What is a missional church?

I recently read a very interesting article in one of the 9marks newsletter archives, it was all about what a missional church might look like. I will inlcude some highlights below, it would be interesting to hear your thoughts.

JC

"But the real crisis is spiritual and theological, stemming from the church’s failure to understand the postmodern context in which it now dwells. If the church wants to be relevant; if it wants to succeed in its mission, it must give attention to contextualization. It must learn to understand, communicate, and demonstrate the beauty of the gospel afresh. "

"To repeat, the basic premise of the missional church is that "missions" is not simply one of the functions or programs of a church. It constitutes the very essence or nature of the church. Drop the "s." God is a God on mission. And God has sent the church on mission. "As the Father has sent me," Jesus said, "even so I am sending you" (John 20:21). "


"Stetzer rejects the "attractional" and "extractional" church, which attempts to attract non-Christians with traditions or technique and to extract them from their cultures. Churches should focus instead on being "missional" (moving outward) and "incarnational" (moving deeper into the culture). As Mark Driscoll puts it, churches should help new believers remain within "their tribes," whether that tribe is punk rock, a ghetto block, or yuppie stock, just so long as they don’t sin."


"Yet in general, missional church thinking tends to veer toward church planting, and it’s not difficult to see why. Picture a missionary entering foreign land, like Adoniram Judson traveling to Burma in the
nineteenth century. How does he begin a church? He moves into the culture. He learns the language. He makes friends on Burmese terms. He explains the gospel in a way they can understand. Years might
pass before someone converts, but when an individual does, Judson does not pull him or her out of
Burmese culture. He equips them to be fishers of men inside of Burma. And so, gradually, the church is
built. "

The article these comments were taken from can be found here, the article was written by
Jonathan Leeman who is the director of communications for 9Marks.

Dawning of a new era... or maybe just another Blog!

Hello and welcome!

this is a new blog that will hopefully help tell the story of God's work at Plains, Airdrie Scotland. In particular through Plains Evangelical Church.

I will also be looking to collate thoughts and discussions on how the Church relates to culture in this post-modern world of ours, with an obvious emphasise on the culture I find myself in.

And finally I will no doubt bore you to death with some family and personal stuff too.

Well thats all for now, I will probably be looking to blog once a week, so check back soon.
God Bless
Jim Coyle