Missional vs confessional church

I must admit that I am using this as a means of thinking aloud. So I look forward to your responses, and I hope you will forgive me for my errors.

I was reading the book The Church Planter by Darrin Patrick. I enjoyed the challenges he gives to the type of character a church planter should have. When it came to the How of Mission Darrin spoke of contextualising.

“The attractiveness of contextualizing the gospel is that we actually listen to the questions people are asking. We are able to listen patiently to the hopes, challenges, and fears that people in a culture express through art, theatre, literature, and film and to communicate the gospel in a way that connects…Many unbelievers in our cultural setting will be attracted to the gospel as they come to understand how it connects to them in the deepest possible ways.” Pg 195

I think this is a good definition of a missional church. You understand your community and you show how the gospel impacts on their lives and it makes a difference. This is smart and relevant. But is it what we’re called to do?

I think that we are called to be a confessional church. I think this makes sense of Matt 16:18, Eph 2:19-20 and 1 Cor 3:10-15. I think that the priority is NOT to the world but to our Lord (Matt 28:16-20). We proclaim Him (Col 1:28, 2 Tim 4:1-5) as the Christ, the one who is the firstborn over creation and the church. He is the one who is reconciling all things in heaven and on earth (Col 1:21). Isn’t this relevant enough?

I think we need to be a confessional church. Why?

1) It’s biblical. As I’ve shown above and throughout the Pastoral Epistles, the task for a minister is to preach the word of God.

2) It recognises the sinfulness of humanity. The gospel will always appear foolish (1 Cor 1:18-31). It is the power of the gospel that can overcome hard hearts (Rom 1:16).

3) It impacts on what and how we preach. We can become so aware of the issues in our community that we look for passages that are relevant. A confessional church will be exegetical in practice because it is not only circumstances but our mindset and behaviours that need to be modified in light of resurrection of Jesus and the redemption of creation

Now I believe that we ought to know our community. Demographical material is of value. But I will preach that Jesus is Lord to the accountant who is about to go on their ski trip. I’ll preach Jesus is Lord to the lady whose husband just left her for another woman. I’ll preach Christ to university student who is considering what they will do with their life. To them this isn’t the highest priority, but to our God there is no great confession that we can make.