Some thought missional might be another fad – but, it is not proving to be!

Yes, some terms pass their use-by-date. Emerging church was a great term – church from below, connected with the past and also the future! However, it was damaged from within and without – even negatively impacting the term emerging missional church. So we might be back to missional – and this could be a good thing!

Missional does not prescribe forms and practices – nor is it enamoured with postmodernism (or post-postmodernism). Rather, it is a movement shaped by

• God’s mission heart
• Christians being missionaries in western cultures
• Gospel proclamation – an imperative in any missionary environment
• Scripture reading – through the eyes of urban missionaries
• Faith communities (ecclesia or churches) engaging their cultures as contrast societies – called-out by God, witnessing to his values and reign
• Missionary faithfulness – from a marginal position in the culture, rather than the historic, dominant position at the centre of society. (Hill 2008:254)

It is shaped by three ‘overarching principles’ – Jesus shapes everything we are and do; we take church to people rather than expect them to come to us, and every believer is a minister! (Frost, Hirsch 2003:6-12)
These principles define our church planting today – equipping, resources and news! This mission flows from the heart of God – who so loved the world he died for us. (John 3:16)