As I understand the missional church, the Sunday gathering can never be the focal point. And yet it plays a crucial role in the formation of a people into God’s Mission. It is essential for the sustaining of a missional community who lives life in the rhythms of mission. We do not gather for self-improvement as Christians (although this happens), we do not seek to attract more Christians into this church for the sake of building a “successful church.” Yet here we are shaped by the Spirit into a political force for the Mission of God in the world. Assuming all this, if you were to come and visit one of these gatherings, I think you would notice some things that should tip off that this church has a culture of Mission. What would you notice? Here’s my (off the cuff) list of 8 things to ponder that should tip us off that this gathering is Missional.
1.) There is no single dominating leader/pastor: You won’t be able to tell who the senior pastor is. There will be leaders, but no one leader will dominate this gathering. There probably will not be one dominant preacher. Leadership will be diffused. This pushes leadership outward. Read about it here. There will be a high percentage of people involved in various forms of leadership.
2.) The Service isn’t Produced: The liturgies, preaching and music will have an organic sense to it. It will be a family type gathering not a show. There will probably be candles, art and other tactile means to enter into the reality of God in Christ. The production value of the service has more to do with organic artistry, not professional produced excellence. Above all, there is a focus towards the communal encounter with the living God. We don’t have full-time paid professionals to orchestrate a Sunday morning service. In fact, if we all came together 5 minutes before the gathering time, and 3 of the leaders for the service were sick, I would like to thin we could put it together without a hitch. This is because the gathering is about the regular liturgical shaping of who we are into the Mission of God.
3.) There probably will not be many strangers present in this service: There will not be as many strangers, for these kinds of connections take place outside the Sunday gathering. We do hope to see people who don’t walk with Christ among us – but they will be folk who have gotten to know people in our community (who do walk with Christ). We hope to have people among us asking a lot of questions who have arrived here through an important relationship in their lives.
4.) Socio and economic diversity: Everybody should not be of the same socio-economic strata. Maybe you couldn’t tell on your first visit, but there should be people hanging around living below the poverty level who are being helped and sustained by this community. You should see folks with handicaps welcomed and loved and feeling comfortable. You should see these kinds of diversity as the justice of God through reconciliation of all kinds permeates through this cmmunity into all our other relationships.
5.) Sunday Morning Greeters?: OK, I don’t know about this one. All I know is that you should notice strong and viable friendships happening. And this might make it harder to or more uncomfortable to actually meet people if you’re s stranger just visiting on a Sunday. Most connection happens in relationships outside the church from which people come to the gathering. This means that visitors will find true communal connection on a Sunday morning gathering more difficult. We should expect people to make significant connection with strangers (especially strangers to the gospel) outside the church gathering.
6.) The Sending Out: The high point of the time together should be the benediction!- The Sending Out. There will be various liturgies and worship all centered in the encounter with the living God. It always ends however with the sending out for mission. There is a centrifugal nature to the missional Sunday morning gathering.
7.) The Gathering is Participatory: At Life on the Vine, we sit together in a round before God around the altar, not as passive spectators for a performance. The service is active and participant driven. I can’t imagine a missional church that trains its people to sit passively on Sunday all facing in one direction as if they come to sit and receive. Anyways, this is how we arrange the gathering place at LOV. Is this just us?
8.) Ethnic Diversity?: OK I admit to being troubled by this one. Especialy after last weekend’s missional learning commons. Should missional communities be diverse by definition? Even if we are located in a predominantly white context? Should all Christian communities be diverse even if they have to pay people of a different ethnicity to come and be a leader/singer ? I deliberately left this one up for grabs. Missional communities are not typically diverse. But we can do some things to prepare the way? We’ve had many suggestions? Any new ones?
Anyways, these are just a few hints as to what someone might notice upon entering a missional community’s Sunday gathering. I am sure there are many more. I’m not sure the comunity I co-lead can live up to these ideals. Any immediate ones you’d like to add to the list?
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Dave,
Helpful and challenging list. Your comment at the end (not sure LOTV can live up to these ideals) helped me understand that this isn’t a list to “see if your church is missional,” and if you miss one or two, that means you’re attractional. Rather, it’s a set of best-practices that will help move a weekly gathering to its proper place in a missional community. Would you agree with that assessment?
If so, then ABSOLUTELY ethnic diversity belongs on the list. Our ability to be missional communities is greatly expanded by the participation of people from different racial backgrounds in the weekly rhythms of worship. After reading Rah’s book, why the question mark?
Good stuff. I think #1 is a huge challenge. Saw a really insightful comment today on another blog, “It’s the community that crowns a Saul.” I think the real challenge of leadership in missional churches is to resist becoming a King/Queen at the behest of the people.
David,
Nice observations. From a mainline standpoint, although I’m grateful for liturgies I wish we could move toward more spontaneous, collaborative interchange in worship. What if the worship wasn’t set in stone by Tuesday for the church secretary (and I say that not just cuz I’ve been a Sat. night procrastinator
But what if a congregation batted around teaching ideas, music selections, and questions, or contributed photo images and vids, all using social media to help the weekly gathering along? Then I think there might be some real anticipation and curiosity about how all this will come together at worship. What’s more in might reinvigorate the sense of being sent into the week to gather more material for worship.
Will you be posting any notes or excerpts from the missional commons?
As for social vs. ethnic diversity: I wonder how helpful the distinction is. The bottom line for me is: Are we crossing social boundaries – the kind which are mostly found along the fault lines of difference? Now we could dispute, and frankly I think we should expand our notion of diversity beyond the racialized categories of modern America. But that being said, there’s got to be some way for the missional congregation to take stock or inventory of the various identities of its members and the lives of those it touches. If not, then how can we know for sure we are in reality joining God’s mission to cross social boundaries, and not merely adhering to social convention (stick with your own kind) or underwriting America’s limited vision of what kind of society it should be.
Though I really do try to cut alot of slack here. I don’t walk into a congregation needing to see certain numbers or representations of minority culture per se. What I look for is an attitude of deep welcome and a certain hunger for seeking out people, learning about them, working with them. I think that hunger and welcome have to be displayed first at points beyond worship gatherings.
“Should missional communities be diverse by definition? Even if we are located in a predominantly white context? Missional communities are not typically diverse.”
Just to clarify–you are saying that most missional communities are not ethnically diverse because they are located in neighborhoods that are not ethnically diverse, right? Would a church located in an ethnically diverse neighborhood not need to be ethnically diverse to be missional?
Josh,
No… I’m asking if a missional community is located in an all white (or other enthnicity)locale, shoukld it still be diverse …or should it reflect its locale – its context? … I think the answer would probably be no .. eh? But I am definitely not saying most missional communities are in all white locales …
As Jason mentioned, #1 is the toughest. We’ve been working REALLY hard on this one. The challenge for us has been that, while there is a real sense of shared leadership in the community, most of our members are early twenty-somethings. As a result, many are still fresh out of a context where the “leader” or at least the older members took the lead. So we are work to walk that out, as my role as pastor risks becoming too central.
As far as #5 is concerned, we’ve addressed this too. We want to avoid Wal-Mart type greeters, but also make new visitors feel truly and personally welcomed. To that end, we’ve strongly resisted using terms or organized roles such as “greeters”, but being welcoming and hospitable is becoming an increasing emphasis.
It is #8 that is the kicker for us. Our small congregation is mostly white, but our neighbourhood is significantly diverse along racial lines. As people who live in the neighbourhood, we have very active and real relationship with people of great diversity, many of whom visit our Sunday gathering on occasion. However, few stay. When I have talked to some of these people, their decision to leave was never an explicitly racial choice (in fact, most went to other predominantly white churches instead, if they went elsewhere at all).
So, Little Flowers Community does not reflect the racial diversity of our neighbourhood on Sundays, while very much reflecting the socio-economic diversity and other dynamics (i.e. mental illness, mental/physical handicaps, etc.). This weighs extremely heavily on me and the wisdom I have sought in this regard has not yet produced advice that has been very helpful.
Peace,
Jamie
Thanks for the clarification, David.
Are there any all white neighborhoods in the United States? Rural or urban, we’re a diverse country. Thus, our churches should be diverse churches. (I say this as one in Minnesota, a state you’d think would be pretty white but is actually very racially diverse both in the Twin Cities and in the farming communities.)
[...] January 16, 2010 · Leave a Comment 8 Things You Should Notice At a Missional Sunday Gathering [...]
[...] we think these eight things should be present regardless of other considerations. Check it out at Reclaiming The Mission. Excellent [...]
[...] piece “Eight Things You Should Notice At a Missional Sunday Gathering” from the blog Reclaiming The Mission. I can’t think of anything better today than to amplify the ideas contained in this [...]
[...] we think these eight things should be present regardless of other considerations. Check it out at Reclaiming The Mission. Excellent [...]
[...] piece “Eight Things You Should Notice At a Missional Sunday Gathering” from the blog Reclaiming The Mission. I can’t think of anything better today than to amplify the ideas contained in this [...]
Just stumbled on this site via Twitter. Absolutely love this post. I’m part of the leadership of a group called Open House, an off-shoot of The Bridge Community. We are still finding our way in all this, but so many of the points above only stand to solidify the vision we feel God calling us to. Thanks for the insight and great encouragement!
I think this is more 8 marks of an emergent church instead of a missional church. I don’t mean that in a derogatory way, just descriptively.
For instance professional polish. That’s not a mark of being missional in my opinion. It’s simply a matter of contextualization. In some communities professional organization is a way of communicating that this Church is prepared because we really care about what we’re doing. The order of service is tight, the music well produced and the sermon orderly and clear all because that’s the best way to move people to worship and edification. In another context those very same elements things might communicate inauthenticity and fake-ness.
Here’s another example from my church. For some older folks in my church formal dress is one way they express genuine reverence for God. For some younger folks formal dress communicates to them they can’t be themselves, that they have to put on a front. Who’s right? Well they both are. Suits and ties have two different meanings for two different demographics of people. Christian community is best served if both of those groups learn to understand and love one another, not if we pick one groups culture of dress and privilege it over the others.
I think the biggest thing you missed was Jesus and the Gospel as taught according to the Scriptures. A church might have diversity, flat leadership structure etc. but it can’t be missional without Jesus and the Scripture.
Hi,
For me, as X generation or Y, there is no sense for christian presentation on this method of gethering. May be those for Baby boomers. It sounds quicker gathering, Wasting time, jobless people, and strugle for not to die christians. Hopeless faith culture for the future generation.
Just browsing and imigination christian presence for 21st century.
I think when culture or context is changed, gospel approach has to be changed on its context.
regards
L San
I’m confused. Sunday morning is not so important that it should be “professionally produced” with any intentionally, but it’s critical enough that we must focus on “organically” producing these 8 somewhat challenging things?
It sounds like what happens (or doesn’t happen) on Sunday mornings more important to you that you’re letting on. But that’s ok because I personally don’t see a problem with thinking carefully and theologically about what happens at a worship gatherings.
Whether we’ll openly admit it or not, Sunday morning matters a lot to us (as it should).
I see much of what you describe at our church however we always have strangers at our worship gathering and make a very intentional point of making them feel comfortable. The talk in the area is that we are a “different” kind of church and that makes a lot of people come to check up out. Not a problem at all for us. We welcome it and welcome any one who ventures through our doors to see what we’re about.