Todd Hiestand // Missional Living in Suburban America

Missional In Suburbia - The Need for a Prophetic Voice

In recent years there has been a lot written on the “missional church.” Often I think the way we explain it is kind of vague and we speak of it in too general of terms. It’s really easy to talk about the ecclesiology of what it means to be missional, but not necessarily the practical ways we can live more missional lives. (I think the reason for this is essentially that the second part is the hard part!)

In an effort to think through some of these questions, Brad and I have been doing some brainstorming on what it means for us to be and lead a community, to be missional in our suburban context. After working out the big ideas, the big question that we have come to at the end is:

“what are the intentional practices we participate in as missional followers of Jesus.”

While processing brainstorming, (the results of which I will post sometime soon) I am starting to realize that there is a great need for there to be some prophetic voices to the churches and Christians in the burbs.

We need some people to stand up and say “you’ve heard it said ____, well the Jesus calls us to ______.”

For example:

• You’ve heard it said that you’ve got to look out for number one. Well Jesus says whoever gains his life will lose it and who ever loses his life will gain it.
• You’ve heard it said that its important to be safe and secure your portfolio. Jesus says if you want to live you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him.

Anyone else have some other examples?