the “sent” church: a missional people 7

June 8, 2008

Series recap: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Tim Keller, one of today’s brightest “missional” thinkers – also, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City – has outlined his thoughts on the missional church in an article by the same name on Redeemer’s website. Keller says that first, the missional church should converse in the dialect of the culture it is positioned in. He says, “If you speak and discourse as if your whole neighborhood is present (not just scattered Christians), eventually more and more of your neighborhood will find their way in or be invited.” [1]

Second, it should come into and restate the culture’s stories with the gospel, showing compassion toward and profound familiarity with the literature, music, theater, etc. of the existing culture’s hopes, dreams, ‘heroic’ narratives, fears. [2]

Third, it should theologically prepare lay people for public life and vocation; to ‘think Christianly’ about everything and labor with Christian uniqueness. [3]

Fourthly, it should produce Christian community that is counter-cultural and counter-intuitive; practicing Christian unity as much as feasible on the local level by collaborating and sustaining other fellowship and ministry organizations in their local area. [4]

Perhaps he has most succinctly compressed the concept of the missional church, interestingly, in the comment section of a blog by Andrew Jones, a missional consultant, when he said:

Missional: A church whose witness to Christ is mainly out in the society where it incarnates the gospel in community and individual lives, entering yet retelling the culture’s story, showing how in Jesus its hopes, themes, and plot-lines can will a happy ending. [5]

Notice Keller did not say that the church’s witness is exclusively out in society, but rather “mainly.” Dan Kimball says, “If a person goes to a weekend worship gathering that last two hours, then 98.2 percent of their week is not in a weekend worship gathering.” [6]

Many use the weekend worship gathering as the primary means to “evangelize” the lost. But focusing principally on what to do stylistically, methodologically, or philosophically in the weekend worship gathering is getting the “cart before the horse.” One must first ask what the church is (and as we’ve seen, it is the people of God, chiefly being a “missionaries” in culture) and then ask how the weekend worship gathering fits within the church’s life and spiritual formation.

This week, we will look at one way to answer that question…

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1) Tim Keller, “The Missional Church,” Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Recommended Resources – A Gospel Movement; available from http://download.redeemer.com/pdf/learn/resources/Missional_Church-Keller.pdf; Internet; accessed 13 May 2008.

2) Ibid.

3) Ibid.

4) Ibid.

5) Tim Keller, “What I Mean When I Say “Emerging-Missional” Church,” tallskinnykiwi.com, comment section; available from http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com/tallskinnykiwi/2006/02/what_i_mean_whe.html; Internet; accessed 12 May 2008.

6) Dan Kimball, Emerging Worship: Creating Worship Gatherings For New Generations (El Cajon, CA: emergentYS, 2004), 27.

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