Part Three (see below for previous articles).
In last month’s issue, I picked up the missional church conversation attempting to help us move forward in our common understanding and communication. Vocabulary is important, and we as leadership have been attempting to create common language here at NFC. This “missional” conversation is part of this common language we are hoping to create. In the most recent MB Herald (the Canadian MB publication), James Toews writes about finding a common language as the foundation of establishing a common identity. He says, “real discussions require more than just common words. They require a common language. And this is what we have lost. We have the same words but we no longer have the same implicit meanings…” (p. 36, MB Herald, April, 2008). Toews is writing about the Mennonite Brethren and recapturing our identity. The same could be said about the local church, and NFC specifically. How will we maintain a sense of identity, unity, and moving forward together? A common language and vocabulary will be key.
Having a history of where this term ‘missional’ came from (see last months issue or visit northfresnochurch.org to read it), let’s continue to build a common understanding of this concept of “missional church.”
Over the last 10 years this term ‘missional” has gone mainstream, used virtually everywhere within churches and denominations in North America. One of the confusing spin-offs, however, is that the word has become so popular in recent years that it seems everyone is using it and in many different ways. So, in the coming months I will use this space to explore what missional really is, and also what it isn’t.
A foundational article by Alan Roxburgh entitled, “What is Missional Church?” (allelon.org, April, 2008) includes a section on Missional Church – What it Doesn’t Mean! Let’s start there, what missional doesn’t mean. The follow is an excerpt from Roxburgh’s article and includes thoughts from his experience in church ministry – from his perspective as well as those who ‘sit in the pew’ on Sunday mornings.
For the last ten years, pastors, denominational leaders and seminaries have invited me to help them process the meaning of the missional church. In conferences, teaching sessions or simply dialogue with other leaders, I’ve learned that what took place for me has to also happen in every leader – (big shift of pronouns) one must first deconstruct one’s preconceived definitions before helping others construct a missional way of life in a church. Some of the common misunderstandings I and others have had about the missional church follow. Missional church is not:
• An evangelism program
• A new way of doing foreign missions
• A method for church growth
• The "Next" way to do church
• A Post-modern way of doing church
• The Anti-traditional pattern of church
What I find most disturbing about these misunderstandings is how the missional language is now used for almost everything we are already doing. Holding an evangelistic outreach is labeled missional. Taking a missions trip, witnessing on the street and feeding the homeless are labeled missional. While these activities are all good things, the church has had a long history of mission and service before the missional language entered the scene. This is why I find people suspicious of missional language and assuming that it’s just a trendy new adjective or word. When we paste missional onto everything we already do, we continue doing church without ever challenging our basic assumptions about who we are as communities of God’s kingdom.
Missional church is not a new label for old ideas. Putting new paint over the cracked frames of an established way of thinking won’t change anything. The illustrations of these misunderstandings are only old forms of church dressed up in new language. What I’ve learned in workshops and ongoing work with many church systems is that we need new frameworks or glasses, in order to see what missional church is about…I have to confess that the missional church dialogue has challenged some of my most basic assumptions about the church, my leadership and my understanding of what God is up to in the world.
Lay people are the most suspect of the missional language. They see it as another unnecessary piece of esoteric language invented by the ordained and seminary professors to further convince the rest of the church that they’re needed. They are suspicious that it is little more than a fancy word for evangelism or missions. There is a need for clarity and explanation rather than assuming everyone already understands what it means. Many people want a simple two or three sentence definition that satisfies their need for an explanation. However, the issues of meaning are not that simple. If the language of missional church is to help form communities of God’s people in a radically changing culture, we have to spend time and energy understanding what’s at stake. Simple sentence definitions won’t cut it.
Next month, we will start to pick up some themes and values of missional church to help give us a new picture of what this all means, and what it might look like.
In addition, when we began this journey about a year ago we pulled together some resources and linked them to our website, www.northfresnochurch.org. Click on ‘The Missional Conversation’.
On a personal note, we are heading into summer which means a change of pace for most of us including our schedule and connectedness at NFC. I encourage you to try and stay connected with other NFC folk these months, even if it is in your home. Invite someone over. Schedule a day out with the families or a group of friends.
Blessings,
James
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