In order to develop a pioneering missional spirit, a capacity for genuine ecclesial innovation, let along engender daring discipleship, we are going to need the capacity to take a courageous stand when and where necessary.

But herein lies the rub: Christianity has been on a long-term trend of decline in every Western cultural context that we can identify.

It's not so much that the church has a mission, it's that the mission of God has a church.

Unless the church is equipping believers to embrace the values and vision of the kingdom of God and turn away from the materialism, consumerism, greed, and power of the present age, it not only abandons its biblical mandate, it is rendered missionally ineffective.

Truth is narrow, but grace is wide.

A missional church is a church that must live the dialectic. It must stay in the journey.

In order to develop a pioneering missional spirit, a capacity for genuine ecclesial innovation, let along engender daring discipleship, we are going to need the capacity to take a courageous stand when and where necessary.