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MY SETTING

03: WE WANT TO BE MISSIONAL, TOO.

I pastor in a great missions field - the USA - and am faced with a constantly changing
spiritual culture.

The church in the US may not be as energetic and explosive as some of the other countries in the world, but it is
increasingly encountering cultural barriers and challenges that only “missional” thinking can overcome.

The US Church needs the missionary’s help and experience to think more “missionally” about what it means to
be and do church. Old familiar ways of “doing church” and reaching out don’t work the way they once did. US
churches are struggling to function in a culture of “change” that is also increasingly hostile to the gospel. Churches
that fail to adjust are declining. A change in culture requires a change in tactics. Understanding and employing
successful principles from the mission field may help US churches reach a new culture and new generation for
Christ.

In a similar way, the missionary force benefits from—and is dependent on—the strength and health of the local
churches that send them. Missionaries share a longing for church renewal and growth, for it’s their church, too!
Missionaries with servant hearts come home willing to help churches reach a secularized culture, as well as “na-
tions” that have now become our “neighbors” here in the US! There is a direct correlation between the vibrancy of
the local church, its ministers and ministries, and the vitality of its global evangelistic movement. If churches are not
healthy, the consequence will be a decline in the number of missionaries and evangelists we send throughout the
world.

As the Apostle Paul’s letters to Philippi and Rome testify, God can use the partnership between the missionary, the
pastor and the congregation to take the church to a new level of faith and vision!

7 WAYS A CHURCH CAN THINK LIKE A MISSIONARY (BE MISSIONAL):

1. Be the church, not come to church.
2. Remind the church that it exists primarily for those outside.
3. Eliminate an us-versus-them mentality, and lower the barriers with outsiders.
4. Emphasize the reality of “being the church” 24/7.
5. Reinforce the lifestyle of engaging in relationships and seasoning conversations with grace.
6. Design a process for both evangelism and discipleship.ii
7. Think big—“God so loved the world…”

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