Can Traditional Church be Missional? Can it Emerge?

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about for-profit ministries that can greatly aid our work in 3rd world and developing countries. As requested, I've promised that I would discuss some for-profit ideas for the church that can be done on the home-front. However, some still don't understand the merits of for-profit, nor do they see its value for the survivability of any ministry in the not-too-distant future. So, before I post on some of those ideas, I believe it is necessary for me to share my views on why it is so difficult for traditional churches to make the transition to missional. Hopefully my thoughts here will make a stronger case for for-profit ministry.

First of all, I want to be clear that I am an incurable romantic when it comes to the church. I want us to fulfill Jesus' prayer of John 17, that we will be as one. Yes, there's a fat chance of that happening; but it's no reason for me to throw in the towel on my optimism. While I am admittedly cynical about organized religion, I still hold on to the hope that many within the institution will one-day realize that there is a better way, and that change-for-the-better is not something to be feared or despised, but rather, embraced. For many churches, change won't come easy; many will never be willing to pay the price of admission to the missional community. But to be fair, it is not surprising that there are many who have already staked their claim in the emerging missional community, who are trying to have their cake and eat it too, and they too will ultimately not be willing to pay the price. For some, emergent is just another spiritually elite, cliquey club they can belong to where they can engage in trendy post-modern conversation without getting their hands dirty in real-life mission work.

Jesus never said that it was going to be easy to enter the Kingdom. While His grace and salvation is free and unmerited, the work of advancing The Kingdom of God on Earth has cost many their lives. Jesus said we must forsake everything in order to enter the Kingdom. It can be argued that the Lord is talking about what it takes to enter and live in the Kingdom of God in this life, and I believe that is at least partly what He was referring to. God's economy is antithetical to man's. To attempt to live by Kingdom principals is a radical paradigm shift for even the most devoted followers of Jesus, and few are willing to make the kind of sacrifices necessary, especially when we are quite comfortable in our existing religious structures and ministries, and despite the reality that those structures are failing to serve humankind as they once did.

When one stops to consider the differences between the traditional and missional churches, we are faced with a stark dissimilarity between the two. If a traditional church wants to become missional, a radical transformation is necessary because the traditional church is a near-polar opposite of missional church! This is the one reality that makes the transformation to missional improbable for most churches. But, I believe that it is not a hopeless cause.

Remember, we are all the body of Christ. I am compelled to believe that those of us who have left traditional institutions for missional communities are not going to advance God's Kingdom through division. Most of us grew up in those old traditional churches and they served God's purposes well for a long time, and we are indebted to them. But, changes are happening to our society that will inevitably force those churches to adapt to those changes or to close their doors forever. Circling-the-wagons and fighting off those changes will not stop them from coming. It is our responsibility to be ministers of reconciliation to bring all of God's Church together in the mission of being the hands and feet of our Lord Jesus to those who need His unconditional love, mercy and compassion. Those of us who are forging the way for the missional paradigm are the prophets of much-needed change for the Church. Like our biblical counterparts, we are on unchartered territory, doing our best to walk by faith, yet stumbling along the way as always. Among the stumblers, I am chief. If you take issue at what I have to say, please let me know. This is how we all will learn and help prevent others from having to stumble.

I have made an incomplete list of some comparisons between the traditional and missional church models as I see them. Hopefully it is complete enough to spell the challenge out for those who are trying to count the cost of making the transition.

• Traditional Church: Inward-An institution created to attract people to a building, thus is focused on the futile task of appealing to and meeting the insatiable desires of its members in order to survive financially. Made up primarily of people for whom church is little more than an addendum to their busy self-engrossed lives.
  
• Missional Church: Outward-A group of people whose passion and purpose is found in being the hands and feet of Jesus to those who need his mercy, grace compassion and love. Real missional Christians put the physical and spiritual needs of others before their own, for in this, they find their total satisfaction and meaning to life.
  
• Traditional Church: Ministry-Staff of a few performs over 90% of church ministry, which primarily amounts to pleasing a congregation of spectators, many of whom will go elsewhere when they determine that their needs are no-longer being met.
  
• Missional Church: Ministry-Everyone has a role in the missional church. A missional Christian's life purpose is found in loving and serving others and in helping them to find peace and hope in Jesus. Their work, their recreation and everything else is part of the mission, not just what comes down on Sunday morning. Their ministry is not performed by being a part of a committee, but flows from their God-given spiritual gifts, their skills and talents and their passion for serving. In short, they aren't waiting for someone to lead them around by their hand; they're already attentive to people's needs, and they serve by the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
  
• Traditional Church: Charitable Giving-The traditional church must survive on its members tithing 2-3% of their adjusted income. One church I belonged to had 1% of its annual budget assigned for missions, which also included things like youth group materials! Even when a traditional church has a heart for missions, it typically takes 80 to 90% of its budget for its building mortgage payments, maintenance and utilities and staff salaries.
  
• Missional Church: Charitable Giving-Nearly 100% of the tithes and offering of the missional church can go directly to funding their mission outreaches, because those outreaches, and not a building program, is the heart and purpose of their church. Often, those outreaches come in the form of down-town businesses geared to reach and minister to specific people groups, thus are largely self-sustaining. Typically, those same businesses also serve as the church meeting place as well, so there is no need for a building dedicated to that purpose. Freeing up finances in such a radical way, paves the way to extend their missions to meeting the needs of 3rd world people or others outside of their local community.
  

In summary, I would say that one of the biggest detriments to a traditional church is the type of people who are on the membership roles. Many modern churches have filled their rosters with people who want, not people who want to give. Yes, I'm stereotyping; obviously many of us who have a real heart for the emerging church have either come out of such churches or still belong to them or minister in them. But the reality of it is that there is but a very small percentage of any traditional church who think missionally, and not many more who are actually open to any kind of change--especially the radical change that their church would have to undergo in order to become missional.

The other stumbling bock, of course, is the cumbersome operational expenses of the traditional church. When there is barely enough coming in to keep the physical plant going, how can such a church even consider changing its entire focus from attractional to missional with the few crumbs they have left over to work with? Well, that is where the consideration of for-profit ministry comes in. If there is a will, there is a way. Traditional churches have a big advantage in that way, because their memberships are typically larger than most missional communities, and they usually have more business-minded people who could brain-storm and administrate new for-profit ventures. Of course, you have to get them on-board with your vision for a missional church, but for you pastors who are reading this, perhaps that's just the spark that's needed in in your preaching to get the masses fired up!

Next week, I will talk about some of the for-profit models that might work for the local church.