What exactly does “missional” mean?

“Missional” is a frequent topic of Reggie McNeal. It’s the focus of his new book Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church and referred to in other books he has written, such as The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church (a required textbook for the Rockbridge Seminary online course “The Theology and Practice of Evangelism“).  

McNeal isn’t the only one talking “missional.” It seems to have become an evangelical buzzword of late. What exactly does it mean? Drew Dyck, editor of BuildingChurchLeaders.com gives some helpful background on the meaning of “missional” in his blog “Off the Agenda“: 

Missional was a term coined by a group of missiologists (another strange word) who were heavily influenced by the missionary and theologian Lesslie Newbigin. Upon retiring as a missionary in South India, Newbigin returned to his native England where he came to a rather depressing conclusion about western culture—it was post-Christian. As a result, he believed that Christians in the West had to start thinking like missionaries, looking for creative and authentic ways to incarnate the gospel in a culture estranged from the principles of God’s kingdom.

In many contexts the usage of the term has strayed far from its original meaning. As the term gained popularity, it has been used by just about everybody to mean just about anything. Author and missional leader Alan Hirsch offers a definition that clears some of the fog. He describes a missional church as “a community of God’s people that defines itself and organizes its life around the purpose of being an agent of God’s mission to the world. In other words, the Church’s true and authentic organizing principle is mission.” Anyone can call themselves or their church missional, but if mission (outward directedness) is not a core-deep value of their life or community, the term missional is being misappropriated.

Missional has become a buzzword in evangelical circles. Buzzwords can be annoying, but I believe missional captures a valuable insight. We can no longer put our heads in the sand and carry on with yesteryear’s methods. Like good missionaries, we must study our culture and live out the gospel in ways that are intelligible and compelling to our unbelieving neighbors.

Here’s how Reggie McNeal describes “missional” (Missional Renaissance): 

Missional is a way of living, not an affiliation or activity. Its emergence springs from a belief that God is changing his conversation with the world and with the church. Being missional involves an active engagement with this new conversation to the point that it guides every aspect of the life of the missional believer. To think and to live missionally means seeing all life as a way to be engaged with the mission of God in the world.

Reggie McNeal’s Missional Renaissance

Yea, I admit it … I am a huge Reggie McNeal fan. He is more in touch with the church’s missional challenge than any writer I know. His new book Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church has just been released (already downloaded to my Kindle). If you’ve completed the course “The Theology & Practice of Evangelism,” you may be particularly interested.

Here’s why he wrote the book:

With everyone getting on the missional bandwagon, and everyone talking “missional,” and labeling so much as missional, there is a real danger that what it really means to be missional will become lost in the clutter. I wanted to write a book that distills the basicDNA of what missional really is.

Second, I wanted to give church leaders a way to talk about missional in ways that people would “get it.”Third, I wanted to help leaders develop a scorecard that rewarded their missional efforts.The church growth era certainly had a scorecard (one that we are still using) that declared winners and losers at that game.We need a scorecard that gives expression to the multi-dimensional facets of the missional church. (More here)

Leadership Network says this about Missional Renaissance:

Reggie is one of those writers that you know is going to be a fabulous read. This book is no exception. In fact it may just become not only a primer for the next two decades but the primary text book.