Missional Fatigue?
I would like to hear what others feel about this post by Earl Creps. I can’t relate to the couple’s experience in his story but that is not to discount it or suggest this problem doesn’t exist…however, I’d like to explore if this is an inherent problem with missional or the way we are growing our emerging communities or if it’s something else. Any thoughts? If you feel compelled, jump in to the conversation over at Earl’s blog. 
one thing this HAS forced me to think about is the reality that us “missional community” leaders have to deal with - - we have people transitioning out of programmed, formulaic, “traditional” models of doing church and they come to our communities. How do we handle this? How would you address the problem presented by Earl if you heard someone left your community feeling “missional burn out”?
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- Posted by Mak at 10:59 am
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I think that we see the symptoms of burn-out that Earl outlined primarily because we are attempting to create and nurture an ideals-centered community, and then concurrently *motivate* that community into works. The stress and burn-out enter in because we can physically only do one or the other, not both. Put another way, it may work best to attend an institutional church for the programs and the “feeding”, and then work organically with friends and cohorts in the mission field (local or foreign) without the sanction of the church itself.
The other way (sorry to sound so binary) is to ‘pastor’ your own neighborhood and use your own resources to live missionally. Then church becomes a giant messy pot-luck-y yard-sale sort of affair. Of course, that lifestyle can’t really be quantified or marketed so it will never suffice for most professional christians, but it’s the best program ever devised for families and children
I’m not keen on the first option - even though I agree that we can’t be everything that everyone wants, nor would we want to be.
I like option b myself hehe
Makeesha,
I’m gonna respond here because you have spoken so well there.
I think we are globally at the very, very beginning of this movement. It feels like we’re gaining traction because we can communicate it so quickly through blogs and email. But the reality is that we’re simply at the very beginning of the process of inventing new processes and ideas about what it means to live in God’s mission of restoration. And business organizations have proven for the last fifty years that the invention process is treacherous. But its’ worth it.
I think the balance issue becomes a problem when we live exclusively or inordinately in the outward process. I think it is a both/and approach. We need communities of support to remind us and support us in authentic ways towards our own restoration. We need to be reminded by those we’re in community with that God loves us and that we are changing the world. When we have this, going out doesn’t become a burden. It becomes love.
thank you jonathan, I agree. we come together to learn and be encouraged and share with eachother, submitting to one another in love so that we can live the mission in the every day moments of our lives. We live in community with other Christians and it’s important, in part, to avoid the problem that Creps articulated.
The issue with his post seems to deal more with how the church is set up and what is offered rather than a missional vs. traditional church approach. All church plants can lead to burn out, missional or otherwise.
Being real is hard work, raw, and all together unglamorious. Perhaps it’s easier to blend in at a traditional church where the roles are defined and you know what is expected of you and it’s easier to take what you want and not imput back to the community or church.
snobbish - ouch!
I agree with Jonathan’s comments. I think community is vital. Great points you made on Earl’s blog Mak
I know - snobbish and judgmental.
Heather - yeah, I agree