Mission as a foretaste...

Signposts quote from The Missional Leader : Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World

"The question is familiar: “What do you mean by missional church?” Even though the term is now used everywhere, there is still confusion about it. As we begin this book, here is a brief description of what we mean by the phrase.God is about a big purpose in and for the whole of creation. The church has been called into life to be both the means of this mission and a foretaste of where God is is inviting all creation to go. Just as its Lord is a mission-shaped God, so the community of God’s people exists, not for themselves but for the sake of the work. Mission is therefore not a program or project some people in the Church do from time to time (as in “mission trip”, “mission budget” and so on); the church’s very nature is to be God’s missionary people. We use the word missional to mark this big difference. Mission is not about a project or a budget or a one-off event somewhere; its not even about a sending missionaries. A missional church is a community of God’s people who live into the imagination that they are by their very nature, God’s missionary people living as a demonstration of what God plans to do in and for all of creation in Jesus Christ.” (Roxburugh and Romanuk 2006)

Thanks to Prodigal Kiwi(s) again!