Ed Stetzer: Missions vs. Missional? Why We Really Need Both

The Needed Balance Between Pauline and Johannine Missions

These days everyone (and everything) is missional. It's the new buzz word.

There are books about being missional (I've written several of them), conferences about being missional, and even companies that sell missional t-shirts. While this is great in many contexts, the danger of such cultural penetration is that the meaning of the word can be diluted, misunderstood, and lost.

 

Being missional conveys the idea of living on a purposeful, Biblical mission. Mission is the reason the church exists and the church joins Jesus on mission. And, this mission is from everywhere to everywhere.

But, certainly, the definition of "mission" leads us to ask about how "missions" (referring to an international pursuit to preach the gospel to all the corners of the earth) relates to "mission." Keep reading