See the preface and part 1.

The Missional Rorschach Test

Based on some of the blogs, my series has spawned, or reignited, some thoughts on what it means to be "missional." That's a good thing, I think, as it will enable some cross conversations.

Here are a few:
• Brother Maynard
• Jamie Arpin-Ricci
• Bill Kinnon

But, I think that "missional" is like a Rorschach Test for many people. In a Rorschach Inkblot Test, a subject is asked to describe what he or she sees in random inkblots. It tells much about what a person is thinking and feeling. I think the same is true for all of us engaged in the missional conversation. To some degree how we define "missional" is determined by our pre-existing concerns about what is wrong, and what is right, with the church today.

So, before I reveal my own ideas (or perhaps as I do so), I think we need to look to history for the genesis of the ideas that have shaped "missional" today.