Missionary Mentality

Excerpts from Ed Stetzer - Monday Is for Missiology: The Missionary Mentality of the Local Church

The New Testament teaches us that all churches exist, at least ostensibly, to participate in fulfilling the Great Commission. However, churches that desire to be effectively involved in God's kingdom work should regularly ask themselves, "Why do we exist?" We will find that only churches with a missionary mentality will be able to rightfully answer that all important question.

The missionary pioneer of the early church, the Apostle Paul, viewed his responsibility to those outside God's kingdom in this way, "To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some. Now I do all this because of the gospel, that I may become a partners in its benefits" (1 Cor. 9:22-23; HCSB). Paul understood that to be inwardly focused was to be outwardly blind. To be a missionary means meeting, learning and embracing those outside the family of God. Paul even likens it to becoming them; this was not a dry interpretation of an even dustier research project. This was a living, personal change based on wanting to see people become followers of Christ.

Churches that have developed a mindset of being outwardly focused, what we call a "missionary mentality," live out the essence of disciple-making in their activities through worship, community, and mission. This they do in the context of their own local culture with an understanding of that context. This is one part of what we mean when we refer to "Transformational Churches." A common factor in these churches is that their values are expressed in the light of their own locale. Ministry values are not imported across town or through a conference DVD pack. Their leaders demonstrate a heart for the culture, the churches build relationships intentionally and everyone prays for the community. To put it simply, Transformational Churches know, understand, and are deeply in love with their cities, communities, and people.

LifeWay Research results found that Transformational Churches have specific attitudes toward those outside the family of faith. They responded with "strongly agree" or "moderately agree" to the following statements: "Our pastor(s) often refers to aspects of the local city or community in messages" (67%); "Our church believes that God has strategically place us in our cultural context (in our location to serve those around us" (81%); "Our church believes that as the cultural context around us changes, new opportunities to engage people outside must be considered" (71%). Rather than being taken for granted or blitzkrieged as the enemy, those outside of Christ are viewed as victims of the enemy who need to be rescued and redeemed.

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There are three important ideas churches can learn from the life of Paul relating to where he went and to whom he ministered. First, Paul considered the available time. Much is made of the "Macedonian call" when pastors talk about following God. What is sometimes overlooked is saying "yes" to Macedonia meant saying "no" to Phrygia. Yet, it was the Holy Spirit who halted Paul's travel plans while giving him another assignment. Transformational Churches learn to say "no" to the places and times where God says "no." Every good thing is not the right thing for a church to pursue at a given time.

Second, Transformational Churches remember that God is already at work where He is sending His people to minister. The vision Paul experienced of the pleading man from Macedonia was significant in that God was at work preparing the people of Philippi for a new church. He was at work in a wealthy businesswoman named Lydia. He was even working in the life of the jailor where Paul and Silas were imprisoned. In Cincinnati, the burden that God placed on Chris Beard drew the pastor and the church into the flow of God's work in the city. The result was a significant impact on the community, with many coming to know Christ in a church that now reflects the racial makeup of its host culture.

Thirdly, churches who say "yes" to God's leading can expect to find God working in ways previously unknown. It is in moving into these unknown areas that they uncover what God is already doing in advance of the onset of ministry. Transformational Churches see this working over and over, whereas churches that do not engage their communities with the gospel of Jesus miss these supernatural interactions and often mistake sameness for spirituality.