Inside the “Sustaining Missional Leadership” Conference
By Kyle K. Schiefelbein, Church FutureFinder Project Manager

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My responsibilities for this past leadership conference were two-fold: take photos of the various gatherings and record what I observed from the perspective of someone directly involved with Church Innovations. In this article I highlight a couple of words that I heard frequently during the reflection sessions by connecting these words with the mission and activity of CI.

“Sending…”

The classic understanding of the mission of God (missio Dei) finds its origin derived from the very nature of God: God the Father sends the Son; God the Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit; the Father, Son and Holy Spirit send the church into the world. Mission is not primarily an activity of the church, but an attribute of God. The leaders who attended the conference began by discussing this sending nature of God and how this movement can excite people about mission in daily life. For some “missional” language generates images of creating more congregational programs with which both members of the congregation and the community can be involved, but the main activity happens within the borders of the congregation. For others this language refers to supporting (usually financially) missionary work in other parts of the world. Both of these understandings are just a portion of what the word “missional” means. Missional activity is just that – movement in the form of sending.

“Culture…”

After defining missional in terms of movement, leaders would naturally ask where this movement takes place. Culture (local, global or both) is not some external force that the church must overcome or regulate, but rather culture is that which must be engaged. The leaders who participated in the conference asked themselves how a congregation can engage culture, while at the same time doing theology in, with, under and against both the congregation and culture. One conference participant nicely summed up this relationship by quoting the Church of England’s document Mission Shaped Church:

It is not the church of God that has a mission in the world, but the God of mission who has a church in the world.

Instead of culture being the object of the church’s mission, culture is the place in which God has a church with God being the author of mission. Changing the prepositions “to” and “in” prevents mission from being understood as acting upon culture instead of as acting in culture. One of the initial steps of any CI consulting project is to identify the local church culture and the community culture. Understanding these two cultures is vital to painting a fuller picture of the congregation, so that the leaders and members of the congregation can see “what God is up to” there.

“Who, what, where, when, why, how…”

Culture is one component of the larger identity of the congregation. Authors and journalists automatically think with these six question words in mind; they are writing for an audience that needs to know the whole picture. The first and last question members and leaders ask is “what is God up to.” Identifying God’s present activity allows the congregation to participate in what God has already initiated – God, because of God’s very nature of sending, is the author of mission. The quote above from Mission Shaped Church makes “church” the object and “God” the subject since it is God who creates and sustains mission, and it is the church who receives this mission. CI has created tools for identifying “what God is up to” and fostering the subsequent conversation about mission, and some of these tools were highlighted at the conference.

“The Word…”

Each day of the conference began and ended with communal worship with the Word at its center. These worship services lifted up CI’s tradition of Dwelling in the Word before every meeting and conversation. Dwelling in scripture creates an environment in which everyone has the opportunity to contribute, while at the same time demonstrating the movement derived from God’s very nature. This word dwelling challenges leaders in mission instead of serving as just another resource from which one can cite answers.

“What is God up to here…”

The answer to this question, which to some may appear out of the reach of mortals, is the foundation to mission. God is up to sending, as this movement is God’s very nature. God is up to mission in which the congregation participates. God is up to the activity of church in culture. God is up to inspiring with the Word and providing a place for fruitful conversations to take place. Finally, God is up to sustaining missional leaders who continue to ask this very question.