Two of the important voices in the missional church dialogue, Brother Maynard and David Fitch, interact about what it means for a church to be missional in relationship to the Sunday worship gathering.
A good discussion of the false dichotomy of attractional OR missional follows, and a good discussion of what Sunday worship gatherings are about.
Follow the link below to Bro Maynard’s blog, and then from his place back to David’s place.
Dave Fitch begins to suggest that the Sunday meeting itself is not anti-missional… a very different tune than the one you hear in a lot of the missional versus attractional discussion taking place nowadays. Some have completely rejected the Sunday gathering, about which he writes,
I think this is a mistake. For the missional church communities require a regular practice for the shaping and forming of a people into the Life with God, the Mission of God. Missional people do not grow on trees. If then we would see people formed into the Missio Dei we must order our worship so as to be encountered by the living God. We must learn how to preach not as information but as proclamation and invite people into the Mission. The real presence at the Table must be the center of our gathering, our lives and our community. If we would see people formed into the Missio Dei, our gatherings must take on liturgical shape, a way of inviting people into the prayers, confessions and affirmations of the alive relationship we have with the living God of Mission. We must learn how to listen, interpret Scripture for what God is doing among us and in the world, hear God and then respond to God. This should be the character of our Sunday morning gatherings.
pat loughery 
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