What is a missional church?
Approximately 120 pastors, associational staff and lay leaders gathered recently at Trinity Baptist Church in Cayce, S.C. to explore this question and look how churches can move from being settled to being moved.
“Today is going to be a dangerous day and that is good. We hope God will shake us,” said Debbie McDowell, director of the S.C. Baptist Convention Missions Mobilization group.
Milferd Minatrea, director of the Missional Church Center and author of Shaped by God’s Heart led the session, teaching principles on how churches can move from simply existing to seeing and meeting community needs.
“We no longer have home church advantage,” said Minatrea.
In Shaped by God’s Heart, Mintrea defines a missional church as “a reproducing community of authentic disciples being equipped as missionaries sent by God to live and proclaim His kingdom in their world.” Minatrea encouraged attendees to weigh their current church against the definition.
Minatrea has spent the past few years researching missional churches around the country and has documented several findings based on his observations. Though Minatrea said the principles in his research were not answers to problems, they were suggestions and observations to getting on the right track.
“We have not developed landing strips to the missional church. We are still developing launching pads,” he said.
The main distinction between conventional and missional churches is in focus, he told attendees
“Conventional churches are internally focused, services are for members only. Missional churches are externally focused,” said Minatrea adding that missional churches have missions as the essence of their church, not just a program.
Participants in the day-long workshop were able to brainstorm with members of their church staff and key lay leaders on how to become more missional. Attendees also had the opportunity to network with other individuals in their area. Several small groups are currently meeting on a regular basis as a result of the workshop.
Participants were also encouraged to develop a “culture of yes” to the Holy Spirit.
Ken Forrester, pastor of Rocky Creek Baptist Church in Greenville, said he and his staff were challenged by the crucial ideas presented.
“We want to balance the great commission and the great commandment in and through our body…we will focus less on seating capacity and more on sending capacity,” he said.
Forrester says he was most convicted about balancing an internal focus with an external focus. He says his church wants to concentrate “less on getting and more on giving. Look in detail at attitude more than attendance.”
When asked what advice he would give an established church in South Carolina, Forrester says, “Change is possible and just because it has always been done does not mean it fits God’s purpose for the church. It is time for the people of God to take an honest evaluation of our content, context and capacity.”
His research marked a change of heart for Minatrea who says he “spent twenty-five years trying to program and orchestrate the work of God.” Now, he sees churches that are not as consumed with maintaining, but rather are more concerned with growing new disciples.
McDowell agrees. “It is about sending, not about seating.”
For more information on Milfred Minatrea and Shaped by God’s Heart, log on to www.missional.org or contact the SC Baptist Convention Missions Mobilization group at (800) 723-7242 ext. 5600.
According to Mintrea in Shaped by God’s Heart, the nine passions and practices of a missional church are:
- Have a high threshold for membership
- Be real, not real religious
- Teach to obey, rather than know
- Rewrite worship every week
- Live apostolically
- Expect to change the world
- Order actions according to purpose
- Measure growth by capacity to release not retain
- Place Kingdom concerns first
