This was one of the first books i read on the missional church paradigm, it is a realy hard slog it took me almost a year to digest it. One thing i have noticed though is that i keep going back to it for all sorts of ideas. It wont answer any “howto” questions but it will get you asking real and honest questions about church and the shape that it might take if we put mission at our heart. Get your own copy at Koorong or Amazon.
In The Shaping of Things to Come the Australians Frost and Hirsch present an innovative vision of how the church can be more relevant and responsive to the spiritual hunger seen in the Western world.
This compelling book investigates churches throughout Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and the USA that are creative, progressive and imaginative in their approaches to community, spiritual growth, and outreach.
“It is especially helpful to have an Australian perspective on the twenty-first century missional church as these two authors are engaged in church planting in one of the most secularized societies in the Western world. Their contribution brings an in-depth theological reflection as well as providing a broad scope informed by their extensive reading in theology, culture and mission as well as their on-site visits to missional churches in the USA and the United Kingdom. Furthermore, (the authors) are not armchair-theorists but are engaged in innovative and risk-taking ventures in church planting and the mentoring of leaders to extend this strategic ministry. Their contribution to the literature is as substantial as it is engaging.” Eddie Gibbs, Donald A. McGavran Professor of Church Growth, Fuller Theological Seminary
Although there is no “how to” formula on a missional church, there are many great books that are generating discussion and ideas. Over the next few days i will post some of them with a bit of a blurb. If you are keen then grab one of these books off me (I own most of them) or get your own copy at Koorong or Amazon.
From AD 100 to AD 310, the early church grew from as few as 25,000 to 20 million. In this book Hirsch examines the reasons behind this growth and identifies six factors that could be used to reactivate similar growth in the modern church.
Hirsch draws from his own experiences, as well as the experiences of ministries around the world, to provide examples of growing churches, church planting movements and other missional projects. He further illustrates his points with charts and diagrams, as well as a glossary of terms and an index.
Church leaders, strategists, seminary professors and students will benefit from Hirsch’s discoveries and his ability to put those ideas into practice in contemporary churches and ministries
For those of us that lived through the 90’s you might remember that annoying NOT saying that was sooo popular…. NOT….
As post modern type people we often define ourselves by what we are not, and perhaps it is a good time to define what a missional church is not.
A missional church is not a dispenser of religious goods and services or a place where people come for their weekly spiritual fix.
A missional church is not a place where mature Christians come to be fed and have their needs met.
A missional church is not a place where “professionals” are hired to do all the work of the church.
A missional church is not a place where the “professionals” teach the children and youth about God to the exclusion of parental responsibility.
A missional church is not a church with a “good missions program.” The people are the missions program and includes going to “Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
A missional church is not about a new strategy for evangelism.
A missional church is not missional just because it is contemporary, young, hip, postmodern-sensitive, seeker-sensitive or even traditional.
A missional church is not about big programs and organizations to accomplish God’s missionary purpose. This does not imply no program or organization, but that they will not drive mission. They will be used in support of people on mission.
For a lot of people the idea of the “Missional Church” might be quite new, so I am planning over the next few weeks to be regularly posting some articles and links to people who are both thinking about, and practicing these ideas.
A good first start is to head over to “Friend of Missional” some great stuff there to get us thinking. I want to post up this list of how the missional church is different from the more traditional forms of church.
From programs to processes
From demographics to discernment
From models to missions
From attractional to incarnational
From uniformity to diversity
From professional to passionate
From seating to sending
From decisions to disciples
From additional to exponential
From monuments to movements
From services to service
From ordained to the ordinary
From organizations to organisms
In The Shaping of Things to Come the Australians Frost and Hirsch present an innovative vision of how the church can be more relevant and responsive to the spiritual hunger seen in the Western world.
For those of us that lived through the 90’s you might remember that annoying NOT saying that was sooo popular…. NOT….
