(e)mergent Voyageurs

As I consider the nature of missionality, specifically missional community, I realize how much my own experiences and context(s) have shaped the emphasis that come to mind. As I read articles and blogs on the topic (such Tim Conder's great recent post "Missional Buzz" at the Out of Ur blog), I am thrilled by what I read. And yet, when I consider what missional community means to me, the emphasis that comes to mind is often different.

Of course, most writers are (understandably) writing from the context of the local church, whereas the focal point of my missional endeavours (in fact, of my faith as a whole) is from within the missions community of YWAM in Winnipeg and the broader organization (especially the Western Canada region). I have wondered, and still do, if some of my ideals for missionality are no practical or realistic for the local church context. That being said, I want to share some of my ideas/concerns and get your feedback on them.

Perhaps my biggest concern when reading and engaging missional community ideas is that they don't seem to go far enough, specifically in how we are define and practice what it means to be a local congregation. What I mean by that is much of the writing attempts to integrate missionality with the existing models of church. I am not suggesting that we abandon the existing systems (at least not completely), but rather that I think the very nature of being missional has far greater implications on how we live our whole lives together than can be reduced to application to our current situation.

Above all, the idea of what it means to be community is the most challenging. While there is a great deal about being community that can be explored through the ideas and values of how we relate, we rarely genuinely explore the implications these values have on the nitty-gritty of every day life. Even when it is explored, it is even more rare for people to make the radical changes that would, in my opinion, best embrace the missional dynamics.

As I have explored in previous blog posts, the idea of intentionally rooting our lives and homes in specific neighbourhoods is, for me, an important (even essential) missional focus that needs to be embraced by more Christian communities. Too often people who do this are seen as admirable anamolies rather than the natural product of pursuing our missional responsibility and calling as the church.

My wife & I have followed this calling, albeit awkwardly and with difficulty into one the of abandon places of the urban world, an inner city neighbourhood. However, I am not suggesting that an urban calling is the only way to be missional. By no means! While I genuinely believe that a significant number of Christians should reclaim these lost regions, and while I find it offensive how wildly Christianity in the West is equated with white middle-class suburbia, I also know that missionality can be faithfully pursued anywhere. However, without question, too many of us are using this fact to justify our unwillingness to ask and/or respond to God's call to these places.

This is not a call for a random movement of disconnected individuals, but rather something that, against our cultural tendency, should be a communal movement. This requires that we begin to recognize that the majority of missional living will find expression outside the walls of the church. If we restrict our pursuit of missional community primarily to our Sunday (and, perhaps Wednesday night) gatherings, we miss the vast majority of what true missionality and true community are all about.

I am not in anyway trying to discredit any missional community that has been expressed within the church walls. These are exciting manifestations of what could and should be. Rather, I am calling us to ask ourselves how deep our commitment to pursuing missional community runs. Take some time right now and ask yourself if you are genuinely willing to ask the question of whether or not you would uproot your life as you know it to reroot it elsewhere, both in respect to geograph and in respect to living our lives together as communities (as oppose to disjointed individuals who relate).

As I said earlier, I question whether this is fair or realistic. For years I have advocated this kind of shift, but have seen saddingly few people even consider such a change, even for a short-term. Am I being unfair? Do you believe missional community requires this level of intentional living in such a radical and (possibly) disruptive way? I genuinely want your take, so let me know.


Emerging Church, Missional, Missional Community