J.R. Briggs

An interview with Mick Noel

November 6, 2009

Biblical Seminary started a new program this fall, a Masters degree in Missional Church Planting. The program was created with the intention to equip missional church planters for deeper engagement in their contexts. Leading this new program is Mick Noel. Recently I interviewed Mick and asked him to tell us a bit more about Biblical and the Missional Church Planting course.

What is your specific role at Biblical Seminary and how long have you been on staff?

I am in my fourth year as the Executive Director of Catalyst for Missional Leadership (C4ML), the ministry center of the Seminary.  I also direct two of the Seminary programs, The DMin in Missional Leadership and the MA Missional Church Planting. My time is split between the academic  responsibilities and working with clients of the ministry center.

In your opinion, what makes Biblical unique from other seminaries? What is its unique contribution to the kingdom in higher education?

All the faculty are in agreement that the Scriptures are rightly understood through the missional lens. The God of the Bible is a God on mission who invites us to participate in that mission. Every discipline is taught with a view that the mission of God is the unifying principle. I am unaware of any other seminary that has succeeded in that level of unity in its pedagogical approach. A byproduct of this is that the courses taught at Biblical have an interdisciplinary feel to them and are not only intellectually stimulating but intensely practical for student-practioners.

How is this unique vision fleshed out with the faculty, staff and students practically?

Basically, if you are in the Biblical community, you are going to be part of the ongoing conversation about how we are to live missionally. There are surely implications for our churches but the beginning place is to  help one another understand what it means to live on mission with our Lord. We really believe that everyone brings insight to the conversation and we take the insights of each one seriously- without regard to their “role” in the school. For us “missional” is not an academic construct but a way of life.

What are you most excited about for the future of C4ML? of Biblical? of the Church?

What began as a vague unrest on the part of many some years ago that something was “amiss” in the American church is giving way to a positive and proactive commitment to reclaiming the essence of the church as the people of Christ who see joining Him in his mission as a primary act of discipleship. In my 3+ years the questions that church leaders are asking are changing. There is growing understanding across denominational lines and theological perspectives that the Mission of God  is a good starting point for seeking renewed vitality and fresh perspective on what is important. The questions are no longer “ should we do this” but “how do we lead the change required to re-center on His mission?”

The word “missional” is a popular buzzword lately. How would you define that?

You are right about that! It’s pretty amazing how the word is(mis)used.  For me “missional” is an organizing principle that reflects the essential impulse of the God of the Bible as initiator of  redemption and sender of the redeemed.  For believers “missional” calls for  a commitment to “be sent” into the world in representation of the God who redeems. For the local church “missional” becomes the critical evaluative grid as to whether our priorities and behaviors are congruent with the God we worship or whether we have succumbed to the dominant Western culture which conditions us to be wholly preoccupied with self-interests. The church that would be organized around mission – will start changing the focus from “what do we want” to “what is God doing among us and around us that He invites us to join Him in doing?”

I know Biblical works with Lance Ford and Alan Hirsch at Shapevine. What projects have you worked on – or are currently working on – with Shapevine?

The major one is the MA Missional Church Planting. We are collaborating in an effort to develop a robust curriculum that is includes both resident classes and online classes. Shapevine has been working with on-line programming for awhile and has been at the center of the missional conversation from early on. Both Lance and Alan are good conversation partners for talking through the issues and making sure we are addressing the felt needs of practitioners. Through the Shapevine platform, we are able to provide a greater variety of instructors than we can with our resident faculty.

Alan Hirsch is one of the sharpest missional leaders I’ve been around. The man is brilliant. But don’t you think Alan is shorter in person than you thought? At least he seemed that way to me…

Now that you mention it- I think you are right. I think he has asked those filming him to use a camera angle that makes him look taller on video. I also suspect that he really has no accent at all but uses that Aussie vernacular to add “perceived authority” to his teaching Actually Alan is a real pleasure to work with and an insightful person. I am regularly challenged by him to go one level deeper.

You work a lot with church planters and leaders. Tell me a bit more about the new Missional Church Planting program.

We are hopeful that this program will allow church planters to stay engaged in their ministries without the need to be extracted in pursuit of further guided study. The context for life and ministry becomes the laboratory for experimenting with what the student is learning. We encourage our students to be creative in their imaginations of “congregation.” We want to think with our students about how we can design community that is organic,  simpler, incarnational and transformational. How can we create Christian community without excessive dependence on buildings, big budgets and complex programming?   We hope the program proves helpful in creating models that further the missional conversation.

What are the types of students you’re looking for with this program?

We seek men and women who are interested in approaching church planting from a missional perspective and who are willing to do some deep processing of their theology and practices. We also require potential students to be respectful of the different traditions and perspectives of others in the program. We value diversity of polity, ethnicity and gender to enrich the conversation.

Tell me a story or two of a Biblical grad who is living and leading missionally with regard to what Biblical teaches and embodies, specifically in what you do.

Biblical Seminary seeks to develop grads who understand that we don’t need pre-packaged  solutions but the willingness to create communities of Christ followers who  pray,  listen carefully to their context, experiment with ministry to find effectiveness and are sent as a community into their context. We are learning much about what is essential and what is tangential.

I work with a variety of coaching clients who serve in various ministry roles and in diverse contexts. In addition to church planters, I have clients who are pastors of established congregations and one who is a district superintendent in his denomination. Most are here in the East but some are in places like Minnesota and South Dakota. Some are in urban environments, some minister in the suburbs and others are in small towns. What they all have in common is that they are serious about leading their communities into a more mission-centered approach to life and ministry.

That’s great. Talk a little bit about the importance of context in ministry.

In a very real sense their experiments and experiences in applying missional principles are the proving grounds for the theories we teach. We are passionate about finding rhythms, processes and strategies that are Biblically sound and effective. Since all missional ministry is contextual – we are continuing to learn much about what this looks like in different places. Since leading change is stress-filled and often unwelcome, I see my role as providing a safe conversation partner and encouragement for those who dare to lead missional change. We try to keep it real while lending perspective. This is an important time in the American church and I really believe the missional conversation is a trans-denominational move of the Spirit Who seeks to revive His church.

If you’d like to know more about this program check out the Catalyst for Missional Leadership website.

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