Eliminating the Walls between Insider and Outsider Activities

Inviting unbelievers to fully participate in our group life can be our best witness.

Whenever I interact with people about being missional, most think they have a solid understanding of the concept. After all, the church is big into missions, our members have taken short-term mission trips, and we've sent money to missionaries overseas for many years. "Missions" described with these examples defines something that a church chooses to do outside of its normal rhythms. Church is what we do in a basically Christian culture while missions is something that we do for people outside that Christian culture.

Therefore, the term missional community (or missional small groups) is often interpreted as a group of people who choose to perform a set of tasks for another group of people outside the church or outside the group. It is typically something they do for the unchurched. So some conclude that a group that cooks at a homeless shelter once a month or packs food boxes for needy families is missional in nature. Others assume that missional small groups are about evangelism, employing servanthood and relational outreach strategies. To read more, click here.