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What Happens After Sola Scripture

A well-written blog by Blake Huggins at Emergent Village.  Check it out:

http://www.emergentvillage.com/weblog/what-happens-after-sola-scriptura

Seeking Missional

Last night my husband and I shared dinner with Michael Frost.  It was a gorgeous evening on the San Antonio Riverwalk.  We talked about our families, the fact that an American host took him to the Outback for dinner one night, and missional churches (of course). 

Michael shared one observation that I found interesting.  He said that in his experience the churches that struggle the most with missional transformation are the ones "medium" in size.  Most people think it is the mega churches who are caught in the attractional mode, seeking to their numbers (attendance, cash, and buildings) going up.  But in his experience, the mega church pastors are restless.  Most reach mega status and think, there must be more to being the church than being big.  

New church developments, on the other hand, can begin with a missional foundation.  They organize around small groups that serve.  Small established congregations, with the right leadership, can also make the transition from attractional to missional without too much difficulty because they are nimble. 

Medium churches, however, have a harder time.  Michael posed two theories.  Medium sized churches sometimes have their eyes locked on the large church, committed to getting "there."   The programs, worship schedule, and services are just large enough that people imagine them a little big bigger and a whole lot more effective.  On the flip side, some churches have their eyes focused on the past.  They don't want to get too big, remembering when everyone was known by name and the pastor attended every pot luck and graduation ceremony in town. Because they don't really want to welcome more people into the community of faith, they focus on maintaining what they have. 

In either case, medium sized churches struggle to transform from institutional churches focused on maintaining their own community to missionaries focused on serving their neighbors in the name of Jesus.  

Of course this is a generalization.  Every established church struggles to transform. Even new church developments that are planted with missional DNA sometimes lose their way. 

 

But what do you think about Michael's observation?