If you are the pastor/church leader who is running around declaring that your church is “missional,” then there’s a good shot your probably not.
Before you get angry let me ask a few questions…
- Does Martha Stewart have to declare she is a good cook?
- Does Drew Brees have to declare that he is a good quarterback?
- Does Taylor Swift have to declare that she can sing?
- Does Lebron James have to declare he can dunk a basketball?
- Does B.B. King have to declare that he can play the blues?
- Does John Grisham have to declare that he can write fiction really well?
The answer to these questions is a BIG FAT NO!!! These people aren’t who they are because of what they are declaring, but rather because of what they are doing!!!
Anyone can declare that they can do something, but a really wise man (JESUS) once said that wisdom is proved right by actions (doing) and not merely by declaration! (That is my paraphrase of Matthew 11:19)
If you church is missional then you don’t have to tell anyone, the world already knows.
And, if you are not missional then using that as a buzzword will not help!!!
The church needs to have less declaring and more doing; after all, didn’t that same really wise man say that the world would know we are His because of the way we love one another (see John 13:34-35)?
When a church is missional it never has to declare it to be so…it simply does what it does and the world around it is changed!