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 The Missional MindsetReggie McNeal calls for the church to rethink itself.
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Reggie McNeal's new book on the missional church, Missional Renaissance, released in digital form, a fitting parallel for the groundbreaking nature of missional congregations. At a recent forum in Louisville, Ky., the church consultant recalled a Presbyterian pastor who told McNeal his church was growing so fast it didn't have time to do evangelism. "This has a lot to do with us not doing an action but recapturing who we are," McNeal said. "It has authenticity and you can't ignore it. The missional renaissance is the biggest reshaping of the church since the Reformation." Affiliated with the Dallas-based Leadership Network, McNeal warned pastors and staff members that shifting to this mode means more than completing an annual community service project. Instead, he said it calls for an incarnational mindset where pastors and other church leaders live transparently, discipling others through close relationships and accountability. A new visionNot only does it mean shifting one's emphasis to the community, the missional church requires a new vision and scorecard to measure how it is doing. McNeal pointed to one church that, instead of worrying about how many people attend Sunday school or worship services, wants to ensure all students in its county will able to read English by the third grade. The reason: when kids don't read by that grade, it leads to higher crime rates, gang membership, and other negative social indicators. "That pastor is saying he's no longer going to record how many kids are in VBS, he's going to record statistics outside the church," McNeal said. "If you're saying, 'We're not going to have any hungry kids in our county,' you won't be able to do it by yourself. It opens up a whole different way of thinking." He mentioned the church staff that wasn't sure how to make such a change. So, McNeal suggested they go sit in places like Wal-Mart and Starbucks for an hour and pray, "God, help me to see what you see." That experiment so changed the staff's outlook that they sent the congregation out to do this one Sunday morning, then had them return that evening to share what they learned. One way every church can touch its community is to volunteer at a neighboring school. McNeal mentioned Kids Hope USA—which seeks to match adult mentors with at-risk students—as an excellent resource. "As you go out to do good, people will come alongside you," he said. "You're out there painting the school and a guy says, 'Why are you doing this?' This is a very different place to start an evangelistic conversation. Good greases the skids for God." For those who don't think schools will welcome assistance, McNeal mentioned a church in California that started tutoring students after the superintendent said their help wasn't needed. Less than a year later, the superintendent sent the church a current "wish list." |             | |||||||||||||||||||
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