From: Church with a Mission To: Missional Church Patterns of a Missional Church ELCA Mission Development Training - Part II Rev. Mary Sue Dreier, Ph.D. February 13, 2010

Rooted…In the Trinity “The Holy Trinity” Andrei Rublev, Ca. 1410

Patterns of a Missional Church From: Treasure in Clay Jars Edited by. Lois Barrett These patterns are not exhaustive or exclusive to a missional church, but were developed by a team of theologians to help describe what missional church looks like in practice. Missional Vocation The congregation is discovering together the missional vocation of the community. It is beginning to redefine “success” and “vitality” in terms of faithfulness to God’s calling and sending. It is seeking to discern God’s specific missional vocation (“charisms”) for the entire community and for all of its members.

Patterns of a Missional Church Pattern 1. Missional Vocation What is God doing in our community? What is God calling us to be or to do? What glimpses, inklings, ideas do “WE” have about our mission in the community? What gifts might we have for this emerging mission? These patterns are not exhaustive or exclusive to a missional church, but were developed by a team of theologians to help describe what missional church looks like in practice. Missional Vocation The congregation is discovering together the missional vocation of the community. It is beginning to redefine “success” and “vitality” in terms of faithfulness to God’s calling and sending. It is seeking to discern God’s specific missional vocation (“charisms”) for the entire community and for all of its members.

Patterns of a Missional Church Pattern 2. Biblical Formation & Discipleship The Bible shapes our life together What are we doing with the Bible in these early stages of our life together? Biblical Formation and Discipleship The missional church is a community in which all members are involved in learning what it means to be disciples of Jesus. The Bible is normative in this church’s life. Biblical formation and discipling are essential for members of the congregation.

Patterns of a Missional Church Pattern 3. Taking Risks as a Contrast Community Jesus Christ Crucified and Risen lives in our community through us. That makes us different from the world! What risks might our church be called to take for the sake of the gospel in our community? How might that affect us? Taking Risks as a Contrast Community The missional church is learning to take risks for the sake of the gospel. It understands itself as different from the world because of its participation in the life, death and resurrection of its Lord. It is raising questions, often threatening ones, about the church’s cultural captivity, and it is grappling with the ethical and structural implications of its missional vocation. It is learning to deal with internal and external resistance.

Patterns of a Missional Church Pattern 4. Practices that Demonstrate God’s Intent for the World We are God’s “demonstration plot” for how God intends people to live together. What Christian practices are evident in how we treat each other? Practices that Demonstrate God’s Intent for the World The pattern of the church’s life as a community is a demonstration of what God intends for the life of the whole world. The practices of the church embody mutual care, reconciliation, loving accountability and hospitality. A missional church is indicated by how Christians behave toward one another.

Patterns of a Missional Church Pattern 5. Worship as Public Witness It’s a public community event, praising God and giving public witness to God. It’s the main thing we do in our communities! How is our worship “going public” with praise and witness? Worship as Public Witness Worship is the central act by which the community celebrates with joy and thanksgiving both God’s presence and God’s promised future. Flowing out of its worship, the community has a vital public witness.

Patterns of a Missional Church Pattern 6. Dependence upon the Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit is the real mission developer! We participate as God creates new churches. Prayer connects us to the power of the Spirit. What prayer practices are we developing? Dependence upon the Holy Spirit The missional community confesses its dependence upon the Holy Spirit, shown in particular in its practices of corporate prayer.

Patterns of a Missional Church Pattern 7. Pointing toward the Reign of God We point to God and not to ourselves. We are sinful, make mistakes, and live by forgiveness. What are the particular challenges and failures that we’ve already faced? How are these things helping us grow in mission? Pointing toward the Reign of God The missional church understands its calling as witness to the gospel of the inbreaking reign of God, and strives to be an instrument, agent and sign of that reign. As it makes its witness through its identity, activity and communication, it is keenly aware of the provisional character of all that it is and does. It points toward the reign of God that God will certainly bring about, but knows that its own response is incomplete, and that its own conversion is a continuing necessity.

Patterns of a Missional Church Pattern 8. Missional Authority Holy Spirit gives many different gifts to the “priesthood of all believers” for the mission of the church. How are we helping people cultivate their gifts to help lead our God-given mission? Missional Authority The Holy Spirit gives the missional church a community of persons who, in a variety of ways and with a diversity of functional roles and titles, together practice the missional authority that cultivates within the community the discernment of missional vocation and is intentional about the practices that embed that vocation in the community’s life.

Patterns of a Missional Church Pattern 9. Here “For the Sake of the World” We are not here “for the sake of the church” but “for the sake of the world.” We “come to go.” What are we doing for others in our community? Missional Authority The Holy Spirit gives the missional church a community of persons who, in a variety of ways and with a diversity of functional roles and titles, together practice the missional authority that cultivates within the community the discernment of missional vocation and is intentional about the practices that embed that vocation in the community’s life.