Sunday, June 15, 2008

Reclaiming the Word "Missional"

I had the opportunity to meet Alan Hirsch a couple weeks ago, which was a great honor and, of course, included captivating, thoughtful discussion.

As part of his stop at CTI, he did an interview with Leadership journal and Out of Ur. You can find the audio here.

The short clip focuses on what "missional" really means (because everyone seems to be using the word these days), and I've included a few of my notes here:

  • A missionary stance toward the culture
  • Treat neighbors as a cross-cultural environment
  • Pretend you're in Papua New Guinea and have to learn all about a new culture
  • There are hundreds of subcultures around us (different music tastes, hobbies, dress code, political thinking, etc)


What does an attractional church do if it realizes they need to shift their posture to a more missional mindset?:

  • Win the battle of the imagination
  • Dethrone Constantine (that the Church exists beyond the institution)
  • Be patient because it's such a huge shift
  • Everyone has to take an active role and realize they're more than consumers
  • Know that people will be upset by this shift


Listen to the short audio clip for more context.