Breaking The Missional Code Views

General Goods

In Breaking the Missional Code, Ed Stetzer and David Putman try to erase the apparent distinction the church tries to make between missions and evangelism. Missionaries have known...that they must have a profound understanding of their host culture before planning a strategy to reach the unique people group that exists in that cultural context. We have a mindset that mission work is done with totally lost people overseas while evangelism is sharing coffee with our unsaved neighbor. The church's focus needs to be on the lost people in our own communities and the immediate condition of their souls.

The most important message of Breaking the Missional Code is that we must engage the culture and heed the Great Commission. We need to have a deep passion for the lost. We must cry out for our city. John Knox expressed his passion for his people when he said, Give me Scotland or I die. Evangelism/Missions is not an option for the Christian; it is a mandate for every believer. In accomplishing this task, Stetzer and Putman challenge us, We are to engage a culture that is not our own preferred culture. Our job is to take the gospel to each community, not hold on to our preferences. We must fight the urge to live in a Christian subculture and go to places that make us uncomfortable to rely on His Spirit to guide us in sharing His unchanging message for a dying world; that the world is lost and destined for Hell, but upon repentance and faith in Christ who died in our place we may have everlasting life.

While some of the book is a little centered on numbers and church growth , Breaking the Missional Code has a message for our church that cannot be ignored. Our focus must first be on sharing the gospel with our immediate area; all other activities are supplemental to that main objective of seeking and saving the lost.

Ed Stetzer and David Putman’s Breaking the Missional Code gives church leaders the tools needed to become a missional presence in their community. In down-to-earth style, the authors take complex missiological concepts and translate them into achievable church practices. The book covers a lot of ground, addressing how to overcome the barriers to mission within existing models of church. I consider Stetzer and Putman’s work to be a valuable conversation partner in all things missional. I couldn’t be more pleased that so much contextualization material made it into a North American church- planting book.