ONE Reason 'Missional' Will or Won't Work for You
by Hugh Halter on March 15th, 2015
The ONE main reason ‘missional’ won’t work for you.
I’m about to hop on a plane to yet another church training. It’s been 12 years now
that weekly, I have either been at a conference, with a denominational leadership
team, or network church planting gathering. The fervor is strong to see God move
among our churches in almost every context, but I also notice ONE glaring reason, I
don’t think this first wave of missional pioneers will get much wind under their
wings.
It is simply this. Everyone is trying missional practices but very few stick with it.
How do I know this? Because it seems that almost half the people who try Missio’s
system of missional community formation using our TK Primers have also tried
Soma School, 3DM, GCM, and Neil Cole’s Greenhouse or LTG approach. Some tried
our stuff first and are now moving on to other attempts, and some have just come
from all these and now attempt our stuff.
Here’s a little secret about all these ‘missional’ training groups and resources. We
are all friends, and we all agree on just about every aspect of missional ethos and
practice. We just say it differently.
We all agree:
*That the best way to start a church or renovate a church is through the
proliferation and multiplication of intentional missionary communities.
*That missionary communities must be the primary organizing structure that hold
together and propels a church forward, not the weekend church service experiences.
*That leaders must model the way first and then invite others into their experience
where they can be ‘apprenticed.’
*That missional only works if it is accompanied by incarnational nuances. In other
words, programmatic methods must be replaced by personal ownership and
commitment to live in the world like Jesus.
*That Leaders must be equippers of ministry not just paid to do the ministry for a
consumer culture.
*That ‘church gathered’ should be lean, nimble, far less expensive and thus more
free to stay on mission.
*That discipleship practices must be active, not passive. In community, not
individual. Integrated with the family, not isolated or compartmentalized away from
the family.
*That the Gospel is both verbal witness and active witness and is most visible as a
community lives intentionally between ‘up, out, in’ (3dm), ‘communion,inclusive
community, mission’ (missio) ‘gospel,community,mission’ (GCM/Soma) ALL THE
SAME!
Out of all these things we all agree on, we also agree on this ONE primary issue of
whether or not ‘missional’ will take, expand, multiply, renovate, and reveal the
kingdom to the world. And that is
*THAT YOU HAVE TO STICK WITH IT!
It really doesn’t matter which group you chose to train you, who you read, what
organization or resources you take your cues from. What really matters is that you
don’t just ‘try it’ for a year and move on. What matters is that you commit to it, live
it, do it, and keep doing it!
If you’re looking for a panacea, a perfect method or turn key silver bullet, you’re
going to keep shooting blanks. True discipleship, systemic renovation of a
congregation, and authentic influence of a lost culture only happens when you set
your jaw toward making the way of Jesus your life’s work, not a year long campaign
in your church.
To lock into the way of Jesus, consider joining Caesar Kalinowski and myself at one
of four Journeymen Leadership Intensives. Denver Sold out, but registration is now
open for Nashville June 23-25. Registration will open for Denver July 21-23 once
Nashville is closed.
We make these events small, there are 40 spaces and you can registration HERE.
Blessings,
Hugh Halter
I’m about to hop on a plane to yet another church training. It’s been 12 years now
that weekly, I have either been at a conference, with a denominational leadership
team, or network church planting gathering. The fervor is strong to see God move
among our churches in almost every context, but I also notice ONE glaring reason, I
don’t think this first wave of missional pioneers will get much wind under their
wings.
It is simply this. Everyone is trying missional practices but very few stick with it.
How do I know this? Because it seems that almost half the people who try Missio’s
system of missional community formation using our TK Primers have also tried
Soma School, 3DM, GCM, and Neil Cole’s Greenhouse or LTG approach. Some tried
our stuff first and are now moving on to other attempts, and some have just come
from all these and now attempt our stuff.
Here’s a little secret about all these ‘missional’ training groups and resources. We
are all friends, and we all agree on just about every aspect of missional ethos and
practice. We just say it differently.
We all agree:
*That the best way to start a church or renovate a church is through the
proliferation and multiplication of intentional missionary communities.
*That missionary communities must be the primary organizing structure that hold
together and propels a church forward, not the weekend church service experiences.
*That leaders must model the way first and then invite others into their experience
where they can be ‘apprenticed.’
*That missional only works if it is accompanied by incarnational nuances. In other
words, programmatic methods must be replaced by personal ownership and
commitment to live in the world like Jesus.
*That Leaders must be equippers of ministry not just paid to do the ministry for a
consumer culture.
*That ‘church gathered’ should be lean, nimble, far less expensive and thus more
free to stay on mission.
*That discipleship practices must be active, not passive. In community, not
individual. Integrated with the family, not isolated or compartmentalized away from
the family.
*That the Gospel is both verbal witness and active witness and is most visible as a
community lives intentionally between ‘up, out, in’ (3dm), ‘communion,inclusive
community, mission’ (missio) ‘gospel,community,mission’ (GCM/Soma) ALL THE
SAME!
Out of all these things we all agree on, we also agree on this ONE primary issue of
whether or not ‘missional’ will take, expand, multiply, renovate, and reveal the
kingdom to the world. And that is
*THAT YOU HAVE TO STICK WITH IT!
It really doesn’t matter which group you chose to train you, who you read, what
organization or resources you take your cues from. What really matters is that you
don’t just ‘try it’ for a year and move on. What matters is that you commit to it, live
it, do it, and keep doing it!
If you’re looking for a panacea, a perfect method or turn key silver bullet, you’re
going to keep shooting blanks. True discipleship, systemic renovation of a
congregation, and authentic influence of a lost culture only happens when you set
your jaw toward making the way of Jesus your life’s work, not a year long campaign
in your church.
To lock into the way of Jesus, consider joining Caesar Kalinowski and myself at one
of four Journeymen Leadership Intensives. Denver Sold out, but registration is now
open for Nashville June 23-25. Registration will open for Denver July 21-23 once
Nashville is closed.
We make these events small, there are 40 spaces and you can registration HERE.
Blessings,
Hugh Halter
Posted in Missional Church Tagged with Pastor, missional, church, Leadership, community, training
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