The Missional Impulse
Why the church must recover its sent-ness in order to participate authentically in the mission of God.
The church exists for mission. When we forget that, we become chaplains to a subculture instead of witnesses to the kingdom. Recovering the missional impulse is not about adding programs or rebranding; it is about realigning with the sent-ness that defines the people of God.
In the New Testament, the church is repeatedly described as sent: Jesus sends the disciples, the Spirit sends the church into the world, and the apostolic movement spreads precisely because it understands itself as sent rather than as a destination. That sent-ness must shape our ecclesiology, our leadership, and our everyday practice.
From attraction to sending
Many congregations still operate on an attractional model: build it, and they will come. The missional shift invites us to become sending communities—equipping and releasing people into their neighborhoods, workplaces, and networks as bearers of good news.
This is not a rejection of gathered worship or teaching. It is a reordering: the gathered community exists to form and send, not only to receive. When the church recovers this impulse, it participates authentically in the mission of God.