the buzzword (synchroblog)

i am not an expert on all things missional. i am not an expert on anything missional for that matter. lets go one more step...i am not an expert on anything at all really. but back to missional. as a part of this synchroblog, i know i won't be proposing anything original or profound. not my concern really. but i also know that i can't properly define missional.

but within my head and heart i have come to some decisions of my own in regards to who i will become and what my response to the mission will continue to be. there are already a couple of great books out there (see michael frost and alan hirsch) and they flesh out missional much better than i ever could. but allow me to humbly state a few things here before speaking to my own tradition (nazarene).

1. missional isn't a program. a church cannot adopt a new program of being "missional" after hearing a speaker like reggie mcneal or michael frost. there is no "40 days of missional" model that is to be bought, launched and followed.

2. missional isn't what you look like or who you hang out with. although, what you look like and who you hang out with my be directly affected by the mission.

3. if you've tagged the term 'missional' onto your new efforts to 'grow' your church or sound relevant...then you most certainly are not missional...or relevant for that matter. that is to say, if missional is your buzzword, then it isn't a part your dna.

4. missional is living out the mission of God in our everyday, ordinary, mundane lives and allowing that everyday, ordinary, mundane life to be sacred.

with these four things in mind, allow me to speak to the nazarene denomination.
i am coming to the conclusion that the word 'missional' has become a bit of a buzz word for the church of the nazarene. while the focus of holiness in certain ways for the nazarene denomination has kept it missional to a point for the last 100 years, the denomination has also 'hijacked' the word to use it inappropriately. at least within the united states.

the clearest examples i can give come from the latest issue of one of our denominational magazines..."grow". i will not link to either article. however, both articles defined the churches they were about as being missional. the problem i have with this is that their successes were defined by their numbers of attending people during a weekend service. what is happening in those 2 churches is great. calling them missional because their worship services have attracted lots of people is NOT missional. these are attractional models of church being labeled missional. do these churches have a mission? yes. is their mission missional? i could not say without visiting them.

in this post i cannot thoroughly explain how my tradition is and is not missional. nor can i completely describe the length to which we have 'hijacked' the term missional. these are all posts for another time.

i merely want to point out that our denomination is misusing the term 'missional' and needs a bit of a conversation to help us clarify the terms we use. just because we as nazarenes have tagged missional onto our promotional materials does not make us missional.

i look forward to reading the 49 other posts and encourage you to do the same. thank you rick for setting this up.