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Missional Church has been quite the buzz in the evangelical church world. As with any buzz, it has a polarizing effect. People often adopt or reject a concept before they have properly understood it. This creates a bandwagon effect, uncritical early adopters who adopt an idea and jump on the bandwagon, without depth of understanding.
Alternatively, there are the hypercritical naysayers, those who naysay missional church as a fading fad. Ironically, the hypercritical naysayers commit the same error as the uncritical early adopters. Both responses fail to adequately investigate just what “missional church” is. As a result, uncritical early adopters, hypercritical naysayers, and even well meaning leaders, pastors, and church planters are contributing to the failure of missional church. If missional church is to succeed, we must understand: 1) What missional church is. 2) How we smuggle “institutional church” into it. 3) How to become intuitively missional.
Clarifying Missional Church
The missional church is not a church with a mission. All churches have a mission. Stated or unstated, all churches practice some kind of mission. It may be keep to the immoral out, to keep sound doctrine in, to pray for revival, or to send missionaries to the nations. Each of these churches is an example of church with a mission. The missional church, however is church as mission. In the words of Darrell Guder, the challenge “is to move from a church with mission to a missional church.”[1]
In light of this important distinction, it is critical that transitioning churches understand the difference between church with a mission versus church as mission. To clarify the difference, consider the following chart:
Church WITH a Mission Church AS a Mission
| What You Do (Task) | Who You Are (Identity) |
| Optional (Elective) | Essential (Core) |
| Extraordinary (Elitist) | Ordinary (Everyone) |
| Project Focus (Event) | People Focus (Disciple) |
Missional church requires nothing less than a rethinking of our identity and our practice, of who we are and what we do. Therefore, in order to effectively embrace the challenge of moving from church with a mission to church as mission, new ecclesiastical structures are absolutely essential. Old church structures support mission as a task but not as an identity. They promote mission as an event but not as disciple-making, reducing mission to an option for the elite not essential for everyone.
Smuggling in Traditional Church
One of the greatest challenges in transitioning to a true missional church is syncretistic missional ecclesiology (SME). Syncretistic Missional Ecclesiology is the fusion of missional church values with institutional church structures. Many churches that attempt to insert missional values into non-missional church structures. Leadership, decision-making, community structures remain somewhat the same, while the leaders beat the drum of mission. At best, this will create more mission works but will fail to make missional disciples.
The nature of missional church requires more than cosmetic adjustments to our inherited forms of church. Missional ecclesiology requires an entirely new way of thinking about church, from the bottom up. Church plants and established churches have failed to recognize this important point. As a result, they have blended institutional church with missional church. This syncretism is both theologically and practically defective. Here are some examples:
- Institutional mission relies on preaching, teaching, and writing to implement missional ecclesiology. Missional Church relies not only on a Sunday ministry of Word, but promotes a rest of week ministry of the word that is carried out by a speaking-the-truth-in-love community in all sectors of society.
- Institutional mission adopts a program of mission during a set season of the year to implement missional ecclesiology. Missional Church does not see mission as a tack-on to your life; it is your life. You inhale gospel and exhale mission through ordinary rhythms of life.
- Institutional mission sees mission as the responsibility of a select group of people, not the whole church. Missional Church requires pastors and staff model and equip the church for mission. It equips ordinary people to do ordinary things with gospel intentionality.
Intuitive Missional Church
In order to avoid being a church with a mission and to become churches as mission, it is important that we cultivate a new intuition. Intuition is the ability to perceive something without having to reason through it. It is reflexive behavior, a way of living that is natural. If God’s people develop a missional intuition, then they will act missionally without having to check a list or box. Mission becomes a way of living, not a project they execute or process they reason through. Here are a few ways to make missional intuitive:
Intuitive mission relies on Spirit-led prayer and repentance that begins with repentance over the sins of institutional, individualistic Christianity. Cultivate a community that sees repentance as good news not bad news. That sees turning away from sin and turning to Jesus as an everyday pattern. This can’t happen apart from a culture of prayer. Prayer isn’t an early morning event; it is every moment existence. Paul Miller notes that: “Jesus most dependent human that ever lived.” People who live prayerfully, dependently, and repentantly will be more prone turn to Christ of mission, as opposed to the mission of Christ.
Intuitive mission discerns missional leadership patterns from Scripture instead of uncritically implementing business models of leadership. It’s not about getting the wrong people off the bus and right people on. We are all on the bus of mission, just arrange the seats with wisdom. Pastor your communities with wisdom and thoughtful reflection. Get leadership moorings from the gifts of the Spirit and offices of leadership in Ephesians 4. Don’t create programmatic position descriptions and build people around a ministry; build ministry around people.
Intuitive mission cultivates missional DNA through personal and communal forms of training instead of relying primarily upon professional, monological communication. Don’t just talk. Listen. Listen as a disciple, coach, teacher, & pastor to how and why mission is a challenge for your people. Some of our best changes have come from listening closely such as Shared Leadership, 3 Marks of Missional Community.
This brief article has attempted to clarify missional church—church as mission versus church with a mission. It has also tried to expose the dangers of smuggling institutional church structures and methods into missional church. Failure to heed these warnings will result in the failure of missional church. Finally, I offered a few ways to cultivate missional intuition that will, in turn, release God’s people into becoming the truly missional church he has created us to be.
Jonathan Dodson
Jonathan Dodson is happy husband to Robie and proud father of Owen and Ellie. He serves as one of the pastors ofAustin City Life in Austin, Texas where their mission is to be a church that renews the city socially, spiritually, and culturally with the Gospel of Jesus. Jonathan also serves on the board of the following organizations: Acts 29 Texas, PlantR, and Music for the City.
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Great article. Where did you get the ‘Syncretistic Missional Ecclesiology’ concept from?
I’ve never used that term, but the way I’ve described what you’ve eloquently started to unpack is simply, “posture”.
My sense is posture and timeframes need to changes (perhaps the latter comes out of the former.)
You can’t say you’re ‘doing missional’ if you’re fundamentally postured in a different direction…..
I created the term and developed the concept based on my observations.
Glad it’s helpful!
Great article, Jonathan. Keen observations succinctly stated. I am very well acquainted with “SME” and trying to avoid installing that DNA in Disciples Church. Through the process, I am finding much of it exists in me. Missional is more than a fresh coat of paint. Everything must change, or nothing will.
It’s in me also, which is part of the problem.