothy Keller – RRVista
[https://www.rrvista.net/on-the-missional-church-timothy-keller/]
On The Missional Church — Gary Nelson – RRVista…
[https://www.rrvista.net/on-the-missional-church-gary-nelson/]
The Missional Manifesto by Tim Keller, Ed Stetzer, Alan Hirsch, Dan Kimball, J.D. Greear, Linda Bergquist
[https://faithconnector.s3.amazonaws.com/necollaborative/files/missional_manifesto.pdf?r=57648920]
Many more resources are being gathered and may be accessed here.
A key component of being Missional: Christian social responsibility.
We see the Missional Church/Christian movement to be in general harmony with the idea of Christian social responsibility. To be in the world as salt and light is to carry forward the example of Christ, relating to people in the context of their lives, their hopes and concerns, and especially to be with them empathetically in their suffering. This emphasis in Evangelicalism has been reinforced repeatedly by the Lausanne Movement, and its initial meeting in Switzerland in 1974. It’s importance, we believe, as only become more relevant to the needs of the Church and the spread of the Gospel in more recent decades.
The International/Global Evangelical Commitment to Christian Social Responsibility – RRVista…
This page by: Ron Richmond
First published: 2024/01/17
Latest revision: 2024/06/07