The Institutional and the Missional Church

I recently developed some graphics to help explain the differences between the institutional church as we have known it, and the missional church we hope to become. I started with the assumption that there is a gap between the Kingdom of the world and the Kingdom of God. The church was intended stand in this gap. In our fellowship, we often refer to the church as a border town, straddling the border between these two Kingdoms. The question we have to wrestle with is what form this border town/gap filling church will take. The church as we have known it is, primarily, an institution, so in my first illustration, I let a traditional church building represent the institutional church.

As a static entity, the institutional church requires support and resources from both the Kingdom of God, and the Kingdom of the world. And, in fact, it assumes the right to both. In this model, Jesus came to establish the church as the center of a new religious system, and now, within the confines of church membership, we have access to God's truth, power, blessing, and forgiveness.

We expect the world to find its way into this institutional church in order to enjoy the benefits of God's Kingdom. And we expect them to bring with them the human and financial resources to maintain the institution.

All of these resources, worldly and heavenly, are consumed in the pursuit of what Dallas Willard has called "sin management." This is, basically, the idea that the entire purpose of the church is to address the problem of sin, either by providing a vehicle by which people seek forgiveness, or a vehicle by which people seek to reverse the negative effects of sin and evil on the society at large. Since we are never done being sinful people, the work of sin management is never done, and the gap becomes more of a sinkhole, continually consuming all the resources the church takes in.

Another option is to imagine the church, not as an institution, but as a bridge. Thus, the objective is not to contain heavenly resources and distribute them within, but to become a sort of conduit through which the Kingdom of God is allowed to invade the world, and the world is granted free passage into the Kingdom of God. This model assumes that Jesus came to infiltrate the world with a Kingdom economy. Rather than establish a new religious system, his intent was to be a conduit between God and man. The church, as the body of Christ, then assumes the responsibility to serve the same mission.

This model is much more consistent with what we read about Jesus. His example suggests that the power, truth, and blessing of the Kingdom was not meant to be contained within religious structure, but was to "bypass the middleman" and come directly into people's lives.

I found these visuals useful in my own process, and I hope they are useful to others.

Blessings,
Doug

Missional Incarnational

I suppose I should begin by explaining what I mean by missional-incarnational church. The terminology is becoming more commonplace in some circles, but these terms are often defined differently by different people. For the long version, read through Alan Hirsch's book, The Forgotten Ways, which is my favorite book on the subject. For the short version, I will offer my own, very simplified explanation.

Missional means that the believers are focused on telling the story of God. In the same way that foreign missionaries are men and women sent to far off places to connect with a culture and share with that culture the faith that sustains them, we are domestic missionaries, sent to connect with our own culture, and the tribes within it, to share our faith. Missional can also be understood in contrast to maintenance. We don't believe the church should exist merely to perpetuate itself or to provide for its members. It should always be focused outward; on blessing others. Or it can be explained in contrast to attractional, meaning that, rather than attracting people to a central location (a church building) we want to be the church living and interacting in a variety of community contexts.

Incarnational means that our objective is to act as the body of Christ. Just as we believe that Jesus is the incarnation of God, we believe we are to become like Jesus to others. If he was loving, compassionate, forgiving, wise, and enlightening to the world into which he entered, then we are called to be the same to the world we live in. We tell an ancient story of loss, hope, and redemption, not only through our words, but in the way we relate to people in our communities, the values by which we organize our lives, and the pursuit of a Christlike character.

So then, we are seeking to be missional and incarnational, a community of faith, living in and among a broader community, teaching others about the Jesus we know, not by indoctrination or assault, but by becoming, as much as we are able, the living representation of Jesus, his teachings, and his ministry.

Blessings,
Doug

I'm starting this blog to chronicle my personal experiences as a Christian minister, striving to lead a wonderful little congregation in the Colorado mountains to become a missional, incarnational fellowship. I'm blessed with many people who are prepared to take this journey with me, but I also recognize many hurdles will have to be overcome.

I'm writing for several reasons. I'd like to give members of our fellowship the opportunity to explore missional incarnational concepts with me. I'd like to provide interested members of our community the chance to understand what our fellowship is all about. I'd like to meet others in my area (in the mountains near Denver) who are interested in this kind of life. And I'd like to engage, in conversation, other church leaders who share this passion.

Blessings,
Doug