wfn.org | Mission leaders explore missional church

[BethAH <BethAH@mbm.org>]

May 2, 2001
Beth Hawn
Mennonite Board of Missions
(219) 294-7523
<NEWS@MBM.org>
May 2, 2001

Mission leaders explore missional church concept

MONTREAL (MBM) – The theme of the missional church ran through
all four days of the gathering of conference mission leaders,
much as Marilyn Houser Hamm’s proverbial bus led the 55
participants in creative forms of worship.  The Spanish proverb
states, “If you don’t know where you are going, any bus will do.”

The conference addressed the theme, “Establishing Communities of
Faith in a Fragmented World,” by focusing on the spirituality of
Anabaptist origins and how that early faith might be adapted to
minister to the post-modernism of today’s world.

Mission leaders from Canada and the United States met Apr. 21-24
in Montreal’s stately landmark building that houses the Sisters
of the Congregation of Our Lady.

Keynote speaker Stuart Murray Williams showed how the demise of
Christendom and the disintegration of modernity have led to our
fragmented world where shared values cannot be assumed.  Murray
Williams is the director of church planting and evangelism at
Spurgeon’s College in London and a leader in the Anabaptist
Network in the United Kingdom.

“We are confronted with a new missionary challenge that we have
never faced before,” said Murray Williams.  “It is a time for
reflecting and humility.  Churches need to redesign themselves as
missionary structures, and I am thrilled that the North American
[Mennonite] churches have committed themselves to being
missional.

“In post-modern society, church is a turn-off,” he said.  “We
need to learn how to transmit the surprise of Jesus and the
mystery of Jesus.  Jesus crossed boundaries and provoked.  The
disciples spent their time falling over in laughter because Jesus
said such funny things, and scratching their heads in
bewilderment.”

Murray Williams advised the church to give urban mission workers
ample space to try new approaches and the freedom to fail.
Because the church has never before ministered in a post-modern
context, church planters will need to experiment with strategies
that include both proclamation and incarnation.  Telling the
story as well as living it out is necessary so biblically
illiterate people have a frame into which they can place the
church’s actions.

“It is hard to make a system of what Jesus did because he didn’t
do the same things twice,” said Murray Williams.  “However, Jesus
did listen carefully.  When we hear people’s pain, we will know
how to reach them.”

Murray Williams noted that the decay of the established church in
Britain is a generation ahead of its North American counterpart.
Clues to being an effective missional church may be had if the
North American church observes what is happening on the other
side of the Atlantic Ocean.  What are some of these trends that
characterize a missional church?

? The time between contact with the Christian message and
commitment to it is often lengthy, so patience is required.
“Let’s make a long-term strategy, set the goals for the year
2500,” Murray Williams quipped.
? Mission is more about what the church is than about what it
does.  “The missional church will have 75 percent fewer programs
and more time for relationships,” said Murray Williams.
? The progression from believing to behavioral change to
belonging (the order in the believers’ church model) will
change.  Post-modern people call for a belonging first before
they come to belief and behavioral change.  “This is a messier
form of church,” Murray Williams commented.  “Boundaries defining
in and out are blurred.  Membership statistics are difficult.”
? An initiative that seems promising is church planting by a team
of young people with fresh ideas.  “Because the church planters
are not being paid by the established church, they have freedom
to experiment,” Murray Williams said.  “In the team, some people
work full-time to support those who give time to church planting
and relationship-building.  This promotes mutual aid and an
openness about money.”

Tym Elias, one of the organizers of the conference and currently
a pastor at Home Street Mennonite Church in Winnipeg, Manitoba,
presented a strategy for introducing the missional church to
congregations.  The strategy includes an exercise that helps
congregations evaluate whether they are living out the
integration of Christ’s message in all its fullness.

In a final session, participants were asked to reflect on how
they would implement what they had learned.  A theme from Jack
Suderman’s meditations was often repeated, “God is God and I am
not,” which was a reminder that the mission of the church is
God’s.  Jack Suderman is the executive of the emerging mission
agency of Mennonite Church Canada.

Other conference leaders who had come to the Montreal meeting
confused about the missional church identity felt they had
received tools to explain the concept to their constituencies.
Many participants said they felt inspired and energized to take
risks.

The gathering concluded with a worship service where hymns of
praise swelled beneath the acoustically superb rotunda in the
center of the building.  The church leaders followed the bus
“driven by God” back to their meeting room, where they shared in
communion before departing to all corners of North America to
continue the mission of God in their communities.

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Lynda Hollinger-Janzen         PHOTOS AVAILABLE