Missional Communities: An Interview with Reggie McNeal

When most people think of planting a church, they think of launching a Sunday service. But that isn't the only model. Many church plants start with missional communities. Mike Breen is a well-known advocate of missional communities, and Soma Communities (an Acts 29 church) is also becoming well known.

Reggie McNeal's latest book, Missional Communities: The Rise of the Post-Congregational Church, is a helpful introduction to what missional communities are all about. McNeal currently serves as the Missional Leadership Specialist for Leadership Network of Dallas, TX. Reggie's past experience involves over a decade as a denominational executive and leadership development coach. He's also authored a number of books.

I'm grateful that McNeal was willing to answer some of my questions.

Could you describe what you mean when you talk about "post-congregational churches" and "missional communities"?

Post-congregational church/missional communities is the expression of church that is not tied to a geographical location and a traditional seven-day rhythm of the congregational modality of church. They can be geographically centered in a neighborhood or in a particular "tribe" of people. They fall into two basic types: Type One is where the missional community itself sees itself as a missionary--like the mcs in Austin with Austin Stone church or Soma Communities of Tacoma Washington. The mc does life and mission together, often in a neighborhood setting, incarnating the presence and mission of Jesus. Type Two is a community OF missionaries -- each person is living on mission, but not necessarily hooked together with the other people in the mc. They support each other, strategize together, participate in service together, but most of their missional expression happens outside the group in their everyday lives. However the mc gives them a spiritual home.

This is very different from the predominant models of church in North America. What would you say to those in traditional churches who may feel threatened by what you describe?

There is no need to approach this as EITHER/OR. Rather an AND approach should prevail. The people who will choose to participate in a missional community are not likely to show up at church on Sunday anyway. The mc is a strategy to create the opportunity for the church to be present in every crack and crevice of our culture. It will engage people who are not susceptible to being congregationalized, which is a growing part of our country. Many estimate that as many as 60% of our population is not amenable to our current church practice.

Is this just a fad?

No, It is a reality of a new world where increasing numbers of people won't or can't match their life rhythms with congregational rhythms.

What excites you about the development of missional communities?

The variety of expression of church that is taking place as people see their lives as a mission trip. In addition, I am excited about the people who will come into the kingdom because church came to them instead of waiting for them to come to church.

Are there any cautions you'd express to someone who is drawn to the missional community model?

Don't expect it to be anything like the program church. It is simpler; matches the rhythms of the participants, and will often feel like "nothing is happening" as relationships are built over months. But, don't be fooled by this. It actually requires more accountability to be in covenant with others than just to be a "member" of a congregation. Relationships have to be protected and worked out; hospitality and grace toward other community members has to be practiced. This is not a place to hide out; rather it is a place to be transparent and vulnerable and the neighbor Jesus talked about.

Thanks, Reggie.

Find out more about Missional Communities at Amazon.com.

How Do You See the Church?

C.H. Spurgeon reminds us how to see the Church:

We ought to regard the Christian Church, not as a luxurious hostelry where Christian gentlemen may each one dwell at ease in his own inn, but as a barracks in which soldiers are gathered together to be drilled and trained for war. We should regard the Christian Church, not as an association for admiration and comfort, but as an army with banners, marching to the fray, to achieve victories for Christ, to storm the strongholds of the foe, and to add province after province to the Redeemer's kingdom. (The Soul Winner)

When I Don't Believe What I Believe

I believe a lot of good things. The problem is that I don't really believe them.

Take God's power. I know all about it, at least in theory. Paul says us that the same "great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places" is at work in us, and Paul prays that our hearts would be enlightened to see this (Ephesians 1:16-23). Yet when I come across a problem, I somehow find my heart wondering if God is up to the challenge. I don't really believe what I believe.

Or take God's goodness. Mark Altrogge posted a quote from John Flavel yesterday:

Surely if [God] would not spare his own Son one stroke, one tear, one groan, one sigh, one circumstance of misery, it can never be imagined that ever he should, after this, deny or withhold from his people, for whose sakes all this was suffered, any mercies, any comforts, any privilege, spiritual or temporal, which is good for them.

I believe this! But somehow I don't really seem to believe this when I'm going through difficult times.

Perhaps some of our biggest steps take place when we learn to somehow believe what we already believe. Jack Miller, author of The Heart of a Servant Leader, believed in the Holy Spirit and in his own weakness, but it was only when we hit a crisis that he really came to grasp these truths, and it changed his life and ministry.

Lord help me believe what I claim to believe.

Don't Put the Bibles Away

I've noticed something. People in our churches are used to opening their Bibles during the sermon. I assume that many of them are reading their Bibles during the week at home. But, except for during the sermon, and maybe small groups and Bible studies, Bibles remain closed.

This means that Bibles stay closed most of the time. They stay closed as elders meet to give oversight to the ministry of the church. They stay closed as deacons administer the the church. They stay closed as pastors meet one-on-one with members of the church. They stay closed as committees meet.

The Bible is good for Bible study, we seem to be saying. But we seem to be saying something by putting the Bibles away the rest of the time. And what we're saying scares me.

I am wondering what church would look like if we didn't put the Bibles away so quickly.

Maybe when our churches grew, we could say that "the Word of God increased" (Acts 12:24).

Maybe we could say that the Bible reverberates throughout our entire church. Read Reverberation: How God's Word Brings Light, Freedom, and Action to His People if you want to know more.

Maybe we wouldn't need books like David Helm's, because we already know what to do.

Maybe we could have what The Trellis and the Vine describes:

We are really talking about a Bible reading movement - in families, in churches, in neighborhoods, in workplaces, everywhere. Imagine if all Christians, as a normal part of their discipleship, were caught up in a web of regular Bible reading - not only digging into the word privately, but reading it with children before bed, with their spouse over breakfast, with a non-Christian colleague at work once a week over lunch, with a new Christian for follow-up once a fortnight for mutual encouragement, and with a mature Christian friend once a month for mutual encouragement.

It would be a chaotic web of personal relationships, prayer, and Bible reading - more of a movement than a program - but at another level it would be profoundly simple and within reach of all.

What would this look like? I don't know, but I'm dreaming. Hope you'll join me.

Signs of Life

My latest column at Christian Week:

People like me have been writing about the challenges facing the Church in Canada. The problem is that some churches obviously haven't been reading my column, and they seem to be doing just fine.

We just got back from a weekend in Ottawa, where we visited a church we'd heard about. We arrived, and the church was packed even on a long weekend. The pastor was off sick, so a former intern spoke instead. He's one of many former interns who have entered vocational ministry and are serving in cities all over the map.

He spoke with appreciation for how that church had built into his life at a critical time. Balloons decorated the stage, each representing a life that had been reached for Christ through the ministry of that church. The church is doing well, even on a long weekend, and even with the pastor off with a serious illness. Not only that, but it's a pipeline for leaders who are serving in other ministries as well.

I know another church located in downtown Toronto, where churches aren't supposed to grow. It's part of a denomination that's withering. And yet it's flourishing, full of the people that are statistically hard to reach. They have recently launched a ministry to reach those who would never dream of coming to a traditional church. This is a church with all of the odds stacked against it, and yet it's beating those odds.

Signs of life

Everywhere I look I see signs of life. I was in a meeting of pastors recently when I realized that four out of the five pastors serve in growing churches that didn't exist 10 years ago. I keep meeting young people who are solidly committed to Christ and eager to pay the price of serving Him.

I don't want to pretend that everything is rosy. I also see a lot of struggling churches too. I just took a call about a church near us that's on the verge of closing its doors. The same day I received an e-mail from a friend who needs prayer for his languishing church. The challenges facing the Church are huge, and we can't wish harsh realities away.

But here's the thing: these harsh realities aren't stopping God from working. The people I meet in these thriving churches are very aware of the challenges, but they seem to be more attuned to the possibilities than all the reasons that the Church can't flourish. They're keeping their heads down and doing the hard work of ministry, and it's paying off, even though all the books and experts say it shouldn't.

It's time to stop reading the death notices for the Church in Canada. It's most decidedly not dead yet. God is very much at work. I don't know why this surprises me, because it lines up nicely with what I claim to believe about God. Maybe it's my lack of faith. I constantly need to remind myself that God often shows up at the precise moment that He's been written off.

Intentional Doing

We also need to be wise in how we invest our energies. I've noticed that the people I've met in flourishing churches are very intentional in what they're doing. They've thought about the issues and decided where they're going to focus. It's not enough to just hang on; we need to take a look at what we're doing and sometimes decide to move on. This isn't easy, and it takes lots of prayer and discernment. But gritting our teeth and hoping for better isn't enough. We also need to be wise.

But we also need to remember that it's not extraordinary people and churches that God is using. Angelique Arnauld said, "Perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things, but in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well." I usually bristle when I read inspirational quotes like this, but it's true. God seems to be using pretty average people and churches in extraordinary ways because they're covering the basics: preaching, praying, investing in relationships and serving. All this sowing seems to be followed by a good bit of reaping.

Ignore the naysayers. Times are tough, but God is at work. Churches are flourishing where experts say they can't. God is good at beating the odds that we give Him.