Missional Formation

Missional formation is the process in the life of a spiritual leader whereby God focuses that leader’s heart, passion, gifts, experiences, and energies in a direction that intersects with the mission of God (mission dei). This mission involves the gospel, a word and concept that is used far more frequently than it is clearly understood and applied. It involves active participation in the kingdom of God, a concept that some would say is the overarching theme of the entire Bible, but one which very few people grasp, let alone commit their lives. The gospel is the intentional application of “The Great Commission,” the last commands that Jesus gave prior to leaving the earth.

In missional formation we also must realize the impact of various cultural realities on the church and the tendency of the institutional church to become ingrown and separate from culture. Missional formation challenges leaders, and the churches or organizations in which they serve, to return to their original God-ordained calling. Dietrich Bonheoffer said that the church is only the church when it lives for others. Its brokenness and depravity, however, continually lead the church back to an inwardness that causes it to pander to its own members instead of fulfilling the mission Jesus gave to the church. The church does not “do” mission; the church “is” mission. As one author has labeled it, the church is “God’s Missionary People.”

It is important to distinguish clearly between what has traditionally been called “mission” and what it means to be a “missional leader” or to be a “missional church.” For an understanding of missional formation moves far beyond what has traditionally been understood by the church and Christian organizations as “missions.” By “missions,” most churches describe that department of the church that is involved in sending “missionaries” to foreign or urban places where there is need. This assumes that the missionaries are someone else, and the church’s involvement is usually in the form of financial support. Where the church has not been able to adequately supply or fund the missionary endeavor, para-church organizations have risen up to meet the need of people who desire to take a message about Jesus to people who have not had opportunity to hear it.

In missional formation, every follower of Jesus is a missionary. This means that wherever followers of Jesus find themselves (e.g., their calling, career, hobbies, neighborhoods, etc.) is where they have been sent. Therefore, missional formation is much larger than “missions,” and also much more effective. George Hunsberger has stated it this way: “’Mission’ is not something the church does, a part of its total program. No, the church’s essence is missional, for the calling and sending action of God forms its identity. Mission is founded on the mission of God in the world, rather than the church’s effort to extend itself.”

For further reading, check out the Missional Formation section in the SOULeader Bookstore.
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