Living a Missional Lifestyle: Perceptions of European Generation Y

Christian mission by its very nature looks outwards, and ideally takes place beyond the walls of the church building. The missional conversation has placed this outward focus at the centre of what it means to be ‘church’, and any missional authors focus on how the structures of the church can facilitate mission. But the Church of Christ is the body of believers, and they are the incarnated ones sent to engage with the world.  As Van Gelder and Zcheile (2011) explain, ‘the internal life of the missional church focuses on every believer living as a disciple engaging in mission.”

The missionally-minded are encouraged to live a ‘missional lifestyle’. However living missionally means engaging with a particular culture and context, and there has been resistance to creating a definitive set of practices that make up such a way of life. This gives great freedom to adapt your activities to your individual mission context. However when trying to influence others to live missionally, it helps if you both mean similar things when using the phrase “missional lifestyle”.

Between January and March 2012, I carried out some small-scale research amongst 18-30 year-old Christian Europeans, in order to discover their perceptions of a missional lifestyle. The young people surveyed were attending a Christian conference that aimed to inspire them to ‘transform our world’ through living missionally (www.mission-net.org). Their home countries included Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, UK, Finland, Portugal and Austria. So what do they think a missional lifestyle includes?

A missional lifestyle happens anywhere

The incarnational aspect of a missional lifestyle means there is an emphasis on it happening in everyday life, as a Swiss respondent commented:

It’s not a profession (like missionary) but it’s a lifestyle; you ‘do’ it everyday, with all you are, wherever you are, with whomever you spend your time.

This emphasis did not preclude the respondents being prepared to go elsewhere as missionaries if that was what God called them to – but they saw no difference to what a missional lifestyle included whether it was “right here”, or “over there”.

Living missionally involves loving and serving others

More 18-30 year olds saw loving and serving others as part of a missional lifestyle than an authentic Christian lifestyle. For example, a 22-year old from the UK, currently working in Hungary, considered a missional lifestyle to be trusting God; putting others first; honouring God’s word; embracing others; loving those you are called to.

When asked how they put this into practice, their answers included specific ministries such as refugee counselling, as well as spending time with people who have few friends or helping my parents and siblings with the dishes or banal things like that…not a big deal, but a little service and possibly an example.

However the individualistic emphasis of this generation gets in the way – as a 19 year old from Finland admits, it’s easy to forget that this life isn’t all about me.

“the internal life of the missional church focuses on every believer living as a disciple engaging in mission”

Living missionally requires a deep relationship with God

For these respondents the source of their ability to love and serve others is through spending time with God. For example, one respondent admires her sister because

At first she spends a lot of time with God. He is like a friend, just next to her… And then it’s just so natural for her to be among people, asking and listening to them and telling them how she experiences God.

Jesus is the example of a missional lifestyle

The respondents aspired to ‘live what Jesus did on earth’ or ‘walk in Jesus’ footsteps’ as an essential part of a missional lifestyle.  This reflects the incarnational emphasis in missional thinking, however for the young people, self centeredness and pride make living like Jesus more of an aspiration than a perceived reality in their lives.

It is still tough to be meek and humble as Jesus is, says one, while another admits distraction by prioritising other things in this world, gets in the way.

Living missionally means sharing the Gospel

Alongside the emphasis on incarnationally loving and serving those around you, a missional lifestyle for 18-30 year-olds still includes sharing the Gospel.  For some this means being involved in church related activities, such as a regular children’s outreach or inviting classmates to a special event in their youth group.

For others it happens in the context of everyday life through sharing my testimony, listening to people and learning what they think or answering the questions my classmates have patiently and kindly.  Fear of what others think is a deterrent to sharing the Gospel – perhaps reflecting their preference for consensus and teamwork, as is the fact that when people just accept that I’m a Christian it is tough to actually stir them.

Social action and justice issues are not a high priority

Perhaps those surveyed went to churches that emphasised Gospel proclamation over social action, but very few mentioned this or justice issues as part of a missional lifestyle. Even the majority of their examples of loving and serving people focused on their immediate everyday context rather than being involved in social action or volunteering projects.

A missional lifestyle is different from an authentic Christian lifestyle

Only about a third of respondents considered a missional lifestyle to be the same as an
authentic Christian lifestyle. For the others, living missionally involved “more obedience and trust”, self-sacrifice and at times courage.  As a 21 year old German comments, I think an authentic Christian lifestyle SHOULD BE a missional lifestyle. But we forget too often and separate both. So only the radical Christians live the missional lifestyle while the ‘normal Christians’ live the ‘normal’ lifestyle.

Other questions in the survey focused on what helped these young people live missionally. The overwhelming answer is the example of other people – usually those they know personally, including family, friends and other Christians.  While attending church did not rank highly as an influence, relationships with other Christians within the church were important, as a 27 year old from Finland states, it offers a community of brothers and sisters that can help each other living the same way.

A missional lifestyle is hard. It involves sacrifice and effort to see people won for Christ. But it is rewarding too. Many young people have caught the vision and are living missionally in creative and counter-cultural ways. For many more it is an aspiration rather than a reality.  Are we (older Christians) prepared to invest the time with those around us to not only be an example, but to listen, mentor and encourage them? Only then will we – all generations – be able to touch a broken world with God’s love and bring the transformation it so badly needs.

Joanne Appleton 

Reference: 

Van Gelder, C. and Zscheile, D. J. (2011) The Missional Church in Perspective: Mapping Trends and Shaping the Conversation, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.

Joanne completed this research as part of an MA in European Mission and Intercultural Christianity at Redcliffe College. Further information about the MA programme available from study@redcliffe.org or www.redcliffe.org/europe-ma