On-line Literature on Missional Church

Billings, J. Todd, "What Makes a Church Missional" (2008)
Article in Christianity Today, May. Download.

Bliese, Richard, The Mission Matrix: Mapping Out the Complexities of a Missional Ecclesiology
Bliese develops a mission matric and shows how to analyze a church from the perspective of mission. Download.

Cray, Graham, et. al., Mission Shaped Church (2004)
Church Planting and Fresh Expressions of Church in a Changing Context. Report from a working group of the Church of England's Mission and Public Affairs Council. Download.

Croft,  Steven, "Ecclesiology for beginners"
Steven Croft, team leader of Fresh Expressions, reflects on what the nature of the church. Download.

Croft, Steven, "Exodus and Exile".
Artikel in Church of England Newpaper om, hvad vi kan lære fra exodus og exil ang. det at være kirke i dag. Download.

Dietrich, Ingrace T. & Dale A. Ziemer, "Take Time to Be Holy: Cultivating the Missional Church"
"... perhaps the most scarce commodity of all is time for attentive conversation and thoughtful refelction. ... Taking the time to be holy entails intentionally listening to God." Download.

Dietrich, Ingrace T., "Which Story Will Shape the Church in the 21st Century"
Læs artiel om bibelstudiets rolle i den missionale kirke. Hvilken forskel vil det gøre, om det er historien om kejser Konstantin eller historien om Jesus Kristus, der former kirken? Download.

Dijkstra-Algra, Nynke & Janet van Dijk, "30 Promising Models for the Missionary Congregation" (Geloof-Hoop-Liefde 2009)
This booklet describes thirty promising missionary models for the congretation, developed by the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. Download.

Dodson, Jonathan, "Transitioning to Missional Church"
The short article by a Lutheran theologian tries to clarify the concept "missional church".  Download part 1. Download part 2.  Download part 3.

Dodson, Jonathan, "How not to be missional"
- by being event driven, evangelism driven or social action driven. Download.

Friends of Missional
Good introductory article to the missional church thinking. Download.

Guder, Darrell, L., From Mission and Theology to Missional Theology
Guder's inaugural lecture held by Darrell L. Guder, professor in Missional and Ecumenical Theology at Princeton Theological Semianary, December 4, 2002. Download.

Guder, Darrell, L., "Mission in a Pluralist Society - Why and How?"
Two lectures held at a Lutheran mission confernce in Nyborg, Denmark, June 8 - 9 2006.
"Mission in a Pluralistic Society - Why?" Download
"Mission in a Pluralistic Society - How?" Download.

Gun, Mike, "Being a Missional Church"
Download.

Hammond, Kim, Characteristics of Missional Church
An interesting article which analyses characteristics of a missional church as opposed to traditional churches under the headings (traditional modern church versus postmodern missional church): Attract versus submerge, church buildings versus proxy spaces, Greek thinking versus Hebrew holistic thinking, the event versus the process, paid clergy versus empowered laity, autocratic versus relational leadership, modernism versus postmodernism, bounded set versus cenred set, dated versu ancient. Download.

Hegstad, Harald, "From Congregational Studies to Congregational Development. On the Different Modes of Ecclesiology" (2010)
Paper presented at conference in june 2010 in Utrecht. In the introduction Hegstad writes that, "There are not only a lot of ecclesiologies when it comes to content, but also when it comes to the understanding of what the field is all about. Ecclesiology is not only done within different "schools", but also in different "modes". When trying to clarify the different types of ecclesiological research and thinking, it is important to understand the relation between these different modes. This is not only a formal exercise; it raises questions on the understanding of theology, and of the relation between theology and other disciplines." Download .

Hendriks, Jurgens, "Missional theology and social development"
The article describes a theological paradigm shift taking place in congregations in South Africa that empower them to become involved in development work as a way of serving their neighbor. Download.

Hirsch, Alan, "The Forgotten Ways. Reactivating the Missional Chruch" (2006)
Review of the book, by Marsha Price. Download.

Hjalmarson, Leonard, "Leading from the Margins"
Download.

Hooker, Paul, "What Is Missional Ecclesiology?" (Aug. 2009)
The article by a Presbyterian theologian discusses the elements of a missional church polity. Download.

Hunsberger, George, Renewing Faith during the Postmodern Transition.
An article on the main themes in Lesslie Newbigins writings. Download.

Hunsberger, Gerorge R., "Proposals for a Missional Hermeneutic: Mapping the Conversation" (Jan. 2009)
The article identifies four key questions for the development of a missional hermeneutic are: (1) What is the story of the biblical narrative and how does it implicate us? (missio Dei), (2) What is the purpose of the biblical writings in the life of its hearers? (equipping witness), (3) How shall the church read the Bible faithfully today? (located questions), and (4) What guides our use of the received tradition in the context before us? (gospel matrix). Download.

Iversen, Hans Raun, "How can a Folk Church be Missional Church"
In Thormod Engelsviken & Thor Strandenæs, Mission to the World. Communicating the Gospel in the 21st Century. Essays in Honour of Knud Jørgensen. Download.

Keller, Keller The Missional Church

"Lausanne Committee, "The Local Church in Mission. Becomin a Missional Congregation..." (2005)
This document, which is a Lausanne Occasional Paper from the Pattaya conference in  2004 suggests what characterizes a missional congregation: "Missional congregations abandon a Constantinian model of church life ... build relationships ... address different cultures ... meet needs ... maintain a long term perspective etc." Read more.Mission in a Pluralistic Society - How?" Download.

Murphy, Nancy, "Equipping Church Leaders to Deal with Post-Modern Diversity"  
Nancey Murphy, professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, identifies important aspects of postmodernity and points to the challenges that it poses to the church. "First, if we are entering a new period in history, we should think of these issues not as some-thing to be resolved immediately, but should expect them to be the intellectual business of the next few centuries. I have highlighted a few philosophical insights that may be of help; it remains to be seen what further resources the Post-modern Period will offer to the church. A second thing to keep in mind is that the Post-modern Period itself is only now in the making, and Christians should not wait passively to see how it will develop, but ought to seize the opportunity to contribute to its direction." Download.

Mogensen, Mogens S., "Missional Church"
Lecture by Mogens S. Mogensen on a Nordic conference on church and mission in Sigtuna, Sweden, March 13-15 2005 on the development towards a missional church thinking and on its relevance in a Nordic Lutheran context. Download.

Mission Shaped Church (2003)
Bogen præsenterer den engelske anglikanske kirkes og den engelske metodistkirkes arbejde med missional kirke tankerne. Download.

Roxborogh, John, Is "mission" our only mission? Revisiting the Missionary Nature of the Church
Read the challenging comments on the missional church debate, where liturgy/worship and fellowship and mission at set side by side as the essential nature of the church. Download.

Roxburgh, Alan, J. ,"The Contours of Ministry in a Post-modern Age" (2006)
Roxburgh writes in the conclusion of his article: "The contours of ministry in the liminal context of a changing Western society is one within which it is still not possible to discern or predict what might emerge down the road. In this situation the most generative directions are toward the creation of learning communities with the capacity to meet in a new commons; the forms of church life need to be shaped around the formation of communities of practice and ministry training needs to be located in the midst of those communities of practice."  Download.

Roxburgh, Alan,  on "missional leadership"
Read an interesting interview with Alan Roxburgh on Christian leadership in a postmodern world. To read the first of the fiew sections, Download.

Roxburgh, Alan, "What Is Missional Church.
In this introductory article, Roxburgh elaborates on the following characteristics and meanings of missional church: "Western society as mission field", "Mission is about the Missio Dei", and "Missional Church is about the church being a contrast society". Download.

Roxburgh, Alan "Traditional vs. the Emergent Church
Alan Roxburgh analyses the most important structures (which also marks the the church) in the modern and late-modern society. Rosburgh discusses with leaders from "the emergent church" and their anti-institutional attitutde to the Christian life. Download.

Sheffield, Dan, "Recovering the MIssional Church"
The author examines accepted practices regarding local church and mission agencyinter-relatedness. A new, integrated model is discussed in light of present realities. The author suggests a model of missional church in which local church engagement in mission is empowered by the specialist mission agency rather than vice versa. Download.

The Church of England, "Guidelines for the Identification, Training and Deployment of Ordained Pioneer Missionaries (2005)
Dette dokument er en opfølgning på en af anbefalingerne fra rapporten "Mission-shaped Church", nml. behovet for udvælgelse, træning og udsendelse af missionærer til plantning af "fresh expresseions of the church" i nye kontekster i den anglikanske kirke i England.  Download.

Van Gelder, Craig, "Method in Light of Scriptures and in Relation to Hermeneutics". (2004)
Journal of Religious Leadership. Vol. 3, No. 1 & 2, Spring 2004 & Fall 2004. Download .

Van Gelder, Craig, "The Hermeneutics of Leading in Mission" (2004)
Journal of Religious Leadership. Vol. 3, No. 1 & 2, Spring 2004 & Fall 2004. Download.

Van Gelder, Craig, "From Corporate Church to Missional Church: The Challenges Facing Congregations today." 2004
"Missional church that stands in contrast to an understanding of a corporate church. This essay identifies the primary differences between these views and assesses their implications for congregational ministry. The position taken is that decades of trying to fix the denominational, organizational approach to church—a corporate understanding of church, through movements of renewal, growth, and effectiveness has been largely misdirected. Now, deeper and more basic issues are being addressed that relate the essential missionary nature of the church to a Trinitarian understanding of the mission of God in the world, one that is grounded in the Kingdom of God as announced by Jesus." Download.

Van Rheenen, Gailyn,  "Contrasting Missional and Church Growth Perspectives"
Van Rhenen writes in his conclusion of a comparison betweeen missional church and church growth perspectives that "The Church Growth model is inadequate. By beginning with anthropology rather than theology and segmenting tehology and practicew, Church Growth advocates assume that their model reflects the nature of God. In odther words, church growth determines effective practice and then seeks to validate this practice byt the use of Scripture." Download.