A few days ago I got word that a couple guys have started a website dedicated to churches who want to be “missional” in a suburban context. (For a great definition of “missional” see Joe Thorn’s post here.) The website is called sub•text and I’m pumped it’s here!For quite some time it seemed that most of the talk about missional churches centered on urban congregations. This naturally gave birth to helpful conferences, articles and messages detailing how those churches could be positioned both theologically and practically “for the city” (an oft-repeated rally cry). While I believe it’s a very important discussion, at times it may have left some suburban church leaders scrambling to figure out how to apply what they were hearing to their own environmental contexts. Not that it was an entirely huge issue (good leaders often do well at discerning and implementing what they are learning to their own contexts…that’s what makes them good leaders), but I must admit it’s refreshing and exciting to see ministries created like sub•text.
Now growing numbers of suburban churches have a place to dialogue about trying to reach souls and contextualize the Gospel “for the suburbs“. Only time will tell if it is an effective instrument in helping suburban churches become more Gospel-centered in who they are and what they do, but I think it’s a promising start.
