Core Values, Part 3b: Missional Community

Ok sports fans, let's see if we can't move through the last few bits of these core values. We're about to go out of town in a couple of days for our Annual General Meeting (meeting with about 800 missionaries and their kids from our region - Central and Eastern Europe) and so I won't be posting anything for the next couple of weeks (bummer for me).

As a refresher, we're taking a look at our third core value: Authentic, missional community. We've already unpacked the word authentic and today we'll try to understand this concept of a missional community.

I think that most of us may have a healthy grasp on the term community but what about missional? I was doing a Google search for that term and found a bunch of really interesting websites. One of them (would you believe I lost the link and can't find it now) gave this "definition"...

missional - adj.
"Saying something not so much about the activities of the church as its character: 'The church does not exist for itself, but for participation in God's mission of reconciliation...Mission is the character of the church in whatever context it exists.'"

I think what we're really considering is the possibility of becoming a church that is defined by being "On Mission". After all, we know what that means...to be "On Mission". There are programs, emphases, projects, etc which all give churches opportunities during the course of a given year to get outside of themselves...to get into the community. It's not that these programs, etc have any inherent problems in and of themselves.

The issue I see is that being missional can become something which occurs mostly when participating in certain projects, trips, or programs of the church...not in the everyday life of the church. This mission of reconciliation that God has been on since that dreadful day in the garden (you know the one) is the mission that the church, and us as Christ followers, have been given to join each and every day...not just on Spring Breaks and during the summer when its convenient to go on mission trips.

Again, let's imagine together...let's play my favorite "what if..." game. What would it look like if a church were truly a missional community all the time. I've had a few thoughts and questions...

• Is it possible staff members would be evaluated on how much time they are spending outside the church then inside during office hours?
• Would the concept of the entire community of believers being on mission mean that no longer would there be this erroneous thought that staff members are responsible for all the ministry of the church...the community itself is on mission...this means everyone is involved in bringing reconciliation to our broken world?
• Would evangelism and mission programs go bankrupt because these dinosaurs are now viewed as hindrances and not helps...further solidifying this notion in churches minds that "Mission" can be something done only at given points of the year or during certain church activities?
• Would the growth we see become more conversion growth...would we see more of our communities reflected in our churches because of our new focus on living our lives as a community on mission?

Wow, I could go on and on (nothing new). I like the sound of these things. And more, you couldn't be more biblical. A lot of churches fall into the trap of thinking, "I'll take care of things at home...and when they're settled we start looking outside of our walls." I don't see that taking place in the life of Jesus, the disciples, and later, the apostles and NT church. Their focus from the git-go was outside of themselves. And if we're going to consider this core value then we will have to do the same.

Authentic, missional community. That's a mouthful isn't it? Three words with such deep, wonderful, intentional meaning.