flogged from www.steveaddison.net
Mission-shaped or Mission‘flavoured’
Just the same, only different
Every Sunday morning about sixty or seventy people take over the ‘Green McCaw’ café located in a suburban shopping strip. The small space is packed to the door and people sit around tables to enjoy the music, listen to a brief and punchy message, hear stories and generally celebrate the good things that God is doing in their community.
It’s a pretty unlikely crew – a millionaire businessman sits at the same table as a recovering heroin addict. The head bouncer from the local pub is there, along with IT professionals, welfare dependent single mums and an array of others. The young pastors are desperately seeking a larger space to meet.
About half the people attending that morning have come to faith among this group. The rest were either part of the original planting team or have re-connected with church after a break.
Sunday afternoons, in another city meets another church, which looks virtually the same.
The look and feel is café casual, although they meet in a school hall. The music is not too different, the message just as relevant and punchy. The crowd lacks some of the diversity, but numbers about eighty or so. All in all, you’d struggle to see from the outside how very, very different these two churches are.
What’s the difference?
Our first example began six years ago as a team of about ten people. For the first two years they had no public worship service, committing most of their time to building relationships with unchurched people, doing simple acts of service, making disciples one by one and gathering them into small groups. When the people they were reaching kept asking to ‘start church’, they commenced a monthly service. They moved to a fortnightly service only when they had enough people involved to sustain both grass-roots mission activity and the public service. They’ve only recently increased the frequency to weekly.
Because a favourite pastime in their area is relaxing in a café, they chose a one as a meeting place. Founded and formed by mission, this is a mission-shaped church.
Although a little bigger, the second example church is only eighteen months old. The origins of the church are found in a small group of young adults, frustrated by the rigidity of the traditional church they attended. They wanted something fresh, contemporary and informal - something they could invite their friends to.
The group worked hard to bring their dream to reality. They put together a detailed strategic plan, pulled together ideas, people and resources and even gained the blessing of their home church. Local government demographics told them that middle class 18-40 year-olds abounded in their suburb, so everything about the service - from funky music to plunger coffee – was chosen with these in mind. Their first service was everything they had hoped, and since then a steady flow of new faces has delighted the leadership group.
While the new church appears to be a resounding success, a few nagging doubts rattle about in the minds of the leaders. Firstly, almost all the newcomers are from other churches. Some stay, some attend for a few weeks and move on. Everyone is encouraged to invite their friends, but all their friends are Christians.
Secondly, the church’s efforts at outreach don’t seem to be effective in bringing people into the church. They’ve done everything from a ’battle of the bands’ to offering free marriage counseling (stat’s showed a high marriage breakdown rate in the area), but there’s been no ‘flow on’ from these to the worship service.
Thirdly, the core team is growing tired of the effort required to maintain the current standard in the weekly service, plus the outreach activities. Because successful, large churches emphasize excellence, the leaders have drummed into the worship team to give their all. But now the team is starting to lose their energy and creative edge.
Contemporary and cool as it may be, the second example is mission-flavored.
The Differences
Mission-Flavoured Church…
Was born in reaction to the established church.
Began work with the churched and their preferences.
Made a hip worship service their first priority.
Launched their public worship service according to a schedule.
Perceived the needs of the unchurched from a distance and opted for a ‘provider client’ approach to serving them.
Designed its look and feel based on its own idea of what the community needed.
Remained ‘outsiders’ in their local culture, trying to ‘Bring them to Jesus’.
Mission-Shaped Church…
Had its origin in a call to mission.
Began work with the unchurched and their needs.
Made serving the lost its first priority.
Launched its public worship service according to health indicators.
Sought to discover and meet the needs of unchurched by engaging with them in relationship, then serving them in a relational ‘peer’ approach.
Allowed those new to the faith to influence its form and style.
Became ‘insiders’ in their local culture – ‘Bringing Jesus to them’.
5 Lessons for Fresh Expressions of Church
1. Clarify the call
The basis for mission-shaped church is a call to mission, rather than frustration that your own needs aren’t met. As far as possible, deal with your frustrations and other gripes before you set off to plant.
2. Begin with the end in mind
Right from the start, spend significant time with those you’re trying to reach. Your job is to be good news, not a purveyor of goods and services, religious or otherwise.
3. Keep public worship services in perspective
In a mission-shaped framework, a public worship service should be the overflow of mission and its fruits, rather than preceding it. Those who’ve come to faith through mission will therefore shape it. The form it takes may or may not follow the style and symbols of the receptor culture.
4. Make time for unchurched people
Public worship services are usually very resource-hungry. Beware of committing too much of your people’s time and energy to the service at the expense of relational time with the unchurched.
5. Let programs serve relationships
Programs as a concept are value-neutral. They succeed or fail as outreach tools largely on the basis of whether they provide a context for relationships to form and grow. Remember, outreach and evangelism aren’t the same thing.
A final thought . . .
Many large, attractive churches successfully reach unchurched people using a ‘come to Jesus’ model. And some of them began by launching a public worship service. This is valid and worthwhile ministry. Mission-shaped church is not a replacement for this model, but an alternative approach that will reach a different sector of society.
Ken Morgan
Ken Morgan trained at Tabor College, Melbourne while working among youth in outer-eastern suburbs. He currently serves with Church Resource Ministries training and coaching church planters, and consulting to denominations. With his wife Janet and their two daughters, Ken makes his home is the Yarra Valley outside Melbourne.
Mission-shaped or Mission‘flavoured’
Just the same, only different
Every Sunday morning about sixty or seventy people take over the ‘Green McCaw’ café located in a suburban shopping strip. The small space is packed to the door and people sit around tables to enjoy the music, listen to a brief and punchy message, hear stories and generally celebrate the good things that God is doing in their community.
It’s a pretty unlikely crew – a millionaire businessman sits at the same table as a recovering heroin addict. The head bouncer from the local pub is there, along with IT professionals, welfare dependent single mums and an array of others. The young pastors are desperately seeking a larger space to meet.
About half the people attending that morning have come to faith among this group. The rest were either part of the original planting team or have re-connected with church after a break.
Sunday afternoons, in another city meets another church, which looks virtually the same.
The look and feel is café casual, although they meet in a school hall. The music is not too different, the message just as relevant and punchy. The crowd lacks some of the diversity, but numbers about eighty or so. All in all, you’d struggle to see from the outside how very, very different these two churches are.
What’s the difference?
Our first example began six years ago as a team of about ten people. For the first two years they had no public worship service, committing most of their time to building relationships with unchurched people, doing simple acts of service, making disciples one by one and gathering them into small groups. When the people they were reaching kept asking to ‘start church’, they commenced a monthly service. They moved to a fortnightly service only when they had enough people involved to sustain both grass-roots mission activity and the public service. They’ve only recently increased the frequency to weekly.
Because a favourite pastime in their area is relaxing in a café, they chose a one as a meeting place. Founded and formed by mission, this is a mission-shaped church.
Although a little bigger, the second example church is only eighteen months old. The origins of the church are found in a small group of young adults, frustrated by the rigidity of the traditional church they attended. They wanted something fresh, contemporary and informal - something they could invite their friends to.
The group worked hard to bring their dream to reality. They put together a detailed strategic plan, pulled together ideas, people and resources and even gained the blessing of their home church. Local government demographics told them that middle class 18-40 year-olds abounded in their suburb, so everything about the service - from funky music to plunger coffee – was chosen with these in mind. Their first service was everything they had hoped, and since then a steady flow of new faces has delighted the leadership group.
While the new church appears to be a resounding success, a few nagging doubts rattle about in the minds of the leaders. Firstly, almost all the newcomers are from other churches. Some stay, some attend for a few weeks and move on. Everyone is encouraged to invite their friends, but all their friends are Christians.
Secondly, the church’s efforts at outreach don’t seem to be effective in bringing people into the church. They’ve done everything from a ’battle of the bands’ to offering free marriage counseling (stat’s showed a high marriage breakdown rate in the area), but there’s been no ‘flow on’ from these to the worship service.
Thirdly, the core team is growing tired of the effort required to maintain the current standard in the weekly service, plus the outreach activities. Because successful, large churches emphasize excellence, the leaders have drummed into the worship team to give their all. But now the team is starting to lose their energy and creative edge.
Contemporary and cool as it may be, the second example is mission-flavored.
The Differences
Mission-Flavoured Church…
Was born in reaction to the established church.
Began work with the churched and their preferences.
Made a hip worship service their first priority.
Launched their public worship service according to a schedule.
Perceived the needs of the unchurched from a distance and opted for a ‘provider client’ approach to serving them.
Designed its look and feel based on its own idea of what the community needed.
Remained ‘outsiders’ in their local culture, trying to ‘Bring them to Jesus’.
Mission-Shaped Church…
Had its origin in a call to mission.
Began work with the unchurched and their needs.
Made serving the lost its first priority.
Launched its public worship service according to health indicators.
Sought to discover and meet the needs of unchurched by engaging with them in relationship, then serving them in a relational ‘peer’ approach.
Allowed those new to the faith to influence its form and style.
Became ‘insiders’ in their local culture – ‘Bringing Jesus to them’.
5 Lessons for Fresh Expressions of Church
1. Clarify the call
The basis for mission-shaped church is a call to mission, rather than frustration that your own needs aren’t met. As far as possible, deal with your frustrations and other gripes before you set off to plant.
2. Begin with the end in mind
Right from the start, spend significant time with those you’re trying to reach. Your job is to be good news, not a purveyor of goods and services, religious or otherwise.
3. Keep public worship services in perspective
In a mission-shaped framework, a public worship service should be the overflow of mission and its fruits, rather than preceding it. Those who’ve come to faith through mission will therefore shape it. The form it takes may or may not follow the style and symbols of the receptor culture.
4. Make time for unchurched people
Public worship services are usually very resource-hungry. Beware of committing too much of your people’s time and energy to the service at the expense of relational time with the unchurched.
5. Let programs serve relationships
Programs as a concept are value-neutral. They succeed or fail as outreach tools largely on the basis of whether they provide a context for relationships to form and grow. Remember, outreach and evangelism aren’t the same thing.
A final thought . . .
Many large, attractive churches successfully reach unchurched people using a ‘come to Jesus’ model. And some of them began by launching a public worship service. This is valid and worthwhile ministry. Mission-shaped church is not a replacement for this model, but an alternative approach that will reach a different sector of society.
Ken Morgan
Ken Morgan trained at Tabor College, Melbourne while working among youth in outer-eastern suburbs. He currently serves with Church Resource Ministries training and coaching church planters, and consulting to denominations. With his wife Janet and their two daughters, Ken makes his home is the Yarra Valley outside Melbourne.
posted by Drew and Leanne Chislett at 5:11 AM
1 Comments:
Hi Drew and Leanne,
It's been a long time since I've seen or contacted you. I LOVE what God is revealing in a lot of Christian's lives. What you blog about is EXACTLY what Jeremy and I are discovering in our lives too. We are fast becoming insiders here in our community and people are drawn to the Jesus they see in our lives. We haven't been "going to church" for eons but hmmmmm people still notice that there is something different about us. Go figure, huh? It's very exciting to read your blog and realize that God is bringing New Testament LIFE to our Dry Bones old societies and "church institutions" are not the focus so much anymore so much as the people in our own lives... our neighbours and friends. I remember telling Stuart once that Jeremy and I have always seen our role in the church at being friends... true friends to the people in our lives. When you say that you will bake someone a pie and then actually do it and they are shocked that you really *would* take the time to bless them with a pie you realize that there is something REAL to be had by just BEing a friend....
Anyway... much love from the Ferris people here.... I gave the link to some pics of us as my webpage... so have a look... I sure enjoyed your pics....
Jo
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