What does first flight have to do with a missional church? The Western church in 2010 finds itself in a different relationship to society than it did in 1950. While spirituality in the U.S. is very much alive, it is increasingly divorced from or mixes other things with biblical truth. Evangelicals are pragmatically wired to act first and think later. We diagnose the problem of this new situation in the U.S. and look for a program to fix it. Missional church is not a program or a method; it is a way of thinking, rooted in Scripture. Missional church brings a needed corrective to our excessive pragmatism and calls us to think deeply and biblically before we act. First we understand who God is, then who we are as God's people, and then our actions flow out of that understanding of who we are and what we understand God to be doing in our communities and the world. It is different to stop thinking that mission is a program but is at the core of who we are as God's people. Reggie McNeal, in Missional Renaissance, has identified three shifts in our thinking needed to be a missional church. In the first shift, we move from an internal to an external focus (see the post "Life is a Mission Trip"). In the second shift (chapter 5) we move from program development to people development.
Simply put, the church in North America has focused on developing programs, not developing people. It is time for this to change. (Reggie McNeal, Missional Renaissance, p. 91)
This different way of thinking should come as welcome relief to leaders of small churches. There are few programs on the shelf that small churches can pick up and do well. Many are designed with larger churches in mind. The constant drive to add new programs and become a "full service church" burns out capable volunteers in the small church, or puts people in places that they aren't gifted or called to fill. The central, organizing principle in small church life is relationships. That's the consensus in literature about the small church, and it's verified by our experience. Missional thinking that moves leaders of small churches from program to people development can breathe life and healing into a tired and overwhelmed group. Moving from program to people development maximizes the greatest latent strength of the small church - authentic, attractive, hospitable, intergenerational relationships. It is the great contribution that the small church can bring to what the Lord is doing in our time.
Join the conversation:
- If you were to move from program to people development, what would change in your congregation? As a leader, how would it affect the way you prioritize your time?
- Give us some examples of ways that you are doing "people development" in your congregation.
Posts
Ed, I think that this drives at an issue of "focus". All churches, big and small, require focus. We must be theologically focused. We must be mission focused. I am coming to the conclusion that make this shift we must first align our people theologically. This way we have a common language to speak from.
ReplyDeletePeople development over program development is primarily a theological issue. Our ecclesiology will determine how we answer this and how we make the shift. For us to get there we have to determine that the pastor's primary role is to prepare the people to do ministry as opposed to minister to the people.
But even this keeps us in a safe paradigm. I think that we have to take another step further back and embrace the priesthood of all believers at its most raw form. This means for me as a pastor that I am simply connecting people and trying to create an environment for them to step out in faith. I have to function more as an apostle and less as an "professional".
Create the environment and get out of the way.