Abstract:
This article argues that the term missional is an expression of the global shift towards a
theocentric (rather than ecclesiocentric) understanding of mission. A Missional Community
is a concrete, local embodiment of this missional ecclesiology and it comes to be through
discerning its particular and ongoing vocation in the cosmic missio Dei. It is for this reason that
we argued that communal vocation discernment lies at the heart of the Missional Community’s
life and practice. This practice births, energises and renews the Missional Community in the
wake of the boundary-breaking Spirit’s work in the local neighbourhood or context. Because
communal vocation discernment is central to Missional Communities it seemed prudent to ask
which other communities or traditions see discernment as central to their life and practice. In
Western Christianity, the Quakers stand out as a significant example of communal discernment
as their normal way of making decisions. We sought to answer whether the Quaker practice
of communal discernment, in the Meeting for Worship in which Business is Conducted, is a
suitable model for communal vocation discernment in Missional Communities. We suggested
that it was not suitable in so far as it did not express an explicit commitment to being
grounded and connected to a place or neighbourhood as a prerequisite for discernment. We
suggested that it was suitable in so far as it continually reminds the community that communal
discernment is not simply about making decisions or finding your vocation but at its heart is an
act of worship. This awareness in the Quakers is primarily achieved through naming communal
discernment spaces as worship spaces and through the strategic use of silence. We also suggested
that the Quaker commitment to unity and dissent creates space for belonging, agency and
responsibility in the community and that this is something which Missional Communities
would do well to appropriate in their own communal vocation discernment.
