The other day I received a book called The Missional Renaissance written by Reggie McNeal from my good friend Martin Hutchison (thanks Martin). I am only 3 chapters into it but boy is there some awesome stuff in the book. I think in the introduction and the 1st chapter alone I took 3-4 pages of notes. Here are some quotes that I resonated with.

“The missional development goes to the very heart of what the church is, not just what it does. It redefines the church’s role in the world in the way that breaks sharply with prevailing church notions. These differences are so huge as to make missional and nonmissional expressions of Christianity practically unrecognizable to each other”
(This to me begs a question….can there truly be such a thing as a nonmissional expression of Christianity that is faithful or is nonmissional Christianity an oxymoron? Your take??)

“To think and to live missionally means seeing all life as a way to be engaged with the mission of God in the world.”

“Going missional will require that you make three shifts both in your thinking and in your behavior. From internal to external in terms of ministry focus, from program development to people development in terms of core activity, from church-based to kingdom-based in terms of leadership agenda. They will move your from doing church as primarily a refuge, conservator, and institutional activity in a Post-Christendom culture to being a risky, missional, organic force in the increasingly pre-Christian world in North America.”

“No strategy, tactic, or clever marketing campaign could ever clear away the smokescreen that surrounds Christianity in today’s culture. The perception of outsiders will change only when Christians strive to represent the heart of God in every relationship and situation.”

And one last one for today..I’ll share more later.

“Externally focused ministry leaders take their cues from the environment around them in terms of needs and opportunities. They look for ways to bless and to serve the communities where they are located.”

That should give each of us something to chew on for a while…I am thinking how might I put some of these quotes into action both as an individual and also as a community of Christ-Followers who are working on planting a missional church. Any ideas?