Transforming the Mission Culture

Missionary culture in our Synod and congregations is in need of transfor¬mation because the society in which we are missionaries has changed. All of the laments about recreational sporting events scheduled in conflict with church activities, loss of youth, confusion about both the purpose and the message of the church of Jesus Christ are reflective of changing times. Christianity in our society has been moved away from a position of domi¬nance and has experienced a loss of numbers, power, and influence within our society.

Mission on the Move calls us to redis¬cover our passion for God and for God’s mission in new ways in the 21st century. Changing our behavior, in¬vesting in new mission models are first steps in transforming the mis¬sional culture of the church. We un¬derstand that mission in not merely an activity of the church. Rather mission is the result of God’s initiative, rooted in God’s purposes to restore and heal creation. Mission is on the Move. Mission means sending and it is the central biblical theme describing the purpose of God’s action in history.

God is a missionary God and therefore we desire to claim the church as a “sent people.” “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21). MOM seeks to support God’s work to be missionaries in our own neighborhoods, in the culture in which we find ourselves. The com¬munities in which we are called to witness are no longer the neighbor¬hoods of the past century and have taken on new forms of language, ethnicity, and are may no longer be predominantly Christian.

The challenge of Mission on the move is to change from church with mission to missional church. Evalu¬ate the ministry of our congregation against these marks of a missional church:

A missional church is biblical. Testimony to God’s mission and the formation of mission¬ary people is rooted in the witness of Scripture.

A missional church is histori¬cal. We are guided by the Christian church in all of its cultural and historic expres¬sions, those that precede us and those that are contemporary.

A missional church is contextual. Every ef¬fective congregational witness is developed in a particular cultural context, rooted in time and place. The only way to be the church is incarnationally. The integrity and signifi¬cance of our witness is related both to the gospel we proclaim and the context in which it is shared.

A missional church is eschatological. The mission of this church is on the move. It can never be static. New insights and chal¬lenges will raise questions never before con¬sidered and demand a witness that redefines how we function and how we hope.

A missional church is engaged. Missionally oriented churches translate their passion for God and God’s mission into practice. The work of missional congregations equips the saints for faithful witness in particular places. This engagement serves the church’s wit¬ness as it, “makes disciples of all nations,... teaching them to obey everything that I (Jesus) have commanded you. (Matthew 28:19-20).