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Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America

Darrell L. Guder (Editor),

Lois Barrett (Editor),

Inagrace T. Dietterich,

George R. Hunsberger,

Alan J. Roxburgh,

Craig Van Gelder

really liked it 4.00 · Rating details · 444 ratings · 23 reviews

What would a theology of the Church look like that took seriously the fact that North America is now itself a mission field? This question lies at the foundation of this volume written by an ecumenical team of six noted missiologists—Lois Barrett, Inagrace T. Dietterich, Darrell L. Guder, George R. Hunsberger, Alan J. Roxburgh, and Craig Van Gelder.

The result of a three-y ...more

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Paperback, 288 pages

Published February 9th 1998 by Eerdmans (first published February 1998)

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Dec 30, 2011 Keith Madsen rated it liked it

I strongly agree with this book's essential premise, which is that we should not think of a church SENDING people to do mission, but rather as a body whose very nature is missional. Thus "'Mission' is not something the church does, a part of its total program. No, the church's essence is missional, for the calling and sending action of God forms its identity. Mission is founded on the mission of God in the world, rather than the church's effort to extend itself." Through this understanding we se I strongly agree with this book's essential premise, which is that we should not think of a church SENDING people to do mission, but rather as a body whose very nature is missional. Thus "'Mission' is not something the church does, a part of its total program. No, the church's essence is missional, for the calling and sending action of God forms its identity. Mission is founded on the mission of God in the world, rather than the church's effort to extend itself." Through this understanding we see that the church is more than a "vendor of religious services and goods", with its members being the primary consumers of those religious services and goods. Members need to be those living out and incarnating the mission. Pastoral leadership needs to lead and equip them in doing this, instead of being the primary instruments of mission themselves. As such, one problem with this book is its highly academic, even esoteric language; language which might speak to ministers, but which does not speak to most laity, those who need to start thinking of themselves as involved in mission.

I also agree with this book's view on what a successful church is: "...the indicators of a successful missional community are not determinded by quantitative measures: the size of its budget, the number of its members, the quality of its musical efforts, or even the amount of its social services. Instead, success is exhibited in the quality of Christian love experienced in the midst of its common life and ministry." Like the song says, "They will know we are Christians by our love." But this should not be inbred, incestual love, love for all our fellow members, while disregarding those outside the walls of the church's building(s).

Here is where I get to my central areas of discomfort with this book. First of all the authors seem to put down the idea of a church responding to the needs of the people around it: "When leaders are shaped primarily by contextual needs, they fail to connect the gospel in a specific setting with its eschatological nature." Again, highly academic language, but it seemed to be encouraging church leaders to be (in the words of a former preacher of my youth), "so heavenly minded they are no earthly good." Christ had his disciples provide those around them with bread, and he himself brought them physical healing. In fact the main way a church can incarnate the love of God's kingdom is to respond lovingly to human need. They speak of worship as the center of a church's corporate life, but they seemingly forget how God speaks through Isaiah to say that worship without showing justice is abhorrent to him (Is 1:12-28; 58:6-7.)

A second area of discomfort relates to the authors' view that the primary mission of a church was to its own context. There is certainly truth in this. Some church leaders used to trip over their own family and neighbors while trying to reach out to the "lost souls of Africa." A good example of this can be found in the recent novel "The Help" where the women's group mistreats their help while raising money for African orphans. The authors rightly point out that today it is the people of Africa and the Southern Hemisphere who are often the most faithful Christians, and the people who need a faith perspective are those in secular America. But the perspective of the authors can also fail to confront a dangerous American tendency toward parochialism. "Why help people in need in Haiti or Africa, when OUR OWN PEOPLE have needs right here?" The needs of people in the developing world absolutely dwarf the needs of people in our country, but a idolatrous nationalism still says "let's take care of our own first, and if we have any crumbs left over..." Preaching the Gospel in our own context and declaring the kingdom of God in our own context MUST include expanding America's view of who our neighbor is. Virtually everyone in the world is just the click of a few computer keys away, and all are equally loved by our God. America (and the American church) has too large of a percentage of the world's assets to not see beyond our own borders. So I would say that to truly be a missional church, a church must minister to its own context, but also connect that context to a wider world and God's full family. I did not find that emphasis in this book. ...more

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Jan 08, 2018 Bob Wolniak rated it really liked it

Shelves: christian

As it is known today, the book that popularized the term missional and its shift of seeing the North American church from sending to being sent in our own society. Also had a shaping influence on the emerging church movement. I read this first for a class and then to prepare some discussion on the theme. I have perhaps more underlining and notes in this volume than almost any other book on my shelf. Obviously, it had a profound impact on me and it still does in the organization I work for. It pr ...more

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Aug 15, 2019 Tim rated it really liked it

Shelves: church-mission

A foundational book by multiple authors, outlining the meaning and method of missional church. They explain the need - how North America has become a mission field. They explain what needs to happen - that the established church become flexible and responsive and outward oriented. They call us to go beyond the great command (love one another) to fulfilling the great commission. The church is sent into the world, not retreating from it.
The book reads like a textbook - highly informative, but fair ...more

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Jul 20, 2019 Jason Nather rated it it was amazing

One of my single favorite reads outside of the Bible.

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Oct 20, 2020 Hsi Nwe is currently reading it

i want to read for my thesis.

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May 31, 2012 Scott Buchanan rated it really liked it

I wish I could give the book 3.5 stars, because it's somewhere in between good and great. This is *the* book that kicked off the curernt "missional church" movement and the wide range of resources that have come in that stream. If you're a student of the missional church, then it's worth reading if for no other reason than to understand where it all started. For those who simply want an introduction to the missional church, it would be helpful, but there are other books written more recently tha I wish I could give the book 3.5 stars, because it's somewhere in between good and great. This is *the* book that kicked off the curernt "missional church" movement and the wide range of resources that have come in that stream. If you're a student of the missional church, then it's worth reading if for no other reason than to understand where it all started. For those who simply want an introduction to the missional church, it would be helpful, but there are other books written more recently that may be better or more practical.

The authors are a combination of pastors and theologians, but the nature of the book (written by committee after decades of discussion) means that it is rather theoretical. This is not necessarily bad, but it means that much work remains in bringing it down to ground level. The authors come from a variety of Protestant traditions (albeit all low-church), which has the beneficial effect of smoothing out denominational quirks; however, they are almost exclusively trained and experienced in mainline circles, which ironically leaves them with a somewhat parochial perspective, seemingly ignorant of parallel developments in evangelical circles.

As presented in the book, the idea of the missional church is grounded in an understanding of God as being by nature apostolic (borrowed in large part from Newbigin). In other words, God is a sending God: the Father sends the Son, and the Son sends the Spirit. This combines with an already/not-yet view of God's kingdom to suggest that Jesus' mission, and thus the church's mission, is to proclaim and demonstrate the in-breaking of "God's reign." This "sent-ness" should, according to the authors, be the primary ordering paradigm for all aspects of church organization, leadership, community life and action.

As the subtitle implies, throughout the book the authors make a project of contextualizing the missional church to the post-modern North American culture (i.e., that of the US and Canada). It is their belief that the American church is faltering as it heads into the 21st century because of errors introduced both in the establishment of Christianity under Constantine ("Christendom") as well as in philosophical shifts introduced during the Enlightenment ("modernity"). The argument is that Christendom and modernity introduced critical weaknesses into the church that have begun to fracture under the stress of postmodernism. The solution, therefore, is to refocus on the initial mission of God and start fresh in applying it to contemporary life.

Quotes of interest to me:

"The historic transformations and current existence of the church in North America form a complex reality that we must deal with in considering the development of a missional ecclesiology. ... We do not believe, however, that the context itself defines the mission and message of God's people." (p. 76)

"Over time, these '[Reformation] marks [of the church]' narrowed the church's definition of itself toward a 'place where' idea." (p. 80)

"As Jurgen Moltmann has put it, 'The historical church must be called "apostolic" in a double sense; its gospel and its doctrine are founded on the testimony of the first apostles, … and it exists in the carrying out of the apostolic proclamation, the missionary charge. The expression "apostolic" therefore denotes both the church's formation and its commission.'" (p. 83)

"To proclaim the divine reign [verbally] is to add the signature of Jesus; to refrain from proclamation leaves all else anonymous, ambiguous, and subject to misreading the situation." (p. 107)

"Virtually every Christian public ethic justifying behavior that runs counter to the example and teaching of Jesus does it on the grounds of responsibility. … Jesus' example is deemed irrelevant or irresponsible." (p. 124-5)

"The more accurately the church locates the key points of difference between its surrounding culture and that culture called for by the reign of God, the more faithfully the church lives a distinctively holy life in its place." (p. 129)

"A false distinction arises between the spiritual world where the Spirit supposedly resides and the material world of ordinary, everyday life. ... In essence, the Spirit becomes a totally mysterious power used to explain incomprehensible statements of faith, gaps in human knowledge, or extraordinary spiritual experiences." (p. 143) ...more

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Nov 29, 2011 Garland Vance rated it it was ok

Shelves: d-min-reading, kindle, ministry

I have a great deal of tension over this book and how to rate it. On the one hand, the message of this book is powerful and thought-provoking. It forces its readers to ask hard questions about the nature of the church, the cultural context of North American and how to be in the church in the world today.
However, I found myself dreading this book each time I picked it up (it was required for my doctoral reading). Admittedly, I typically do not enjoy books in which different authors write each ch ...more

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Oct 02, 2008 Melinda rated it liked it

Excellent book but too intellectual and dry for my taste. I read one section thoroughly on recommendation. pp 199-220. ..."we are constantly losing the best and most creative leaders to more visionary and challenging areas of life because the systems of leadership identification that we have created are for a form of church life that no longer has the veracity of the power to engage these kinds of people. The maintenance and servicing of these institutions does not challenge those wanting to giv ...more

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Sep 03, 2013 Cara Meredith rated it liked it

Perhaps had I read it in a timely manner (instead of over the course of 8 months), I would have gotten more out of it than I actually did. While the overall premise is important and I found myself highlighting and underlining several key parts in each chapter, I continued to have a hard time staying engaged with the text. Maybe seminary did me over, and I still need a break from any near-theological like reading.

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Oct 13, 2009 Brian rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: leadership, spiritual-growth

Guder is a significant presence in the missional church world, and as such he and his team of writers offer depth and originality lacking in some newer literature. His understanding of "The Reign of God" has been significant in my own understanding of The Church. It is a more biblical-based alternative to the valuable bur consumer-based Purpose Driven approach. This volume is a must in a missional church library. ...more

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Sep 15, 2014 Dan rated it liked it

The idea and some of the information of the book was good but often it was dry and pedantic. They tried to make it applicable by using some potential real-life situations but I don't think they did a good job of connecting the information to the situations that were presented. Often times there was too much exegesis of biblical passages that bogged it down for my taste. ...more

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Sep 11, 2011 Margaret rated it did not like it

Overall this book is OK. The first few chapters really get you hooked but then everything seems to get repetitive. I read this book for a missions class in college and it was good for the purposes of the class but unless you are intent on Missions or church planting I would not suggest reading this book. It's good educationally but not great for leisure reading. ...more

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Feb 11, 2013 Daniel Wells rated it really liked it

Lots of gold in here, though one has to throw out a sentence here and there. Not comfortable with the Barthian view of Scripture as mere 'witness' rather than the actual Word of God, but there is a lot of good stuff in this book. Not entirely practical, but the reader should mark up the margins with concrete applications from some of the ideas laid out. ...more

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Dec 26, 2013 Matt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ministry

The foundational text on the missional church paradigm/movement. A must-read for any pastor, elder or other church leader seeking to influence their congregations toward a missional mindset and model of ministry.

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Jul 24, 2012 Jim Herrington rated it it was amazing

Guder and friends have written a seminal work that every serious Christian should read. Missional theology is still an emerge field of study. These guys literally "wrote the book" on it. ...more

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May 03, 2012 Colleen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: dmin-research

Another 'classic' in the missional category ...more

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Nov 19, 2015 John Henry rated it liked it

Shelves: my-library

This is one of a few of our most important texts to help us on our journey of transformation to become communities on mission.

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Dec 29, 2012 Bradley added it

I wasn't that impressed with it at the time, but everybody else raves about it, so maybe I ought to pick this one up again. ...more

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Sep 05, 2008 Dustin Tramel rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Dustin by: Jay Held

This is one of the books that revolutionized my thinking about the local church. Don't read it unless you want to love the church again or deepen your current love for it. ...more

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“The gospel, centered profoundly for Jesus in the announcement that the reign of God is at hand, is eschatological in character. It pulls back the veil on the coming reign of God, thereby revealing the horizon of the world’s future. The gospel portrays the coming of Jesus, and particularly his death and resurrection, as the decisive, truly eschatological event in the world’s history.” — 1 likes

“Daily life becomes a discipline of asking how one may move more squarely into the realm of God’s reign and how one may welcome and receive it into the fabric of one’s life this day more than ever before.” — 0 likes

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