WHY I AM NOT MISSIONAL Part One

Following is an article I wrote to my church concerning a preacher that came through and seemed to be Emergent:

Last week, we had a fill-in preacher at our church. He lectured us on being “missional” and defined the term as having to do with the mission of the church.

Here are two questions we should ask ourselves as a church body:

First, where did this new term come from? Since we all know that the earthly mission of the Church is to spread the gospel, why the new moniker for such an old idea? Well, to quote the heretic Brian McLaren, “The term, as I understand it, attempts to find a generous third way beyond the conservative and liberal versions of Christianity so dominant in the Western World.” (McLaren, Brian; A Gernerous Orthodoxy; Zondervan; page 115, emphasis added.) McLaren is referring to the biblical view that the mission of the Church is to evangelize the world and the liberal view that the mission of the Church is to seek left wing social outcomes.

He goes on to explain, “The conservative version is preoccupied with the ‘personal Savior’ gospel…” (ibid.)

Thanks to Mr. McLaren for saving us from the Savior. Thanks to him we now know better than to preoccupy ourselves with Christ and His work on our behalf. I really had no idea how generous it is to withhold the gospel and salvation from eternal hell. How stingy we are going door to door with the gospel, doing VBS, and all such horrible things! What scandal!

Second, should we allow new ideas into our pulpit? “Missional” as used by last week’s speaker is simple human charity—fixing roofs and cars for those in need.* This is a good thing. It’s just not the mission of the church.

While some feel a need to be up to date, God calls us to be throwbacks. According to Jude we are to fight for the faith once delivered to the saints. Our computers, cars, and lifestyles may change, but the laws of nature do not change, math does not change, and Jesus’ blood is still powerful and He is still risen.

And THAT is our message and our sole earthly mission.

Phil Perkins.


*NOTE: This is not McLaren’s definition of “missional.” His definition is very foggy. He vacillates between orthodox language and heretical language. And when he uses orthodox language he uses it heretically. If one is unaware of this trickery, one can read just portions of his book, A Generous Orthodoxy, and find him orthodox or heretical depending on which portion of which page one reads. At any rate the end of chapter five has a rather revealing quote: “More important to me than the hell question, then, is the mission question.” (Emphasis his.) So whatever “missional” means it has little or nothing to do with salvation and the gospel.