In a question and answer session in Belfast recently, American Mars Hill Pastor Mark Driscoll questioned whether congregational churches can ever be missional. He was suggesting that a church cannot be both. If he’s right, it’s bad news for those of us in Baptist churches trying to build missionary congregations. What do we think? To help, here are a couple of links to good posts which offer a different view:

Mark Driscoll on Congregational Governance
Source: David Bunce

“It is almost impossible to be missional and congregational”. This apparently sums up Mark Driscoll’s view of congregational governance. Dry, staid and going no-where. How true is that assumption? Read more

Congregational government and missional church
Source: Shored Fragments

Mark Driscoll offers his views on congregational government and missional church life. The headline ‘it is almost impossible to be both congregational and missional’. Some thoughts occur to me in listening, that seem worth recording just because Driscoll makes mistakes that seem to me to be endemic. Read more

How can we make sure that as a congregation we remain mission focussed?