The second feature is Missional Misgivings by Dan Kimball. In this article Kimball raises the question of whether there is the evidence to support the claim that the missional model is working.
What I found particularly interesting about Showtime was how they sought to move from anonymity to community. This seems to coincide with Conrad's point that we've made the kingdom of God an individual matter with community implications when in fact it might just be about community with implications for the individual.
Kimball's article is helpful in opening up the debate about how attractional and missional could, maybe even should, co-exist. I know some people see missional as a replacement for and a more authentic expression of true mission than the attractional model, but the bottom line is that the attractional model, however flawed it might be, does have a track record of seeing people come to faith. And whether you are a missional advocate or an attractional advocate isn't this one of your primary goals?
I guess I might just be odd in that I am committed to discovering a missional model for the local church that enables everyone to be involved in ministry and mission, incarnating the gospel in every area of community life, and I'm committed to wanting the local church to be attractive as a place to explore the questions we have and the solutions the bible offers. I don't see these as incompatible either/or's rather both/and. Mission with incarnation is just a show a and the first article tells us all we need to know about how potentially dangerous that can be.
