8/2/2019 Missional Church a Vision
1/2
Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in
North America
Leave a commentGo to comments
1 Votes
Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in
North America Darrell L. Guder
Much like Stevens book, this book edited by Darrell Guder
challenges the current structures of the
North American as being inadequate if we are to join God in what
He is doing to redeem His
creation. I appreciated the historical background and context in
which the present church finds
itself. As I evaluate our own church, I see us as largely
marginalized and seeking to find answers
through various programs. Our larger problem has to do with who
are and what are we for. (3)
Clearly, the biblical message is more radical, more inclusive,
more transforming than we have
allowed it to be. (5) And that applies to my church that has a
tremendous legacy of sending out
missionaries. This book helps me to understand why our missions
program is not growing and full
of life. Financially, it remains well funded but it is only a
matter of decline before there will be a
downward turn. Missions rather than being the reason the church
existed is now one of the many
programs of the church and one that does not generate a lot of
enthusiasm.
I myself was convicted since I have been involved in theological
education that I was not very
focused on the Mission of God. Like Gruder exposes the North
American churches as places which
focus on maintainence and security and wait for the world to
come to them, it seems that our
Seminary has not been preparing leaders with a missional
ecclesiology. We have prepared leaders
http://ruach.wordpress.com/book-reviews/book-reviews/missional-church-a-vision-for-the-sending-of-the-church-in-north-america/#respondhttp://ruach.wordpress.com/book-reviews/book-reviews/missional-church-a-vision-for-the-sending-of-the-church-in-north-america/#commentshttp://ruach.wordpress.com/book-reviews/book-reviews/missional-church-a-vision-for-the-sending-of-the-church-in-north-america/#commentshttp://ruach.wordpress.com/book-reviews/book-reviews/missional-church-a-vision-for-the-sending-of-the-church-in-north-america/#commentshttp://ruach.wordpress.com/book-reviews/book-reviews/missional-church-a-vision-for-the-sending-of-the-church-in-north-america/#commentshttp://ruach.wordpress.com/book-reviews/book-reviews/missional-church-a-vision-for-the-sending-of-the-church-in-north-america/#respond
8/2/2019 Missional Church a Vision
2/2
but they are leaders that have perpetuated the present church
structure that is no longer reaching
into the world as signs and witnesses into the Kingdom of God.
One of the areas in which I have
neglected to give much attention is the Kingdom of God. My
Christian heritage had focused on the
Kingdom as something yet to come. Even as a pre-milennialist I
would have said that the church is
to extend the reign of God instead of presenting Gods offer to
receive, enter or inherit the
kingdom. I would have said that I belong to the Kingdom but I
have lacked the discipline of asking
how I might move more into the realm of Gods Kingdom on a daily
basis.
As Gruder says, Here lies a path for the renewal of the heart of
the church and its evangelism. I
wonder how the existing church can ever move to the models of
missional communities that
represent the reign of God to the world. We must repent of our
individualistic approach to church
and ministry and live out as a body our unity in diversity, our
compassion for the hurting, living a
counter cultural life as we proclaim Gods good news. Gruder says
that the churchs being and
doing are irretrievably tied to its proclaiming. 107 One of the
most convicting quotes in the book
follows, Churches are called to be bodies of people sent out on
a mission rather than the
storefronts for vendors of religious services and goods in North
American culture. 108 I need to
further process this material in relationship to our local
church in Houston and with respect to how
we as a mission organization fit in with Gods purposes.
