Creating a Missional Culture: Equipping the Church for the Sake of the World

by JR Woodward, Alan Hirsch (Foreword by)

Overview

Once upon a time, Moses had had enough.Exhausted by the challenge of leading the Israelites from slavery to the Promised Land, Moses cried out to God, "What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? . . . If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me" (Exodus 11:11, 15).If that sounds hauntingly familiar to you, you may be the senior pastor of a contemporary church. The burden of Christian leadership is becoming increasingly unbearable—demanding skills not native to the art of pastoring; demanding time that makes sabbath rest and even normal sleep patterns seem extravagant; demanding inhuman levels of efficiency, proficiency and even saintliness.No wonder pastors seem and even feel less human these days. No wonder they burn out or break down at an alarming rate; no wonder the church is missing the mark on its mission.In Creating a Missional Culture, JR Woodward offers a bold and surprisingly refreshing model for churches—not small adjustments around the periphery of a church's infrastructure but a radical revisioning of how a church ought to look, from its leadership structure to its mobilization of the laity. The end result looks surprisingly like the church that Jesus created and the apostles cultivated: a church not chasing the wind but rather going into the world and making disciples of Jesus.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780830836536
Publisher:	InterVarsity Press
Publication date:	07/05/2012
Series:	Forge Partnership Books
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

JR Woodward is a church planter, activist, consultant, missiologist, speaker and writer. He cofounded Kairos Los Angeles and the Ecclesia Network, a relational network of missional churches. He is the director of the Solis Foundation, which partners with churches in Kenya to equip and resource people living in extreme poverty to create sustainable businesses. He blogs at jrwoodward.net.

Alan Hirsch is the founding Director of Forge Mission Training Network. He is the co-founder of shapevine.com, an international forum for engaging with world transforming ideas. He leads Future Travelers, a learning journey applying missional-incarnational approaches to established churches and is an active participant in The Tribe of LA, a Jesus community among artists and creatives in Los Angeles.Known for his innovative approach to mission, Hirsch is a teacher and key mission strategist for churches across the western world. His popular book The Shaping of Things to Come (with Michael Frost) is widely considered to be a seminal text on mission. Alan's recent book The Forgotten Ways, has quickly become a key reference for missional thinking, particularly as it relates to movements. His book ReJesus is a radical restatement about the role that Jesus plays in defining missional movements. Untamed, his latest book (with his wife Debra) is about missional discipleship for a missional church.His experience in leadership includes leading a local church movement among the marginalized as well as heading up the Mission and Revitalization work of his denomination. Hirsch is an adjunct professor at Fuller Seminary and lectures frequently throughout Australia, Europe, and the U.S.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables
Foreword by Alan Hirsch
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part 1: The Power of Culture
1. What Is Missional Culture and Why Does It Matter?
2. How Culture Works
3. What's Going On in the Culture of the Church You Serve?
4. Polycentric Leadership and Missional Culture
Part 2: A Leadership Imagination That Shapes Missional Culture
5. Facing Today's Challenges
6. Hearing the Story
7. Deepening Theological Roots
8. Embracing Emotional Health
9. Relinquishing the Need to Control
Part 3: The Five Culture Creators
10. Jesus the Archetypical Culture Creator
11. Apostles: Dream Awakeners
12. Prophets: Heart Revealers
13. Evangelists: Story Tellers
14. Pastors: Soul Healers
15. Teachers: Light Givers
Part 4: Embodying a Missional Culture
16. The Cultural Web and the Neighborhood Church
17. Cultivating Missional Environments
18. Cultivating an Equipping Ethos
19. Polycentric Leadership at Work
Appendix 1: Equippers and Their Roles
Appendix 2: Equipper Candidate Reference Form
Appendix 3: Equipper Candidate Interview
Notes

What People are Saying About This

Dwight J. Friesen

"I have been craving a book that would facilitate the reimagination of church culture, and it is finally here. This is a book I hope many will devour."

David Fitch

"JR Woodward reads widely, writes deftly and lives deeply. His book Creating a Missional Culture reflects all of that. Read it and explore what leading can be in the strange new worlds of mission in North America."

Linda Bergquist

"The church has encountered a serious gap in fulfilling its apostolic imagination. JR steps in as a visionary and provides a major breakthrough, showing us that the release of the missional church is dependent upon creating a missional culture. This book offers next steps for those of us who long to equip ordinary Christians for profoundly missional expressions of church. I wish I had written it!"

Dr. MaryKate Morse

"JR Woodward's fresh views about leadership and church culture and his practical guides and suggestions make this a relevant and important book for every congregation. The chapters on polycentric leadership alone are worth the price of the book. Creating a Missional Culture delivers exactly that—a provocative guide for the intentional, Spirit-led creation of a church culture where Christ is incarnated in the lives of individuals and communities."

Wil Hernandez

"There is no mistaking that the missional thrust that JR Woodward unravels in his book has at its core a profound understanding of spirituality as the propellant for cultivating such culture in our ministry. While some erroneously insist on dichotomizing between missional and spiritual formation, JR makes a solid case for the necessary integration of the two. Indeed, authentic spirituality is missional through and through. JR's work accentuates this holistic approach to our distinct yet integrated calling as equippers: as an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher."

from the foreword by Alan Hirsch

"You are holding a hard-won treasure. This book is peppered with the kind of missiological insights that only an apostolically inclined leader can bring. JR Woodward has developed an excellent heuristic for leaders to actually make Ephesians 4 a living reality in the local churches."

Darrell Guder

"JR Woodward's remarkable book defies categorization. To 'create a missional culture' requires disciplined biblical and theological formation, discerning engagement with contemporary cultures, appreciative interaction with diverse resources, and the courage to experiment and to innovate. Woodward does all that and more in this book. The growing exploration of the theology and practice of the missional church is enriched by this volume. Its authority rests in the author's tested and validated experience as an equipper 'of the missional church for the sake of the world.'"

Michael Frost

"A decade ago, Alan Hirsch and I explored the idea that the fivefold leadership matrix was essential to unleashing the missional church. Now JR Woodward goes further by detailing how this matrix of leadership fosters a learning, healing, welcoming, liberating and thriving missional culture. This book is beautifully written and well researched, and it gets at complex issues in a readable and accessible way. This book is a gift to the missional conversation."

Jon Tyson

"Many have written critiques about our consumerism, lack of discipleship, narcissism and theology, but few have given us a clear way forward. In this book, JR Woodward uses compelling theology, cultural insight, biblical wisdom and practical examples on how to shift from consumerism to mission and equip the people of God to reach their full redemptive potential. This is a real gift to the body of Christ."

Amos Yong

"Creating a Missional Culture is about cultural analysis, leadership formation, congregational empowerment and missional engagement. JR Woodward blends head, heart and hands to reinvigorate the church. I highly recommend this book for those studying missiology, ministry and ecclesiology."

Editorial Reviews

"A decade ago, Alan Hirsch and I explored the idea that the fivefold leadership matrix was essential to unleashing the missional church. Now JR Woodward goes further by detailing how this matrix of leadership fosters a learning, healing, welcoming, liberating and thriving missional culture. This book is beautifully written and well researched, and it gets at complex issues in a readable and accessible way. This book is a gift to the missional conversation."

Michael Frost

"I have been craving a book that would facilitate the reimagination of church culture, and it is finally here. This is a book I hope many will devour."

Dwight J. Friesen

"There is no mistaking that the missional thrust that JR Woodward unravels in his book has at its core a profound understanding of spirituality as the propellant for cultivating such culture in our ministry. While some erroneously insist on dichotomizing between missional and spiritual formation, JR makes a solid case for the necessary integration of the two. Indeed, authentic spirituality is missional through and through. JR's work accentuates this holistic approach to our distinct yet integrated calling as equippers: as an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher."

Wil Hernandez

"You are holding a hard-won treasure. This book is peppered with the kind of missiological insights that only an apostolically inclined leader can bring. JR Woodward has developed an excellent heuristic for leaders to actually make Ephesians 4 a living reality in the local churches."

from the foreword by Alan Hirsch

"Creating a Missional Culture is a worthwhile read that provides a gracious, yet prophetic corrective to individualistic, pastor-centric churches, moving the missional church forward."

Jonathan K. Dodson

"JR Woodward reads widely, writes deftly and lives deeply. His book Creating a Missional Culture reflects all of that. Read it and explore what leading can be in the strange new worlds of mission in North America."

David Fitch

"JR Woodward's fresh views about leadership and church culture and his practical guides and suggestions make this a relevant and important book for every congregation. The chapters on polycentric leadership alone are worth the price of the book. Creating a Missional Culture delivers exactly that—a provocative guide for the intentional, Spirit-led creation of a church culture where Christ is incarnated in the lives of individuals and communities."

Dr. MaryKate Morse

"The church has encountered a serious gap in fulfilling its apostolic imagination. JR steps in as a visionary and provides a major breakthrough, showing us that the release of the missional church is dependent upon creating a missional culture. This book offers next steps for those of us who long to equip ordinary Christians for profoundly missional expressions of church. I wish I had written it!"

Linda Bergquist

"Creating a Missional Culture is about cultural analysis, leadership formation, congregational empowerment and missional engagement. JR Woodward blends head, heart and hands to reinvigorate the church. I highly recommend this book for those studying missiology, ministry and ecclesiology."

Amos Yong

"Many have written critiques about our consumerism, lack of discipleship, narcissism and theology, but few have given us a clear way forward. In this book, JR Woodward uses compelling theology, cultural insight, biblical wisdom and practical examples on how to shift from consumerism to mission and equip the people of God to reach their full redemptive potential. This is a real gift to the body of Christ."

Jon Tyson

"JR Woodward's remarkable book defies categorization. To 'create a missional culture' requires disciplined biblical and theological formation, discerning engagement with contemporary cultures, appreciative interaction with diverse resources, and the courage to experiment and to innovate. Woodward does all that and more in this book. The growing exploration of the theology and practice of the missional church is enriched by this volume. Its authority rests in the author's tested and validated experience as an equipper 'of the missional church for the sake of the world.'"

Darrell Guder

"Creating a Missional Culture is a worthwhile read that provides a gracious, yet prophetic corrective to individualistic, pastor-centric churches, moving the missional church forward."

--Jonathan K. Dodson, Evangelical Missions Quarterly, April 2013

"Creating a Missional Culture is about cultural analysis, leadership formation, congregational empowerment and missional engagement. JR Woodward blends head, heart and hands to reinvigorate the church. I highly recommend this book for those studying missiology, ministry and ecclesiology."

--Amos Yong, J. Rodman Williams Professor of Theology, Regent University School of Divinity

"JR Woodward reads widely, writes deftly and lives deeply. His book Creating a Missional Culture reflects all of that. Read it and explore what leading can be in the strange new worlds of mission in North America."

--David Fitch, B.R. Lindner Chair of Evangelical Theology, Northern Seminary, author of The End of Evangelicalism?

"JR Woodward's fresh views about leadership and church culture and his practical guides and suggestions make this a relevant and important book for every congregation. The chapters on polycentric leadership alone are worth the price of the book. Creating a Missional Culture delivers exactly that--a provocative guide for the intentional, Spirit-led creation of a church culture where Christ is incarnated in the lives of individuals and communities."

--Dr. MaryKate Morse, author of Making Room for Leadership

From the Publisher

"You are holding a hard-won treasure. This book is peppered with the kind of missiological insights that only an apostolically inclined leader can bring. JR Woodward has developed an excellent heuristic for leaders to actually make Ephesians 4 a living reality in the local churches."

Alan Hirsch

"JR Woodward's fresh views about leadership and church culture and his practical guides and suggestions make this a relevant and important book for every congregation. The chapters on polycentric leadership alone are worth the price of the book. Creating a Missional Culture delivers exactly that—a provocative guide for the intentional, Spirit-led creation of a church culture where Christ is incarnated in the lives of individuals and communities."

Doctor - MaryKate Morse