One of the great disasters of the “missional” ideology in Reformed churches is trading off the primacy of the family(covenant theology) for attractional pragmatism. Result: churches don’t focus on building fathers, strong marriages, nor training parents to do catechesis, etc.

From the OT to the NT, the primary means of growing and sustaining the people of God is throwing the family, not through outsiders. The Reformed tradition used to teach this until it was infected by fundamentalist views of baptism & conversionism. https://www.amazon.com/Covenant-Family-Harriet-Gerard-Groningen/dp/B00458PD1Y/ref=mp_s_a_1_13?dchild=1&qid=1596717444&refinements=p_27%3AGerard+Van+Groningen&s=books&sr=1-13

This why in the Anglican & Dutch Reformed traditions for ex, churches are planted *WITH* Christians K-12 schools. There’s a high value for Christian education. Missional churches don’t start schools & don’t champion & celebrate Christian K-12 schools or Christian colleges.

More broadly, the Lutheran traditional did the same thing. Planted churches AND schools simultaneously because having spiritually formed children pre-K through college is the future of the church’s growth. This *was* basic Reformational thinking. https://www.lea.org 

The theological deficiency of devaluing the kingom role the family as the 1st means of growing/sustaining the church (as the entire canon demonstrates) has undermined the health & influence of Christian institutions & their role in leveraging social justice for the common good.

The irony is that many Reformed folks lament the cultural decline of Christianity while not investing the Bible’s plan for sustaining it. It’s an overread of Acts. Meanwhile, Muslims in the West continue to grow by doing what Christians used to do: invest in nurturing families.

One massive consequence is the side-lining of men/fathers b/c “missional” depends on relationships & high EQ skills. Reducing Christianity to the book of Acts, is creating a massive gender disparity. Men tend to work to do the actual work, not to redefine it as evangelicalism.

Prove me wrong: find a Reformed church that promotes “missional” XYZ & also champions home schooling, has started Christian schools for children of believers K-12, promotes Christian colleges, or prefers fathers nurturing teenage guys, moms & girls, over youth pastors, etc.