Missio - The Why, Who, and What

THE NEED

The Church in the US and Canada is characterized by words such as…Stagnant, Inflexible, Immobile, Fragmented, Cloistered, Losing Ground, Slow to Change, Disoriented, Institutional, Desperate for Leaders, Stuck, etc…

Statistics aren’t needed anymore.  Three simple questions are all that’s needed to expose the need for aggressive innovation.

• Do you like going to church?   Would you bring a friend?
• Does Christianity and our churches create curiosity in the world? Are we relevant?
• Do you think your children will want to go to church after they leave your home?
• Does the church captivate the imagination of your non-Christian friends?

While most lay members, pastors, and denominational leaders admit the church of the last 40 years will not address the needs of future generations, most are struggling to navigate the change necessary to move forward.   They’re courageous but naive to the cultural shifts; they’re open for change but afraid of what it may cost them; they have resources but are reluctant to commit an more if it means another failure; they love the lost but just don’t know how to engage them anymore; they want the missional church to be their experience, but they don’t know how to lead their people out of consumerism; and they want to lead, they just don’t feel equipped with the new skills world demands of them…skills that a missionary has.It is for these complex problems facing the church in North America that Missio feels called to help.  We can lead God’s leaders.

THE UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY

During times of national church transition, there are many people that serve different needs. Some provide church planting networks, some financial resources, some serve in denominations to help foster the missional conversation.  What is needed is an organization that serves them all to maximize their collective efforts.  This is what Missio exists for.As an apprenticing network for the missional movement. Missio shapes and trains practitioners who are developing people and churches of community and mission.Because Missio can develop leaders for any type, style, form, or size of church, we have the unique ability to influence the whole church.  Because we’re are practitioners first,  we have the respect of those in the trenches.   Because of our biblical ethos, missional concepts, on-line training environments, and the highest level of national network positioning, we are able to come alongside any church, any church planter, any church plant organization, denomination, para-church, or missions agency to help them form a new type of leader. Therefore, Missio can be used powerfully to inspire and lead a significant level of change for a substantial percentage of churches in North America.Missio seeks to build a bridge between the missional and existing church—by incorporating elements of both the traditional and contemporary into a new model of church.  The vision of Missio is to equip church pastors and planters for leading compelling, relevant, missional congregations—so that the name of God is renown in the United States and around the world.

The Missio paradigm recognizes that ultimately, a healthy church multiplies itself—producing denominational or contemporary church associations – across the entire spectrum of church contexts.  In order to produce such a church movement, five key elements must be in place.

• Visionary and Missional Leadership: Leaders must have a dynamic vision for reaching their neighborhood—and the world—for Christ.
• Training and Assessment: Leaders should have the opportunity to explore their true calling—even at the risk of discovering that they are not gifted for planting or pastoring a church.
• Resourcing and Equipping: Leaders should have coaching and other resources available as they navigate the initial challenges of creating a missional community.
• Administrative and Financial Resources: Leaders should have sufficient facilities, staff support and finances to maintain a self-sustaining fellowship.
• Recruiting: Leaders should be training and developing new leaders to initiate additional church-plants.

Struggling churches on both ends of the spectrum lack in one or more of these elements.  Missio comes alongside these congregations to supply where they are lacking—primarily as trainers, mentors, and coaches—as pastors seek to apply missional principles into real life. What makes theMissio approach revolutionary is that it speaks to church leaders on both sides of the continuum. To contemporary, unstructured house churches,Missio trains leaders to adopt infrastructure, financial stability, and administrative resources. For established churches, pastors are coached in how to sustain—in themselves, and integrate into their congregation—a visionary missional and incarnational perspective. Even more momentous is the method for Missio training—the online, integrated, mentoring environment of the Missional Community Apprenticeship Program (MCAP). Bringing together an alliance of leaders from all walks of Christianity, MCAP facilitates a safe context for both traditional and contemporary pastors and church-planters to dialogue and relate.

• Missio is about Serving:  “serving the missional movement” We will take a posture of serving the greater kingdom of God and champion the unique and varied expressions of church without trying to build our own kingdom.  We will not compete, but instead operate out of freedom so that we can serve without constraint of finances or pride.
• Missio is about Trust: Missio team members will be leaders who have earned the trust of both emerging practitioners and existing church leaders.  Trust is gained through listening, avoiding judgment, and our continually calling the deconstructionist to begin to engage the healthy and faithful reconstruction of the church.   
• Missio is for Practitioners: Missio team members will be people who model the missional life we’re calling others toward.  Our skill in leading leaders must be from our own tension related to real ministry. 
• Missio is about Holistic Transformation:  Instead of individuals working independently through shot-gun approaches, Missio will seek to work with churches, denominations, and leadership networks that commit to long-term and systemic transformation. 
• Missio is about Innovation:  We value courageous and faith-oriented initiatives. Without the need for God, why do it! 
• Missio is built on Relational Synergy:  While ministry experience, gifts, knowledge, and skills are important, we will prioritize working with people that we enjoy.
• Missio is about Legacy:  Missio will always look for ways to empower the emerging generations, prioritize long-term legacy, and embrace future innovators.
• Missio’s focus is on developing Leaders:  Every initiative we serve will be solely focused on developing leaders or providing resources to God’s leaders so that they can innovate and influence their church. 
• Missio is about the Local Church:  Missions can essentially be anything, but Missio focuses on developing leaders for the Church.

All our writing, resourcing, coaching, training, and networking are committed to helping build and beautify the church.