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Many people i have spoken to over the years think that the missional church is primarily about meeting in cafe's, doing alt worship, wearing a cool pair of jeans and reclaiming a few soft swear words back into the Christian vocabulary. If that is what it is then I miss the mark on almost every front.

My take is that whilst this is helpful as a simple explanation of the 'missional church', the term itself is misleading. Churches can only 'missional' to the extent that they have members and participants who act in a way that is missional. That is, believers who see the prime location for the living out of their faith as in their everyday workplace/ family and neighbourhood rather than primarily at the church building.

The key line for me in this is where he says, "The missional church uses it resources, time and energy in training, modelling and challenging its members to be representatives of Christ in their own environement". This can happen in a myriad of different ways, styles and methodologies. The word 'missional' describes what a church is actually trying to get done rather than to describe a different or alternative structure of how that church meets.

My experience is that a quick check of where a church group spends its money, staff time and volunteer energy will give you a hint as to what they are actually trying to get done.