Missional is no longer the new buzzword it once was in books and articles about how to do church. Now it’s simply part of the vocabulary church leaders use to describe and define their philosophy of ministry. In the last 15 years, scores of books have been written about how to be or become a missional church. In The Church as Movement, though, JR Woodward and Dan White have created a textbook and workbook of sorts that can assist readers in starting the kinds of missional communities for which they advocate.

This primer on starting missional-incarnational communities is written on the premise that what the authors refer to as "the Christian-industrial complex” must be disavowed if one desires to start a movement. For them, that means accepting the idea that the American church is in crisis, though it may not know it yet. Woodward and White say the success of mega churches and mega ministries have masked an underlying issue that needs exposing, that the apparent success of the American church has been built on a faulty foundation. It’s the foundation of strategic programs and charismatic CEO leaders at the expense of incarnational, gift-oriented ministry of every believer in the body and a DNA of discipleship that is easily replicable.

The book describes eight competencies required for starting and sustaining missional-incarnaional communities, which are the core element of any church planting movement. The eight competencies break down into four primary areas of concern to every church leader: leadership, discipleship, ministry systems and incarnational living. Even while the missional-focused instruction in the book is not always unique, the real value in this work may be as much about the workbook and its questions as the chapter content.

At its heart, this book is about church as movement. It’s about starting churches that are built to go viral, reproducing and multiplying throughout every corner of America and the world. To accomplish that, the authors propose four requirements in chapter one: dogmatic depth, ecclesial essentials, minimalist methods and transferable tools. The balance of the book shows how to implement these values.

It is important to note that Woodward and White don’t use the word missional lightly. What they propose in this book is not an attractional church with an emphasis on small groups and outreach. They’re advocating a totally different kind of church. One that starts small and moves slow with discipleship as its DNA.

The missional church they describe is not led primarily by a charismatic CEO leader, but by a group of believers working and serving in their gifts in a collegial approach that encourages shared leadership, responsibility and authority.

This church majors on relationships. Discipleship happens not from a stage, but in a living room.

This church majors on relationships. Discipleship happens not from a stage, but in a living room. Unbelievers are not welcomed into a sanctuary first, but to a dinner table. Outreach isn’t a special event, but part of everyday life where the church interacts with the community and works for its good.

Of course, the ecclesial structures of the church as well as its missiology and theology must be developed in a way that encourages and facilitates this mode of church. This represents a radical departure from what many in the twenty-first century church have come to identify as the right or best way of doing church.

To be sure, starting missional communities is not for everyone. Many starting churches today would find it difficult to take the low and slow approach these authors suggest, even going so far as to avoid large worship gatherings and structures that would require centralized rather than distributive leadership. However, what Woodward and White have done here is important and deserves the attention even of those who may not see eye to eye with their philosophy. No matter the kind or style of your church, all of us need to be confronted with other ways of making disciples and starting churches.

The Church as Movement describes how to start ministries that are place-based, discipleship-focused and community forming…and those are critical issues for Christian leaders to consider. Moreover, the questions they pose concerning  elements of a church’s missional culture in Chapter 6 and their structure for how to ask missionary questions of your neighborhood in Chapter 8 are worth the price of the book.

Book Reviewed: JR Woodward and Dan White Jr., The Church as Movement (IVP Books, 2016).