Missional Churches

[Eternally]

There is a movement to reach people outside the church. They call this missional churches.

Anyone have links or information on it?

:hat

[Sing4Him]

http://watcherslamp.blogspot.com/2008/03/national-new-church-conference.html


read:
http://www.christianworldviewnetwork.com/article.php/504/Ingrid_Schlueter


Missional (Notice the dialectical tension in the third paragraph): "Missional churches define themselves as bodies formed by the calling and sending of God and reflecting the redemptive reign of God in Christ. They are unique communities in the world created by God through the Spirit as both holy and human....

"The Missional movement maintains that the gospel cannot be contained in a set of propositions. The mission of God must be communicated as the dynamic story of God’s relationship with his creation. ....

"The tension between the sovereignty of God, on the one hand, and the creativity of evangelists and church planters to strategize for success is the most significant difference between Missional and Church Growth thinking. A balance is needed between these two perspectives. God does miraculously lead us forward in His mission. He, nevertheless, calls us to minister intentionality....

"The Church Growth movement has focused on the uniqueness and distinctiveness of people groups and the contextualization of the Gospel among the ethne of the world. The Missional movement, on the other hand, believes that the gospel breaks socio-economic and ethnic divisions between peoples so that all become one in Christ. ...

"The Missional Helix visualizes such an 'interdisciplinary and interactive' approach to the practice of ministry and provides a corrective to traditional Church Growth perspectives. It images the intertwining, inseparable nature of theological reflection, cultural analysis, historical perspective, and strategy formation within the context of the practice of ministry. ...The helix begins with theologies, such as Missio Dei, the kingdom of God, incarnation, and crucifixion, which focus and form our perspectives of culture and the practice of ministry. ...analysis forms the second element ...

"This process of ministry formation must occur within an environment of spiritual formation in which the soul is being nurtured through a personal walk with God... advocate an adapted missional model, one which begins with and always returns to theological reflection while taking seriously cultural analysis, historical perspective, and strategy formation." From "Contrasting Missional and Church Growth Perspectives" by Gailyn Van Rheenen http://www.crossroad.to/glossary/church-growth-mission.htm