Even with the rise of megacongregations, decades of emphasis on church growth, and large infusions of money and people resources, the congregational approach to “doing church” has entered its declining period, according to Reggie McNeal in his book Missional Communities: The Rise of the Post-Congregational Church. The nonchurched are not coming to church, and another approach is needed to reach them.
A post-congregational culture requires a strategy of engaging people where they already live, work, play, go to school, and pursue their hobbies and passions. This is what missional communities aim to do, and the book goes on to tell the stories of some different types of such communities:
- British and European missional communities, typically of 20 to 50 people and aiming to incarnate the gospel to a particular neighbourhood or network of relationships. Examples of this are St Thomas Sheffield and Valgmenighed Church in Denmark.
- Soma Communities, a group of around one hundred missional communities in the US.
- University campus missional communities.
- Future Travelers, a group of megachurches which are attempting to become launching pads for missional movements of the future. Particular examples include Austin Stone and Community Christian Church.
- Mission Houston, which uses a spiritual formation process called Faithwalking to develop missional followers of Jesus, who then form missional communities.
The book does not claim to be a how-to manual on setting up and running missional communities; indeed the diversity of the examples given shows that there are many different successful approaches. The stories are descriptive, and no attempt is made to critique the communities described or compare their effectiveness with other models of church. What the book does do is provide a range of stories which provide ideas and inspiration for those who are considering a missional community church model.