Missionary Renegade: Lewis Center for Church Leadership from The Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., United States for Wednesday, 23 August 2017 "Leading Ideas: Missional Church: More than a Catchphrase | Revitalizing Worship is More than a Question of Style"

Lewis Center for Church Leadership from The Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., United States for Wednesday, 23 August 2017 "Leading Ideas: Missional Church: More than a Catchphrase | Revitalizing Worship is More than a Question of Style"

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Wednesday. August 23, 2017

From the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary

Missional Church: More than a Catchphrase by Doug Powe
What does it really mean to be a missional church? Lewis Center Director Doug Powe says it's more than a catchphrase for activities aimed at congregational renewal. Congregations that are truly missional are not motivated by their internal institutional imperatives. They make a difference in the lives of others by focusing beyond themselves and offering others a glimpse of what it means to live in God's presence.

The word missional is tossed around a lot in leadership circles. Typically, the goal is to develop stronger, more vital congregations. Certainly, this is a worthwhile goal, but is being missional more than a catchphrase for congregational renewal?

For example, a congregation may be supporting organizations financially and encouraging individuals to come to their building for the weekly potluck, but this falls short of being missional. To go a step further, a congregation may even be involved in ministry outside of the church, but does it in a manner where relationships are built only with those they already know. This also falls short of being missional. In both instances congregations have picked up aspects of what it means to be missional, but are still treating it like a catchphrase.
Missional congregations trust that if they are following God’s lead, then God will inspire some to join with them in making a difference. The goal is sharing why a relationship with God is central and not making one’s congregation the centerpiece.

Being missional requires participation in God’s work of transformation in a manner that alters the typical DNA of a congregation. The typical DNA of a congregation is doing ministry from a place of comfort and in ways that are comfortable. For some congregations, this means inviting others to their church or doing ministry in a controlled environment. Missional congregations are attempting to be genetically different in the following ways.

1. Disrupting the tendency to focus inwardly
Missional congregations truly seek to be outwardly focused and to disrupt the tendency to focus on themselves. This is a challenge, because often when congregations talk about being outwardly focused, it is with the intent of making a difference inside the congregation. I am not saying that those inside the church do not matter and that the only concern a congregation should have is for outsiders. But there is a difference between a ministry that is outwardly focused and one that only appears outwardly focused. To disrupt the tendency to do the latter, a congregation must be intentional about the purpose of the ministry.
Is the purpose to make a difference in the lives of others, under God’s leading? Or is the purpose to help others as a means of promoting the work of the congregation? These two questions seem very similar and appear to have the same end goal. The difference is that seeking to make a difference in the lives of others under God’s leading avoids pre-determined outcomes that focus on congregational membership. Helping others to promote one’s congregation usually has the end goal of focusing on the life of the congregation. This is not a bad thing, but it does create a situation in which an individual who does not join or actively participate in the congregation will be perceived negatively.

Missional congregations trust that if they are following God’s lead, then God will inspire some to join with them in making a difference. The goal is to share why a relationship with God is central, not to make one’s congregation the centerpiece.

2. A glimpse of heaven
In Matthew’s version of the Lord’s prayer we say, “your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Missional congregations give others a glimpse of heaven. The way in which a missional congregation lives out what it means to be disciples of Jesus helps individuals to better understand what it truly means to exist in God’s presence.
Let’s be honest. This is no easy task. It means being able to point others to God in the midst of conflict, pastoral transitions, financial challenges, and congregational decline. Missional congregations focus on helping others to experience and abide in God’s love. This may be done by making a commitment to spend time with those in nursing homes, singing hymns and letting them know they still matter. It may be taking the time to teach songs to elementary school children who have no music program. The key is sharing a glimpse of heaven with others so that they can truly experience God. It is a sharing that demonstrates and articulates God’s love for another.
The truth is, we do need more missional congregations. These congregations have to be more than a catchphrase. They have to disrupt tendencies toward being inwardly focused and give others a glimpse of heaven. When we truly live out what it means to be a missional congregation, we make a difference in the lives of others and follow Jesus’ call to be disciples.
Related Resources

Organizing a Missional COMMUNITY by Doug Powe and Hal Knight

Roadblocks to God’s Future by Alan Roxburgh

Read more.

Revitalizing Worship is More than a Question of Style by Donna Claycomb Sokol And L. Roger Owens
L. Roger Owens and Donna Claycomb Sokol, authors of New Day in the City, say re-imagining worship to better reach new people involves more than asking if they prefer a traditional, contemporary, or blended style. The starting point must be a clear understanding of the theological purpose of worship. Then, asking how your worship engages your cultural context and your worship participants.For years, many congregations have battled over which style of worship to embrace — traditional, contemporary, or blended. But this “worship war” is premised on a misunderstanding of what those outside our congregations seek from worship, and deep confusion about what worship really is. Flourishing and faithful congregations understand that re-imagining worship involves something much deeper than style.

Congregations seeking renewal need to ask questions more foundational than the worn-out questions about what style of worship people want.

How does the worship-style debate relate to those beyond our congregations?
Often, adding a contemporary service will attract the people the congregation hasn’t been able to reach with its current worship service. But what does this suggest about the people who might show up for the first time? That they already know what worship is and what they want in worship.These people are those who are switching churches, or who have left a church because the style of worship hasn’t met their preferences. They are people who think worship should cater to their tastes and are shopping around. When we advertise a new contemporary service or put on our billboards the times of different styles of worship, we are inviting a particular type of worshipper to join us. An informed consumer. Such a strategy might get a few new people to show up, but it does little to help a congregation introduce non-Christians to life with God and in God’s kingdom.
The purpose of worship
Perhaps even worse, the obsession with style and the belief that adding a service of a different style is the silver bullet to reverse decline show a deep misunderstanding of worship. The purpose of worship is not to give people ignorant of the faith their first introduction to Christianity. Rather, worship aims to orient our lives — all that we are and do — in the direction of the God in whom we live and move and have our being. This purpose of worship can be fleshed out with three declarations:

Worship is the place where we enact our core human purpose, the end for which we exist, to worship and glorify God.
Worship is the place where we have our vision trained to see the signs of God’s in-breaking kingdom.
Worship is the place where the community remembers its identity as God’s called, gathered, and sent people.

Worship obsessed with matching a particular style to people’s shallow preferences does none of these things. In fact, it does just the opposite: it reinforces the disorder of lives that believe that their own preferences are at the center.
Key questions for congregations seeking renewal in worship
Congregations seeking renewal need to ask questions more foundational than the worn-out questions about what style of worship people want. Congregations seeking faithful renewal in worship need to ask:
1. Is our worship deeply contextual?
While the gospel challenges any consumerist approach to worship that evaluates worship based on shallow, changing preferences, the gospel has always been enculturated, contextual. It is always embodied and expressed in the culture in which it seeks to take root. Music, language, and other forms of expression imported in an attempt to emulate “successful” congregations often don’t fit. Those planning and leading worship can’t pay too much attention to what ways worship is being expressed through the language, images, idioms, and other embodiments of the culture of the congregation and the city in which it lives.
2. Is our worship deeply visual?
One key cultural phenomenon facing the vast majority of congregations is the re-assurgency of the image. Walk through any city center and you will be overwhelmed with the visual display — its immediacy, power, and brilliance. The Reformation, with its emphasis on the words of Scripture, ushered in an era of visually sterile churches. But we ignore the power of image to our peril. Worship that is forming people who can see God’s kingdom will learn to use images to shape the imaginations of people present.
3. Is our worship highly participatory?
This might be the most important question, one that encompasses the previous two. Does our worship invite people to bring, offer, and engage their whole selves in worship — body, mind, and heart? Are those gathered for worship actively involved, and are all their senses engaged? Do they get to touch the water, gaze upon the icons, approach the altar, adopt postures for prayer, and connect physically with their neighbors? Or do they sit and observe, while the clergy perform the acts of worship?
Sitting in your pews or seats on Sunday morning are musicians, artists, decorators, computer programmers, storytellers, comedians, writers — the gifts are endless. What are the elements of a worship service these people could help create? Don’t be afraid to think outside the box. There’s no better way to have appropriately contextual and deeply participatory worship than to have worshipers themselves use their gifts to create the elements of worship.
Some people might think to stop here, but we suggest taking it a step further. Don’t look only within the congregation. Look around the city and find the culture-makers within the community. What are they doing and creating that can find a place in Christian worship? These creative voices can help us renew worship from the ground up.
The article is adapted from A New Day in the City: Urban Church Revival (Abingdon Press, 2017) by Donna Claycomb Sokol and L. Roger Owens. Used by permission. The book is available at Cokesbury and Amazon.
Related Resources

Leadership for Worship by Lovett H. Weems, Jr
Considering the Context of Worship by Jacob Armstrong
Moving Beyond Personal Preferences into Missional Thinking by David Putman and Ed Stetzer
Post-Modern Pilgrims by Leonard Sweet

Read more.
The Right Question:
Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions.
Dwight Zscheile, in his book The Agile Church, tells the story of Polaroid's demise in the wake of digital photography as they focused on their products more than those who used them. He quotes innovation scholar Chris Trimble who said Polaroid "loved its cameras more than its customers." Trimble then posed this question:

Do we love church life more than we love our neighbors?

Want more Right Questions? Read Right Questions for Church Leaders.

New at the Lewis Center: Adult Education Studies
The Lewis Center is the new home of the Wesley Ministry Network -- video-based ecumenical studies that encourage energetic discussion and personal reflection. Ideal for your congregation's small groups, adult Bible studies, and Sunday School classes, courses include lessons on DVD, Leader's Guides, Participant's Guides, and more.
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Teaching Children to Tithe
To The Point
Teaching children to tithe is an important part of their faith education that we often overlook. Giving to God is a core value of our faith that should be taught early and reinforced often.
The most common way that I see tithing taught to children is simply by grownups giving children a quarter to put in the offering plate. This is all right for very young children because it gives them an opportunity to participate. But this may not send the right message to elementary school children.
First, the money wasn’t theirs to begin with, so they do not feel the satisfaction of it being a personal gift to God.
Second, it does not teach proportionality in giving or the idea of putting God first in our finances.
We want to teach children to be intentional about their giving. But our adult understanding of tithing can be too complex for children. For example, children are not generally taught to figure percentages until their middle-elementary-school years. So teaching younger children to calculate a percentage tithe is not age appropriate.
When our son was five, we started to teach him about giving using “money jars.” We have three jars sitting on his dresser that are labeled “Money for God,” “Money to Save,” and “Money to Spend.” He gets a two-dollars-per-week allowance. We give it to him as a dollar bill and 4 quarters; that way one quarter can be given to the God jar, one to the savings jar, and the rest in the spend jar.
On Sunday, he takes the quarter from God’s jar, and takes it to church. He fills out the offering envelope and proudly makes his offering at church.
As we implemented the jar system we discussed the following things with him:
1) God made everything, so everything is God’s.
Even us. We are God’s creation. We are thankful that God created everything. God has given us so much that we want to give back to God, too.
2) We want to think about God first.
So, the first jar we put money in will be the “Money for God” jar.
3) We give to God because we love God.
We also show God our love by going to church, praying, and doing good for others. In fact, when we give money to the church, it helps the church do the things God has asked the church to do. It helps the church teach people about God so that other people can know that God loves them, too.
The jar method seemed to teach what we think is most important for a child to know about giving to God.
This article is by Dan Pezet, a United Methodist pastor in the Alabama-West Florida Conference, and appeared in Leading Ideas February 1, 2012. It is adapted from his blog at churchandtea.com. Used by permission.
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Quotable Leadership:
Resilience is not something we have a fixed amount of but something we can build -- in ourselves, in our children, in our organizations, in our communities. [Sheryl Sandberg]

Learn to Reach Others through Worship
Worship attendance is vital to the mission of the church. The Reaching Others through Worship Video Tool Kit provides resources and strategies to help you improve hospitality and worship attendance. Topics include: How Do People See Your Church?; Putting out the Welcome Mat; The Ministry of Greeting; The Sermon Series as Outreach Tool; and Ways to Improve Summer Attendance.
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Apply Today for Doctor of Ministry in Church Leadership at Wesley
Wesley Theological Seminary and the Lewis Center together offer a Doctor of Ministry in Church Leadership Excellence. With this track, clergy will receive the enhanced knowledge, skills, and motivation to increase congregational and denominational service, vitality, and growth. The next cohort begins in May 2018 in Washington, DC.
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Editor: Dr. Ann A. Michel

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