Somebody - I'm not sure who, but it might have been Bartimaeus of The Blind Beggar - has assembled a nice page of "What does 'Missional' mean?" bullet points and invited folks to link to it using the icon you see here. Sure, I'm game, though I'm not sure it makes quite as much sense as "Friend of Emergent" since Emergent is a discreet entity of sorts, but Missional is not. Whatever. It's a nice list (or, actually, set of lists). Check it out.
04 February 2006
Friend of Missional
Somebody - I'm not sure who, but it might have been Bartimaeus of The Blind Beggar - has assembled a nice page of "What does 'Missional' mean?" bullet points and invited folks to link to it using the icon you see here. Sure, I'm game, though I'm not sure it makes quite as much sense as "Friend of Emergent" since Emergent is a discreet entity of sorts, but Missional is not. Whatever. It's a nice list (or, actually, set of lists). Check it out.
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2 comments:
Mike: Your post got me motivated to get back and clarify Friend of Missional. It is a work in progress. Missional is a model and not, as you pointed out, a discreet entity. Friend of Missional is an attempt to get some discussion focused on what I believe is the more important conversation: getting the people of God back to Jesus’ primary calling to be willing and ready to be his people in their own situation and place, 24/7.
As Andrew Jones (tallskinnykiwi.com) recently posted, emerging “is a biblically informed contextual response to the local emerging cultural context - something similar to what the wider church used to call youth culture, Gen X culture, postmodern culture, etc. It addresses issues of culture as well as mindset (postmodern) and life-stage (youth, genX).” Emerging does not equal missional. Unless it become more missional, it is going to be just another “seeker-sensitive” movement which will not reform or change the church.
Input welcome.
Hi Bart (if I can call you that), :-)
I'm with you 100%, and I see that you've already updated/improved it. I agree that "Missional" is fundamental, and "Emerging" is, to me, probably the most exciting concrete, practical example of putting missional principles into practice - but that missional foundation is absolutely indispensible. "Emerging church" can be thought of as a practice-oriented response to the demise of a 500-year-old secular culture. "Missional church", in contrast, may represent a repentance of cultural compromise in the church going back almost to the beginning. The implications for theology, ecclesiology, missiology, *and* practice are huge. And, unfortunately, to "get it", you still almost need to slog through a bunch of deep, challenging theological books by folks like Newbigin, Bosch, Guder, and other big-brained dudes. Not too many people are interpreting these concepts for the average disciple, and you've started to assemble some excellent attempts to do just that, all in one place. This is an excellent idea. I'd love to help.
I've only just found your blog, so I don't feel like I "know you" too well yet, but if you want, why not e-mail me and we can plot the continuing conversion of the church. :-)
Peace,
Mike
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