Missional Action Planning (MAP)
What is MAP?
Missional Action Planning or MAP is a mindset and a process to better enable 100 percent of our congregations to become 100 percent vital and thriving.
MAP is an acronym for Missional Action Planning.
Missional: We are a missional people. When we say missional we mean each of us is sent by God into this world and made in the image of God. We are sent to follow the actions and teachings of Jesus. Furthermore, Jesus calls us to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world; to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind. To love our neighbor as ourselves. What could this love look like? What could being and cultivating Beloved Community, a community in which everyone is cared for, absent of poverty, hunger, and hate look like? And what would it look like with cultural humility, justice, empathy, and compassion?
Action: We all have the power to act. MAP invites us to amplify our God-given power to act, moving beyond the mere rhetoric of being missional. It advocates for intentional action steps tailored to our context. Recognizing the gap between churches, communities, and God's desired future, we must stay true to the gospel by addressing human needs and creating just change. This may entail shifting focus from perfecting current ministries to innovating for a post-Covid church and community. While remaining faithful to God and God’s word, we’re prayerfully engaging new collaborators, and prophetic actions, and embracing trial-and-error learning for missional growth.
Planning: We plan so that we might collectively and strategically engage in mission together . Simply put, “Mission strategy is a divinely inspired plan to build authentic relationships, organize people, utilize assets and liberate congregations for the thriving of communities.” Each of these four aspects are multipliers of mission strategy. The enemies of mission strategy are disconnection, division, distrust and disbelief and are to be minimized in the church and society.
Missional Action Planning or MAP is a mindset and a process to better enable 100 percent of our congregations to become 100 percent vital and thriving.
MAP is an acronym for Missional Action Planning.
Missional: We are a missional people. When we say missional we mean each of us is sent by God into this world and made in the image of God. We are sent to follow the actions and teachings of Jesus. Furthermore, Jesus calls us to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world; to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind. To love our neighbor as ourselves. What could this love look like? What could being and cultivating Beloved Community, a community in which everyone is cared for, absent of poverty, hunger, and hate look like? And what would it look like with cultural humility, justice, empathy, and compassion?
Action: We all have the power to act. MAP invites us to amplify our God-given power to act, moving beyond the mere rhetoric of being missional. It advocates for intentional action steps tailored to our context. Recognizing the gap between churches, communities, and God's desired future, we must stay true to the gospel by addressing human needs and creating just change. This may entail shifting focus from perfecting current ministries to innovating for a post-Covid church and community. While remaining faithful to God and God’s word, we’re prayerfully engaging new collaborators, and prophetic actions, and embracing trial-and-error learning for missional growth.
Planning: We plan so that we might collectively and strategically engage in mission together . Simply put, “Mission strategy is a divinely inspired plan to build authentic relationships, organize people, utilize assets and liberate congregations for the thriving of communities.” Each of these four aspects are multipliers of mission strategy. The enemies of mission strategy are disconnection, division, distrust and disbelief and are to be minimized in the church and society.
Like the community of believers in Acts 2, MAP calls us to leverage our resources and strengthen our presence in our communities for good. At the church, community, district and conference levels MAP invites us to collectively discern, prioritize, and steward resources as we seek to love God and our neighbor. In so doing, we become 100% vital.
District MAP teams – or dMAP teams – stand ready as part of the support structure to assist in the work of individual churches, cooperative parishes, and collaborative hubs that are pursuing 100 percent vitality. We call this grassroots activity iMAP.
Watch this video to understand what we mean by vitality.
District MAP teams – or dMAP teams – stand ready as part of the support structure to assist in the work of individual churches, cooperative parishes, and collaborative hubs that are pursuing 100 percent vitality. We call this grassroots activity iMAP.
Watch this video to understand what we mean by vitality.
You and your congregation are on a journey to vitality. Regardless of where you begin, you will need to navigate through several common points of growth along the way. No two churches are the same. There are many starting points, many destinations, and God-sized adventures all along the way. As churches become 100% vital we anticipate seeing the fruit of that vitality inside and outside the church walls. The fruit will be as varied and unique as churches and neighborhoods are.
Each church is invited to join this journey toward vitality through MAP. Download this brochure to learn more about indIvidual church or cooperative parish Missional Action Planning (iMAP) journey.
There are resources available for each stop along the journey.
You will likely need to revisit the above four stops as you deepen your learning and understanding of where God is calling and to test/implement the idea(s). It is not a to do list, but an iterative process. As you dream and discern, God may call you to re-imagine the use of your space (e.g., repurpose or reconfigure space for strategic, missional partnership). It this requires property re-development with significant investment, you'll want to create a request for proposal to find an expert tour guide before embarking to Pre-Development. See resources and contact information for our Property with Purpose Coordinator.
Each church is invited to join this journey toward vitality through MAP. Download this brochure to learn more about indIvidual church or cooperative parish Missional Action Planning (iMAP) journey.
There are resources available for each stop along the journey.
- Congregational Readiness. Is the congregation able, willing and committed to do the deep work necessary to thrive even if it entails doing things that are uncomfortable or something that we don’t see as a benefit? If you don't know, consider being a part of the Readiness Initiative or taking the Readiness 360 survey.
- Who Are We? Who Are Our Neighbors? Through deep listening, data, prayer and discernment, identify the congregation’s personality, passion, values, purpose and theology and define the pain point or opportunity in the community with those impacted. While Readiness 360 helps us better understand ourselves, MissionInsite is a tool that helps us better understand our neighbors but is only a first step in building relationships with them. Want to go deeper? Consider being a part of the Readiness Initiative, Catalyst Initiative or the Fresh Expressions Academy.
- God-Fueled Imagination. Awaken creativity and possibility, seek clarity of what God is calling the church to, risk and experiment to learn, and intentionally discern how to live out God’s will for the church and its neighbors. Want a guide? Consider being a part of the Catalyst Initiative or the Fresh Expressions Academy.
- Ministry Clarity. Focus on what God is calling the church to by testing concepts with committed neighbors and partners, ensuring there is proven community demand and then developing a growth and sustainability plan. Schedule a conversation with your superintendent and/or Christie Latona who will support you to connect with the next best resource person or process.
You will likely need to revisit the above four stops as you deepen your learning and understanding of where God is calling and to test/implement the idea(s). It is not a to do list, but an iterative process. As you dream and discern, God may call you to re-imagine the use of your space (e.g., repurpose or reconfigure space for strategic, missional partnership). It this requires property re-development with significant investment, you'll want to create a request for proposal to find an expert tour guide before embarking to Pre-Development. See resources and contact information for our Property with Purpose Coordinator.