Michael Frost, The Road to Missional: Journey to the Center of the Church (Shapevine Series). Baker Books, 2011.
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LifeandLeadership.com Summary
Frost acknowledges the popularity of the “missional” ethos, but laments that the more common the term becomes, the less clarity it conveys. He discusses six areas where leaders may be prone to think of themselves as missional, but which actually fall short of missional theology and philosophy:
- The Missio Dei: Seeing Mission as Bigger Than Evangelism
- Slow Evangelism: Moving Beyond the Four spiritual Laws
- A Market-Shaped Church: How Membership has Trumped Mission
- Triumphant Humiliation: The Cross as a Missional Paradigm
- Breathing Shalom: Bringing Reconciliation, Justice, and Beauty to a Broken world
- Moving into the Neighborhood: Living Our Incarnational Mission
In distinguishing “missional” from “not quite missional,” Frost also accomplishes an excellent articulation of the missional ethos generally.
From the Publisher
It has recently become acceptable, and even fashionable, to refer to one’s church as “missional.” But many churches misunderstand the concept, thinking of “going missional” as simply being a necessary add-on to church-as-usual. This domestication of what is actually a very bold paradigm shift makes missional nothing more than one more trick to see church growth. With a light hand and a pastoral spirit, Michael Frost points out in, The Road to Missional, how church practitioners are not quite there yet. He reestablishes the ground rules, redefines the terms accurately, and insists that the true prophetic essence of “being missional” comes through undiluted. This clear corrective will take ministry leaders from “not missional yet” to well on their way.
About the Author
Michael Frost is vice principal of Morling College; founding director of the Tinsley Insitute at Morling college in Sydney, Australia; and a Baptist minister. He is the author of Jesus the Fool, Seeing God in the Ordinary, and Exiles, and the coauthor of The Shaping of Things to Come. He lives in Australia.
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