Missional Family Tree

Planting Missional Churches should probably also make an appearance, it is the incarnational practice side of the equation.

This chart is nicely done. I've just finished reading them all for my DMin actually. I am a big fan of Bosch and Newbegin too, who I believe, even pre-Guder, provided the root structure for the missional movement.

I was going to echo Marty's last line. Newbigin and Bosch are key to this tree growing and being fed. Marty is right, I think. They're the root structure that keeps the movement grounded.

Hirsch linked to this as well. I'm not sure that I find it really helpful because I think that it implies that books are the essence of being missional.

As someone profoundly impacted by writers in general, and by Newbigin, Bosch and the contributors to The Missional Church in particular, I think we should be very wary about looking first to the literature when we need to define 'missional'.

Absolutely, books and articles are crucial for sharing and refining ideas, but I wish that we would be more inclined to showcase living communities that are defined by missionality. Christianity is still a religion of word made flesh. Missional is as missional does, eh?

This is pretty cool. I'm glad that Minatrea was included. I loved his book and I heard him in Jackson, MS. You two are top of my list. Thanks.

Thanks for interacting with this list. Anytime you make a list, you run the risk of leaving some things out and over-emphasizing others. So your feedback here is helpful.

Blessings,
Brandon, assistant editor of Leadership

Bob,

Thanks for dropping by—for what it is worth, I think you did a good job here. (But I may be biased since I am “on the tree.”)

I think the list is one of the better I have seen.

Bosch and Newbigin certainly preceded the missional conversation as we have it today. But, so does the IMC meeting at Willingen, the writings of Vicedom, and a thousand others.

It was Guder who popularized the term and most of the books on your list are popular.

I would point out (as I have in my “Meanings of Missional” series) that Francis Dubose and Chuck Van Engen were before Guder in their use of the term and focus on “missional.” However, Guder, et. al., took it mainstream. So, I think it gets at the popular works and you did a great job thinking it through in this "visual" manner.

Ed

Michael, I think I took this from Hirsch. I should have given him the hat tip!

I think people were living in missional ways long before the term was used. But, words have great influence and the term helps us to think about ministry and mission in new ways.

I care less about the word and more about the focus on living for God's mission.

Marty,

Funny story. When I was writing my church planting book back in 2002, I told them I wanted to call it "Planting Missional Churches." They said "no," because people don't use the word "missional." So, it was orginally called "Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age." When they wanted a second edition, I had more leverage and insisted that they change it to "Planting Missional Churches."

And, yes, it was some early writing on the missional emphasis, but it is a niche book since it is about church planting.

Ed

Reggie McNeal's discussion about refuge vs. missional in The Present Future (Missional Communities?) and Revolution in Leadership (Missional Leaders?) probably deserve some mention here. I'm guessing Hirsch might put McNeal in the "attractional model" category but, if so, I think it would be unfair.

Ed, thanks for your contribution to the learning community!

Sam Simmons
Rockbridge Seminary

I read the Missional Church a couple of years ago, I guess. It really helped change not only the way I viewed the Church in general (particularly the American church), but my personal attitudes toward my own church and my involvement there. It led me to speak out on some things, and quietly observe others. It was one of "those" books I point to as a turning point in my spiritual education.

You mentioned Francis Dubose earlier. I had some classes under Levi Price and he talked about Dubose all the time. He loved him as a man and as a teacher. After listening to Price, I picked up The God Who Sends from the Baylor library and read it in one sitting. I would love to see it make the rounds again.

It is a great visual. The Missional Church was a paradigmatic book for me and I have evaluated other books on ecclesiology and church planting based on that book. Although, I will agree with Marty that Newbigin and Bosch laid the ground work and inspiration for the missional movement.

great tool for living out the mission

I like the diagram, but feel a poignant need for the roots of the tree shaped largely by the work of (primarily) Lesslie Newbigin's "Household of God" and later by David Bosch's "Transforming Mission."