It may seem counter-intuitive. Preaching has been associated with drawing a crowd into a building. Preaching, it would seem, reaches only Christians. Who else who be interested in listening to a sermon? Preaching then, it would seem, is for established churches. It works to keep people coming to a church building. Surely this works against the missional impulse? 

I don’t think so. I contend preaching that unfurls the Story of who God is, what He is doing, how He is working in our lives and where He is taking the world, and then invites people into that Story, is foundational to shaping a community on mission. For sure it is foundational to growing us into faithfulness and maturity. Yet it is also foundational to shaping our imaginations and sensitivities for what God is doing so we can listen to Him and respond to Him in faithfulnessa nd obedience when we are living in and among our various contexts. This is so important for the founding and nurturing of a missional community.

We’ve been doing Missional Learning Commons for about 8 years. It’s where Missionally driven leaders gather to talk shop around a topic. We think this year’s will be great. I’ll be there. GO HERE for a list of presenters/discussion leaders/topics etc.. It’s cheap. Join me?