How I Got Here - Missional Church

I mentioned in a previous post that I wasn't sure when I was first exposed to the term "missional," but now I remember. It was when my friend Dieter Zander suggested that I read Missional Church, the great book edited by Darrell Guder. It was one of his parting words to me during our initial trip to San Francisco, when we were deciding if we were going to go to Golden Gate Seminary. The funny thing is that I didn't read it until three years later, after seminary was over. But I remember devouring it over about a week. I would guess that it's a top 5 "shaping" book for me.

As I've said in other posts, the word "missional" took on great meaning for me during my time in seminary. I came to understand that the church is the called out and sent forth people of God. We are called to take the gospel into culture. This is what it means to be missional.

If you've heard this term thrown around but are still not exactly sure what it means, I would recommend an article by Tim Keller titled "The Missional Church." In just three pages he summarizes the what's, why's and how's of missional church.