What Is Missional: Previous Posts Remembered
There has been some excellent discussion in the blogosphere of late wrestling with the challenging task of defining the word and concept "missional". As a topic that I am very passionate about, I have been enjoying what I been reading. Brother Maynard has been producing significant quantity (and quality) as he wrestles through some of the ideas and Ed Stetzer is beginning a series on this challenge as well.
While I am planning on weighing in more thoroughly in the weeks to come, I thought I would collect a few of the posts I've written that lay out a foundation to my understanding. I hope you will check them out if you haven't already read them:
What Is Missional... To Me: This article is my first full post tackling what missional meant to me.
The Community Coming To Be Known As Missional: This is, perhaps, my most thorough look at what I hope to see the church become as it relates to missionality. I further develop the concepts in a follow up series (Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3).
Missional And Emerging: These two posts- Redemptive Taxonomy & Why I am Missional, Emerging and Emergent- explore the relationship and differences between the concepts of Missional, Emerging and Emergent.
Being Missional In An Age Of Liminality: This post is a more pragmatic look at how missionality requires us to evaluate and change in our expression of community, service and ministry given the shift in time and context.
Pattern Of Missionality: This three part series specifically looks at what being missional looks like in the context of our missional "third place", The Dusty Cover bookstore & cafe (Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3).
Exploring Micro/Macro- Missionality: In this post I try to help navigate the often confusing terrain of the missional conversation by making a distinction between micro- macro- missionality. It was a follow up, of sorts, to my post on missionality & location. Possibly my favourite post on this theme.
I like that and am wondering if you would describe what a transformed life looks like. What does transformation mean to a missional person? When would the celebration of that begin? What would you need to see in the life of a person that you have reached out to, that you would celebrate? Thanks, George
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Transformation takes many forms. It is also a process, not always (or even usually) an event of total change. The point of that sentence was not to indicate an if or when of celebration, but rather that, while we seek to transform the whole world, even one life is worth celebrating.
Peace,
Jamie (Comment this)
George (Comment this)
I need to be frank with you, so please do not read this as me trying to be harsh. I have gone over all of your comments here at the blog since you first started commenting. Almost without exception, all of your questions are designed to lead in a specific direction- namely trying to nail me down on "fundamentals". I have seen this pattern in your commenting on other blogs.
Unfortunately, it usually leads the post off topic and discourages others from engaging in conversation (Pernell's post on the stages of community being a prime example).
My encouragement to you is this: if you are going to interact at any blogs, be sensitive to the purposes and intention of the authors. Clearly I am not opposed to the emerging/missional church movement, so to continually ask questions to challenge those convictions is distracting from the genuine conversation that is going on here. Does that mean that you can never question it? Of course not, but recognize that when your questioning is to far off topic (and so clearly guided by an agenda) it is disruptive to me as a writer and to those who seek to engage here.
So to answer you question (again), transformation looks different for different people. I will not pin it down, since that was not the point of the sentence and would thus lead the comments off topic.
Peace,
Jamie (Comment this)
So transformation looks different for different people and it all gets celebrated. I suppose what I was really wondering was if your goal would be to see a person come into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, thereby receiving eternal life or is it just to reach out practically to those in need.
I always appreciate dialoguing with those in the Canadian context that would identify with emerging. One of the things about emerging that I admire is their passion for the poor, marginalized etc. What I find, however, is that generally speaking, there is a practice of social gospel, but I don't hear too much about sharing the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ with folks.
I was just wondering where you stood on that out there in Winnipeg, are you reaching out to people with the goal of introducing them to Jesus Christ? Would that be your goal in seeing transformation in a persons life to see them come into a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? If so, (and I hope that that is so) how would that be different for different people? Would that be part of the outreach of a "missional" person like yourself?
By the way, did you notice how Pernell couldn't deal with the truth issue? Why would that be do you suppose?
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I am not asking you to leave me alone. However, by your own admission, you had an agenda to get answers about something that was off topic. I have my email on the side bar, so feel free to email me if something is off topic.
I would challenge you that what you call the social gospel is an integral part of the whole Gospel. I feel your distinction is not Biblical. I may post on the topic soon.
Your comment about Pernell is uncalled for. It was not that Pernel could not answer you, but chose not to, as you clearly highjacked the post and took it off topic with your own agenda.
Again, I am not asking you to leave me alone, but try to suspend your agenda when dialoguing on different topics. If you remain on topic, you are welcome here. I have made the same request of emerging folks who get off topic.
Peace,
Jamie (Comment this)