Reflections on 10/6 Class

I have taken several classes at Fuller that underscored the importance of viewing the West and the variety of cultures present within the West from a missional viewpoint—as though the West was itself comprised of “mission fields.” Discussing McGavran’s mission station model and its similarity to the current state of the Western Church helped to emphasize this point for me even more strongly. I wonder, however, to what degree McGavran’s solution for creating more people movements is applicable to the West. His work is significantly strategic in nature, at times even outlining the specific steps that can be taken to replace mission stations with people movements. I am not convinced, however, that the Western Church should adopt more strategic plans and goals to make such a missional shift. If anything, the Western Church has been overrun by strategy for years, often reducing what should be organic, life-giving acts of mission, mercy, and justice to committees, procedures, mission statements, and projects. I think that overall the Western Church would benefit from a little less structure rather than seeking change in the form of rigid structure.