Tom Sine of Mustard Seed Associates outlines the second stream in his The New Conspirators:
The New Conspirators: Consider Moving Mission to the Center
While the emerging movement (that we looked at in our last e-zine) was really a grassroots movement that began with young, postmodern practitioners creating new expressions of the church in the UK, the missional movement began in the academy. In 1998, The Gospel and Culture Network, a group of theologians and scholars, published a book called The Missional Church, which really gave birth to the movement. The group was uniquely focused on the reflections and writings of Dr. Lesslie Newbigin, who longed to see mission at the center of the life of the church. Darrell Guder, a professor at Princeton and the editor for the book, said he was surprised by the enthusiastic response the book seemed to inspire.
One of the Network’s newest books, Storm Front: The Good News of God, is particularly helpful in moving beyond scholarly concepts to a practical understanding of what a more mission-focused congregation looks like. This book makes it clear that missional churches at their best shift their focus from creating programs to meet the needs of those within the building to equipping members to address the needs of those outside the building through word and deed mission. The authors of this important book insist that this shift should be reflected in very practical things like the stewardship of time and money.
Read the entire article here
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More on Missional Church on the extension below:
The New Conspirators: Missional vs “Me” Church (note - use video link below)
We decided to use the “Me Church” video as our Seed Smile because for too many of us faith has become simply another commodity to consume, whether we do it by attending worship on Sunday morning or turning to online resources. Too often in our hyper-individualistic society, the focus of churches is really is all about meeting our own needs and our kids’ needs.
Are you tired of shopping around for that church that fully meets your needs? Then check out the ever-popular “Me Church…where it’s all about you.” This is the church you’ve been searching for–unquestioningly dedicated to meeting your every need. While you are in church, your car gets a wash, a buff and an oil change! You’ll receive free tickets to the Super Bowl! And they sing all you favorite worship songs: “It’s All About Me,” “There Is None Like Me,” and “I Am Why I Sing.” Your church-shopping days are over!
Take a look at Drive-through church and Me worship for the "me" church as well.
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