If The Open Door was all about location, location, location, Hope Community Church (Evangelical Free) is also about location, actually, the lack of location!  The church is located near, but definitely not in, Manitowac, Wisconsin.  The church is primarily surrounded by farmland.  (We later found out that the roads in front and to the side of the church are cross roads for the surrounding area.) Quite candidly, I didn’t know what to expect when I walked into their building, but I can assure you it was a wow experience.

    These folks have got the “attractional” thing down.  The minute Sandy and I walked into the building we were greeted by a hallway that screamed, “We love children.”  Then John Aitken, Associate Pastor, stepped out to greet us and give us a quick tour of the building before beginning our conversation.  From the half basketball court, to the theatre/café where the youth worship by live video feed, to the children’s suite, where we learned about the “Heroes of Mega City,” Hope makes it clear they are seeking to attract folks to their church.  But, for me, that further heightened the question, “What is Hope doing to make missional disciples?”  Quite a bit actually.

    As John talked to us, it became apparent that discipling those who come to Hope is forefront in his mind.  Hope attracts many who have nominal church affiliations in their background, but prior to coming to Hope had given up on church as relevant to their lives. As a result, it’s no real surprise that John concentrates on new member classes and two follow-up classes utilizing both Alpha and Willowcreek’s 5Gs.  (John has written the curriculum for the two follow-up classes, which they call Alpha 2 and Alpha 3.) Furthermore, John in his Scottish brogue (he and his wife moved to the states eight years ago) declared unashamedly, “The light that shines farthest shines brightest at home,”   which may be a way of saying that while Hope is very committed to missions giving (5% now with a target of 10% in the future) and sending mission teams into the world (Japan, Czech Republic and Equador), Hope’s primary missional focus is on bringing people to Christ and helping them grow in their faith.  This raises an interesting and frequently asked question?

    How is being “missional” different from being missions minded?  I ask that question because, in my mind, Hope is reaching the Manitowac community for Christ in a dramatic fashion.  However, I would be very hard pressed to describe Hope’s ethos as missional in the same way The Open Door’s ethos is missional.  Here, I think, is where some comments from those of you further along the missional journey would be very helpful—especially to those of you like my friend Kim, who read the blog, googled missional, and still came away wondering what missional is all about.  So here’s a major shout out for feedback.  Hope you’ll respond.

Picture above left is Hope's youth worship/cafe area.