Top 10 Missional Outreach Trends & Developments of 2010

[James Nored]

Hello and merry Christmas to everyone! I wanted to share with you some of the interesting missional outreach trends and developments from the view of the Missional Outreach Network for 2010.

 

1. The Missional Outreach Network topped 700 members. Wow! Thank you so much for your passion and dedication to missional outreach, and for inviting your friends to join.
   
   
2. Francis Chan inspires and influences thousands. - This guy continues to inspire thousands of Christians and church leaders. I was at the New Churches conference this year when he announced that the previous Sunday he had told his elders that he was resigning from the megachurch that he founded to spend a year in Thailand and then come back and plant a church in inner city LA. His book and life story Crazy Love is being used around the country. He came out supporting baptism as being a tremendous part of accepting Christ and receiving salvation. And he has released a new small group evangelistic DVD series, Who is God?
   
   
3. The Story of Redemption was revised and continues to grow in use and usefulness. - The Story of Redemption was revised this year to keep it fresh both in approach and design. Also, the number of chur ches, individuals, and countries that are using this study continues to grow. Several churches ordered hundreds of copies, it is being used by church planters, ministers, small groups, and outreach campaigns, and has been shipped now all the way to India. I am so glad that others are finding this resource so helpful in leading others to Christ.
   
   
4. The implications of what it means to be missional in daily life and in church ministries on a practical level began to be more fully explored. - This is evident in works such as the Missional Mom and Missional Small Groups. The strength of the missional movement has been its theology and the concept that mission is not one of many things that the church does, but that the church is "missional," and that mission is its purpose for existing. But, in part because of a resistance to any formulaic model for being missional, the practical outworkings of missional were left unwritten. Now, however, various handbooks, including The Forgotten Ways Handbook and the Tangible Kingdom Handbook, have been released, pointing to the recognition that some ideas of practicality are not bad, but in fact are very helpful.
   
   
5. Missional transitions to mainstream and full "buzz" status. - The fact that more and more individuals, churches, and publishers are seeing the church as being missional is good. However, the trend of slapping missional on any book or idea to sell it or sound cool is not good. If 2010 marked the movement of missional fully into the mainstream, then 2011 may be the year of maximum buzz. There are all kinds of missional works scheduled to come out next year, including books on missional youth ministry, missional worship, and more. Since the missional concept is a theological one that is meant to be all inclusive this could be a good thing. But it could simply be marketing and repacking of old concepts rather than a dramatic reorientation of the church and all of its ministries around mission.
   
   
6. Missional continues to mean a lot of different things to different people. - What exactly missional means will continue to be discussed, just like the word mission, evangelism, the gospel, etc. This is actually a good thing, as it forces us to continually think about and re-evaluate our understanding of what the church is supposed to be. Here at the Missional Outreach Network we have defined sought to define the church's life and mission by Christ's life and mission. This is shaped by the overall narrative of Christ's life, death, and resurrection, as well as three statements that Jesus makes about his mission; that is, that he came to seek the lost, serve others, and share the good news. This forms an excellent outreach strategy - go to where people are, serve them, and then share the good news with them in culturally appropriate ways.
   
   
7. The Missional Outreach Network added Twitter and Facebook status updates and Facebook Connect - These great social media developments should make MON even easier for members to us and even more valuable. They also have the potential to help the site continue to grow quickly.
   
   
8. The need for a missional understanding of the church continues to grow as the last vestiges of Christendom start to crumble. The repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was at about 70% approval in the US. The reason many conservatives fought this was because they saw it leading to further public support for homosexuality. Indeed, our president has now said that he supports repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, and that his position against gay marriage is "evolving." If we ever thought that we could keep America on the pathway to God through laws, we are now awakening to the new reality. We must concentrate on converting people to Jesus--morality will follow. Like Jesus, the missional church, concentrates primarily on changing hearts and minds, not on laws.
   
   
9. The Missional Outreach Network has grown in its writers and contributors. People like John Dobbs, Josh Nichols, Ann Dunagan, Mike Ellis, Jayaraj, and more have added diversity and depth to the blog and forum posts of MON, addressing topics on worship, family, children, marketing, India, and more. Thank you to all of these contributors and more. We are always looking for new writers on MON!
   
   
10. The recognition of the need for missional church planting continues to grow. Key missional thinker and author Alan Hirsch pointed out the fact that he was a keynote speaker at the New Churches conference would not have happened two years ago and is a sign that missional has captured the hearts and imagination of churches and individuals. However, some have confused the missional concept and missional theology for a particular methodology--such as a coffee shop church, a house church, etc.--and seem to pride themselves on doing nothing like "traditional churches." This cynicism and reactionary attitude, such as is found in many emerging churches, is not helpful and does not have enough power on its own to be sustainable longterm. The trend, however, for planting churches that seek to impact a community and go to this community as its first impulse is good.

Bonus Trend - The new aggressive atheism continues to grow, as many increasingly see religion as the problem to the word's ills. Books such as Society Without God point towards this trend.

Which of these trends surprises or excites you? What other missional outreach trends do you see developing?

[James Nored]

Ann, your question reminds me - I'll be adding a post about the top 10 missional resources of 2010, and then a post about missional goals for the new year.

[James Nored]

Ann, we have enjoyed the interaction with you as well! As to what I am praying for this year, here are a few things:

- Kingdom and World: That the missional awakening of God's people around the world would continue, and many churches would be planted and new followers of Christ be raised

- Church: That this will be another "harvest year" for us at High Pointe Church of Christ. This year began the start of a good harvest from our outreach ministries that we built up. I'm praying that this will continue and grow even more this year!

- Family: That our family will continue to find ways to serve others together, bonding my wife and I and children in precious ways

- Personal: That I live a life of joy that is evident to all, have peace through our ongoing storms, have genuine love for God and others, and faith in God to solve problems that I cannot handle on my own. And, that God may give us guidance in our lives and walk with him.

- MON: That God will use this site to encourage others in mission and provide resources for mission. That we will top 1000 members. That God will provide us with passionate, devoted writers and contributors such as yourself. 

 

Looking forward to a great year!

[Ann Dunagan]

Thanks James . . . and everyone here on Missional Outreach Network. I've enjoyed the new interaction on here, and look forward to the new year, and all that God has in His storehouse for us all. -- I'm also curious, what are YOU praying and believing for in this new year? I usually utilize the time between Christmas and New Year's to look back with reflection, and to took forward with projection. -- to pray and to seek God's mission-minded purposes.

 

In His Harvest,

Ann

[James Nored]

Sondra, this is so encouraging to hear! I'm so glad that this site has been helpful to you and that you count it among the most significant trends and developments for 2010.

 

Yes, #4 is a good and significant development. I hear some missional people say, "There is no silver bullet." And it is true that every situation is contextual, and we should resist some formulaic approach to mission. I could not agree more. And yet, there are some broad trends in certain contexts that tend to be true. For instance, I have identified some areas of brokenness that exist in most suburban cultures: lack of community and relationships (isolationism), lack of purpose (materialism), and lack of  peace (worry, stress, busyness, and anxiety).

 

Thank you so much for these encouraging words, Sondra. We are glad to have you a part of MON!

[Sondra Jenkins]

Merry Christmas and God bless you -- writer(s) and readers of this blog alike! I am SO thankful to have connected with this network of people and resources this year! I don't know how many of your new members are new in 2010; but for those of us who are, I can assure you that YOU are among our most significant "trends and developments" for 2010!

 

Trend #4 captures a key development for me -- learning more about what it means to be "missional," and how to put that understanding into practice as an individual believer and as a part of a larger ministry work. I have a great sense of urgency that Christ's return is imminent; and a deep conviction about the work entrusted to, and indeed, mandated for the Body of Christ to make disciples. The "missional" framework has been VERY instrumental in helping me to develop and implement personal and corporate strategies for greater impact. On a personal level, I'm more "organic" and more intentional in evangelism and discipleship -- any and/or every situation and interaction is seized as an opportunity for outreach! On a corporate level, we work to add or ensure focus to keep the Main Thing as the main thing in our planning and activities.

 

We bless God for you, and we look forward to continuing onward and upward in 2011!