Breaking the Missional Code
Transitions to Missional Ministry
Change…
…always happens, and most
change is out of our control.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
What we can control…
…is our response to a
changing culture.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
The response by the
missional congregation to
change has produced
emerging transitional
patterns.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
 As
churches seek to break
the code, they respond to
change with intentional
change.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
From Programs to Processes
 Not
every program (even
GREAT programs) worked
every time.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
From Programs to Processes
The most important thing—
seek to understand the
people we were called to
reach and develop processes
to reach them.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
From Programs to Processes
Programs never seem to
work the same way in
two places.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
From Programs to Processes
Churches need certain
processes to accomplish
their purposes.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
From Programs to Processes
The church congregation
should function like a
human body.
(1 Cor. 12:12-20)
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
The church as a body
 Every
part is influenced by
every other part.
 The
“body” of Christ is one
unit that operates through a
series of systems.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
From Programs to Processes
 Program
orientation —
assumes the health of the
overall system and does not
see the various programs as
interactive and
interdependent..
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Program orientation
 Therefore…it
is destined to
be ineffective.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
From Programs to Processes
 The
only exceptions will be
those churches with a
process-focused approach or
if the overall body of a church
just “happens” to be healthy.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Demographics to
Discernment
 1980s
– Elmer Towns
launched the highly
successful seminar– “How to
Reach the Baby Boomers.”
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Demographics to
Discernment
 Generational
longer work.
approaches no
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Demographics to
Discernment
 The
growing diversity of
our society is resistant to
pigeonholing.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Demographics to
Discernment
 Demographics
answer.
are not the
 We
need to decipher the
individual communities to
which God has sent us.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Demographics to
Discernment
 Pastors
are spending more
time asking why the people
in their community have not
yet responded.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Models to Missions
 It
is easy to try and copy the
models of others because we
want to copy their success in
our own context.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Models to Missions
 Instead
of importing styles
and models, more pastors
are asking the same
questions that international
missionaries do:
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Models to Missions
 What
style of worship
/music will best help this
group to worship in spirit
and truth?
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Models to Missions
 What
evangelism methods
should I use here to reach the
most people without
compromising the gospel?
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Models to Missions
 What
structure of church
would best connect with this
community?
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Models to Missions
can this church be
God’s missionary to this
community?
 How
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Models to Missions
Christology should shape our
missiology and should shape
our ecclesiology.
~Frost & Hirsch, The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and
Mission for the Twenty-First Century Church
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Attractional to Incarnational
 The
leaders that move from
attracting prospects to
incarnating the gospel are the
ones breaking the code.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Attractional to Incarnational
 The
church that is
incarnational is
interested more in
the harvest than in
the barn.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Uniformity to Diversity
 Today,
people are realizing
that God is using many
different kinds of methods
and models to reach
different kinds of people.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Uniformity to Diversity
Nobody things that their
model is “a” model;
they think it is “the” model.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Uniformity to Diversity
If churches are faithfully
proclaiming the Word and
reaching their
communities, we should
celebrate them, whatever
they look like.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Uniformity to Diversity
The answer is not to make
all of our churches look
alike.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Uniformity to Diversity
 The
answer is to have
everyone seeking the
same thing: to glorify God
by being an indigenous
expression of church life
where they are.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Professional to Passionate
Ministry used
to be the
realm of the
seminarytrained—not
so any more.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Seating to Sending
“Big” was almost better in
the age of church growth.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Seating to Sending
In the age of the missional
church, the impact of
kingdom growth is more
important.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Seating to Sending
 Church
leaders that break
the code have decided
that the most important
thing is to empower and
release their church
family for kingdom
impact.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Seating to Sending
 These
churches give
themselves away rather
than serve their own needs.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Seating to Sending
 Churches
need to move from
“every member a minister”
to “every member a
missionary.”
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Decisions to Disciples
 For
too many churches, we
supposedly win thousands to
Christ every year, and yet
few follow through and
become active disciples.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Decisions to Disciples
“Should churches
focus on better
disciples
or focus
on reaching
out?”
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Decisions to Disciples
You cannot separate
evangelism and discipleship.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Decisions to Disciples
We need missional churches
that are focused on serious
disciple making, not just
leading people to make a
decision.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Decisions to Disciples
For this to occur, we must
identify what is a disciple.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Decisions to Disciples
As we fully define a disciple
to include both the inner
disciplines of personal
spirituality and the outer
disciplines of missional
living…
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Decisions to Disciples
…then we will move our
churches to be filled with
missionary disciples like the
early church.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Additional to Exponential
All healthy things reproduce.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Additional to Exponential
One of the signs that
something is “living” is that
it reproduces itself.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code
Additional to Exponential
But let’s face it, there is not
much addition going on, let
alone multiplication.
© 2005 – 2006 Dr. Ed Stetzer, excerpts from Breaking the Missional Code