Marginal or Missional???

Recently I attended a seminar in Urbana, Illinois in the DCPI Track entitled Becoming at Mentor or BAM. In the midst of the three days we spent together, one of our speakers identified two characteristics of churches. One he called the "Marginal Church" and the other he called the "Missional Church."

A marginal church is the church that if it closed, the only ones who would notice it was gone would be the people who left.

A missional church is the church that if it were to close would create an uproar in the community and they (the community) would say "You can't go! You are too vital to us."

There is a lot of talk today about churches -- the ones who seem to be making a difference and the ones who don't. For me the words of this presenter redefined all the issues. If my church were to close today, what would the effect be? Are we marginal or missional?

My dream is to pastor a church that is so vital to its community that the community could not do without us. In time, that is who we will become. But for now we are on a journey that daily is challenging us to stretch further, work harder, and serve more to impact Salina for the sake of the Gospel. We exist to depopulate hell by populating heaven with radical followers of Jesus Christ. We are not about the business of just being "christian." We want to be followers of Jesus Christ who live to seek and do His will in all things. That is our passion. That is our purpose. And that is the trajectory of our church.