I have been a big fan of anyone who is asking the question, “what does it mean to be missional in suburbia.” With all the talk about being missional, I am personally think the suburbs get the least attention. The challage is great and the need for missional christians in the burbs is just great (if not greater) as those in urban settings.

I have been working out some thoughts as to what it would mean to create an ethos of missional living in our community. The thing I keep on coming back to is the question: “what are the practices / values that we commit to that teach us and help us live counter-culturally?”

I am convinced that unless we are able to say “This is the way we live and these are the things that we do that are counter to the suburban culture” we will get stuck in the values of a consumeristic soceity. For me, these practices arise out of the value of our culture that need deconstruction. This would include our culture’s (suburban culture specifically) view of Money, Isolation, our fast-paced life style, and our inabilty to adequately address issues of justice.

I have been collecting links for discussions on missionality in suburubia, here’s what i have found:

– Missional Christians should always read the local paper

– Tim Keller on Suburban missional churches

– The Gospel and Suburban Churches Part I, Part II

– Preaching Jesus Up Against the Jesus of Suburbia

– The way of Suburbia vs. the way of Christ

– Six Convictions and Practices for Leading Missional Innovation

– Kingdom Agenda – Thoughts on mission in suburbia here and here

– A Mind Awake – Further thoughts on being missional in suburbia

Here are some of my thoughts so far:
– My posts on suburbia and missional living