Over the years, Tim shared this idea of being a missional church many times. Those core themes I believe are still vitally essential to being able to reach our neighbors who are not Christian. This is an excellent primer for any church community that is trying to be more engaging with people who don’t have a Christian faith. — Kathy Keller
Lesslie Newbigin was a British missionary who went to India in the 1950s and returned home to retire some thirty years later. When he left, the “western church” in Europe and North America was still in a relationship to the culture which was often called “Christendom.” In Christendom, society’s institutions “Christianized” people, by stigmatizing all but Christian beliefs and ethical behavior. The church simply gathered these “Christianized” people and challenged them to personal life commitment to Christ.
Churches in the west, as one of their varied ministries, supported “mission” in overseas non-Christian cultures (like India). When Newbigin got to India he noticed that the churches there did not “support” mission nor “do” mission—they were missional in every aspect. Being in a non-Christian culture, they could not simply “process Christianized people” into commitment. Rather, they had to adapt absolutely every aspect of their church life—worship, preaching, community life, discipleship—to being in a non-Christian world.
Since all visitors to a worship service would be non-Christian, all its worship and preaching had to address them. Since church members now had to live lives according to radically different values than the rest of society, the discipleship and training not only had to equip them to answer questions and share their faith, but had to spell out Christian personal and corporate behavior patterns that showed the larger society what the kingdom of God was all about. In other words, on the “mission field” church members were “in mission” in every aspect of their church life and in every aspect of their public and private life.
When Newbigin returned from the mission field in the 1980s, he found to his surprise that western culture had shifted dramatically. No longer did the social institutions coercively “Christianize” people. The culture was becoming post-Christian and in many ways as firmly resistant to the gospel as any “mission field” in the world.
But the churches had not adapted to their new situation. They continued to preach in language that only Christianized people could understand.
But the churches had not adapted to their new situation. They continued to preach in language that only Christianized people could understand. They continued to create an environment in which only traditional and conservative people could feel comfortable. They continued to “disciple” people by only training them with individual skills for their private lives (Bible study, prayer) and not by training them to live distinctively Christian lives in a secular world, in the public arenas of politics, art, business, and so on. Newbigin wrote about these things very insightfully in his books Foolishness to the Greeks and The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society.
[Note: Although I have learned much on this as well as other subjects from Newbigin, this should not be taken as an unqualified endorsement of everything in his works.]
Redeemer is committed to being the very thing for which Newbigin calls. We seek to be a “missional” church. This means that we do not have lots of traditional evangelism programs. One of the things that surprises Christian visitors to Redeemer is the evidence that there are lots and lots of people who don’t believe Christianity (yet!) all around the church—in its worship services, its small groups, its meetings and ministries.
I am regularly asked by others, “How do you get them in here?” This question usually means “What program are you using to get people to visit your church?” We have none. The answer is that we are a missional church. It does not mean that at every turn we are trying to get people to “pray the sinner’s prayer.” Rather, it means that we seek to contextualize and adapt every single aspect of our church to function and communicate in a culture of people who are not Christianized, people who have modern and post-modern sensibilities.
…we seek to contextualize and adapt every single aspect of our church to function and communicate in a culture of people who are not Christianized, people who have modern and post-modern sensibilities.
What does this mean? This is a big subject! But here are some of the principles.
1) First, we have a positive view of the city in which we live. We appreciate it—we don’t hate and disdain it.
2) Second, we apply the wonder of the gospel to the stories and concerns of the people in our culture—freedom and oppression, exclusion and inclusion, grace and identity. This means we must really immerse ourselves in the dreams, perplexities and aspirations of our friends in the city who don’t grasp the gospel. We have to read their literature and listen to their problems appreciatively, and bring the gospel to bear on their questions, not ours.
3) Third, we must be certain to speak (even when praying) in the “vernacular.” We must avoid “Christian sub-culture” language that is sentimental, tribal, technical and disdainful.
4) Fourth, we must exhibit not just personal moral behavior but surprising beauty in our communal life together. “Conservative” people are generally sexually controlled but not very tolerant or concerned for social justice. “Liberal” people are often the reverse. Christian community must show forth attitudes toward sex, money and power that are surprising and attractive.
5) Fifth, we must equip Christians to not withdraw from the culture or be controlled by it but to learn how to live and work distinctively as Christians in the culture, recognizing both God’s common grace in it as well as the sin and brokenness needing redemption.
6) Sixth, we must be non-sectarian. In “Christendom,” churches defined themselves over against other churches. But today we must define ourselves over against the spirit of the world. We must not condemn or “bash” other Christians and churches, even when propounding our own distinctive Christian tradition.
Do you see how this works? A missional small group is not necessarily one which is doing some kind of specific “evangelism” program (though that is to be recommended!). Rather, 1) its members love the city, 2) in their Bible study they apply the gospel to the core concerns of the people of the city, 3) they speak in language that is not filled with pious-sounding tribal terms and phrases, 4) they exhibit deep concern for the poor, and generosity with their money, and purity and respect with regard to opposite sex, and show humility toward people of other races and cultures, 5) they are obviously interested in and engaged with the literature and art and thought of the surrounding culture and can discuss it both appreciatively and yet critically, and 6) they do not bash other Christians and churches—seekers and non-believing people from the city will be invited and will come and will stay as they explore spiritual issues. If these marks are not there, it is not a “missional” Christian community, and will only be able to include believers or traditional, “Christianized” people.
There’s another, more familiar word for all this—incarnation. “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory” (John 1:14).
