Book Review of The Missional Quest by Lance Ford & Brad Brisco

The Missional Quest: Becoming a Church of the Long Run
by Lance Ford and Brad Brisco
ISBN 978-0-8308-4105-9
IVP Praxis
Reviewed by Clint Walker

I have been reading about and discussing ideas about what it means to be "missional" for years. Our church was even rewarded for being externally focused and reaching our community through going out and connecting with the people, civic organizations, and government we worked with by our Regional Leadership. Missional Leadership gets me excited about being a part of the church, and a part of the vision Jesus had for his kingdom (as opposed to mine or our kingdom).

Unfortunately, to be honest, much like terms such as emergent and community, I think the term is quickly bordering on being overused in church circles. I remember my denomination (ABC/USA) doing this big nationwide tour from my denominational headquarters to teach us what it meant to be missional. What we learned is that they liked missional slogans and lingo, but they really did not know that much about what the "missional church" conversation was all about. Instead they were seeking to re-brand the denomination a little to get more money for traditional missions and the United Mission funds of the denomination while really changing nothing about how they see and do church. My experience was much the same with other denominations I deal with these days in the federated church I serve.

Don't let the overuse of the missional nomenclature keep you from exploring what people who are really practicing and living missional church life have to say. Lance Ford and Brad Brisco are leaders in what the "missional church" conversation is really all about. And the Missional Quest is a fantastic book that balances church vision and philosophy with clear practical steps to grow one's church from a self-serving consumer business model to truly living the kingdom of God in their community, neighborhood, and world.

The Missional Quest is very much a how-to book, but a how-to book that is more descriptive than prescriptive. Early on in the book, it takes on the importance of spiritual formation in the missional church. After all, if we are going to bring Jesus into the world, it kind of helps to know him and be connected with him intimately.For this reason, rhythms of spiritual development and mission, outreach, and connecting with our communities need to be paired.

It also takes on the importance of equipping people for ministry, of ministering to people's real tangible needs, and of really connecting with people where they are at, out in the world, and continuing to bring the church to the world instead of expecting the world to come to the church.

I enjoyed the discussion of place in relationship to missional living. Included in the discussion of place are missional practices that help grow us and help us at the same time bring Christ to others. The small group material was very helpful as well.

Much of what I have read in missional church conversations as well as similar outreach efforts focus on church planters. This book, although supportive of church planting, believes that by God's grace it is possible to transition churches to a missional focus. That was very encouraging to me.

I look forward to reading more books by the rest of the Forge Ministries folks, as well as these two specifically.