A Primer on Today’s Missional Church

With the buzz about the missional church, and a the desire to acquaint people in the congregations I serve on the topic, I decided to write a primer on today’s missional church. A primer is designed to introduce someone to a topic substantively but not exhaustively. I say today’s missional church, because the focus will be with the recent history of the church. My hope is that God might whet your appetite for further study and practice in missional living. One thing about this primer is that it is an on-line primer. Which means you don’t have to purchase a book, a magazine or a journal to learn about the missional church, you can just read through these rich links. While this post includes links representing different continents, it has a focus on the West.

Before taking time to define the missional church, I want to say that there is always the danger of reductionism. Just like some pick favorite passages from scripture at the expense of others, we can do something similar when trying to define the missional church. As Johannes Nissen has said, “A missiologically relevant reading of the Bible will not lead to any universal missiology but (as in the New Testament itself) to a variety of missiological perspectives. Different theologies of mission do not necessarily exclude each other, ‘they form a multicolored mosaic of complementary and mutually enriching as well as mutually challenging frames of reference.’ Instead of trying to formulate one uniform view of mission we should rather attempt to chart the contours of a pluriverse of missiology in a universe of mission.” (Nissen 1999:16,17)

This is a helpful thought to take with you throughout this entire primer, which includes short articles, mid-sized entries, lengthy articles as well as video and audio. Let’s look at some various definitions of the missional church. There are many ways to define the missional church, by identifying marks of a missional church, distinctives, pictures or straight out definitions. So take a look at these articles:

DEFINING THE MISSIONAL CHURCH

Five Marks of Mission and Five Marks of a Mission-Shaped Church – Notes from the famous Anglican Church statement about The Mission-Shaped Church

Twelve Hallmarks of a Missional Church and Three Overarching Principles – A short summary from The Gospel and Our Culture Network plus a short summary from Michael Frost and Alan Hirsh’s award winning book, The Shaping of Things to Come

Missional Jesus, Missional Church – Scot McKnight (Technorati’s #1 rated blogger on the missional church) as retold by Gavin

The Test of the Missional Church – Lesslie Newbigin (one of the most quoted missiologist of our time)

What is Missiology? by Cathrine Ross (Dr. Cathrine Ross is manager of the Crowther Centre for Mission Education at CMS in Oxford and JV Taylor Fellow in Missiology based at Regent’s Park College and Wycliffe Hall)

The Church as Mission – John Howard Yoder (a well known theologian)

Missional Buzz – Identifying Missional Churches by Tim Conder (pastor and author)

What I Mean When I Say “Emerging-Missional” Church – by Andrew Jones (A Prolific Blogger at Tall Skinny Kiwi and a Missional Cell Developer for CMS)

Missional Synchroblog: The Skinny on Missional – by Andrew Jones (see above)

The Mission of the Church – N.T. Wright (named as one of the top five theologians in the world by Christianity today, an anglican bishop and prolific author)

A Working Definition of Missional Church – JR Woodward (that’s me, you can read my bio above)

Fifty Ways to Define Missional (I’m serious, Brother Maynard composed a missional synchroblog)

DEFINING THE MISSIONAL CHURCH – VIDEO

If you prefer to learn about the nature of the missional church through video, instead of through reading, (trying to have equal opportunity learning) then you are in luck for this area. Here are a few videos you can check out:

What is the Missional Church – An Interview with Craig Van Gelder, Professor and Missiologist, contributing author to the landmark book Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America (17 minutes)

What is Missional Church? – An Interview with Eddie Gibbs, Professor and Missiologist, author of numerous books including Leadership Next and Emerging Churches (30 minutes)

What is Missional Church? – An Interview with Ryan Bolger, Assoc. Professor and Missiologist, co-author of Emerging Churches (30 minutes)

Characteristics of a Missional Church – Tim Keller, Pastor at Redeemer Church in Manhattan and Author of many books, including award winning The Reason for God (5 minutes)

If you prefer to watch by video but hear about the missional church through preaching and teaching, then this video will serve you well:

Being the Missional Church – Michael Frost, Author and Activist, addressing the 2007 Presbyterian Global Fellowship Conference (52 minutes)

 

RECENT HISTORY OF MISSIONAL CHURCH

History of World Mission and Evangelism, From Edinburgh in 1910 to Today – A mid-sized article by the World Council of Churches (WCOC) recalling the history of world gatherings on this topic.

IMPORTANT ECUMENICAL MISSIONAL AFFIRMATIONS

Edinburgh to Salvador: Twentieth Century Ecumenical Missiology by T.V. Philips, the most important and comprehensive statement on mission made in 1982 by the WCOC after lengthy discussion with churches all over the world.

Mission in the 21st Century – A Summary of Athens 2005 Conference on World Mission and Evangelism complied by Professor Michael Kinnamon, WCOC

The Manila Manifesto – From the Lausanne Movement Documents

Mission and Evangelism in Unity Today – Adopted by the WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism in 2000 as a study document to be used during the preparations for the next world mission conference.

MISSIONAL THEOLOGY

Theology for Beginners – by Ben Myers (Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia and author of one of the most popular theological blogs – Faith and Theology)

Mission for Beginners – by Ben Myers (read about Ben just above)

The Newbigin Triad – Addressed by Darrell Guder (well-known missiologist that I will talk more about later) and presented by Brad Brisco blogger at a great site called the Missional Church Network

A Framework for a Missional Hermeneutic by Michael W. Goheen (Phd, University of Utrecht – is the Geneva Professor of Wordview and Religious Studies at Trinity Wester in Langley, British Columbia, and author of As the Father Has Sent Me, I Am Sending You: Lesslie Newbigin’s Missionary Ecclesiology)

The Missiological Foundations of Theology by Gailyn Van Rheenen (Author, Missionary – in East Africa for 14 years, and Adjunct Professor of Missions)

A Biblical Theology of the City by Tim Keller (Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC and author of a number of books including The Reasons for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism)

The Trinity: Foundations for Missional Theology by W. David Phillips (a Pastor, blogger at Missional Glocal Theological, and is doing doctoral work at George Fox Seminary with Len Sweet)

Numerous papers, including Jesus and the Woman at the Well: Where Mission Meets Worship by Johannes Nissen (Professor Department of Old and New Testament, Faculty of Theology, University of Aarhus, Denmark, and prolific author)

The 8 Marks of a Robust Gospel by Scot McKnight (Dr. Scot McKnight is a professor, author and blogger)

Narrative Theology and the Missional Church by Ben (Ben is a Ministry Coach and blogger at ben’s blog)

As the Father Has Sent Me, I am Sending You: J.E. Lesslie Newbigin’s Missionary Ecclesiology by Michael W. Goheen (look above for info about Michael) – This is his entire rich dissertation. Feel free to read the whole thing or sections in which you have interest. The bottom of the page contains a link to the entire paper.

 

Dictionary of Missiological Terms- by Gayle Van Rheenen

Missiologist (Contemporary)

C. René Padilla – Learn about him through his bio and some of the books he authored, and articles that he has written.

Cathy Ross - Learn about her through her bio, the mission society where she serves, as well as some articles that she has online, on hospitality and contextual education and the Five Marks of Mission, written with Andrew Walls.

Charles Van Engen – Learn about him through his bio and some of the books that he has written.

Craig Van Gelder – Learn about him through his bio and some of the books he has written.

David Bosch – Learn about him through his bio and some of the books he has written or articles and blogs about him.

Darrell Guder – Learn about him through his bio and some of the books that he has written, or blogs about him.

George R. Hunsberger – Learn about him through his bio and some of the books that he has authored, or articles he has written.

Inagrace T. Dietterich – Learn about her through her bio and books and articles she has written.

Johannes Nissen – Learn about him through his bio and from some of the many publications that he has written.

Karl Barth – Learn about him through his bio and through some books and articles that he has written. You can learn about him through the Center for Barth Studies, at the Island of Freedom as well as bloggers. You can have a taste of Barth by reading Ben’s Church Dogmatics in a week, as well as Ten propositions on Karl Barth which is a part of Kim Fabricius’ well-known ten propositions series.

Lamin Sanneh – Learn about him through his bio, and the many books that he has written. You can download some articles he has written, and read an interview that he had with Bonk at Christianity Today.

Lesslie Newbigin – Learn about him through his bio and the huge number of books that he has written, as well as the large number of books about him or interacting with his ideas. Download on of 281 free on-line articles he authored, or check out what bloggers are writing on wordpress or technorati. If you want to understand the missional church, pick up one of these books that he has written, and read it. You will be hooked.

 

Paul G. Hiebert- Learn about him through his bio and his books. He passed away on March 11, 2007. A number of bloggers wrote about him and those at books and culture remembered him.

Wilbert R. Shenk – Learn about him through his bio, as well as the books he has written.

MISSIONAL PRACTICES

Missional Communities by Jason Clark (Jason is a practioner has a DMin in Church and Culture and is a PhD candidate at Kings College London, researching theological assessments of consumerism and the implications for ecclesiology) Article at Open Source Theology

Transforming Mission Applied – The Methodist Church of New Zealand has taken Bosch’s work and wrote out the implications that it has for them.

Ten Tips for Living the Incarnation by John Santic (Practioner and blogger at Toward Hope- currently on writing sabbatical, but I’m hoping he starts writing again, for he was one of my favorite bloggers.)

Creating Space: Hospitality as a Metaphor for Mission by Cathy Ross (Dr. Cathy Ross works for the Church Mission Society in Oxford, where she overseas the Crowther Centre for Mission Education, she is a practioner and her research interests are in the areas of contextual theology, hospitality and women in mision)

The Six Elements of Apostolic Genius by Alan Hirsch (Alan is an author and activist who exercises great imagination and thinks holistically about the practices of the missional church)

Exploring Your Neighborhood: An Exegetical Walk by Simon Carey Holt (Simon teaches in practical theology at Whitley College, University of Melbourne) Article at Allelon

Incarnational Reality: Learning to See by Judith Hougen (Blogger, Writer and Assistant Professor of English, who blogs at Emergent Self).

Looking for the Poor in the Suburbs: Ten Ways to Engage Mission in the Suburbs by David Fitch (Professor, Author and Practitioner)

Missional Word Images: Missional People in Everyday Life by Rick Meigs (A Practitioner who lives in Portland Oregon and who started the Friend of Missional website.)

Prayer=Sex with God by Erin Word (A blogger who lives in Portland, Oregon who writes with passion and honesty.)

Believing in the Future, Six Necessary Elements David Bosch gives for Developing a True Missiology in Western Culture – John Chandler (Church Planter, Blogger with an MA in Christians Studies at Mars Hill Graduate School)

Five Characteristics of a Missional Community from Jonathan Dodson’s site Church Planting Novice taken from Frost’s book Exiles (Jonathan is a church planter, he holds a B.A. in Anthropology, M.Div and Th.M degrees in Theology from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and has many insights on missional living.)

Leadership Requirements for the Multi-Cultural Congregation by Dan Sheffield

In the World but Not Of It: Servant Leadership for the 21st Century by Sally Coleman (Sally is an Ordinand with the Methodist Church in Great Britian, as well as a blogger).

Reading Scripture Missionally by Michael Hanegan (Ministry leader of communications at Northwest Church of Christ) Article at The Outpost, a Collaborative Missional Community of Churches of Christ.

 

Missional Order and Missional Monasticsby Brother Maynard (a mysterious figure, an enigma shrouded in mystery, you will have to visit his blog site subversive influence to discover more about him.)

Missionary Agencies vs. Missional Orders from Jay Lorenzen (A Practitioner and blogger at OnMovements)

Coloring Outside of the Box by Len Hjalmarson (A Practioner who works with street kids, holds a MDiv from MB Bible Seminary and is a blogger)

The Gospel and the God Forsaken: The Challenge of the Missional Church in Suburbia by Todd Hiestand (Todd is a Pastor at The Well, just outside of Philly, a webdesigner and blogger at Missional Living in Suburban America)

Missional Leadership Development by Dave DeVries (Dave completed his doctoral studies at Bakke Graduate School and did his doctoral dissertation on Missional Transformation. He is a church planter and currently equips and empowers pastors and church planters)

Six Ideas to Spark the Missional Imagination by JR Woodward (the six ideas expressed in these writings deal with 1. Leadership in the missional church 2. Helping Your Church Becoming Missional 3. Re-imagining Evangelism 4. Faithfully fulfilling the mission in the digital age 5. Understanding the Good News 6. Learning about Missional Orders from St. Francis)

A Missional Church is Spirit-Driven by Timothy Cowen (Pastor at Rock Hill Baptist Church and blogger.)

Designing the Missional Church for Formation by Inagrace T. Dietterich (Author, minister and director of Theological Research at the Center for Parish Development in Chicago.) An Allelon Article.

MISSIONAL BOOK REVIEWS

The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission by Lesslie Newbigin

God’s Missionary People: Rethinking the Purpose of the Church by Charles Van Engen

The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative by Christopher Wright

Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission by David J. Bosch

 

New Testament and Mission: Historical and Hermeneutical Perspectivesby Johannes Nissen

The Great Giveaway by David Fitch

Signs of Emergence: A Vision for Church That is Organic/Networked/Decentralized/Bottom-up/Communal/Flexible/Always Evolving by Kester Brewin

 

Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Churchby Mark Deymaz

The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch, click here for lengthier review.

Treasures in Jars of Clay by Lois Barrett, Darrell Guder, George Hunsberger et al:

Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Culture by Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger

The Shaping of Things to Come by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, click here for a longer review

Leadership Next by Eddie Gibbs

The Selfless Way of Christ: Downward Mobility and the Spiritual Life by Henri Nouwen

A Theology as Big as the City by Ray Bakke

The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World by Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk

Traditions in Leadership: How Faith Traditions Shape the Way We Lead edited by Richard Mouw

An Eccclesiology for Late Modernity by Kurt Fredrickson

The Starfish and the Spider by Brafman and Beckstorm

Surfing the Edge of Chaos by Pascale, Milleman and Gioja

Leading Without Power by Max Depree

Missio Dei by Fred Peatross

The Sky is Falling: Leaders Lost in Transition by Alan Roxburgh, click here for a longer review.

The McDonaldization of the Church by John Drane

Announcing the Kingdom: The Story of God’s Mission in the Bible by Arthur Glasser

Life on the Vine: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit in Christian Community by Philip D. Kenneson

Organic Community: Creating a Place Where People Naturally Connect by Joseph Myers

MISSIONAL BLOGS

Andrew Jones – Tall Skinny Kiwi

Andrew Hamilton – backyardmissionary

Andrew Perriman – biblical theology/after Christendom/in a narrative-realist mode

Ben Myers – Faith and Theology

Bill Kinnon – kinnon.tv

Brad Brisco – Missional Church Network

Brother Maynard – Subversive Influence

C. Wess Daniels – gathering in light

Christine Sine – Godspace

Cynthia La Grou – Emerse

Dan Sheffield – The Blog

Dave DeVries – The Missional Challenge

David Fitch – Reclaiming the Mission

Ed Stetzer – The LifeWay Research Blog

Erika Haub – The Margins

Erin Word – Decompressing Faith

Eugene Cho – beauty and depravity

Graham Tomlin – Graham’s Blog

Helen Lee – The Missional Mom

Jamie Arpin-Rici – A Living Alternative (Our Missional Pilgrimage)

John Chandler – some strange ideas

John Stackhouse Jr. – Prof. John Stackhouse’s Weblog

Jonathan Dodson – Church Planting Novice

Jordon Cooper – The Blog

JR Briggs – broken//stained//glass

JR Rozko – lifeasmission

Len Hjalmarson – Next Reformation

Maria Drew – Vehement Adventure

Molly – Adventures in Mercy

Rick Meigs – The Blind Beggar

Ryan Bell – Intersections – life::faith::culture::community

Ryan Bolger – The BlogBlog

Sally Coleman – Eternal Echoes

Scot McKnight – Jesus Creed

Simon Carey Holt – Simply Simon

Todd Hiestand - Missional Living in Suburban America

Tony Stiff – Set’s ‘n’ Service

More Missional Blogs

COLLABORATIVE MISSIONAL BLOGS

Deep Church – Jason Clark and Paul Mayers

Jesus Manifesto – Mark Van Steenwyk and Brandon Rhodes Editors

Open Source Theology – A Collaborative Blog Lead by Andrew Perriman

The Outpost – A Collaborative Missional Community for Churches of Christ (16 Contributors)

The Church Then and Now - Eddie Gibbs and Kurt Fredrickson

MISSIONAL RESOURCES

Allelon – A Movement of Missional Leaders

American Society of Missiology – A Community of Scholarship, Fellowship and Mission

Church Innovations – Organization devoted to renewing the Church’s focus on God’s mission in the world

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship – Mission Resources

Church Mission Society (CMS) – Sharing Jesus, Changing Lives

Christian Missionary Alliance – Multiple Articles

Dictionary of Missiological Terms brought to you by Missiology.org

Doctoral Dissertations on Mission Since 1900 – International Bulletin of Missionary Research with Yale Divinity School Library

Ecclesia Network – A Network of Missional Churches

The Ekklesia Project – A Network of Christians from across the Christian Tradition

Emergent Village – A growing, generative friendship among missional Christians seeking to love the world in the Spirit of Christ

European Leadership Forum – Access to God’s Global Resources

Forge Mission Training Network (Australia) – An innovative training agency

Fresh Expressions – Church of England and Methodist Church initiative encouraging people hoping to establish new or different forms of church

Friend of Missional – Learning all about the Missional Church

Fulcrum – Renewing the Evangelical Centre

Global Mapping International – Mission Research Resources

Gospel and Our Culture Network – A Network for encouraging the encounter in North America

International Association of Mission Studies – A Urban Mission Exposure blog with some excellent papers on the right-hand margin.

List of Missiological Journals- From International Association for Mission Studies, IAMS

Mennonite Mission Network – Resources from the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA

MisLinks – A Web-based Missions Directory

Missiological Societies – List from International Association for Mission Studies, IAMS

 

Missiology and Global Mission- Mission Research Web Sites

Missional Outreach Network – Connecting People and Resources to fulfill the Mission of Christ

Mission Research Databases – Resources for the Mission

Next Reformation (Articles) – Here is an amazing list of rich and helpful articles, by multiple authors, many good ones by Len Hjalmarson. You can get lost in some good reading here.

 

Percept Group- A full service demographic information company completely dedicated to church leaders

Redeemer Church Planting – Resources from Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC

Shapevine – Embracing the Missional Life

The Center for Parish Development – God Has a Mission… and God’s Mission Neeeds a Church, here are some resources for the local congregation

The Christian Vision Project – Culture, Mission, Gospel – A Ministry of Christianity Today

Theology News & Notes – A Journal from Fuller Theological Seminary

Together in Mission – Helping to equip the Missional church in a changing landscape

World Council of Churches – WCC Resources

MISSIONAL STUDIES AND ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE

Why Every Curriculum Ought to Find Some Place for the Study of the Theology of Mission – An Article from British and Irish Association for Mission Studies

Educating for Contextual Mission by Cathy Ross (Dr. Cathy Rose is the Church Mission Society Mission Interchange Advisor and is a fellow in Missiology at the University of Oxford)

Missiology in a Pluralistic World: The Place of Mission Study in Theological Education by Lalsangkima Pachuau (Dr. Pachuau is a member of the Presbyterian Church of India, and teaching in the Department of Missions and Ecumenics at the United Theological College, Bangalore India.)

Current State of Missiology by Hans Kasdorf (A Professor of Emeritus of World Mission at Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary)

FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) ABOUT THE MISSIONAL CHURCH

Common Questions about the Missional Church – at the Mennonite Mission Network

So this concludes my primer on Today’s Missional Church. If you find any spelling errors or bad links, or something else that I just should have included, please let me know. I hope you find it helpful and will pass the word to others who you think might benefit from this labor. Peace.

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