Missional [Part 2]

Thursday, August 28, 2008
Hugh Halter, one of the founders of Missio, gave these three phases to missional life and church/community formation:

3 phases are...

1. Cultural engagement - The church planter must think like a missionary and find ways to engage the community in means that are fitting for the context.

2. Community Formation - Once the planter has found the means to serve and love in their context they will begin to function in ways that bring people together to form communities.

3. Structuring congregational forms that stay missional - These missional communities started by the church planter are then structured in a way so that they continue to stay on mission.

Taken from a Dave Ferguson post - here.

I like this as a beginning point for thinking through missional/third place ideas for the church.

Critiques? Thoughts?

3 comments:

Kevin said...

I like the idea of planting a church with the mindset of a missionary - studying the culture, understanding the needs and then adapting and responding to it.

As opposed to bring what church normally is, or how church worked somewhere else and forcing it to work.

David and Sarah Carrel said...

Exactly Kevin

Unknown said...

I took a 'Missional Church' class my last semester at college. At the end of the course we did a 'neighborhood exegesis'. It was incredible. Very eye-opening. Basically we divided into groups and picked a specific area in the city. We walked around to get a feel for the neighborhood, talked with locals about their favorite hang-outs/activities, ate at the local cafe's, etc. etc. etc. Made me realize the importance of planting a church "backwards". So many people build a church, and then try to reach out to the community hoping to get some members. What if we held off? What if we dived into a community first, built relationships, and the church-plant came organically? Perhaps it would start in the local pub. Who knows....something to definitely think about though...