Missional Attractiveness

There is much ado lately among church planters and strategists that has arisen out of a wonderful awakening to the fact that the church is in crisis. The crisis is not wonderful, but the fact that we are finally realizing that we are on borrowed time as a church is. We are realizing now that we must take the Great Commission seriously if we are to survive as a church. Jesus promised that the church would always be around (Matt. 16:18), but He also promised that we would have trials in this world (Jn. 16:33). We also are reminded that man will not naturally choose to live a righteous life (Matt. 7:13-14). So what is all of the talk about?

Many have begun to argue over what the best model of “doing” church should look like. Many of the debates have centered on whether the church should follow the Missional Model (i.e. house churches, etc.), or the Emergent Model (make the church look more like the culture), or the Traditional Model (institutional church, etc.). These debates have come from men and women who earnestly seek to fulfill the Great Commission by making disciples, but the concern has been over what the best way to accomplish this is. We are living in an age where fewer and fewer people are coming in through the church doors and fewer are able to tell you what the Bible really says. Biblical illiteracy has led to a crisis in the church, but we also need to realize that we very well may be approaching the last hours of the last days. I am not going to lay out a prediction for when the Lord will return, nor am I arguing for Millennial views here, but I do believe that as we approach the last days, there will be a great falling away (2 Tim. 4:3-4; Matt. 24:9-14). However, despite this belief that I hold, I have also read the end of the passage in Matt. 24:

“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

This is clearly a call to fulfill the Great Commission. I believe so much in the Great Commission that I like Mark’s account the best:

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” – Mark 16:15

I say preach it to the cows and the chickens, as well as to every person you meet.

Having said this, we need to analyze why it may be that people are not coming to our churches. I don’t believe that the problem is the institutional church, as some like Allan Hirsch believe, or that we need to look like the culture, as others believe. I believe the problem really lies in the fact that we say we have tried the Traditional Model and it has failed us, but we have not tried the biblical model. What I mean is this. We have hordes of preachers who claim to be biblical expositors of Scripture, but they aren’t really doing anything more than reading the biblical text and then giving their thoughts or opinions on it. They are not truly expounding, or explaining, the text. In addition to this problem, pastor’s have lost their since of evangelistic fervor. The pulpits are not evangelistic; therefore the pews are not evangelistic. Perhaps the problem in our churches is not the model of ministry, but rather the motivation of ministry. We are so focused on self that we fail to focus on glorifying God. When we begin to have a proper view of God, we will worship Him on His terms as He describes to us in His Word, not as some cultural standard dictates (emerging church). We will also begin to study the Word of God as the Word of God and we will naturally make disciples and teach in our homes, while at the same time realizing our need for a corporate gathering to worship God. I don’t think you can look at the Old or New Testaments and say that a strictly house church model is the way God intended the church to be. The Israelites had corporate feasts and worship services and the New Testament saints regularly gathered in the temple and synagogues, until they were kicked out! They went into homes, because they had no choice! Maybe our model needs to rely less on man and more on God. What did Jesus use to reach people? He taught them the Word, speaking as the Word, and we have been given the greatest missionary tool available that has received the greatest attack from people in every generation, the very Word of God, the Bible. Let’s read it. Let’s do it. Let’s make disciples!