What is the Gospel of the Missional Church?
By Jonathan Dodson | March 10th, 2010 | Category: Missional Church | 13 commentsHow important is salvation to mission? The answer to this question will determine the trajectory of the missional church movement, for good or for ill. What is the state of the Gospel of the Missional Church? In his Mondays is for Missiology post, Ed Stetzer notes the importance of this very issue:
Missiology is fairly inextricable from soteriology; one’s view of salvation– however it is defined– will determine the missionary work. In Transforming Mission, David Bosch states that the Christian missionary movement has been driven throughout its history by the aspiration to mediate salvation to all.
Jesus as Example or Messiah?
In some circles, “mission” appears to focus on social activism to the neglect of so-called evangelism. Mission is often reduced to a project among the poor and needy. The example of Christ is central. In other circles, evangelism appears to be more important than social activism. Mission reduces people to evangelistic projects. The death and resurrection of Christ is central. How we understand the person and work of Christ should affect our understanding and practice of mission.
What is the Gospel of the Missional Church?
Do you have any concerns about the trajectory of the missional church conversation? Do you have any concerns about present understandings of the person and work of Jesus? Have you read any important books or articles that are defining the role of Christ in mission?
Weigh in. Consider extending the conversation at MissionSHIFT. Check out what others in the Prologue to MissionSHIFT are saying:
Missional Leaders in the Conversation
I am deeply concerned that much of what is being promoted in some denominational circles (i.e. Southern Baptist…I R 1) is aimed at survival not growth. In other words, we are panicked because of our delining #s instead of being burdened with a sense of the vast lostness of those living around us. We have a tendency to preach Jesus as the solution to our problems…i.e. a better family, a better life, etc…; when Jesus came to call us to die to self, to devote our lives to Him above family, jobs; I guess what I see as the gospel of the missional church: to proclaim Jesus as the way, the life, and then truth, which through the Holy Spirit enables us to particiapte in the kingdom of God.
The sermon on the mount.
As for concerns, I would say the loose definition of “church” that tends to move away from a New Testament elder-led ecclesiology. The conversation often hinges on the actions of the missional church (what we do) rather than the theological convictions (who we are) behind the actions.
The phrase “everyone is a church planter” seems unbiblical in regards to how the Spirit manifests gifts inside of the body. Everyone is indeed a missionary sent by God, but does that make them a church planter? I just don’t see that in the New Testament.
As for books that shape the conversation, Total Church has been incredibly influential in me to see how the Gospel flows into community on mission rather than an overemphasis on either of the parts. I think this book accurately spells out the gospel that should define the missional church.
Outside the Bible, Guder’s pioneering book, Newbigin’s article about the reevangelization of the West, and Chris Wright’s Mission of God are all critical.
I’d be wary, though, of speaking of “the” Missional Church as a monolithic entity. There are at least four streams of missional thought and practice, and factions within those. It’s safe to say that evangelicals, liberals, and Pentecostals have all coopted the term and attempted to apply the concept ‘missional’ to their churches/movements, so the extent to which they differ on the gospel is the extent to which ‘the missional gospel’ differs.
Logan: I share your concern about the loose ecclesiology, but then again stiff ecclesiology got us to this place in the first place. Are you guys still calling a few people that are meeting on campus or a missional community “a church”?
Matt: thanks. Good word. It’s precisely because of the diversity of the Missional Church that we need to hone in on clarifying a theological center.
What are we Planting? I think Alan Hirsch’s distinction between planting “the gospel” and planting “the church” could have a big impact on what N. America contributes to the MC movement. Renewed commitment to the gospel or to missional structures?
True Missional Reform: I also think syncretistic missional ecclesiology is a danger. Calling missional programs missional chruches.
My comment is ONLY on the subject of a book I’ve read that influences my view of this topic:
Brother Lawrence – “Practicing the Presence of God”
Ahh, yes, Brother Lawrence is a helpful corrective to our compartmentalized faith, albeit pietistic.
We still use the term missional community. There are college students from our church working with CMA and leading college house churches. At that point, we have no true affiliation with them except by praying for them.
Jonathon, question on ecclesiology. The stiff ecclesiology definitely got us into this place, but where will the loose ecclesiology lead us? What do you see as the approach ecclesiological (is that a word?) balance?
[...] Jonathan Dodson [...]
Several years ago, I was in a conference with a number of others working in various areas around Europe. Someone asked, “What is the gospel.” In true parrot-fashion, I piped up, “Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures….” The leader looked at me and said, “No it isn’t,” and went on to other things. That started me on my own personal quest, enlivened perceptibly in 2005 at a missions conference in Derby (UK) where I first heard the word “missional.” That term gave greater focus to my quest, as did books by too many folks to mention. Last Sunday, in the small church I now pastor outside Halifax, Nova Scotia, I suggested that we, as the church, need to be a gospel-shaped people (in keeping with Philippians 1:27). The gospel, I went on to say, is this:
the gospel that shapes us as community is…
…the good news, that, through repentance and faith in the crucified, risen LORD Jesus Christ,
we receive forgiveness and an eternally-restored relationship with the Father; and
we become
…members of God’s chosen family, a new kind of community
…citizens of an alternative society, those living under his Kingdom rule and
…co-labourers in his redemptive purpose to redeem, rescue, and restore creation, as he reconciles all things to himself in Christ.
I’d be delighted to get some push back on this.
Hi Jonathan: I was reading today the August 19, 2008 posting by Justin Taylor to which you made the following comment:
Jonathan Dodson
August 19, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Thanks for the interview and for your work, Sam. We have some mutual friends, one of whom is Steve Herring. I have wrote a Biblical Theology of Colossians for my Th.M thesis and was encouraged to publish it in some form. I’d be happy to share a PDF with those who are interested.
I’d love to be able to read that PDF. Could it be sent to me?
Sure. Just contact me through the Contact Form at the bottom of the blog so I can email it ot you
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