In Search of Kingdom Living

Alrity – last book review before I start my summer courses in Tyndale.

I went to hear Alan Roxburgh speak a few months ago (go here, to read my recap of the talk) and proceeded to finish his book in preparation for my leadership workshop at Campus Challenge. To be honest, I couldn’t glean anything useful for CC because this book has some fairly advance missional theories and strategies. Now that I’m back from CC, I wish I could’ve spent a whole workshop explaining the missional paradigms and biblical/theological framework – then maybe I could touch on some of the issues written by Alan.

Here’s the big question:

How do we transition from a consumer model of church to one that is essential missional in nature? Or, How do we birth such a church, when we have never had the opportunity to be involved in one?

Here are some highlights from the book:

Six Critical Issues for Missional Leadership

1. Missional Leadership is the key – but how do you do it?
2. Most models repackage old paradigms
3. Discontinuous change is the new norm
4. Congregations still matter
5. Leaders need new capacities and frameworks
6. A congregation is a unique organization

Three Zone Model of Missional Leadership

Although there’s a figure to accompany this, bear with my written descriptions.

Building leadership leads to performative organization leads to regulative agency. Then most congregations experience some form of crisis which leads to confusion then transition organization then emergent organization.

In the reactive zone, the role of the leader is not to escape the crisis through a BHAG (big hairy audatious goal – from Jim Collins language) but invite people into a place of dialogue and engagement amid crisis. (p. 55)

Missional Change Model

A step-by-step model starting from awareness > understanding > evaluate > experiment > commitment.

Roxburgh has a very detailed chapter on putting together a team for leadership development. He basically walks through the missional change model with practical ideas on implementation. I wish I could walk through these steps with my own leadership team, but I fear that it may be too advanced for us. I’ll need some more time to re-read and digest what Roxburgh writes about – so I’m sure I’ll be blogging some bits and pieces from his book.

In the meantime, if you’ve thought deeply/widely about the missional framework and would like an advanced book on strategies and theology of the missional church – go grab this book.