The Blind Beggar

The third article in the “Going Missional” issue of Leadership is by Chad Hall, a ministry coach. The subtitle is “Steps to Transform a Consumer Church into a Missional Church” and plays off the theme of the movie “Mission Impossible.”

After an explanation of what missional means, Chad talks about two distractions that often block a faith communities missional expression.

• The first is self-preservation. This is where an institutional church becomes focused on ensuring that it is so solid that it can endure anything. The focus on preservation becomes its very identity. “The church began to exist for the sake of the church.”
• The second is church growth. Chad states, “When the emphasis is on bringing the world to the church, the church’s mission of going to the world can get lost.”

The last half of the article is spent on two changes faith communities should make to move from a consumer church to a missional church.

The first is redirecting resources toward the world. “This means church leaders take a hard look at how money, time, and energy are allocated. Is it for the sole benefit of those in the church, or invested in God’s mission of the world?”

The second is activating the laity [Note from Rick: drop this word from your vocabulary. It is not biblical nor an accurate description of God's people. End of rant.] to carry out God’s mission in their various spheres of life. According to Chad, “This creates a community of Christians who let the upward focus on God in the worship service impact their orientation and activity during the rest of their lives. This means inviting the lost and making worship hospitable to others on weekends, but also working for God during the week.”

In reading the article I do get the impression that Chad is not willing to give up on the classic attractional model, but I could be wrong.

One last quote that is from Janetta Cravens, pastor of First Christian Church in Macon, GA, “We are moving from seeing ourselves as a church who needs members from the community to seeing ourselves as being in a community whose members need the church. We’ve realized we’re here to serve the community in unique ways.”

This article has an interesting sidebar on “how does a leader prepare to redirect a church toward its mission in the world?” Four points are made:

• Anticipate and work through conflict. Faith communities that have long been self-focused have well-formed habits and attitudes that are tough to overcome.
• Controlled release and releasing control. “The leader must be direct and uncompromising in leading their faith community to live out the missional mindset. But once that mindset catches hold, the leader must step back and let go. Leaders who attempt to control the expressions of missionality will always be tempted to control them, and thus suffocate them.”
• Recognize the personal losses. For many leaders there will be less recognition for doing ministry and the spotlight will be on them less and less.
• Stamina is required en route to better days. “Since the transition toward missionality is complex, there will be great difficulties to endure. For leaders used to measuring success by attendance or accolades, they may have to endure desert days without those signs of success.”

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