Missional: What Does This Mean?

My friend Jim Pierce, on his blog Confessional's Bytes, has a post that gets to the heart of the use of the word "missional." Here's a portion of his post:

"Missional" means something more than "missions", where I have read the word in use. Typically the word "missional" is used to define the Church pragmatically, the Church is a body doing missions. How about that? I think there in is why both of my eyebrows are raised and my teeth clench when I hear or read the word "missional". The Church is no longer defined as "the congregation of saints" where the "outward marks" of the Church "are the pure doctrine of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments in accordance with the Gospel of Christ" (Apology VII and VIII). In other words, "missional" defines the Church on the basis of what it's members do to promote the Gospel; where as, the Scriptural definition of the Church is grounded upon what Christ is doing in the world through His means of grace: the preached Word of God, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper.