| How Does the Missional Church Look? My Reflections on the 2010 Missional Think Tank Click here to return to the Church Innovations web site. How does the missional church look? This is the question the participants at this year’s Missional Think Tank struggled to answer. After reflecting on my experiences, here are my thoughts on how I answer this question: The missional church is messy, at least on the surface. I heard many stories from participants about how missional ministry does not fit neatly into the church’s established paradigms. We cannot gage the success of missional ministry based upon the typical metrics of attendance, building size, number of programs, or budgetary projections. Radically following Jesus' call to go out into the community and minister to people where they are requires much grace, faith, patience, and perseverance on the part of congregations. Often congregations are shaped by the process as they are stretched beyond their comfort zones. One participant compared missional ministry to a compost heap – something that looks like messy pile of refuse to the untrained eye, but in reality is nourishing and generative. Another participant observed that missional ministry is like the rumblings of a coming earthquake – we can sense the movement, but we don't know exactly when or where it will break out. The missional church is beyond our control. Truly missional ministry – that which is God-initiated, Kingdom-oriented work – is beyond our human control. We can’t create it or manage it, though we might like to. Missional ministry is, by nature, very unpredictable, and can be discouraging at times when we don't always see measurable results of our work – at least not right away. It is both comforting and challenging to acknowledge the fact that the Kingdom is God's, and therefore the work and the results are ultimately God's. In missional ministry, we must give up our control and our agendas so that we may become in sync with what God is doing. I recall Darrell Guder’s address where he warned local churches not to try to create Kingdom work on their own, but rather to pray for God to bring it about in their communities. We can also pray for God to reveal the ways in which we "get in the way" of God’s work, and learn ways to work in concert with God's missional purposes. The missional church is our calling, whether we are ready for it or not! In dwelling on the words from Luke 10, I was struck by Jesus’ teaching that the harvest was plentiful, but the workers few. Then Jesus commanded the disciples to go out and proclaim that the Kingdom of God had drawn near to all. Is this not Jesus’ call for the church today? Even though we may feel unprepared for the challenge, I believe we can boldly answer this call, knowing that Jesus will be with us as we work to reap this great Kingdom harvest. Rev. Hilary Livingston is a PC(USA) Pastor and Think Tank Participant. |
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