Missional churches

(Grovelling apology: The well seems to have dried some round these parts so please excuse the pack of frequent posting. After the Lydia Fellowship International Conference (Which went extremely well BTW). I have been SO busy it seems unreal. In the order of priorities of sorts, blogging seems to have been bumped off the number one spot by…..life. I’ll try and pick up the pace some in the next few days.)

I am reading through Planting Missional Churches by Ed Stetzer. I really wish that I would have had this book four years ago when I planted Living Waters Tabernacle here in Gibraltar. I am now reading some stuff and saying Duh! I should have know that! The book reads like a down to earth and simple manual on planting a church.

Although I do not particularly agree with everything he writes, I have found it able to adapt the book’s message to my own paradigm of thinking – particularly in relation to the MISSIONAL message. Whereas I do not find the terms “missional” or “missionary” in the bible, they are rooted in the Latin word “missio” meaning sent/to send. The Greek word for this is “apostolos” and this is the biblical word. Therefore in my understanding, a missional church is an apostolic church and in that sense this book is a useful tool in equipping you in a very nuts-and-bolts way to plant a church that is “missional” in outlook. The apostolic part is missing in the book, but that is something that I am reading into the book’s message.

I seriously recommend this book to anyone who is planning on planting a church, or has recently done so and is now having that desperate, fish-out-of-water feeling that this is not panning out at all like you dreamed it would If you know of a budding church planter, go ahead and get them a copy of this. It will save them a lot of heartache later on.

Technorati Tags: Missional, Books, Reading

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