Reminder: I am not a professional book reviewer. These are simply my notes from this book. If I had to have only one book to lead me in ministry (other than the Bible), this would be it. You really need to get the book and read it to get all the benefits. It is loaded with examples and deals thoroughly with the whole "scorecard" thing which I really won't recap here. While a lot of books are being written these days on the missional church (and I have read many of them), Reggie McNeal spells it out in real "rubber-meets-the-road" fashion for the existing traditional, mainline church. These are the principles that have brought new life to Austell First UMC as its BLESS AUSTELL vision begins to be a real catalyst for community transformation.
Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church by Reggie McNeal
To think and to live missionally means seeing all life as a way to be engaged with the mission of God in the world.
3 views of nature of the Church (George Hunsberger)
1. A place where certain things happen (i.e. worship, bible study, fellowship)
2. Vendor of religious goods and services
3. A body of people sent on a mission (the book champions this one)
The missional church believes it is God who is on mission and that we are to join him, partnering in his redemptive mission in the world.
• God is always at work in the world.
• Find out what God is doing and join him in it. (Henry Blackaby)
• Rather than being attractional, the missional church will be incarnational. (Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch)
• Carry on Jesus’ mission in the world
• Hoist our sails to catch the breeze that’s already blowing.
• Be the people of God in an unmistakable way in the world.
• Wherever missional followers of Jesus are, the church is there.
The Bible presents a call to action, not just a lesson to be studied.
The act of blessing people frequently leads them to inquire something along the lines of “Why are you doing this?” Response: “I am a follower of Jesus, and I am blessing you because that’s what he came to do.”
Missional shift 1: From an internal to an external ministry focus
• The missional church engages the community beyond its walls because it believes that is why the church exists.
• Missional churches look for ways to bless and to serve the communities where they are located. Much of their calendar space, financial resources, and organizational energy is spent on people who are not part of their organization. These measures may or may not improve the church’s bottom line in terms of traditional measures (attendance may actually go down if people are released to mission).
• Moving to external focus pushes the church from doing missions as some second-mile project into being on mission as a way of life.
• Shift from the church at the center to the kingdom of God at the center.
• As the church engages the world, it finds Jesus, whose home is in the streets or wherever he has to go to connect with the people he is pursuing, meaning everybody.
• A kingdom-oriented approach seeks to leverage the gospel into people’s lives right where they live, work, and play. The church is wherever followers of Jesus are. People don’t go to church; they are the church. They don’t bring people to church; they bring the church to people.
• The church is connector, linking people to the kingdom life that God has for them.
• The role of the church is simply this: to bless the world. In doing this, the people of God reveal God’s heart for the world.
• Genesis 12:1-2 God to Abraham: I will bless you so that you can be a blessing to everyone else.
• Instead of having an evangelism strategy, I urge congregations and people to develop a blessing strategy.
• Instead of asking someone, “Can I pray for you.” Ask: “How can I ask God to bless you?” Our God just loves to show up and show off!
• We have to believe that God has the ability to draw people to himself through these blessing encounters.
• Encourage folks to live out their faith in the spaces/places they already occupy.
• If we don’t find a way to be the church where they are, many people who will never come to church will never experience it.
• Worship- gather to share tales of God’s work in the world
• Incarnational believers are in competition with the kingdom of darkness that steals life from people.
• Adopt a school – the quickest way I know to become connected to the community beyond your church
• Live your life with the idea you are on a mission trip
• Intentional blessing agent of the kingdom of God
• Missional Jesus followers believe that the way they demonstrate love and service will intrigue people to pursue getting to know the God who inspires such service.
• Jesus followers adopt an intentional life of blessing people
• Any and every follower of Jesus, not just a select few, can demonstrate God’s love.
• Church is not a part of life for the missional follower of Jesus; it is the way of life.
• Blessing others is an act of worship.
• We can no longer think and act like club members; we must think and act like missionaries.
• Be about building a better community, not a better church. “No child will go hungry in this county” vision.
