Our introduction to missional here at the Port Orchard Church came from Church Innovations via Abilene Christian University. It was 3-4 years ago at Cascade College's annual Elder Link conference in Portland, OR when Mark Love of Abilene initially spoke to over 100 church leaders from around the Northwest. He talked about reviving the evangelistic vibrancy of the early church. He talked passionately about theories of atonement and deep wanderings of a critical thinker wrestling to know the mind of God. He explored worlds of theological depth that were new to many, reminding everyone of the vastness of God which we have yet to comprehend.
Then God began challenging our assumptions. Could it be that in order to please God in today's world, His church might end up looking different from what we are used to, even as different as today's church differs from the church of 2000 years ago? Indeed, the Church of Christ in America developed to fit a modern culture very different than the time of Christ. Likewise, most other modern churches are equally contrasting in comparison with the cultural backdrop of the ancient church. Sadly, many still struggle for credibility in today's cultural milieu. Although few modern churches truly strive to duplicate the outward appearances of the early church, today's Messianic Jewish Christians might come the closest. While their Passover Seder meal is historically very "first century" it seems almost otherworldly to the rest of us. It is clear then that, over the centuries, culture has played and continues to play a big role in the outward appearance of God's church. Could it be that this is by design? Could it be that from the beginning God intended to use the outward adaptations of His church to engage culture (in the world) without being absorbed by the culture (not of the world)? It was Paul the apostle who said, "I became all things to all men in order to win some." [Seeds were planted.]
Mark invited us to consider a partnership that would provide a framework for congregational growth in exchange for our collaborative engagement in God's evangelistic calling. [Sounds good so far.] In short, it would amount to redefining church. [Uh oh. Here's where the heresy part comes in, right? After all, who are we to redefine the church?] It turns out we need to move away from defining church as merely God's people that are "Called" but rather God's people that are "Called and Sent."
Hmmm... Well that's rather harmless. In fact it sounds familiar. It sounds a lot like the very way Port Orchard has historically viewed the gospel; something to be shared. If it isn't worth sharing then what good is it, only to be thrown out and trampled by men? Yet there is something eerily thought provoking about "Called and Sent." What have I done lately to fulfill my calling to be sent? Where have I gone? Who have I gone to? Some answers from the past come to mind but recent answers prove more elusive. The local church has not grown numerically in a number of years, not to mention other downward spiralling church statistics across the country. What is happening? Is it possible that a subtle shift has so gradually taken place in our collective minds that without us really knowing it, Satan has rationalized the church away from the great commission?
Think about it. If you haven't said it yourself, then you've likely heard someone else say something like, "Sharing the gospel is important but it isn't my job. We hired someone for that." or "Sharing the gospel is important but I'm not comforatble doing anything like that." or "...but right now we must focus on loving each other first," or "...we must maintain our facilities better first," or "...we must improve our Sunday Bible school program first," or "...(fill in the blank)." Satan has us convinced that other things can and should supplant the great commission in our journey of faith, and we don't even realize it. (The deceiver is a sly dog.)
During that weekend at Cascade College and over the next few months many of us began learning that "Missional" at its core, is a quest to reinvigorate the evangelistic calling of God's people through passionate discipleship. Missional is an intentional effort made by each believer to be a missionary in this age, to this culture, in this setting.
So how does the missional mind think? Ed Stetzer and David Putman help by suggesting:
- From programs to processes
- From demographics to discernment
- From models to missions
- From attractional to incarnational
- From uniformity to diversity
- From professional to passionate
- From seating to sending
- From decisions to disciples
- From additional to exponential
- From services to service
- From ordained to the ordinary
- From organizations to organisms
Sent to whom? As Christ said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick." The missional thinker understands that it is the lost we are sent to, not existing Christians in other churches as a broad ranging unity movement. Though unity of believers is still an important part of God's word, it is just not the core emphasis of Missional.
What is Missional - A Short Answer
"Jesus told us to go into all the world and be his ambassadors, but many churches today have inadvertently changed the "go and be" command to a "come and see" appeal. We have grown attached to buildings, programs, staff and a wide variety of goods and services designed to attract and entertain people.
"Missional is a helpful term used to describe what happens when you and I replace the "come to us" invitations with a "go to them" life. A 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."
---Rick Meigs
May God grow us in relation to His mission as His Called and Sent.
Amen.
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