Preaching is an interesting act. Once a week I take my place up front and I talk. What I talk about is up to me. Sometimes I choose the text and other times the text is chosen for me. What I’ve realized is how I can use that time to help cultivate various atmospheres in the church I serve.

Over the past ten years I have become increasingly convinced that a missional atmosphere in a church is not only important but essential in the 21st century. Others are leaning the same way. Church planters have an advantage here because they do not have to fight the history of a church that tends to delude any missional focus. Those of us in traditional churches have history that we have to battle.

To believe that one can take an already organized traditional church and transition it to a missional mindset quickly is naive. Perhaps we can add programs that look missional, or have missional components, but that is not the same as cultivating a missional mindset or atmosphere in the church’s “DNA.”
Preaching is an important aspect (although some missional church planters contest this point) of ministry because it can serve to gradually change the atmosphere in a church. Therefore, it should not be entered into lightly. The weekly sermon can be used to help cultivate a transition to missional.

When I preach, there are foundational assumptions that affect how I preach and even how I read the text for the day. These assumptions guide me. I also understand that they color (some might say cloud) how I read the passage, but we all have assumptions when we read any text. At least I know what some of mine are.

I believe the following assumptions are missional in nature. Because of that, I also believe, they are important for those in a traditional church who yearn to help a congregation transition to a missional mindset. I’m sure I have other assumptions. I’m also sure that I have some that are not reflected in this list. But, to start the conversation, here they are:

I often wonder what it would take to get the UMC back on track. We have a marvelous tradition. Reading the stories of John and Charles Wesley and the early Circuit Riders can send shivers up your spine and cause you to find the nearest grave to use as a pulpit while putting words of worship to the music of Justin Timberlake. Perhaps the Timberlake comment was a bit over the top, but you get the idea.

Now we hear stories of increased costs and decreased numbers in membership and worship. Instead of being in the business of planting healthy churches (versus planting worship services), we have become experts in merging congregations that can no longer survive on their own. Today the stories are depressing and causes pastors and laity alike to look at each other and wonder what it will take to turn things around.

I’ve seen many approaches to these problems. One of the things we have tried in my own conference is rallies. Rallies are when we get together, sing loud praises and go home encouraged that we were all able to get together and nobody left mad. The result? About the same that we had before.

We’ve had seminars, conferences, think tanks, and a lot of classes. After twenty years of this, I have to stand back and wonder if our approach isn’t wrong. We keep believing that if we try the same things, only with more energy and perhaps a slightly different focus, we can achieve what we dream.

I wonder if even trying to figure out how to survive is the wrong approach. If I remember correctly, Jesus didn’t really talk about how to survive. He did talk about how to die. In fact, he told us to take up our cross, die to ourselves and follow him. Maybe…just maybe…we need to get together and find better ways to die. Perhaps we are so busy trying to ’save’ our lives (The Methodist Church) and instead, we should be finding ways to give ourselves away. After all, isn’t that what the Wesley brothers and Circuit riders were so good at?