The Ministry of the Missional Church -- Review

THE MINISTRY OF THE MISSIONAL CHURCH: A Community Led by the Spirit. By Craig Van Gelder. Foreword by Alan J. Roxburgh. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2007. 204 pp.

“Missional” is an in vogue word in contemporary Christian circles. The “Missional” movement crosses denominational and theological boundaries, attracting evangelicals, mainliners and Catholics to its banner. Whereas earlier generations sent out missionaries, this movement calls on the church be the agency of God’s mission in the world. It is a movement that calls on the church to move beyond seeing mission as something the church does. In this view, mission is what the church is.

Alan Roxburgh, one of the leading figures in this movement of congregational transformation, writes in the foreword to Craig Van Gelder’s book on Missional ministry, that the key to understanding this movement is discerning “what the Spirit of God is up to in the world and, therefore, the ways in which the Spirit is seeking to shape the ministry of the church” (p. 12). A quick glance at the table of contents of this book will provide evidence of the Holy Spirit’s importance to the success of this movement. Van Gelder, Professor of Congregational Mission at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN, argues in this book that ministry in the Missional church is Spirit-led and Spirit-empowered. If we take it the term in its more biblical sense, one could say that the “Missional” church is charismatic.

To better understand what the Missional church is up to, the author offers a syllogism:

The Church is.
The Church does what the church is.
The Church organizes what it does.

He writes that “the key point to understand is that the Spirit-led ministry f the church flows out of the Spirit-created nature of the church” (p. 18). In other words – being precedes doing. Doing and organizing comes after understanding the church’s essence, which is being the agent of God’s redemptive mission in the world. In focusing on the church’s essence, this movement challenges one of Protestantism’s greatest weaknesses – its lack of a strong ecclesiology.

Focusing on ecclesiology – on being rather than doing – could lead to passivity, but in Van Gelder’s mind, by first focusing on being the church is empowered to do. A missional church isn’t insular; it is instead actively engaged in ministry in the world beyond the walls of the church. But rather than focusing on its own success or effectiveness (church growth), it seeks to live “into all that the Triune God intends the church to be in the light of its creation by the Spirit” (p. 182). That purpose is the redemption/transformation of the world.
In many ways this is a very theoretical book. You won’t find a six-step plan to more effective ministry or even a ten-step plan for establishing a “Missional Congregation.” What you will find is a sustained call for the church to be engaged in world transforming ministry.

The book’s seven chapters move from basic definitions of “Spirit-led ministry” to an exploration of what this kind of ministry looked like in the Bible. From there the focus moves forward into the present – exploring Spirit-led ministry in a global context and then an American context. With this foundation – rooting missional ministry in context, Van Gelder looks at matters of decision-making, leadership and organization, and growth and development.

“Spirit-led ministry” is rooted in God’s act of “reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). The church becomes missional when it becomes a community of reconciled diversity that is led by the Spirit into the world so as to unmask the powers through suffering service. To accomplish this goal one must recognize that the context for doing ministry is ever changing. While the mission may not change, the manner in which it is done will change. The image he offers here is that of the church continually “forming” (Missional) and “Reforming” (confessional). That is, the Reformation principle that the “church is always reforming” (semper reformada), that it is always reengaging with its heritage must be balanced with contextualization – “the church is always forming” (semper formada). These two poles keep the church in a creative tension, so that it is both rooted in its heritage and able to engage its context. To do so effectively will, of course take great skill and awareness.

To guide this effort at being missional in context, Van Gelder lists seven aptitudes. Spirit-led missional congregations must: 1) “learn to read a context as they seek their contextuality.” This includes both sociological and theological readings. 2) They must “anticipate new insights into the gospel.” They will seek to discern the fuller meaning of the gospel by listening for indigenous voices. 3) They will “anticipate reciprocity” – that is, they should expect to be changed by the encounter with the context. 4) They will “understand they are contextual, and, therefore, are also particular.” While the missional church is “catholic” it is also very “local” – embedded in a particular context. There can be, therefore, no one size fits all programs or even “model congregations.” 5) It must understand that ministry is always contextual and, therefore, is also practical.” It must develop specific practices that are rooted in its time and place. 6) It will “understand that doing theology is always contextual and, therefore, is also perspectival.” Theology is rooted in long held confessions of faith, but these confessions must be understood in their particular context and culture. Thus, there is, he says, “no universal confession.” We must learn to confess the faith anew in our own context, translating themes, beliefs, and ideas. Finally, 7) we must “understand that organization is always contextual and, therefore, is also provisional.” This assumption recognizes what is present in the New Testament – the church formed itself in different ways in different places. The form the church takes – organizationally – will reflect its surroundings, and that is good news, he says, because “congregations are able to relate to any culture and to any context” (pp. 63-67).

Writing primarily to an American audience, Van Gelder, takes the reader into this very specific context. American church life, he says, has taken on three primary forms: established, corporate, and missional, with most contemporary churches being corporate.” That is, they see themselves as existing to accomplish something for God on a voluntary basis. Focus here is on function and is defined by organizational views and values. Through the history of America, this church has taken on various guises, often guided by business or governmental theory. The “corporate” model has, he believes, run into a major wall in the last several decades – that wall is a growing anti-institutionalism. The result is that traditional denominations have begun to struggle.

Into the void has stepped this new model, one less focused on church growth or effectiveness – including seeker and purpose driven models – and more on the mission of God (missio dei) or the redemptive reign of God. The author pushes us on further toward being congregations that are “missionary by nature” and participating “in God’s mission in the world.”

Missional ministry requires distinct skills and aptitudes in discernment, decision-making, and organization, the subject of chapters five and six. This work requires new ways of looking at scripture and doing theological education. Diversity of methods is key, while always keeping God in the discussion. Action is guided by both biblical theology and sociological theory – always keeping in mind the community. Indeed, this process must be communal. As for organizing itself, closed systems – bureaucracy, etc. – are out. Instead, more organic – “open-systems” models is key – chaos theory -- to the process, for structure is formed by mission.

Finally, Van Gelder comes to where the rubber meets the road – the issues of growth, development, and change. To do ministry in this modern world, we must recognize that change is ever present and that growth comes as we recognize this reality, adapt as necessary, and remain true to God’s mission of redemptive love in the world. There is, he believes, no better place to look for an example than the Book of Acts, which provides a lens to see how the dynamics of change and growth interrelate. In introducing planned change, we must recognize two orders of change – one requires no change of values and the other requires changes in core values – the latter is more difficult, for it leads from revision to recreation.

Although this book is relatively brief (182 pages of text), it is really quite dense. It wrestles with the church’s theology, sociological theory, and organizational theory, bringing both theology and the social sciences to bear on the Spirit’s work of ministry. It’s not an easy read, but it will prove helpful as the church of today seeks to discern what it is and what it is to be doing in the future. And what the church is called to be now and in the future is attending to its calling, which is “living into all that the Triune God intends the church to be in light of its creation by the Spirit. The church created by the Spirit is missionary by nature – it is called, gathered, and sent into the world to participate fully in God’s mission” (p. 182). Thus, we begin with the church as it is and discover that what it does and how it organizes what it does, is rooted in what it is.