Comments on: Missional Soup (’What is Missional’ SynchroBlog)

By: Missional Soundbites « Missio Dei

Missional Soundbites « Missio Dei — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:05:12 +0000

[...] the church will be organized around mission as its sole purpose. - Br.Maynard [...]

By: Rob Robinson

Rob Robinson — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 03:22:59 +0000

Great post, I really resonate with your two central tenets, which act as a plumb-line to this whole missional conversation.

By: alan hirsch

alan hirsch — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:31:24 +0000

Great insights Bro M. Thanks for your contribution to clarity.

Love
A

By: Missional SynchroBlog Update » The Blind Beggar

Missional SynchroBlog Update » The Blind Beggar — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:17:25 +0000

[...] Hirsch Alan Knox Andrew Jones Barb Peters Bill Kinnon Brad Brisco Brad Grinnen Brad Sargent Brother Maynard Bryan Riley Chad Brooks Chris Wignall Cobus Van Wyngaard Dave DeVries David Best David Fitch David [...]

By: Missional and Dualism » The Blind Beggar

Missional and Dualism » The Blind Beggar — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:17:06 +0000

By: The Missional Church and the Needs of the Community « Mission Issues

The Missional Church and the Needs of the Community « Mission Issues — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:12:58 +0000

[...] Knox Andrew Jones Arnau van Wyngaard Barb Peters Bill Kinnon Brad Brisco Brad Grinnen Brad Sargent Brother Maynard Bryan Riley Chad Brooks Chris Wignall Cobus Van Wyngaard Dave DeVries David Best David Fitch David [...]

By: Jamie Arpin-Ricci

Jamie Arpin-Ricci — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:54:00 +0000

Right. Great answer! We asked ourselves the question “How should missionality inform our programs?” In this way we saw programs as tools to be used in missional endeavours, as long as they are serving to meet the end (without compromising by the means) and not an end in themselves. It has been tough, but I think we are doing it with all of our programs.

Peace,
Jamie

By: Brother Maynard

Brother Maynard — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:16:03 +0000

Hi Jamie, I come down pretty hard on programs most of the time, as they tend to get used as a packaged contextless solution to a context-unique situation, and it can be years before people figure out they aren't working. Programs tend to be characterized primarily by their content, which I think is what makes a misunderstanding so easy as soon as someone says "missional program." That said, programs aren't bad ipso facto, provided shortcomings are recognized and understood, along with just what makes them missional to begin with. For a close example, a project or program could be undertaken with missional intent or for missional purposes... a bookstore, say. The bookstore is not itself missional, but the actions of the people engaged in it are missional in this case... hence a missional space or "program" is created. Put another way, with the missionally-purposed creation of a missing 'third space' in a neighbourhood (be it a restaurant, book store, theatre, laundromat, whatever) it isn't the establishment that's missional, but the less tangible interaction of missionally-engaged people with their community that would make it a missional space. If everyone in the neighbourhood hung out at the YMCA, a missionally-minded group of people might also start hanging out there, just to meet and talk. This doesn't make the YMCA missional (or missionally-purposed), but it does turn it into a missional context. You could do a program of missional teaching... the program would not itself be missional, but the outworkings of the students (assuming they "get it"!) would be. So in short, my answer is "yes," recognizing what makes it missional is not so much the content or the form, but the intent and the actions of the people engaged with it.

By: Jamie Arpin-Ricci

Jamie Arpin-Ricci — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:51:47 +0000

As always, an excellent post. One question for you (with some set up):

Acknowledging that a program cannot make a church/individual missional, and recognizing that a community that is primarily or exclusively program-orientated is not missional, can programs, within the wider definition you mention above, be missional? Just curious as to your take on this.

Peace,
Jamie