In keeping with the new format of www.missioalliance.org, we are adding a second post every week. This week’s second post is this one by Geoff Holscaw. He also is a Co-Pastor at Life on the Vine Church, and an Affiliate Professor of Theology at Northern Seminary.  You can follow him on Twitter or FB. Read more about him here. Join in this conversation won’t you?
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Tony Jones is asking some great questions about labels, especially about ‘missional.’  He was prompted by one of our very short promo videos where we distinguish between Neo-Reformed and Emergent.  He notes that we “are among the most responsible people for the growth and development of the emergent movement,” to which I say that Tony is giving us far too much credit.

But back to those pesky labels. Often times the best way to understand these labels is not through definitions and criteria, but through stories and lives.  In the “Introduction” Prodigal Christianity Dave and I (Geoff) talk about how we have moved from the ‘Emergent’ to the ‘Missional’ label and what we HOPE that label could mean.  In the Introduction we note that the term ‘missional’ can mean just about anything (and we lament this), but we still hope that it could catalyze a renewal of the church.  If nothing less, we hope our book can contribute to the much larger movement coalescing as Missio Alliance, a group linking churches, denominations, and seminaries among the forgotten Evangelicalism (the non-SBC/Gospel Coalition type of Evangelicals).

Because you can get the Introduction for free on Kindle and Nook, we thought we would just save you the step and post it here.

~ Prodigal Christianity Introduction ~

What do you HOPE for (and or fear) when it comes to ‘missional’? Is there any use in that label? What is its difference from ’emergent’?

(FYI: Prodigal Christianity is now available digitally, and comes out in hardback on March 18th)