A Missional Church may be a new term, but it’s not a new idea. Neither is it a church the focuses on short term youth trips to Fiji, Mexico or Romania.
A Paradigm Shift
Imagine you’re looking through a window at a beautiful mountain view. For a moment you may forget you’re standing in a warm room, only to feel you are scaling a mountain or flying above the horizon line. If you were to take a few steps back you would still see the mountain view but you would also see the room you’re standing in, the window frame and the walls. This is a pradigm shit.
It is to see the same information as before, but with additional information providing context.
We may attend church and practice a relationship with Jesus, but without biblical context we may believe a relationship with Jesus is the peak purpose of life, rather than the beginning of life’s purpose. We are unaware of the significance of our existence and that we are in a world preparing for Christs return.
Without understanding the context of God purposes on earth Christianity becomes about believing in God rather than following him. Thereafter we adopt views to fit our misconceptions and ‘prop up’ our worldview. Soon we are “asleep in the light” (a term borrowed from a Keith Green song).
A consequence of such a misguided worldview is that we expect God to revolve around our plans rather than asking him what his plans are. We make decisions and fit God into our life, believing he owes us his blessings. Of course God loves us and wants to bless us, but to the extend we want to love and bless his is the extent of our faith.
This podcast explores the questions from a theological viewpoint: what is a missional church? While it’s not an exclusive study it explores the differences between ‘institutional church’ and ‘missional church’. Neither are wrong per se, but what they produce can vary greatly.