The Changing Face of the Church

There is this international conversation taking place in the Christian world today. One of the ways the conversation is framed is by using the words attractional church and missional church.

An attractional church is one that spends more of its time, money, and energy attracting people - believers and non-believers alike - to the congregational building. In these congregations, the pastoral staff does most of the ministry and members are seen as people who volunteer to run the programs and who give their money to pay the staff. In these congregations, they don't talk so much about the church being missional as they do about having a missions ministry - one compartment of the overall congregational life. And in these congregations the compartmentalization between the sacred and the secular more often goes unquestioned.

A missional church is one that spends its time, money and energy equipping believers to be the church to the world. In these congregations, the pastoral staff equips congregational members to be missional leaders in their homes, neighborhoods and workplaces - both here and around the world. Members are expected to get grounded biblically and then to be on mission in the world. In these churches, members give their money and their time to support the congregation as it equips them to be on mission. These congregations hold a belief that where ever believers spend most of their day is where their life mission is. And, in these congregations, they talk about God being on mission in the world, calling each person to join Him.

These are two clear distinctions. They don't usually show up that clearly in local congregations. A whole host of congregations are on a journey from being attractional (a posture that virtually every church took 25 years ago) to being more missional.

Mission Houston's Faithwalking ministry comes along side local congregations - helping equip missional leaders. The next Faithwalking retreat is set for October 1 -3, 2009. For more information, go to this link .