The DNA of A Missional Church (of the Mind)

So at this point our hope to launch a missional church - a community that is a good neighbor, a community here for the benefit of the city, a community wanting to connect those far from God to Jesus - only exists in the mind. This is the place every church begins, really. We’ve begun with a hope and a dream to impact our world for Jesus; and quite literally so, because anything less isn’t worth living for.

My journey over the last 6 or 7 years in the scriptures has drawn my attention to a number of significant themes we are convinced should form our Core DNA. Some call these core values, some even have a statement like ours and call it a vision or mission statement. In my opinion it doesn’t matter what exactly you call it, only that we receive a clear vision from God and do everything we can to live by it.

That said I thought I would post the 6 Core DNA that will shape the kind of faith community we endeavor to become. I say “become” deliberately because we know this will be a continual process for which we are always striving and not a destination where we are perfectly living.

In a statement we say it something like this…

As followers of Jesus we are a holistic, missional community of truth, beauty, and generosity. (I’m still working on the beginning piece of the sentence to make it flow, etc, let me know if you have thoughts. But I think you get the idea of what we’re trying to communicate here.)

Those six key words form our Core DNA.

Holistic - The gospel is for the whole person, the whole city, and the whole world.

Missional - Mission is why the church exists.

Community - Community is the context of love and mission.

These three describe the kind of community we endeavor to become. And our community will be characterized by these next statements.

Truth - We are centered around the scriptures and focused upon Jesus who perfectly pictures God the father.

Beauty - God created us to live creatively through the arts and innovation. (Still want to work on describing this DNA piece in a sentence.)

Generosity - Because of God’s radical generosity in creation and in Jesus we strive to live generously as people with our resources, our talents, and our strengths. (Same here, this is too long of a sentence at this point and so still working on some shorthand.)

I plan to have a post more fully describing each of those through the scriptures but there you have it in a nutshell.

So what do you think? I’d love to have, and would really value, your feedback.

Read More: The Big Reveal.

More to come…