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Missional Communities: The Rise of the Post-Congregational Church Hardcover – Illustrated, Sept. 27 2011
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From Reggie McNeal, the bestselling author of The Present Future and Missional Renaissance, comes the third book in the series that helps to define and illuminate the popular missional movement. This newest book in the trilogy examines a natural outgrowth of the move toward a missional orientation: the deconstruction of congregations into very small Christian communities. For all those thousands of churches and leaders who have followed Reggie McNeal's bold lead, this book details the rise of a new life form in churches.
- Discusses how to move a church from an internal to an external ministry focus
- Reggie McNeal is a recognized leader in the missional movement
- Outlines an alternative to the program church model that is focused on the projects and passions of the congregants
This book draws on McNeal's twenty years of leadership roles in local congregations and his work over the last decade with thousands of clergy and church leaders.
- ISBN-10047063345X
- ISBN-13978-0470633458
- Edition1st
- PublisherJossey-Bass
- Publication dateSept. 27 2011
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions16 x 2.13 x 23.62 cm
- Print length192 pages
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Product description
From the Inside Flap
Almost a decade ago, in his bestselling book The Present Future, Reggie McNeal talked about the growing phenomenon of post-congregational Christians, people who, for a variety of reasons, choose to pursue their spiritual journey outside the routines and rhythms of the congregational model of church that has dominated religious activity for centuries. This development has created ripe conditions to produce and to nurture a new life form of church that intersects people in the middle of life—in their homes, their workplaces, their leisure pursuits, their passions to help others.
In Missional Communities McNeal shows us this new form of church and how it differs in its rhythms, its celebrations, its activities, and its scorecard. He maintains that it is not for everyone, nor is it the replacement for centuries of church practice. But it is clearly a growing phenomenon that cannot be ignored. At the very heart of the book are stories about some of these new missional communities, each one illustrating a fresh and different chapter in God's work in and through the church. The settings range from Europe to North America, from suburb to city to college campus, from neighborhood to workplace. McNeal presents these stories in the hopes of exciting the imaginations of those attracted to this burgeoning movement—whether they want to get started in their own distinctive way of doing missional community or want to be more missional in their traditional practices.
For all those thousands of churches and leaders who have followed Reggie McNeal's bold lead, Missional Communities offers a vision of a new and vibrant life form in churches.
From the Back Cover
Almost a decade ago, in his bestselling book The Present Future, Reggie McNeal talked about the growing phenomenon of post-congregational Christians, people who, for a variety of reasons, choose to pursue their spiritual journey outside the routines and rhythms of the congregational model of church that has dominated religious activity for centuries. This development has created ripe conditions to produce and to nurture a new life form of church that intersects people in the middle of life—in their homes, their workplaces, their leisure pursuits, their passions to help others.
In Missional Communities McNeal shows us this new form of church and how it differs in its rhythms, its celebrations, its activities, and its scorecard. He maintains that it is not for everyone, nor is it the replacement for centuries of church practice. But it is clearly a growing phenomenon that cannot be ignored. At the very heart of the book are stories about some of these new missional communities, each one illustrating a fresh and different chapter in God's work in and through the church. The settings range from Europe to North America, from suburb to city to college campus, from neighborhood to workplace. McNeal presents these stories in the hopes of exciting the imaginations of those attracted to this burgeoning movement—whether they want to get started in their own distinctive way of doing missional community or want to be more missional in their traditional practices.
For all those thousands of churches and leaders who have followed Reggie McNeal's bold lead, Missional Communities offers a vision of a new and vibrant life form in churches.
About the Author
The Author
Reggie McNeal is the missional leadership specialist for Leadership Network. Drawing on twenty years of leadership roles in local congregations and his work over the last two decades with thousands of clergy and church leaders, McNeal counsels local churches, denominational groups, seminaries and colleges, and parachurch organizations in their leadership development needs.
Product details
- Publisher : Jossey-Bass; 1st edition (Sept. 27 2011)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 192 pages
- ISBN-10 : 047063345X
- ISBN-13 : 978-0470633458
- Item weight : 367 g
- Dimensions : 16 x 2.13 x 23.62 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: #874,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #792 in Christian Leadership (Books)
- #1,652 in Christian Missions & Missionary Work
- #146,439 in Textbooks
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Reggie enjoys helping people, leaders, and Christian organizations pursue more intentional lives. He currently serves as the Missional Leadership Specialist for Leadership Network of Dallas, TX. Reggie’s past experience involves over a decade as a denominational executive and leadership development coach. He also served in local congregational leadership for over twenty years, including being the founding pastor of a new church. Reggie has lectured or taught as adjunct faculty for multiple seminaries, including Fuller Theological (Pasadena, CA), Southwestern Baptist (Ft. Worth, TX), Golden Gate Baptist (San Francisco, CA), Trinity Divinity School (Deerfield, IL), and Columbia International (Columbia, SC). In addition, he has served as a consultant to local church, denomination, and para-church leadership teams, as well as seminar developer and presenter for thousands of church leaders across North America. He has also resourced the United States Army Chief of Chaplains Office, Air Force chaplains, and the Air Force Education and Training Command. Reggie’s work also extends to the business sector, including The Gallup Organization.
Reggie has contributed to numerous denominational publications and church leadership journals, including Leadership and Net Results. His books include Revolution in Leadership (Abingdon Press, 1998), A Work of Heart: Understanding How God Shapes Spiritual Leaders (Jossey-Bass, 2000), The Present Future (Jossey-Bass, 2003), Practicing Greatness (Jossey-Bass, 2006), Get A Life! (Broadman & Holman, 2007). His latest book, Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church (Jossey-Bass, 2009) details the three shifts that church leaders must make to engage the missional movement and offers suggestions for a different scorecard to reflect missional ministry.
Reggie’s education includes a B.A. degree from the University of South Carolina and the M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees both from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Reggie and his wife Cathy, have two daughters, Jessica and Susanna, and make their home in Columbia, South Carolina.
Customer reviews
Top reviews from other countries


A post-congregational culture requires a strategy of engaging people where they already live, work, play, go to school, and pursue their hobbies and passions. This is what missional communities aim to do, and the book goes on to tell the stories of some different types of such communities:
* British and European missional communities, typically of 20 to 50 people and aiming to incarnate the gospel to a particular neighbourhood or network of relationships. Examples of this are St Thomas Sheffield and Valgmenighed Church in Denmark.
* Soma Communities, a group of around one hundred missional communities in the US.
* University campus missional communities.
* Future Travelers, a group of megachurches which are attempting to become launching pads for missional movements of the future. Particular examples include Austin Stone and Community Christian Church.
* Mission Houston, which uses a spiritual formation process called Faithwalking to develop missional followers of Jesus, who then form missional communities.
The book does not claim to be a how-to manual on setting up and running missional communities; indeed the diversity of the examples given shows that there are many different successful approaches. The stories are descriptive, and no attempt is made to critique the communities described or compare their effectiveness with other models of church. What the book does do is provide a range of stories which provide ideas and inspiration for those who are considering a missional community church model.

I will be referring back to this book often as we participate in what God is doing in HIS church!
IF YOU ARE IN MINISTRY...BUY THIS BOOK NOW!

