Stetzer announces Missional Manifesto at Exponential
Contact: Jon D. Wilke, LifeWay Christian Resources, 615-251-2797
NASHVILLE, May 4, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- "God is a sending God, a missionary God, who has called His people, the church, to be missionary agents of His love and glory."
This statement forms the basis for the Missional Manifesto, a recently crafted description of the term "missional."
"The church on mission is the church as God intended," said Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research and LifeWay Christian Resources' missiologist-in-residence. Stetzer announced the Missional Manifesto April 29 at Exponential, the largest church planting conference in North America.
Framers of the Missional Manifesto include leading missiologists, pastors, theologians and authors such as Stetzer, Alan Hirsch, Tim Keller, Dan Kimball, Eric Mason, J.D. Greear, Craig Ott, Linda Bergquist, Philip Nation, and Brad Andrews.
"Through the Missional Manifesto, we hope to clarify what we mean and encourage all God's people to live on mission," said Alan Hirsch, a leading author, speaker and missiologist.
The term "missional" has been defined and discussed by different groups. The manifesto intends to clarify what the participants mean by the term and encourage others to live in missional ways.
"The Missional Manifesto was developed out of the need to give a sense as to what is meant when using the term 'missional,'" said Stetzer. "Our statement does not represent everyone's view, but it gives deeper meaning to what some leading practitioners and thinkers mean when using the term."
Stetzer and the framers hope that church leaders will be challenged "to more deeply engage with God in His Kingdom-mission to redeem people and engage in ministries of mercy in the name of Christ."
"It's been an honor to work through this process with leaders like Alan Hirsch and Tim Keller and many others," said Stetzer. "It takes those who lead and teach in the church to bring clarity to a term like 'missional.'"
The Missional Manifesto is about 1,600 words long and consists of 10 core affirmations, such as Authority, Gospel, Kingdom, Missions and Application. The original draft underwent nine revisions.
"It has been a challenging process but it has caused us to once again look into the reason for the church's engagement into God's mission," said Stetzer.
Read the entire Missional Manifesto at www.missionalmanifesto.net.
