I was recently leading a missional training workshop, when a man raised his hand and asked, “What does the word ‘missional’ actually mean?” It was a good question. “Missional” is one of those words we can toss around so much, we lose track of its meaning.
I remember first becoming aware of the word sometime in the early 2000’s, probably at an outreach conference. The word quickly became ubiquitous. Christian leaders started slapping it on anything and everything they were advocating or promoting. The result? It soon became a meaningless prefix. “Missional-this and missional-that.”
So, what does the word “missional” actually mean? It’s not a meaningless prefix but a defining adjective.
As you can see, “missional” comes from “mission.” “Mission” is a noun meaning “to be sent with an assignment.” For instance, Jesus was sent by His Father on a mission. That is, He was sent with an assignment, which was to redeem and restore all things to His Father’s Kingdom (see Colossians 1:19-20).
And what is our mission as His followers?
Our mission is to participate with Jesus in accomplishing His mission. He does all the very difficult work of redeeming and restoring people, and we do the work that is so simple even a little child can do it: Look for people who need His love. That is our mission. In other words, as we have been loved, we now go with the assignment of looking for people who need His love, too (see 1 John 4:19 and John 4:35).
Now, when we add the suffix "-al" to “mission,” the noun becomes an adjective, just like “pastor” becomes "pastoral" or “confession” becomes “confessional.”
As you may know, an adjective defines whatever noun comes after it. So, when we say a person or thing is “missional,” we are saying the person or thing is defined by (characterized by, driven by, aimed at accomplishing) the mission of God. In other words, the person or thing is mission-focused. For example:
A “missional Christian” is a Christian who is defined by the mission of God and pursues that assignment as a daily lifestyle.
A “missional Church” is a Church who is defined by the mission of God and makes its decisions based on accomplishing that assignment.
“Missional discipleship” is a process of discipleship [training and mentoring] that is defined by the mission of God and prepares people to participate in accomplishing that assignment as a daily lifestyle.
That’s what “missional” means. We serve a missional God. We follow a missional Savior and He invites us to join Him. May more and more of what we do as His Church be defined by the mission of our God.
As you look ahead to 2026, how can I help you redefine what your congregation is focued on? How can I help you become more intentionally missional?