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Missional Moves: 15 Tectonic Shifts that Transform Churches, Communities, and the World
From saved souls to saved wholes, from transactional to transformational, this book describes fifteen paradigm shifts in how gospel-driven Christian leaders are thinking about churches and ministry in today's world.
The church was never designed to be a fortress for the righteous, but a flood of revolutionaries, bringing the Good News of the Kingdom to broken lives and broken communities in a broken world. Today, millions of Christians are awakening to the holism, or wholeness, of the gospel call, expanding their understanding of church from an institution to a movement.
Recognizing the Church's past missteps and re-envisioning its role in modern society, Missional Moves, will fundamentally alter your understanding of the church and how its mission is lived out.
Rob Wegner and Jack Magruder are church founders and Christian thought-leaders who will walk you through three distinct categories of changes that today's churches have to understand in order to have the greatest, positive impact:
The paradigm shift of our missional imagination.
The centralized shift of our local church mission field.
The decentralized shift of the global family of Christ.
If this calling toward movement and transformation is to be realized, it will require some earth-shaking shifts in our concept of the evangelistic mission: "Missional Moves." This book provides a plan of action for your church that will empower you to unleash each member on a mission, both locally and globally.
The church was never designed to be a fortress for the righteous, but a flood of revolutionaries, bringing the Good News of the Kingdom to broken lives and broken communities in a broken world. Today, millions of Christians are awakening to the holism, or wholeness, of the gospel call, expanding their understanding of church from an institution to a movement.
Recognizing the Church's past missteps and re-envisioning its role in modern society, Missional Moves, will fundamentally alter your understanding of the church and how its mission is lived out.
Rob Wegner and Jack Magruder are church founders and Christian thought-leaders who will walk you through three distinct categories of changes that today's churches have to understand in order to have the greatest, positive impact:
The paradigm shift of our missional imagination.
The centralized shift of our local church mission field.
The decentralized shift of the global family of Christ.
If this calling toward movement and transformation is to be realized, it will require some earth-shaking shifts in our concept of the evangelistic mission: "Missional Moves." This book provides a plan of action for your church that will empower you to unleash each member on a mission, both locally and globally.
- GenresLeadershipChurchTheology
288 pages, Paperback
First published September 25, 2012
17 people are currently reading
38 people want to read
About the author
Rob Wegner
9 books27 followersRob Wegner serves as a teaching pastor at Granger Community Church, calling the people of God to get out of their seat and into the Story. Under his leadership, Granger has seen thousands move out on-mission, culminating in redemptive movements locally and globally.
Rob is also the lead catalyst for EnterMission, which sparks holistic transformation of communities, equipping and networking churches for local and global impact, and forging transformational partnerships across domains of society.
He is also working alongside Alan Hirsch in an innovative coaching program called Future Travelers--helping mega-churches become missional movements. This is his first book and it's been his joy to write it with his best friend and the love of his life.
Rob is also the lead catalyst for EnterMission, which sparks holistic transformation of communities, equipping and networking churches for local and global impact, and forging transformational partnerships across domains of society.
He is also working alongside Alan Hirsch in an innovative coaching program called Future Travelers--helping mega-churches become missional movements. This is his first book and it's been his joy to write it with his best friend and the love of his life.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 10, 2012
The subtitle reveals the simple premise of the book: 15 tectonic shifts that transform churches, communities and the world. As expected, each chapter deals with one of the fifteen tectonic shifts. What are these tectonic shifts? In a word, these shifts interact with the concept of mission, missional living or the more technical term, missiology. It is the belief of the authors that most churches are unaware of these shifts and therefore, are less effective in reaching the world for Christ. So this book boldly seeks to inform a generation of church leaders through the experimental lens of Granger Community Church (a megachurch in Northern Indiana where the author, Rob Wegner, is one of the lead pastors).
It is not in the scope of this review to critically interact with each tectonic shift, but extensive comments on a few key shifts are necessary.
Let’s begin with the Shift #1: Saved souls to Saved wholes. The authors contend that many churches preach an incomplete gospel or maybe more specifically, only part of the grand story of salvation. These churches tend to focus on the life insurance aspect of the gospel (i.e. saved souls), rather than the salvific blessings which are intended for this life and the next (i.e. saved wholes). According to the authors, the sad result has been a response that is decisional and private, rather than transformational and public. In other words, what is often missing in the “saved souls” version is the emphasis on Lordship.
To the majority of the above paragraph, I say, “Amen”. Furthermore, I appreciate the authors beginning with the gospel. I agree with the statement found on page 40, “Every other missional move is contingent upon getting this one right”.
Yet I am still slightly uncomfortable with the distinction of “saved souls” to “saved wholes”. Scripturally, there is no theological distinction in justification between soul and whole. Justification by faith alone assumes trust, which assumes Lordship. When the soul is regenerated, the whole is also regenerated.
So though I like that the move is “catchy”, let us not become weary in pursuing theological “precision” as well.
My favorite chapter is Shift #2, From Missions to Mission. Though I am personally familiar with this shift, the basic graph on p. 49 says it all. The graph places the ministry of “missions” alongside arts, children, small groups, youth, etc. The problem? Missions is seen as a specialized category of ministry, rather than “THE MISSION” given to every Christian. In my opinion, this chapter alone is worth the price of the book.
Now this does not mean I embrace everything in chapter two. The formula espoused by the authors: Local church on mission + People of God on mission = Apostolic movement is again catchy, but invoking the word “apostolic” for anything other than the direct ministry of the 12 original apostles is unwise and hermeneutically cavalier. Post 1st century Christians are called disciples, followers and slaves of Jesus Christ, but never His apostles.
Another helpful element is that this book not only explains the “shifts” themselves, but also how to implement these movements into the life of the local church. The clearest example of this is found in chapter 7, From Transactional to Transformational Partnerships. The authors explain,
“The old model sent out organizations to do the work of mission, leaving the local church behind to provide money. The local church was involved, but not directly” (p. 168).
So the issue the authors wrestle with is, “How do we get local churches involved directly and still use these essential partnerships?”
With the use of illustrations, graphs and the experimental history of Granger, the reader is given a roadmap to build local church involvement and partnership, which functions as a wonderful resource, especially for those leaders in established churches.
Criticism
Other than the occasional examples of theological ambiguity, my only other criticism is this: 15 missional moves was too much. I think the maxim “Less is more” applies here. Limiting and then expanding 5-7 moves would have been more useful in my opinion.
Conclusion
Would I recommend this book? Yes, but only to mature pastor or church leader. The authors are unabashedly seeker-driven (attractional, in their words) and their philosophy is woven through this book. Yet there are also profound insights regarding missiology that if absorbed correctly could benefit both the church leader and the church itself.
It is not in the scope of this review to critically interact with each tectonic shift, but extensive comments on a few key shifts are necessary.
Let’s begin with the Shift #1: Saved souls to Saved wholes. The authors contend that many churches preach an incomplete gospel or maybe more specifically, only part of the grand story of salvation. These churches tend to focus on the life insurance aspect of the gospel (i.e. saved souls), rather than the salvific blessings which are intended for this life and the next (i.e. saved wholes). According to the authors, the sad result has been a response that is decisional and private, rather than transformational and public. In other words, what is often missing in the “saved souls” version is the emphasis on Lordship.
To the majority of the above paragraph, I say, “Amen”. Furthermore, I appreciate the authors beginning with the gospel. I agree with the statement found on page 40, “Every other missional move is contingent upon getting this one right”.
Yet I am still slightly uncomfortable with the distinction of “saved souls” to “saved wholes”. Scripturally, there is no theological distinction in justification between soul and whole. Justification by faith alone assumes trust, which assumes Lordship. When the soul is regenerated, the whole is also regenerated.
So though I like that the move is “catchy”, let us not become weary in pursuing theological “precision” as well.
My favorite chapter is Shift #2, From Missions to Mission. Though I am personally familiar with this shift, the basic graph on p. 49 says it all. The graph places the ministry of “missions” alongside arts, children, small groups, youth, etc. The problem? Missions is seen as a specialized category of ministry, rather than “THE MISSION” given to every Christian. In my opinion, this chapter alone is worth the price of the book.
Now this does not mean I embrace everything in chapter two. The formula espoused by the authors: Local church on mission + People of God on mission = Apostolic movement is again catchy, but invoking the word “apostolic” for anything other than the direct ministry of the 12 original apostles is unwise and hermeneutically cavalier. Post 1st century Christians are called disciples, followers and slaves of Jesus Christ, but never His apostles.
Another helpful element is that this book not only explains the “shifts” themselves, but also how to implement these movements into the life of the local church. The clearest example of this is found in chapter 7, From Transactional to Transformational Partnerships. The authors explain,
“The old model sent out organizations to do the work of mission, leaving the local church behind to provide money. The local church was involved, but not directly” (p. 168).
So the issue the authors wrestle with is, “How do we get local churches involved directly and still use these essential partnerships?”
With the use of illustrations, graphs and the experimental history of Granger, the reader is given a roadmap to build local church involvement and partnership, which functions as a wonderful resource, especially for those leaders in established churches.
Criticism
Other than the occasional examples of theological ambiguity, my only other criticism is this: 15 missional moves was too much. I think the maxim “Less is more” applies here. Limiting and then expanding 5-7 moves would have been more useful in my opinion.
Conclusion
Would I recommend this book? Yes, but only to mature pastor or church leader. The authors are unabashedly seeker-driven (attractional, in their words) and their philosophy is woven through this book. Yet there are also profound insights regarding missiology that if absorbed correctly could benefit both the church leader and the church itself.
December 14, 2012
“15 tectonic shifts that transform churches, communities, and the world” reads the subtitle of this book that gives insight into modern-day church planting and missions. The authors both serve at the Granger Community Church in Granger, Indiana and write about what they are part of in this volume published by Zondervan.
Missional Moves are the changes people, churches, and community make to work together. Many of the things described in this book are how these three can work together with the church being the center of it all. The book gets really heavy in later chapters on details of one church’s methods of carrying this out, but it is good to know. As a pastor of a more traditional church, I enjoyed getting insight into a large ministry. Not that I could feel comfortable with everything they did, I could weigh things item by item. Some ideas are worthwhile to any of us.
Part 1 (Paradigm Shift) is by far the best part of the book in that it gives us the big picture issues involved. I felt I saw the best what they were saying in chapter one on “from saved souls to saved wholes.” Their description of our taking a minimalist approach to the Gospel by often reducing our presentation to accepting Jesus so we can avoid Hell. We so little talk about all the Lord can do in lives. That was an eye-opening discussion.
My only criticism of the book is that at times it seemed to criticize traditional missions and missionaries. While our just sending money might not make us as personally attached to missions as we should be, we cannot discount the tremendous sacrifice and work many missionaries have done. I think it doesn’t have to be an either/or proposition. Still, their methods have potential worthy of consideration.
The authors have the task of balancing this new missional approach with the attractional method used for so long. As a traditional pastor, I don’t have that problem, but I am glad to better understand what is going on today and learn what I can from it. So, I recommend this book.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 .
Missional Moves are the changes people, churches, and community make to work together. Many of the things described in this book are how these three can work together with the church being the center of it all. The book gets really heavy in later chapters on details of one church’s methods of carrying this out, but it is good to know. As a pastor of a more traditional church, I enjoyed getting insight into a large ministry. Not that I could feel comfortable with everything they did, I could weigh things item by item. Some ideas are worthwhile to any of us.
Part 1 (Paradigm Shift) is by far the best part of the book in that it gives us the big picture issues involved. I felt I saw the best what they were saying in chapter one on “from saved souls to saved wholes.” Their description of our taking a minimalist approach to the Gospel by often reducing our presentation to accepting Jesus so we can avoid Hell. We so little talk about all the Lord can do in lives. That was an eye-opening discussion.
My only criticism of the book is that at times it seemed to criticize traditional missions and missionaries. While our just sending money might not make us as personally attached to missions as we should be, we cannot discount the tremendous sacrifice and work many missionaries have done. I think it doesn’t have to be an either/or proposition. Still, their methods have potential worthy of consideration.
The authors have the task of balancing this new missional approach with the attractional method used for so long. As a traditional pastor, I don’t have that problem, but I am glad to better understand what is going on today and learn what I can from it. So, I recommend this book.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 .
September 13, 2012
One of the best books ever written on how to get yourself and/or your church "Out of your seat and into the Story". Rob and Jack have masterfully written about the 15 Tectonic shifts that need to happen in our thinking to reach other communities and cultures with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
November 30, 2012
Fantastic practical and plain speaking book on moving your church to be missional. Great read.
May 28, 2021
I can sum up this book in a sentence - it's time for the church to be the church, to live on mission reflecting the priesthood of all believers. The concept isn't novel, nor is the practice of it new but it has been forgotten and is being brought back to rememberance.
We have always been called to multiplication - to be disciples who make disciples who make disciples. We have always been called to bring the full gospel. This book merely provides one possible model / method but it is by no means the only model. The tectonic shifts are only tectonic if you haven't already been operating in a missional mindset.
Discipleship and evangelism is only giving a little bit of real estate despite their importance. Community transformation matters but if the communit is trasformed with experiencing repentance and redemption, we have failed our calling.
We have always been called to multiplication - to be disciples who make disciples who make disciples. We have always been called to bring the full gospel. This book merely provides one possible model / method but it is by no means the only model. The tectonic shifts are only tectonic if you haven't already been operating in a missional mindset.
Discipleship and evangelism is only giving a little bit of real estate despite their importance. Community transformation matters but if the communit is trasformed with experiencing repentance and redemption, we have failed our calling.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews