Just What is Missional?

Below is and excerpt from a blog named The Missional Challenge and it gives a fairly straight forward explanation what what it means to be missional.

"Here is a simple explanation of the word missional—it describes being a missionary everywhere you are! It is about doing missions—aligning your life with the redemptive mission of Jesus in the world. It includes adopting the posture of a missionary in order to engage those in the culture around you with the gospel message. It is based on the recognition that every believer has been sent by Jesus as Christian missionaries with the good news of salvation together in community with other believers to their specific geographic and cultural context. Just as God sent Jesus, Jesus sends all believers (John 20:21)."

If you have some extra time, you can read the rest of his post here. The author of this blog, Dave Devries wrote his doctoral dissertation on this very subject and has uncovered a lot of stuff and has given careful thought to it.

A Life Transformed - A Result of Being Missional

It's very cool when God has softened a heart to the point of coming to faith. The mind finally realizes that there is no other way, the heart is convicted of sin, the soul is weary, and the will breaks and realizes that God is the driving the bus, not it. Ahh, a life transformed.

A new love enters into the person's life: God...for He has responded to one's cry for mercy and grace in their time of need and He saved him/her. God now gives one assurance in the midst of uncertianty, thus a measure rest. He also comforts one from tears and guides one from falling.

For all of what God is doing in this person's life, one will not be ashamed to testify how the Lord has worked in her life; this person willfully and joyfully serves God and repeatedly thanks God for freeing him/her from the way he/she used to live.

This is the portrait of a life transformed found in Psalm 116. The cool thing is that there are thousands of people in our communities yearning for this type of life. Let's connect to them by loving and serving them (being missional) and then at the appropriate time sharing with them the love that will transform their lives.

Being Missional - The End of the Road

So just what is the hope of being missional and seeking to transform our cities? It seems that their is an immediate hope - that the people of our cities would be transformed to reflect the nature of Christ, thus society would be more peaceful, loving, merciful, gracious, etc. - and a future hope. Revelation 21 paints a riveting picture of the old earth and heaven passing away and being replaced with a new heaven and earth. This future heaven and earth is the very dwelling place of God and those who have trusted Christ (which we were used by God as His instruments to deliver the message of Christ to those people; that is we were being missional). This is the place when we as Christians dwell in God's very presence. A place of no more tears because the Almighty personally wipes them from our eyes, a place of the no more death, pain, or agony, but a place of perpetual life. This is the end of the missional road because God has accomplished His mission. This is our future hope and hopefully it will motivate us with joy and steadfastness to keep on keeping on in the midst of hardship and suffering in our present lives.

How God Advances His Mission

Short answer: through prayer. I had the privilege of attending Global Church Advancement, a super-charged church planting conference last summer, and one of the workshops offered was on Kingdom prayer. As they traced prayer through Acts here is what they discovered. Through prayer:

Leaders find purpose and power to lead. (Acts 1:6,7, 12-14)

Churches are started and communities formed. (Acts 2:1,41-42)

Churches handle persecution. (Acts 4:24-31, 12:1-5)

Leaders help churches face crises and solve problems. (Acts 6:1-4)

Churches are mobilized for ministry and mission. (Acts 6:5-7)

Harvest occurs and momentum is created. (Acts 13:1-3, 47-49)


Ah, the power of prayer.