J.R. Briggs

21 Questions for Missional Leaders

September 25, 2009

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Mick Noel, director of Catalyst for Missional Leadership is developing 21 Questions for Leaders of Missional Communities for the DMin Program at Biblical Seminary. He asked me if I’d take a look at the list and offer a few other questions.

Here’s what Mick listed:

1. What are 8-10 characteristics of your ministry context?
2. What are 6-10 dominant culture values in your ministry context?
3. How does the gospel inform the values of your specific context?
4. How does your leadership team reflect your ministry context (culturally, ethnically, economically)?
5. How do you define “missional centering”?
6. How do you measure “disciple maturity” in your church community?
7. What verifiable, transformative impact has your church’s ministries had on: individuals, families, corporate congregrational life, your geographic context, the leadership and organizational structures of your church community?
8. How do you monitor/assess transformative impact in each of these areas of ministry influence?
9. What are your primary missional objectives in the next 1-3 years?
10. What structures/systems/attitudes/behaviors do you identify as obstacles to your missional effectiveness?
11. What are your values and vision related to buildings, staff and ministry budget?
12. What structures/systems will you simplify in order to reduce need for finances/personnel while preserving relational effectiveness?
13. What do you identify as the key organizational challenge for the next 12-18 months?
14. What are three key strategies demonstrate further “ownership” of the needs of your ministry context?
15. What is your 1-3 year plan to create greater awareness/accountability among your people to God’s story and your place in it?
16. What discernment strategies will you teach/model as prerequisite to decision making?
17. As you consider (a) the needs of your ministry context (b) your vision for transformative ministry and (c) the passions God has given you and your leadership team; what will you need that you don’t presently have?
18. How do you see to move participants in your church community from “individualistic approaches” to seeking guidance, to trusting and including others in the discernment process? (for both personal and corporate issue)s).
19. What for you are the essential elements of a missional congregation?
20. What are the essential “habitudes” of disciple people in your church community?
21. What do you imagine would be the fall out in your geographic context if your congregation ceased operations?

I have a few other questions to the mix:

-Who in your community and context could you listen to and learn from regarding the values of your city?

-What are 3-5 ways you and your church are currently blessing the neighborhood?

-What are 3-5 ways you could work towards blessing the neighborhood in the next 36 months?

-What are the idols unique to your context and what would it look like for the gospel to overthrow/confront/topple them?

-How are you unleashing people to join in God’s greater mission?

What else might you add to the list?

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