Development and the Missional Church Convergence

Community development and missional church are both buzzwords today, although they are usually found in separate spheres of work. Even Christian community development workers rarely talk about missional church concepts or new models of church ministry, and even missional church workers rarely engage modern understandings of community development. In the early 20th century, Christians divorced spiritual ministry and so-called “social” ministry. The two spheres developed independently, but today they are beginning to listen and speak to each other, and there is a great opportunity for collaboration. After the split happened, community development began to grow and change as a field of work, continually incorporating new concepts and theories. The field of community development began to undergo some radical changes in basic perspective as secular development workers practiced and learned. Today, there is some interest in reconnecting the church with the field of community development, but in many situations, the church is attempting to reconcile with the old model of community development. My thesis is that as the understanding of community development changes from a needs- and program-based approach to an asset- and relationship-based approach, the church must also adapt its approach, for the missional church movement and the new views of community development fit together well.

As churches cultivate a developmental and Kingdom view of communities, they will realize their missional goals. There are three applications that come out of this type of view that should influence the missional church. First, God is already working in the community. He has been there since the beginning, and will be there long after we are gone. Therefore, the missional church must be humble about its presence in a community. Second, God is in the process of transforming all communities, including our own. We are just as much in need of community development as the people with whom we are trying to work, it’s just different types of development. Therefore, the missional church must be humble about asking God to transform it as well. Finally, it’s the Kingdom of God that brings transformation, not us. The Kingdom of God is defeating all of God’s enemies, and it is already present in part. Therefore, the missional church must be humble about its role in the work. In short, the missional church is called to do precisely as Micah 6:8 instructs: find the balance between justice and mercy while walking humbly with God.