![\"Missional.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/imgs\/Missional.jpg\")
<\/span>Alan Roxburgh and M. Scott Boren are onto something: in their new book called Introducing the Missional Church: What It Is, Why It Matters, How to Become One (Allelon Missional Series)<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=jescre-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0801072123\")
\u00a0,\u00a0<\/strong><\/em> they avoid the \u201cdefine it and then we know it (and can control it)\u201d approach to the term \u201cmissional.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
To see what is going on, we need to get inside an idea and gain a new imagination. Definitions aren\u2019t enough \u2014 that\u2019s their contention.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
They contend the standard set of ideas isn\u2019t enough: \u201ca church that attracts, worships, equips, and then sends\u201d is how \u201cmissional church\u201d is often understood. So, they contend the \u201cmissional church\u201d is not any of the following eight ideas (though these can be part of the missional church):<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
1. Not churches that emphasize cross-cultural missions.<\/div>\n
2. Not churches that use outreach programs to be externally focused.<\/div>\n
3. Not churches in the church growth or church effectiveness movement.<\/div>\n
4. Not churches that are effective in evangelism.<\/div>\n
5. Not churches that have a clear missional statement with vision and purpose.<\/div>\n
6. Not churches that turn churches around to become relevant to the wider culture.<\/div>\n
7. Not churches are return to the ancient and primitive ways.<\/div>\n
8. Not churches that form new formats for people who don\u2019t like traditional churches.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But definitions are tricky and they have massive influence. In the biblical imagination, definitions are not the norm; the authors don\u2019t define terms. What do you think of this idea? (Is he being a retriever here? That is, are they doing to terms what they refuse to do with how the people of God work?)<\/b><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Jesus\u2019 term \u201ckingdom\u201d suggests and points but it does not define. Here is their major contention: \u00a0\u201cScripture does not so much define reality as invite us onto a journey in which we discover the world God is creating\u201d (39).<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The missional journey leads us to the missional river which has three currents:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Mystery<\/div>\n
Memory<\/div>\n
Mission<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
We\u2019ll look at these three terms next week.<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just Define Missional for Me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Alan Roxburgh and M. Scott Boren are onto something: in their new book called Introducing the Missional Church: What It Is, Why It Matters, How to Become\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/11\/just-define-missional-for-me\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Just Define Missional for Me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Alan Roxburgh and M. Scott Boren are onto something: in their new book called Introducing the Missional Church: What It Is, Why It Matters, How to Become\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/11\/just-define-missional-for-me\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-12-11T05:07:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/imgs\/Missional.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/11\/just-define-missional-for-me\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/11\/just-define-missional-for-me\/\",\"name\":\"Just Define Missional for Me\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-12-11T05:07:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-12-11T05:07:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"Alan Roxburgh and M. 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Alan Roxburgh and M. Scott Boren are onto something: in their new book called Introducing the Missional Church: What It Is, Why It Matters, How to Become One (Allelon Missional Series)\u00a0,\u00a0 they avoid the \u201cdefine it and then we know it (and can control it)\u201d approach to the term \u201cmissional.\u201d\u00a0 To see what is going […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[425],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-missional"],"yoast_head":"\n