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My new friend, Art Rogers, reprinted Michael Frost’s four “P’s” of missionality (love that word). I’ll re-re-print them here:

Proximity – We must be in the lives of those needing the Gospel. It is not something you can do from the sideline or as a tourist.
Presence – We must live incarnationally, revealing the presence of God to those not looking for Him otherwise.
Powerlessness – We must disavow the political, material and temporal leverage that the institutional church has long represented and coveted. It has discredited us and eschewing it commends us to those previously disillusioned.
Proclamation – We must openly declare that Jesus is the reason that we are living as servants, abstaining from worldly power struggles. People don’t need “good people” they need the Gospel.

Art asked for thoughts. Here was my response:

i think it’s pretty strong. many “missional” folks leave out proclamation. great to see that…

on the proclamation front, people like frost and his buddy, hirsch, show they are thoroughly evangelical. unfortunately, they are still on the margins of much of evangelicalism. i see their prophetic influence slowly seeping out, but there is much work to be done…

i do want to say that we need to be careful how we define proclamation though. we typically do this: proclamation = preaching. that’s a slice but not exclusively what it is. proclamation is an all-of-life, “giving a reason for the hope..,” verbal proclamation of our faith. at the appropriate, discerning time…

the one thing i would add is the impetus of the declaration that Jesus is the reason we are living as servants isn’t first because we are resisting worldly power struggles but we are servants because the cross was the fullest expression of service. We serve because Jesus’ obedience to the Father was the ultimate act of service. i’m afraid if we don’t do that, people will not see the gospel as the impetus, rather an apple for apples trade off – service vs. power struggles. i hope that makes sense…

i understand that early in conversation, it may be helpful to use the apple for apples idea as a gateway, but we have to be careful to expand the idea at the most appropriate time so we model the gospel as the prism they need to look at all things, especially mission.

i would say it this way: gospel-less service is merely activism but gospel-filled service is mission!


1. Ed Stetzer – edstetzer.com

Ed Stetzer, President of Lifeway Research, Lifeway’s Missiologist in Residence, on the faculty of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Southern Seminary, prolific author and blogger, multiple church planter and ministry trainer, is my #1 missional blog of the year.

So I’m a little biased here, but as many of you know, I’ve had the special privilege to work under Ed through my master’s level work at Liberty Theological Seminary this fall/winter. I’ve witnessed first hand his heart to help and serve people at all levels of ministry understand the missional conversation and practically move them towards it. And this heart for mission, the church and God’s people shines through on his blog.

Check these:
The Meanings of Missional series
Speaking of Jesus and Justice
Simply Missional
When the Mission Gets Lost in the System
Missional Living

Top 8 Recap
8. J.R. Woodward | 7. Jonathan Dodson | 6. Neil Cole | 5. Drew Goodmanson | 4. Bob Hyatt | 3. Alan Hirsch | 2. David Fitch


2. David Fitch – Reclaiming the Mission

David Fitch, Betty R. Lindner Chair of Evangelical Theology at Northern Seminary; founding pastor of Life on the Vine Community, an emerging church in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago; co-founder of Up/Rooted, an emergent cohort that gathers leaders and thinkers to engage issues of the emerging church and the post-modern context; and author of The Great Giveaway comes in at #2.

David has been one of the most influencing voices in the development of my ministry/church planting philosophy. It started with The Great Giveaway, but continuing on with the stream of consciousness on his blog, let’s just say, it’s a gold mine. I believe it will be shown that David was one of the most important shaping influences on the grounding of missional orthopraxy in the twenty-first century.

I’m looking forward to becoming a regular part of the missional leader learning community in the future. I was personally invited to the one in January but can’t make. I hope to down the road..

Check these:
Please Lord, Don’t Let Me Get Pragmatic: Spiritual Formation for Missional Leaders
“The Numbers Are Going Up But Something Doesn’t Feel Right”
Conversion a casualty of Missional Theology?
When They Will Not Come – Community: The anti-attractional process of beginning a church with community
The Middle In: The Unique Missional Opportunity

Top 8 Recap
8. J.R. Woodward | 7. Jonathan Dodson | 6. Neil Cole | 5. Drew Goodmanson | 4. Bob Hyatt | 3. Alan Hirsch


3. Alan Hirsch – The Forgotten Ways

It is a gift to have Alan Hirsch, one of the top missional practitioners today, blogging on a regular basis. Hirsch spends much of his time unpacking the stellar material from his most recent books. I’m looking forward to his commentary on ReJesus. Here’s to 2009 where I’m confident Hirsch will continue to be one of the brightest missional provocateurs out there…

Check these:
“The community for me?” or “Me for the community?”
The Problem with Institutions (part II)
South Goes APEST

Top 8 Recap
8. J.R. Woodward | 7. Jonathan Dodson | 6. Neil Cole | 5. Drew Goodmanson | 4. Bob Hyatt


5. Drew Goodmanson: Goodmanson.com

Drew Goodmanson, equpping/teaching elder at Kaleo Church in San Diego, is one of the sharpest missional practitioners out there. I’m particularly thankful for his [and Kaleo's] graciousness to share with us Kaleo’s journey toward pushing missional through everything they do. Drew is singlehandedly changing the fact that missional resources – particularly those moving beyond the orthodoxic to the orthopraxic – are far and few between online.

Check these:

Missional Communities and Contextualization (.pdf)
Leading a Missional Community (.pdf)
Missional Community Leader Development (pdf)


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