Missional ChurchFirst things first–Macy’s doing great! I’m probably just a biased dad, but I think she’s getting cuter every day. Or maybe I’m just falling more in love with her every day. Anyway, I’ll get some more pictures and videos of her up sometime soon.

But I wanted to get back to church-related stuff tonight. I’m reading Missional Church (edited by Darrell Guder) and it is an awesome read! So thoughtful. So thought-provoking. So eye-opening.

In my reading today, I came across a proposed confession of a missional church (on page 236 of the book), and I thought I’d put it out there for all of you to read. But don’t read it quickly. There’s a lot in there. I think it’s worth chewing on a little bit at a time.

We believe that we are the church, that is, we are a community of God’s people called and set apart for witness to the good news of Jesus Christ. We are blessed to be a blessing. As the Father has sent Christ, so Christ sends us. Jesus Christ has defined us as his witnesses where we are. We believe therefore that the Holy Spirit no only calls us but also enables and gifts us for that mission. Our task is to determine the particular focus and direction of our mission. We are to identify the charisms given us by the Spirit for mission. We have the responsibility and the capacity, through the Holy Spirit, to shape ourselves for faithful witness. Our purpose defines our organizational structures–which means that our mission challenges us to re-form our structures so that we can be faithful in our witness.