Missional. Is that code?

(Date change-- Discussions on the mission design of the new church will begin January 11th, 6 PM at Westminster)

The following are some questions and concerns I have heard around what “missional” may or may not mean:

By saying that we are going to be a “missional” church on Capital Hill, the direction of the church has already been decided, so there isn’t any point in coming to Wednesdays and speaking into something that has already been decided.

The direction of THE Church has always been set by God and is testified to in Scripture. It has always been missional, a Kingdom community sent to testify to the good news of Jesus IN the world. The church in America has become largely a “parish” church (focused mostly on taking care of its membership). German pastor and theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that “the church is only the church when it exists for others.” So, our emphasis on missional is a reclaiming and refocusing on God’s original and continual intention for THE Church. That was decided long ago by God.

But the SHAPE of THIS particular church in this particular place (Capital Hill) with these particular people is what Wednesday nights is seeking to discern and why it is so important for you to be a part of this. That shape is determined by the gifts, heart passions, abilities, personalities and experiences of every person in these communities. We are moving from God’s purpose for THE Church to discerning the shape of God’s unique purpose for this church in the midst of it.

Missional sounds like outreach, homeless, soup kitchens, and all that isn’t me. Won’t community suffer if we are solely focused on outreach? I don’t feel like there is a place for me in this.

As to the details of what missional means specifically for this community, that is what this process is about. Nothing is nailed down. If you don’t participate in the process, then the outcome won’t be shaped by the gifts, the heart, the abilities, the personalities, and the experiences that God has put in you. And we will all lose out. No matter what the “mission” entails, there will always be community. Community is the place where we discern these things. Community is the place we come to be energized by worship and equipped for service, whatever it is, wherever that is. What that community looks like will be shaped by the conversation and the people involved in it. We need each other – you can’t get more community than that!

Missional focus sounds like it is all Capital Hill, but we are a commuter
church. I don’t live on C. H. What about where I live?

One of the jobs of any church is to equip its people to be about the Kingdom call/living WHEREVER they are. Not everyone will live on C. H. You, as an individual and/or a family are called to be missional, part of God’s mission (serving, loving, speaking) in your neighborhood, in your family, in the marketplace where you work. None of that changes because we are on C. H. What does change is, for the first time (CATC), we are asking, “Why is our primary gathering place in a particular location? How is God calling us to serve, love, speak, be salt and light in this place He has planted us?” It is not either/or, it is both/and.

I’m not sure I want all this. I just want some place I can show up and call my church home.

Everyone is on the journey, but not all in the same place. That is okay. There is space for that. Come be with us. We are going to challenge everyone to take the next step, to grow in what God has put before us and in us, but recognize that not everyone is in the same place at the same time. As a community, there needs to be room for it all. We need to be a community of people where we say, “WE believe,” not just, “I believe.” That means that WE are not all going to be in the same place at the same time, but we are moving together in the direction God is calling us.

Mike Neelley (aka the Rev, + MDT member)

(thanks to "Solomon's Porch" an emergent church in MN, for the image)