Structured for Mission: Renewing the Culture of the Church

by Alan J. Roxburgh

The church is living in a time of massive, unprecedented change. Traditional institutions and structures are unraveling in response to rapid social, demographic and economic developments. The existing ways of being the church are no longer meaningful to many. How should the church respond? Many seek to address this situation by tweaking the established institutions, finding new structures, reorganizing congregations or renewing long-established practices. Some even argue that we need to abandon structures and institutions altogether. We regularly hear proposals for missional churches, organic churches, simple churches, fresh expressions churches and so on. Alan Roxburgh argues that we need to look deeper. Structures embody the core narratives that shape how people see the world. We cannot simply replace old institutions with new ones. We need to examine the underlying stories, metaphors and cultures that give organizations their meaningfulness. The crisis of the church today is a crisis not of institution but of imagination. In Structured for Mission , Roxburgh challenges the church to become a place where people are empowered to reimagine their religious life and experiment with new ways of being the church in a local context. We are living in a brave new world. Will the church be ready?

192 pages, Paperback

First published July 5, 2015

About the author

Alan Roxburgh is a pastor, teacher, writer and consultant with more than 30 years experience in church leadership, consulting and seminary education. Alan has pastored congregations in a small town, the suburbs, the re-development of a downtown urban church and the planting of other congregations. He has directed an urban training center and served as a seminary professor and the director of a center for mission and evangelism. Alan teaches as an adjunct professor in seminaries in the USA, Australia and Europe. In addition to his books listed here on Amazon, Alan was also a member of the writing team that authored "Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America".

Through The Missional Network, Alan leads conferences, seminars and consultations with denominations, congregations and seminaries across North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the UK. Alan consults with these groups in the areas of leadership for missional transformation and innovating missional change across denominational systems. Along with the team at TMN, he provides practical tools and resources for leaders of church systems and local congregations.

When not traveling or writing, Alan enjoys mountain biking, hiking, cooking and hanging out with Jane and their five grandchildren as well as drinking great coffee in the Pacific North West.

Reviews

[Sagely · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have marked up and dog eared many pages in this book, even though I feel that I'm maybe not SfM's target audience. SfM speaks to change in denominational structures, engaging denominational reps in particular. That said, much of what I read hear comes home to my congregational practice.

In SfM Roxburgh meditates on the character and value of institutional structures and institutional change. This is well worth a read.

[Becca · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF

While the basic point is valid, Roxburgh's writing is repetitive and seems to have been written to "sound smart." Maybe I need the "Structured for Mission for dummies" but I would not recommend for anyone actively working within a church.

[Chris Woznicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

The technological revolution, transformed economies, capitalism, globalization, decentralization, individualism, commodification, fragmented communities, fragmented identities, alienation….

“At the end of the 20th century these transformations converged creating a radical shift in social culture.” (94)

Many churches have tried to respond to these changes with a greater emphasis on programs, structures, and new initiatives. Yet time after time, these things seem to fail. According to Alan Roxburgh, structures aren’t the real issue, it’s the narratives that lie behind the structures that are the real issue. So what churches need is not to restructure (though that may need to happen), but what needs to happen first is that there needs to be a shift in the narratives by which these organizations are working with. We need to understand the stories and narratives that have shaped the changes around us and those that have shaped the structures we currently use. This will take greater use of our imagination and the greater use of experimentation. Without experimenting it will be hard to “discover” the new story lines that need to take place. But most importantly what we need is to follow the Spirit’s leading. Throughout the history of the church, the Spirit has helped to change hearts and reinvigorate imaginations, even when the church seemed to get stuck in a rut.

Part one of this Structured for Mission lays out the changes in society that the church is addressing and lays out a theory of structures and legitimating narratives that shape those structures. In part two, Roxburgh makes a case for the kinds of shifts that need to happen if the church is going to move in health into the future.

I think Roxburgh is on to something important, that may church leaders need to hear: the problems the church is facing cannot be changed by merely tinkering around with our programs and structures, a deeper change is needed. Hopefully many will heed these wise words of Roxburgh.