The Missional Church Model
Missional church proponents reject the centrality of numerical growth. They insist that healthy churches are those that fulfill their divine mission to be God’s sent people in their context (Guder, 1998). In an article titled “The ‘Missional Church’: A Model for Canadian Churches?” Presbyterian elder David Horrox (2012) writes,
The church should stop mimicking the surrounding culture and become an alternative community, with a different set of beliefs, values and behaviors. Ministers would no longer engage in marketing; churches would no longer place primary emphasis on programs to serve members. The traditional ways of evaluating ‘successful churches’ – bigger buildings, more people, bigger budgets, larger ministerial staff, new and more programs to serve members – would be rejected. New yardsticks would be the norm: To what extent is our church a ‘sent’ community in which each believer is reaching out to his community? To what extent is our church impacting the community with a Christian message that challenges the values of our secular society?
If one’s definition of church health centres on growth, then measuring church health is pretty straightforward. But how does one quantify a “sent” community? How does one measure community impact or individual transformation? Empirical tools seem ill-suited for such a task.
Missional leadership specialist Reggie McNeal (2009) says that three main shifts are required for churches to transition into missional churches:
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from internal to external ministry;
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from program development to people development; and
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from church based to kingdom based in terms of leadership agenda.
Many pastors and church leaders we interviewed spoke of such a shift in their church or churches, and many others used “missional” language. It was clear from our interviews that evangelical leaders think healthy churches are missional churches. For example, a CRC denominational leader described healthy churches as those that exist for the community they serve, which is what makes them healthy. He gave examples of healthy churches that were “engaged missionally” in their community and where attendees were selling their homes and moving into the communities where the church serves. A PAOC leader described successful churches as “missional” churches or those that “engage their community.” Here is a quote from an MB pastor in Ontario:
[Our mission] is focused around Isaiah 61:4 which speaks about rebuilding the inner city, we have four main values that we beat to death: the incarnational one, which is to be people of presence, in [our neighbourhood]; we have a relational value; a missional value; and a transformational value – those are the four values that we adhere to.
Themes of being oriented outward and relationship-driven instead of program-driven, and having an “incarnational” presence in the community were common.