Wednesday, June 25, 2008

What is missional?

a Biblical thought...
God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing. (Eph 2:10)

a Book thought...
Busters learn best experientially. As they participate in activities and get involved emotionally, they receive the most benefit from the teaching.
a Dave thought...
Let us be very clear about what it is not first. It is NOT a method, model, style, agenda, program, or even an exhaustive theology. Missional is a stance, a way of thinking, a lifestyle.
I’ve often said that missional is a way of life where “the way of Jesus*” informs and radically transforms our existence to one wholly focused on sacrificially living for him and others and where we adopt a missionary stance in relation to our culture. It speaks of the very nature of the Jesus follower.

Ask yourself, are we merely devotees, who, as a mark of our faith, attend church weekly, participate in a bible study and often invite a friends or neighbors to join us? Or are we disciples of Jesus whose life is consumed 24/7/365 with, as Hirsch stated it, “the practical outworking of the mission of God (the missio dei) and of the incarnation”? Most operate in the former when God calls us to the latter. Missional is about the latter. So why does the average Jesus followers labor to understand Gods call and to live it out?

I am one who wants to be consumed with the mission of God 24/7, but my default setting is certainly based around attending certain Christian gatherings. It is a constant challenge to live out the gospel in our everyday lives. Our movement certainly was set up to be missional through various means such as soldiership which was a 24/7 sold out commitment not just a turn up on Sunday approach to the call of Jesus.

Just a thought.

1 comment:

Rossco said...

Dave, constantly attending Christian events is one of the the hazards of a THQ appointment! Thank God you're aware of it. In fact its a danger we all face in institutional church. I grapple with it every day as well.Pray that God will make us courageous enough to do something about it.