Missional Renaissance: Week 3

Dear Ones,

Welcome to week three in Lent and therefore in our study of Reggie McNeal's, Missional Renaissance.  I want to thank those who have joined in the discussion and invite you, if you haven't, to give us your thoughts.  This week we are in Chapter 4 and 5.  Chapter 4, Changing from internal to external focus and Chapter 5, from Program Development to People Development.  

McNeal states early on in Chapter 4 that, "What gets rewarded gets done."  He says that church folk are no different.  He says that the current scorecard for most congregations actually militates against missional behavior. 

Do you agree?  If so, what is it we reward now which militates against missional behavior?  How could we do better?

Chapter 5 made me think again about that question that has haunted me, that I have shared with many of you along the way, asked of a group of clergy some years ago of which I was a part.  The question was this; "Why would anyone come to you church on Sunday morning rather than sit on their deck, reading the paper, and sipping a latte?"  When McNeal speaks of moving away from program development to people development it seems to be about lives being transformed by being engaged in the transforming of lives.  Being involved in any community has to be compelling.  In former generations loyalty to the institution and its goals was enough.  That does not seem to be the case any longer. 

McNeal summarizes chapter 5 by saying that everything he has been speaking of in it is based in relationships.   He further says that giving to people cannot simply end there, but be also about developing those people we help, as well as being helped and taught by them as well.   He ends this chapter with this paragraph:

God is not confused about his intentions.  He fights against everything that diminishes life.  He has spared nothing, not even his own Son, to secure a better existence for humanity.  The missional church ventures into the world as partners with God on his redemptive mission.

What does this paragraph mean to you?  Can you relate to what McNeal says here?  What does moving from program development to people development mean to you?

Blessed Lent to all of you!

+Greg

Comments

[margie]

Just wanted to make a comment about McNeal's use of the masculine pronoun for God. It is driving me crazy! But that's just me.

[PAt Taylor]

I agree with you, Margie. The language is annoying but the theology of looking outward instead of inward is still compelling.

We need to move out of clubbiness to dancing the dream of God. One way of helping that along might be to think of pastoral care in the medical model not of hospice but of rehab - treating shin splints so the dancer can get back to the dance.

[Greg Rickel]

I agree with both of you. There is much like this, and other items that have to be tolerated, or looked beyond for the sake of hearing the points. I appreciate you saying it but I do hope we don't get bogged down in that and look at the larger picture!

[Frederick Jessett]

I had lunch last Monday with the lead pastor of the Pine Lake Covenant Church here in Sammamish. His congregation has been intentionally moving in the missional direction. It's been a very lively and effective program church and now it's moving in a new direction. He talked about some of the ups and downs. They started working on it in 1995 when they decided not to have their usual Christmas eve services and instead sent mission teams out into the community to see where they could serve Christ on that day. They have also started an emerging congregation that is working strictly on the missional model.
Reggie isn't the best author in the world, sometimes he gets a little turgid, jargony, and he needs to read his sentences aloud to see where he needs punctuation. However, he is on to something the church needs to hear. I have seen a case in my own family where a very gifted teacher was in a "finding your spiritual gifts" program at her Presbyterian Church and got really turned off when the leader wouldn't acknowledge the teacher's gifts were from God unless she exercized them in the church's program or for the church's benefit. That turned a very gifted, intelligent, interested member into a marginal one who sees the church as missing the point. More on this next week.