Ten Things Anyone Who Joins in a Twenty-First Century Missional Church Should Not Expect

by David Fitch

1. Should not expect to regularly come to church for just one hour, get what you need for your own personal growth and development, and your kids' needs, and then leave til next Sunday. Expect mission to change your life. Expect, however, a richer life than you could have ever imagined.

2. Should not expect that Jesus will fit in with every consumerist capitalist assumption, lifestyle, schedule or accoutrement you may have adopted before coming here. Expect to be freed from a lot of crap you will find out you never needed.

3. Should not expect to be anonymous, unknown or be able to disappear in this church body. Expect to be known and loved, supported in a glorious journey.

4. Should not expect production style excellence all the time on Sunday morning worship gatherings. Expect organic, simple and authentic beauty.

5. Should not expect a raucous "lights out" you program that entertains the teenagers, puts on a show that gets the kids "pumped up," all without parental involvement. Instead as the years go by, with our children as part of our life, worship and mission (and when the light shows dim and the cool youth pastor with the spiked hair burns out) expect our youth to have an authentic relationship with God thru Christ that carries them through a lifetime of journey with God.

6. Should not expect to always "feel good," or ecstatic on Sunday mornings. Expect that there will ALSO be times of confession, lament, self-examination and just plain silence.

7. Should not expect a lot of sermons that promise you God will prosper you with "the life you've always wanted" if you will just believe Him and step out on faith and give some more money for a bigger sanctuary. Expect sustenance for the journey.

8. Should not expect rapid growth whereby we grow this church 10 to a thousand in three years. Expect slower organic inefficient growth that engages people's lives where they are at and sees troubled people who would have nothing to do with the gospel marvelously saved.

9. Should not expect all the meetings to happen in a church building. Expect a lot of the gatherings will be in homes, or sites of mission.

10. Should not expect arguments over style of music, color of carpet, or even doctrinal outlier issues like dispensationalism. Expect mission to drive the conversation.

O and by the way ... should not expect that community comes to you. I am sorry but true community in Christ will take some "effort" and a reshuffling of priorities for both you and your kids. Yes I know you want people to come to you and reach out to you and you are hurting and busy. But assuming you are a follower of Christ (this message is not meant for strangers to the gospel) you must learn that the answer to all those things is to enter into the practices of "being the body" in Christ, including sitting, eating, sharing, and praying together.

David Fitch is a professor at Northern Seminary, a co-pastor/church planter at Life on the Vine, and the author of The Great Giveaway