lifeasmission

Click here to see the first part of Mark Driscoll’s interview about the difference between seeker and missional churches.

Click here to see the 2nd part.

In usual fashion, I’m gonna try to bite off more than I can chew here and both make good on my previous promise to post more biblical/scriptural reflections on the issue I mentioned before, as well as offer some comments on what Mark Driscoll (pastor of Mars Hill church in Seattle) had to say in these promotional trailers for the upcoming 2006 Desiring God conference hosted by John Piper and Bethlehem Baptist Church. I think I can creatively combine the two.In his first interview Mark critiques the seeker sensitive movement for being too consumer driven and business like. His concern seems to be that churches like this are driven more by pragmatisim than theology. He suggests that missional churches begin with theology and then find ways to make it translatable within a given context and culture. Here’s where I differ.

It seems to me that seeker churches are in fact driven by their theology and have done an incredibly great job of making it translatable within their contexts and cultures (most of which are middle to upper class, white, suburbs). The problem is not that they are overly pragmatic, it is that they need to rethink their theology (something Mark seems to leave little room for by believing that issues of women and preaching/theological education are closed for theological discussion).

All the seeker churches that I have been a part of for any length of time seem to operate out of a theology which understands salvation as believing the right things, namely, that Jesus was God and died on the cross as a penalty for my sins (I am not disputing this by the way). But, if that’s the crux of the matter, then guess what, the best thing for us to do is attract people however we can, make them feel as comfortable and receptive as possible, and then ask them to believe the message we have to tell them. Seeker churches have written the book on doing this well. The danger is that if they are operating out of a deficient theology, we’re in big trouble. Here’s where I’ll make the link to what I call missional pastoring.

Missional churches, in my opinion anyway, operate out of a theology which understands salvation not merely as believing the right things, but participating in a certain way of living. This is not salvation by works, it is life as a saved/redeemed/transfigured/covenant people who seek to embody the present reign of God. It’s saying the truth we proclaim is worthless unless we can lead lives which exhibit it (no, not perfectly, but consistently and with repentance amidst failure).

If what it means to be a follower of Jesus isn’t just about believing the right things, but living a certain kind of life then we need seasoned and mature pastors, teachers, and leaders to model and equip us to do so. Pastors of hundreds, much less thousands or tens of thousands can’t do that. If character, lifestyle, and spiritual formation are seen as the key issues of authentic Christian witness (as opposed to getting people to assent to propositional truth claims), then we need pastors who can help us transform our minds and lives on account of God’s reality, not just convince us of the right things to believe, make us feel guilty about our sin, or manipulate our emotions through their preaching.

I am thinking about Moses and how he lead Israel, how his father-in-law helped him to see the necessity of appointing leaders over smaller numbers of people. I am thinking of the way God set up the family structure, placing responsibility on parents for raising their children well. I am thinking of Paul who advised early church communities to appoint and heed their leaders. I am thinking of Jesus who took 12 disciples “that they might be with him…”

There is one theology which leads us to believe that what is really important is helping people get into heaven. There is another theology which would have us believe that what is really important is getting heaven out into the world amongst people. For the former we need a seeker church, for the latter a missional one. In either case, I pray we never think that we are finished with our theological task and that we are constantly open to what the Holy Spirit may be saying and doing, whether amongst the people of God or the people of the world - for both are equally loved by their creator.