Being Missional

Excerpt:

‎The earliest known usages of the term “missional” occurred in 1883 in C.E. Bournes’ The Heroes of African Discovery and Adventure and then in 1907 in W.G. Holmes’ The Age of Justinian and Theodora.

Figure of a Missional Perspective (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The meaning of the term has changed enough that neither of these occurrences embodies the way it is used today. Today, the term missional is commonly used in conversations among Christians. As it has grown in popularity, however, it raises some theological concerns, challenges, and opportunities.
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The defining missiological debate in mission history has been the relationship between “church and mission,” which has become a catalyst for three dimensions of missional: missionary, mission, and the missio Dei. …

Barry, J. D., Grigoni, M. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Mangum, D., & Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

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“The missiological consensus that Newbigin focused on our situation may be summarized with the term missio Dei, ‘mission of God.’”  

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“Is the church’s mission primarily the delivery of the message of the gospel—in which case the verbal element is all that really matters? Or does the church’s mission include the embodiment of the message in life and action? Sometimes this question is raised as the tension between proclamation and presence. Or between words and works. We will explore the integration of what the church is meant to be as well as what the church is meant to say.” (The Mission of God's People: A Biblical Theology of the Church's Mission, p. 30).

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