Relationship-Based Development and the Missional Church

The new view of community development emphasizes that the proper response to poverty is not programs, but that it is relationships. Relationships provide the development worker with the proper posture from which to do his or her work, and for the missional church, relationships serve the same function. They provide the church worker or member with the basis for evangelism or holistic ministry. Missional churches recognize that holistic disciple-making is a relational process. It is only through relationships that truly holistic ministry can happen, because without relationships with individuals, many of the root issues cannot be addressed. For community development workers, while the old view of development would suggest that providing material goods is the solution to material poverty, the new view shows that it is often deeper issues that cause the material poverty. On the surface, an individual who can’t pay an electricity bill may be seen as someone with a problem of lacking money. Without a relationship, the solution would likely be seen as paying the bill. However, a relationship might reveal that the individual has never kept a job for more than a month because he compulsively steals from his employer at every opportunity. The answer to this is challenging and multi-faceted and does not involve paying the bill. Helping him walk through these issues can only be described as discipleship – the ultimate goal of missional churches.

Holistic disciple-making involves dealing with development on all fronts: across all domains of community development, up all levels of social justice, and in all areas of identity. A professional counselor once told me that her work had to involve all areas of my self: the spiritual, intellectual, emotional, physical, and social natures of my being were all interrelated. All of these fronts cannot be touched by large programs and large-group gatherings. As missional churches avoid programs and go for smaller-group and individually-tailored ministry opportunities, they have the ability to join the new views on community development and realize a holistic ministry that stretches across all fronts of poverty alleviation and spiritual nourishment at once.