Two recent conversations have led to this post and I want those considering New City Church to be very clear on the fact that New City will be primarily Missional rather than Attractional.
I will use a summary of the 2 conversations to explain the differences.
The church that I am presently on staff with is primarily an Attractional Church. As such, the majority of our programming is geared to do 2 main things - 1) attract our current members and keep them coming, and 2) attract other people to the church with the hope that they too will come. Attractional church programs gear everything (or most everything) toward drawing people to the church. Once at the church, the hope is that they might hear the Gospel and come to Christ. Attractional churches have reached many people. Our church staff is talking about adding some fields to our current campus. There is even talk of offering Upward Soccer in the near future. You know - If you build it they will come. The idea is to attract people to come to our fields and play. We hope then that they will come to our church. Then, when they come to our church we hope they will come to Christ.
Missional churches, on the other hand, probably would not build fields to house upward soccer. Instead, missional churches would equip and encourage their members to get involved in the city recreational soccer league. Missional churches would urge their moms and dads to become coaches and assistant coaches in the city leagues. They would help their members be salt and light in the world, not at the church. Missional churches desire to see their members take the gospel to the culture rather than trying to attract the culture to a place where they might see and hear the gospel.
Here's another example. My present church (along with most churches) has participated in Church League basketball. Most of the participants in Church League basketball are churched or have some church background. An attractional church hosts church league basketball if they are able. A Missional church, on the other hand puts its church team together and signs them up for public recreation basketball. There, the church team will have the greatest opportunity to make a gospel impact on its culture.
I bring this up because one of these conversations took place with someone who would say he is missional, yet his philosophy of ministry is clearly attractional. New City Church will be primarily Missional - equipping and encouraging believers to BE Christ in their culture, to BE the incarnation of the gospel in a lost world. There will certainly be elements of New City that will be attractive to people - just as there were elements of the ministry of Jesus that attracted people. But our goal is not and will not be attraction by programming. We will never have everything for everybody.
I pray that we never host a church basketball league. I pray that we never feel the need to have the latest and greatest to attract new growth or hold our current members. I pray that God would raise up in and through New City Church a group of missionaries who desire to be Christ in our city.
For a great article on missional church read Ed stetzer's A Missional Church.
