Attractional vs. Missional Church

In talking with a bunch of churches recently, I have had this question asked to me about where the church should focus it’s efforts.  In an attractional church, also known as “seeker-sensitive”, they focus their efforts on programs, preaching to the non-believer in their sermons, and revolving around programs.  On the flip side, Missional churches tend to be more organic, participatory, and focuses on being Jesus in their community.

So when asked recently the following question on what kind of church a certain service should emulate, I wrote the following answer.  Let me know your thoughts!

Question: 

Many contemporary worship services struggle with “attractional” versus “missional distinctions.”  If it’s attractional, the service is often labeled as “seeker-sensitive”, personality-driven, or programmatic.  If it’s missional, then, the emerging church leaders say that the service needs to be organic, participatory, and possibly, even remain small in attendance.   Where do you believe (name taken out) service should be in the coming years in regards to this issue?

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I believe that Christianity as a whole is very quick to put labels on movements and categorize different ways of doing worship.  At its foundation, a church service is just that. . .a service.  Our responsibility, as leadership of a church service, is to put into place effective avenues for the members of the church to serve the community and become like Christ.  

            Jesus transcends labels.  Obviously there are reasons for the labels and categories because they exist to create distinction between different modalities of worship.  All worship is beautiful, as long as it exists to glorify Christ, remains God-Centered, and continues as a display of our affection for Him.  Attractional and missional services both have good ideas and qualities.

            The attractional way of doing service has its flaws, but there is a lot of good to be said about being sensitive to the culture that surrounds you.  Although attractional services are called “seeker-sensitive”, that is not necessarily a bad thing.  It should be a focus of the service’s leadership to preach the Gospel in a way that all can understand.  The apostle Paul makes is a point not to speak with wise language so that all that hear can clearly understand.  And no matter how hard you fight it, the weekly service is likely going to be personality driven.  Sometimes, churches complicate things to a degree that boxes out the Holy Spirit to direct the services

            I will always stay on the side of being missional.  In today’s postmodern world, the emerging church, which has missional roots, has established itself as the next wave of Christianity.  Yes it has its share of flaws, but it also is answering the question of how to engage culture and they are answering well.  How?  By being Jesus to the surrounding community. 

            This could create the organic, raw, gritty services that I believe many people are longing for.  The (name taken out) service should be a service where people know that they can be themselves.  The service on Sunday should be about fellowship and rejoicing for the what the Lord has done that week, and then sending the people out for another week of being missionaries in their daily lives.  This is what is causing a lot of the church growth that America is seeing today.  And saying that a missional church service should remain small is a far too limited take on God.  It’s going to be a natural outcome of pursuing Christ.  Wherever the true Gospel is preached, people will come in large numbers to hear it!

            So the question that we should ask ourselves everyday is this: if we were missionaries coming to America from a foreign land and our efforts were focused on our city, how would we display the wonders of Christ to this culture today? My hope for the (name taken out) service would be to not take one side over the other.  But with a unified vision and purpose, take the best of both worlds!  I hope the (name taken out) continues the forward progression of doing church well and takes the good from attractional and the good from missional and merges the two to create a new visionary service.  We should always be examining ways to do things better and differently as we move forward.  As long as it’s Biblical and God-centered, be willing to take risks and be on the forefront of the Jesus movement.  To do this, the (name taken out) should center themselves as a missional service, but also take the good aspects of attractional services.

 

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