Missional Amnesia

Have you ever used a Catholic buzz word like missionary disciple or missional church and received blank looks in return? It’s a surprising experience, but the reality is many Catholics still don’t know what the word missional means.

It used to be that missionaries were the people who traveled to Africa, and the Church in America grew because Catholics had big families. Our biggest problem used to be caring for all of the people who came to the Church’s doorstep, but now, we find ourselves trying to proclaim the Gospel to a world that doesn’t know much about who Jesus is or what the Church is really about.

Many of us even know a family member or friend who has walked away from the faith, but it’s often difficult for us to believe that this is part of a larger cultural trend. However, the reality is that the city of Omaha is among the top 30 most secular or “post-Christian” cities in the US.

Collectively, we have missional amnesia. We’ve forgotten that we are called to go and make disciples. We lack an imagination around what a missional church looks likes because, until recently, we haven’t had to be one.

On today’s podcast, Fr. Lorig and Jim Jansen answer questions such as:

  1. Why are we supposed to be missional?
  2. What are some of the structures, languages, and seasons that we need to reexamine in order to be missional?
  3. What sorts of things do we have in place in our parish that intentionally go after people outside of the faith?
  4. Because the mass is such a big part of who we are, it’s hard to imagine introducing someone to Jesus outside of the liturgy. How can it be done?
  5. What are 1-2 baby steps to becoming missional for a pastor, his staff, and parish families?
  6. What do you say to someone who asks what a missional church is?

As for that last question, here’s the definition they came up with: A missional church is one that looks for people who are on the outside of the faith, and does anything short of sin to bring them back.

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2 Responses to “Missional Amnesia”

Such a fantastic podcast !!!! Thanks.

Thanks so much for this! Great topic and great timing!

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