Volume
38, No. 1 [back] FACULTY & STAFF UPDATE
Over the past few years here at the Seminary, we have been tossing around a word which appears to be growing in popularity among Christians — missional. In fact, it is now part of our Seminary’s mission statement and strategic plan; we are officially “focused on missional leadership.”
Though we see and hear it more and more, still the word itself seems to defy clear and concise definition. So as we continue to tiptoe toward defining missional for our school, I offer this personal definition as my contribution to the process of establishing and claiming a functional corporate meaning:
Missional describes that Christ-inspired human quality which (1) favors what God wants of us (individually and institutionally) over what we want for ourselves; (2) affirms “sending and serving” in our faith communities above “coming and joining;” and (3) fashions caring, transforming partnerships in the world beyond programs of self-care and personal growth in the church.
Favors What God Wants. Two essential practices in this aspect of missional living are searching the scriptures and listening in prayer. Both invite us into a posture of vulnerability where we imagine ourselves living God’s dream rather than satisfying our own desires. In Bible reading (both devotional and study) we encounter God’s never-ceasing appeal to break free from self serving behavior and to rely on God’s renewing grace. In meditative prayer we resist declaring what we expect from God and risk discerning what God expects from us.
Affirms “Sending and Serving.” Historically, our Christian emphasis has focused on establishing stable and substantial faith communities in order to fulfill God’s mission. Yet, too often the church has become the end itself rather than the means. Missional thinkers reclaim the origin of the root word — to be sent; they understand belonging less in terms of membership in Christ’s body and more in terms of serving others in Christ’s name. Jesus’ own witness in scripture points in this direction: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
Fashions Caring, Transforming Partnerships. Missional leadership suggests that we prepare pastors, counselors and educators for the primary task of building up self-sacrificing, other-oriented partners to share God’s love as their primary purpose for living. Obviously this requires effective nurture within the church, but a missional community is not only where believers receive their weekly spiritual nourishment; even more, it is where believers discover links which connect them to meaningful service partnerships within neighborhood and world.
Honestly, the implications of such a definition will be challenging for our Seminary, yet hopefully will encourage us to prayerfully discern what it actually means to become a missional seminary.
— Glen Stoudt
Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology
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