Tag Archives: missional

The Missionary Imperative of the Missional Church – the Church as Sent

The Missionary Imperative of the Missional Church – the Church as Sent

This entry is part 4 of 12 in the series Missional Worship You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Flowing naturally from the idea that God has an overarching mission for mankind, thus rendering that mission God-centered, is the assertion that the church, as one component of that mission, is sent by God to help accomplish the mission. Newbigin saw a natural flow from the idea that mission begins with God’s purpose of reconciling… Continue Reading

The Missionary Imperative of the Missional Church – Missio Dei

The Missionary Imperative of the Missional Church – Missio Dei

This entry is part 3 of 12 in the series Missional Worship You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

The first principle that drives the missional church is what it considers the biblically-mandated missionary imperative. But while the evangelical church has traditionally considered evangelism and missions a critical reason for its existence, the missional church understands such an emphasis as not just one ministry among many but as the overarching idea of what it… Continue Reading

A Brief History of the Missional Church Movement

A Brief History of the Missional Church Movement

This entry is part 2 of 12 in the series Missional Worship You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

In order to understand the driving impulses behind the North American evangelical missional church movement and its impact on worship, I will begin with a brief survey of the history of ideas embedded in missional. Contemporary missional thinking began within the larger ecumenical missions debates in the early twentieth century. Critics of standard missionary methods… Continue Reading

The Influence of the Missional Church on Worship

The Influence of the Missional Church on Worship

This entry is part 1 of 12 in the series Missional Worship You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Most church leaders readily recognize that God has tasked the church with several different purposes, yet how those purposes work together has equally mystified them. One of the most potentially difficult ministry relationships to reconcile has been of that between worship and evangelism. The church growth movement answered the question by insisting that the church’s… Continue Reading

Alan Hirsch on cultural distance

Alan Hirsch on cultural distance

I’ve been doing some reading on the missional movement, and one of their big arguments is that we live in a post-Christendom West, and therefore the barriers between the culture of the church and the culture around has grown significantly. Now there’s a whole lot of baggage with what they’re trying to prove, but I… Continue Reading

Differences and Universals in Music Across Cultures

Differences and Universals in Music Across Cultures

This entry is part 4 of 14 in the series Missions and Music You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

A missionary cannot properly evaluate the differences among cultural expressions until he has understood their universals. At the root of the most thoughtful defenses of contemporary worship today is an appeal based on a missions philosophy that stresses indigenous ministry. If, as the International Missionary Council asserted as far back 1938, an indigenous church is… Continue Reading

A Humble Request and Prolegomena

A Humble Request and Prolegomena

This entry is part 3 of 14 in the series Missions and Music You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

In my handful of posts this month, I want to give some anecdotes from church history to inform us as to how missionaries, attempting to plant indigenous church, should approach the issue of music in the culture in which they minister. My posts will not always touch on music per se, but instead explore the… Continue Reading

Multiculturalism veiled as "Missional"

Multiculturalism veiled as "Missional"

I thought I’d post a helpful discourse by Dave Doran in his journal article on “Market-Driven Ministry,” which answers well recent justification of a neutral view of culture and music by a claim to being “missional.” Doran describes the market-driven philosophy as one that is pragmatic in several crucial areas, one of which is their view… Continue Reading