Difference between a Missional Church and a Church with a mission program?

A church with a mission program usually sees mission as one activity alongside many activities of the church – Christian education, worship, acts of service, hospitality and other programs. A missional church focuses its activities around its participation in God’s mission in the world. That means, it trains people for discipleship and witness; it worships and practices mutual support before the watching world. A church with a mission sends others to witness on its behalf. A missional church understands that the congregation itself is sent by God to proclaim and to be a sign of the reign of God. Just as God sent Jesus, now Jesus sends the church (Jn..20:21).

Missional Church Hallmarks

Here are some of the hallmarks of the missional church (certainly open for discussion):
• The missional church proclaims the gospel
• The missional church is a community where all members are involved in learning to become disciples of Jesus
• The bible is normative in the Missional churches life
• The missional church understands itself as different from the world because of its participation in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
• The missional church seeks to discern God’s specific missional vocation for the entire community and all of its members
• A missional church community is indicated by how Christians behave toward one another
• A missional church is a community that practices reconciliation
• People within the missional church community hold themselves accountable to one another in love
• The missional church practices hospitality
• Missional church worship is the central act by which the community celebrates with joy and thanksgiving both God’s presence and God’s promised future
• The missional church community has a vital public witness
• There is a recognition that the missional church itself is an incomplete expression of the reign of God