a missional rant
Seems like everything I am reading lately about church continues to bring home the fact that churches that are being biblical are the churches that are missional. I don’t know who came up with the term missional to discuss churches, nor do I really care. I do know that it is derived from the word missionary.
Now, I think that’s great, so please don’t get me wrong in what I’m about to say and ask. Why are church leaders saying that Christians, and our churches, need to be missional? Instead, why don’t we say that we are going to actually start acting like Christians?
To be Christian is to be missional and so much more. Obviously, to not be missional is to not be Christian. So, why are church leaders and churches trying to represent themselves as missional and not Christian? If churches aren’t missional, then let’s deem them heretical and move on with it.
It seems to me that if a Christian’s goal is to honor, glorify, and lift up the banner of Christ we would want to keep His Name in the very thing we call ourselves. Please understand me here, I want to be missional; I believe whole heartedly that it is a command of Christ of Christians, but I don’t want to be known as missional. I want to be known as a Christian.
I’m afraid if some of us aren’t careful we will do what many have done with denominationalism – find our identity in something other than Christ. Church people and churches, let’s be missional; but let’s not forget that the reason we are missional is because we are Christian.
Thoughts?
Agree! One is first a believer in Christ, That should be all one needs to have a heart to be missional, Love of Christ. A desire to live for Christ will have natural results. Missional is that result.The problem is that the believer stops a his or her’s baptism, it’s a birth which means we are to grow. It’s not fire insurance.
I agree Dusty that many Christians stop any sort of pursuit and obedience to Christ after baptism. I just don’t think we should come up with a new name for Christians who are actually acting like Christians. I think we should just realize the others aren’t true Believers. If they were, they would be Christians who act missionally.
It seems to me that the sudden rise of the term “missional” and how virally it has spread among church planters and book writers makes it seem more like a passing fad than a legitimate theological counterpoint. More than likely, we’ll all be talking about the latest churchy terminology this time next year. However, if calling your church “missional” gets people to start living like Christ, then the term does have positive value. But I wholly agree that this should be, by default, how we should live as Christians, regardless of what term we use to define ourselves and our church.
i agree with you allen. i think the term missional has positive value, i just feel like many individuals are beginning to replace Christian with Missional.