• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
ChurchPlants

ChurchPlants

Looking to plant a church? Find free ideas on how to get started, church planting tips, and establish a strong healthy church. Browse now!

  • Teams
  • Growth
  • Leadership
  • Strategy
  • Finances
  • Free Downloads
You are here: Home / Articles / Ed Stetzer: What Does Missional Mean?

Ed Stetzer: What Does Missional Mean?

June 17, 2025 by Ed Stetzer Articles, Strategy

what does missional mean
what does missional mean
Adobe Stock #1112832887

Part 5: Defining and Living the Missional Mandate

I must confess I have taken a longer hiatus than intended from my Meanings of Missional series. Now, I’d like to return to the meat of the discussion as we seek together to define—and more importantly to live—the missional mandate.

Theological Understanding of the Sending

We have talked together about the way many of those who embraced the concept of the missio dei—or, at least, embraced the expression—seemed to propel the church out of the missionary conversation entirely. Needless to say, those were extreme views. And it would be silly to assume that proponents of the missio dei hold such views today. But, it is also silly not to consider what happened when the missio dei got confused. This was not a theoretical happening. In the 1950s and ’60s, this view shipwrecked much of the world mission enterprise. We need to be careful to avoid the error by taking the best of the discussion and guarding from the errors.

RELATED: The Biggest Missional Lie

In the past  have talked a lot about H.H. Rosin. Interestingly—and I will just touch on it here and come back to it in later posts since the topic is becoming increasingly important—H. H. Rosin and some others expressed concern about the Trinitarian nature of mission, which is resurfacing in modern missional conversations. In his analysis of the missio dei, Rosin seems to take issue with the assumptions surrounding God’s nature and his mission. He is concerned about the Trinitarian rooting of some of the ideas.

What does missional mean? Rosin wrote:

In Trinitarian terminology, mission must be distinguished clearly from (aeterna) procession:

One understands the sending to be a message stemming from an inner-divine order, from one divine person through another to creation. (H.H. Rosin, Missio Dei, Interuniversity Institute for Missiological and Ecumenical Research, 1972: 2.9)

Thus, you can see the controversy when Hoekendijk takes a stab at What does missional mean? “Mission, sending, is first of all an intra-Trinitarian term. Mission is a movement within God Himself.’ (Feier der Befreiung, “Was ist Mission?” In: Kontexte 4, 1967, 126; as cited in Rosin)

Pages:Page Previous page Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter

About Ed Stetzer

Ed Stetzer is President of LifeWay Research and LifeWay’s Missiologist in Residence. He has trained pastors and church planters on five continents, holds two masters degrees and two doctorates, and has written dozens of articles and books. Ed is a contributing editor for Christianity Today, a columnist for Outreach Magazine and Catalyst Monthly, serves on the advisory council of Sermon Central and Christianity Today's Building Church Leaders, and is frequently cited or interviewed in news outlets such as USAToday and CNN.

« Previous Post
Next Post »

Primary Sidebar

Church Planting Jobs

Search Here

Christian News Now

Enter your email for tips on how to have a thriving church!

Footer

Company

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Advertise
  • Terms of Service
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Get Email Updates
  • Christian News Now

Copyright © 2025 ChurchPlants

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Advertise
  • Terms of Service