Shaped By God's Heart: The Passion and Practices of Missional Churches

By Milfred Minatrea

Discover the tools to create a new kind of church and move from merely surviving to thriving.
Drawing on an extensive two-year field study of 200 churches from a variety of denominations and geographic regions, Milfred Minatrea--a missiologist, urban strategist and practioner in minister--presents the best practices for re-energizing Christian spirituality in a congregational setting. He provides readers with the tools for assessing their congregation’s position on the continuum between maintenance and mission and for determining the actions that will move them toward becoming a missional community. He also outlines key strategies that successful churches have used to become relevant in a postmodern society without losing what is distinctly Christian in their spiritual practices.

Milfred Minatrea (Irving, TX) is Director of the Missional Church Center for the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wiley
• Release date: Jun 22, 2012
• ISBN: 9781118429419

Book preview

INTRODUCTION: SENDING THE CHURCH INTO THE WORLD

John sits in his study, staring at the wall but looking nowhere. Surely there is something more to ministry than this, he says to himself. He recalls the excitement he felt when he first sensed God’s call to ministry. Now he’s worried about the couple who say they’re thinking about taking their family to a church that can better meet their needs. He’d like to talk to them more about it, but he’s got Sunday School vacancies to fill, a Bible study to plan for, sermons to prepare, and calls to return. Is this really what he signed up for?

Most members, sensing his unease, reassure him that the church is going really well. They love their pastor and his faithfulness in caring for them, and it shows. Attendance grows steadily from year to year, and there’s enough money to fund programs that they enjoy. The area around the facility shows the wear of a community past its prime, and the church properties, although well kept, are dated. Sure, upkeep is a constant challenge, but committees stay on top of it. They’re also fairly satisfied with the overall program and ministry of the church: age-graded Bible study on Sunday mornings; youth activities, including the upcoming spring ski trip; good choral music, with vocalists who frequently use recorded tracks instead of piano or organ as accompaniment.

Still, deep inside, John feels his church slipping away from his grasp, and he knows that many of his colleagues are also struggling. Church attendance is largest on Sunday mornings, much smaller on Sunday evening, and pretty sparse on Wednesday nights.

When John asks members where the church could do better, some say that evangelism and outreach need attention. But only a few members are actively involved in outreach. Last fall, several members went through a witness-training course on Sunday evenings, but the church has no ongoing, organized, evangelistic emphasis. Mission organizations, once a strong part especially of children’s ministry, are now hanging by a thread. Few attend the occasional mission meetings for men and women. At select times each year, members are encouraged to pray for and give to missions. Goals are set for special offerings, and for a few weeks prayers include requests for those serving on the mission fields. Members are faithful to give so that others may go.

In his study, reflecting on all this, John shakes his head. Maybe this is just how it is. He knows the church members are busy with their own lives and families. How can he do more? He barely has enough hours in the week to complete all the things on his to-do list as it is. He has good relationships with his members and the community. The church is stable. Why then does he feel that something is missing? That there should be something more?

John is not alone in his feelings. This question of what is missing plagues a lot of today’s church leaders. The sheer quantity of activities involved in a church can wear everybody out. Such churches may be excellent social organizations, whose members enjoy relationship with one another, but they have little transformational impact within the local community.

When the activities of a church focus inward, the church has exchanged its mission for maintenance. There is a great difference between focus on mission and focus on maintenance, and there is a great difference in the impact each has in God’s Kingdom. At its core, it is not the number of activities a church is involved in that defines success, but whether those activities result in accomplishing God’s mission for His church. True success can only result when the activities of God’s Body reflect what is in His heart.

A New Missional Church

As some of John’s colleagues are discovering, there is in the world today a new kind of church forming. It is a church that reclaims its New Testament role with authenticity and energy and is not limited by denomination or location. In this book, I advocate for this missional church: a reproducing community of authentic disciples, being equipped as missionaries sent by God, to live and proclaim His Kingdom in their world.

In pursuing the missional vision, leaders seek to rediscover that for which the church was sent in the first century. In his magnificent work Transforming Mission, David Bosch explains this concept beautifully: Mission was understood as being derived from the very nature of God. . . . Father, Son and Holy Spirit sending the church into the world . . . a movement from God to the world: . . . There is a church because there is a mission, not vice versa.¹

Today, a handful of missional churches—here in the United States and elsewhere around the world—are breathing new life into the Body of Christ, finding renewed vitality as they abandon themselves to God’s purpose in mission. In 2002, I was privileged to visit a number of these churches, experiencing their vitality for worship and enthusiasm for mission. They are not perfect—no church is. They are growing, experimenting with new forms, finding their way. They are living organisms, passionate in their commitment, and exceptional in their practice of focusing attention outward, beyond themselves.

The heart of this book looks at the distinctive passion and practices of missional churches. If you visit any missional church, you will see immediately that they do things differently from most other churches. As I observed missional churches for this book, I found—somewhat to my surprise—that nine distinct practices consistently surfaced. I also found that it was fairly easy for pastors and lay leaders to put these practices to work energizing their own congregations.

Shaped by God’s Heart is intended for pastors like John as well as for lay leaders who seek positive change for their church communities. At the conclusion of each chapter, you will find exercises for reflection and application as well as resources for additional study in the same subject area. In Chapters Four through Twelve you will also find a Missional Practice Assessment tool you can use to assess how your church reflects the distinctive practice highlighted in the chapter. I hope you and your coleaders will also use the comprehensive Missional Practice Assessment tool in the Appendix to understand the willingness of your church to move to missional.

I hope too that this book will be a supplementary text for seminary courses in missions and church planting. Student formation must provide hope for a new kind of church—a church capable of making a significant difference in the lives of individuals and of society. Many students will serve existing churches, helping them to be shaped by God’s heart. Others will plant new churches. The churches they begin will reflect the values they hold. Culture is behavior driven by underlying values. If students value missional culture, they will begin missional churches. I pray today’s students will become architects of a pervasive missional church culture.

The Vast and Endless Sea

During the past year, I became enamored with this quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.

I have spent more than twenty years helping churches develop methods to drum up men, gather wood, divide the work, and so on, and have had some success. But I have also learned that if churches are to accomplish God’s purpose, they must do more than apply marketing principles: they must yearn for the vastness and endlessness of relationship with Him.

Most ecclesiological writings focus on structures and strategies, and these are important concerns. Still, the primary focus must be upon spirituality. Knowing His purpose informs strategies, which are the pathway to accomplishing purpose. Structures can then be developed that best facilitate the actions toward accomplishing determined strategies.

So the formula must be spirituality, then strategy, then structure. For many existing churches, long-established structures have become the forms through which any new endeavor must pass. If structures do not accommodate strategies, they destroy effectiveness. Mission is sacrificed at the altar of the way we do things here. When existing structures do not enable new methods, those methods fail.

Missional churches arise from the foundations laid by the thousands of traditional churches that have supported and envisioned the modern missionary movement. As we move into a new age and the new paradigm that is now emerging, missional churches will flow naturally into areas conventional churches were not structured to address.

Before you begin Shaped by God’s Heart, I want to say a word about what this book is not. It is not a book about personal transformation, and it is not intended as a theology of mission. It does encourage you first to ask a spiritual question: What does God desire for our church? What is on His heart? That should prompt a strategic question: What would He have us to do, as individuals and as a Body? Only then can you ask: How should we structure our ministry to best accomplish those strategies?

Shaped by God’s Heart is a pragmatic observation of actual churches on mission, learning and growing, taking chances, being a new kind of church. Churches, especially those that have a long history, possess corporate cultures that have deep roots. It can be a monumental challenge to make the transition from a primary concern for keeping members and maintaining the status quo to a more outward missional focus. Leaders who take on such a transition need strong personal spirituality, well-honed leadership skills, and patience with parishioners who have the courage to step into a new journey, toward the heart of God. Those leaders can—indeed must—be both clergy and laity. It is for you who can become such leaders that Shaped by God’s Heart is written.

As a student of God and His church, it is my privilege to handle profoundly Holy things. With humility I offer these pages in gratitude to our missional God and His missional church.

NOTES

1. Bosch, David J. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1991, p. 390.

PART ONE

THE CHURCH IN A NEW AND CHANGING WORLD

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

—2 Corinthians 3:14

On September 8, 2001, outfitter and wilderness guide Don Wade and a client packed gear into the small float plane of pilot Buck Maxen, stationed at Kotzebue. This was the third aircraft into which Don had transferred the gear since leaving his Texas base for Northern Alaska. The craft would land on a small lake near the Selawik River, just beneath the Arctic Circle. From there Don would guide his client in a challenging trek through some of the most pristine and unspoiled terrain in North America. Without radios or satellite phones, he would be responsible for ensuring the safe and timely rendezvous of his expedition with the pilot thirty miles downriver and fifteen days later. He had filed the drop-off and pickup locations with the Alaska Fish and Game Department. They were the only documentation of his intended itinerary.

It took two full days to transport the gear from the small lake to the river less than a mile away. Because of the ubiquitous marshlands, Don and his client lived in hip boots for fifteen days. With every step, feet sank up to ankles in mud. Nights proved threatening, with temperatures that could plunge as low as sixty degrees below zero. Each day the absolute quiet of the undisturbed environment, the bounty of nature, and the evening meal of fish taken moments earlier from the river, rekindled Don’s appreciation of his precarious position in the world.

Late each evening he thought of his family, thousands of miles away, and prayed all was well with them. Then, weary from his responsibilities, he would doze off. The next morning he would make coffee and hot cereal before breaking camp and continuing downriver. Each night, he would lie down again and fall into deep sleep.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, he was preparing hot cereal in the pristine and timeless wilderness, while those of us with access to radio and television were witnessing, over and over again, the horror of commercial airliners flying into the Pentagon and the twin towers of the World Trade Center, destroying the lives of thousands of people, and changing our own lives forever.

For Don—oblivious to the tragedy that rocked the nation, and to the heightened security that grounded all planes for three days—September 11 was simply day four of a journey down the Selawik River. It was another day to guide his client and enjoy the beauty of Alaskan wilderness. It was another night to lie down and wonder about family and friends, remembering them in darkness.

On September 21, Buck Maxen’s plane circled another small lake and then landed to begin the process of retrieving Don and his client. As the propellers stopped turning, Buck stepped out and began telling them about the events of September 11. That night, Don was alone for one more night, as Buck continued the long process of removing the client and his gear. Don lay awake, trying without success to grasp the reality of what had happened to the world.

While Don was away in the harsh beauty of the natural world, our world had changed. The change was so dramatic that his isolation from the world’s reality made it almost impossible for him to comprehend.

Don Wade’s experience may seem extreme, but it has much in common with the situation in which many of our churches now find themselves. Born into an ordered world of accepted rules and expected outcomes, enjoying many years of success and sameness, they suddenly find themselves with little that is familiar, to sustain them in a world that seems to have changed overnight.

Today, while the U.S. population soars, the percentage of those who hold membership in the Christian church continues to decline. Yet people still seek answers to deep questions of the soul, answers to the Why? of existence. As our traditional idea of church seems to be losing ground, a new and still forming movement—that of the missional church—seems to understand not only how to respond to these eternal questions but also how to ride out the waves of a changing culture.

You may find missional churches hard to identify. Some look very traditional, with church buildings and stratified leadership and social groups. Others look very untraditional—perhaps meeting in homes, or in community venues, in bars after hours, ministering to people on the margins, acting on radical ideas. Still others combine both ways of being in the world. New movements are by nature chaotic, ever-growing, and changing. The same can be said of missional churches. Yet the passion, commitment, and sheer aliveness of these churches draws us to them again and again as the new harbingers of Christianity in this brave new millennium. In the first chapters of this book, we’ll take a look at how the world is changing, and how missional churches are responding to the challenge.

CHAPTER 1

FROM MAINTENANCE TO MISSIONAL

THE CHURCH IN A WORLD OF CHANGE

And just as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

—1 Corinthians 15:49

We face a choice to be worldly Christians or world Christians.

—Paul Borthwick, A Mind for Missions

The protestant church in North America was born into a comfortable and familiar environment that was favorable and respectful of its presence. For many years, new churches enjoyed the luxury of acceptance and power. They enjoyed what George Hunter called a home-court advantage.

While enjoying the beauty of their religious experience, however, they became increasingly isolated from the world. Some were adamant exponents of this separation, citing such biblical admonitions as Come out from among them and be separate (2 Corinthians 6:17). They enjoyed being with their group on a spiritual journey and sought to add others along the way—especially those who were comfortable in the church environment. Over the years, this separation encouraged members to adopt a specialized language. In some churches, the phrase She walked the aisle indicates coming to faith. In other communities church members call others Brother or Sister even though they are unrelated. Unless one is familiar with the intent, being asked to give your heart to Jesus might sound like a request for organ donation! Active members learned such churchspeak as natives of the culture. Inevitably, perhaps, their relationships were primarily with other members of their faith family, and their activities increasingly involved these people with whom they held much in common. They thrived.

By the middle of the twentieth century, however, this relatively peaceful existence was beginning to fracture. The times were changing, and changing fast. Young people, once relatively obedient to their elders, found themselves in an exciting new teen culture. Television, radio, and newspapers communicated startling world events with an immediacy that brought the brutalities of war right into the living room. Violent and non-violent protests challenged national interests. Social balance was upset. What was once considered right was now wrong; what was once considered blasphemy was commonplace. Graphic sexuality found its way onto movie screens. Risqué language crept into television programming. Challenges were met with claims of First Amendment freedoms.

As divorce and cohabitation became more commonplace, traditional family units seemed the exception rather than the rule. Racial and linguistic diversity was accompanied by growth in non-Christian religions. Many felt uncomfortable with mosques and temples constructed in their communities. Court cases challenged prayer in public schools, the Ten Commandments on courtroom walls, so help me God in courtroom oaths, one nation under God in the pledge of allegiance, and in God we trust on U.S. currency. Litigants sought to erase all evidence of Christian bias. It seemed like the end of the world for members of many Protestant churches. To some degree, it was.

Fighting Change with Maintenance

For many church members and leaders alike, these events seemed beyond comprehension. Impossible. Unreal. Even if they tried, they felt incapable of relating in the changing environment. Some longed to engage the changing culture and share with those who had never experienced the serenity and peace found in relationship with God and the members of His church, but to their surprise other people did not seem to see their church in the same way. They felt bewildered and under fire. In response, they retreated to the sanctuary, their place of comfort, growing ever more inward in their orientation. They maintained the status quo.

Not surprisingly, they found themselves increasingly out of touch with the rapids of cultural change and the real world in which their neighbors lived. Most cared about those on the outside, but they felt impotent to connect and share with unchurched persons in any significant way. Consequently, their churches no longer anticipated having a major impact upon society and hoped only to reach enough people to help the church survive. I call this prevalent consumer orientation, isolation from society, and associated lack of belief in capacity to have significant influence a maintenance mentality.

The culture in which the church exists is a changing river, charting its own path without regard to the preferences of previous generational or cultural systems. Members of today’s churches, who once felt that they held the high ground in a vast Christian nation, now feel cut off and isolated—islands in a fast-flowing stream. Clearly, the Christian church in North America no longer possesses a home-court advantage.

Where, now, is our home? As more and more people live their lives in their cars, and constant migration from town to town and even country to country becomes commonplace, communities have naturally become less cohesive. Churches, once perceived as the center of community life, have become progressively irrelevant in increasingly diverse communities. Many people are clearly still interested in spirituality, as witnessed by the growing interest in Eastern and Native American religions, contemplative and monastic environments, holistic health, and nontraditional expressions of connection with the environment. Yet the percentage of the population practicing their faith within local churches continues to decline.

Given this situation, it’s not surprising that many Western churches are now focused mostly on survival. These churches are no longer storming the gates of hell. They are simply trying to outlast the onslaught of secularism that threatens their existence. These churches are filled with members who have adopted and adapted to consumer culture. Just as they count on Wal-Mart meeting their material needs, they expect their churches to provide religious goods and services. Many of their pastors, like John, are struggling to hang on and give them access to a strong spiritual life.

Still, a change is on the horizon. Some churches—a relative few, but growing in strength and number—are beginning to understand that the key to a revived spirit is both to focus inward and also to move outward—into the world. They see the future as one of bringing the Gospel alive for a new generation in a new world—so the church will not just survive, but thrive. These congregations focus on God’s mission, missio dei. These missional churches—reproducing communities of authentic disciples, being equipped as missionaries sent by God, to live and proclaim His Kingdom in their world—have connected the pervasive hunger for spirituality with the ancient but contemporary invitation to know God and live to His glory. Jamye Miller, pastor of Christ Fellowship in Grapevine, Texas, sees missional churches as life-giving, image bearing, reproducing, multiplying, Christ-manifesting churches that glorify Him.¹ Beyond focusing on maintenance or survival, they are energized as they reconnect with God and His mission.

Theological Foundations of Missional Churches

The