1.the people
of God,
We've been brought up in a world where church is a what, an it, something outside of me, something I go to, something I support, something I bring friends to. But the missional movement is about who. Until we get this, we will never join God in the streets where he is doing most of his work. Wherever I am, the church is already planted. Instead of planting "a" church, we plant "the" church.
We've been brought up in a world where church is a what, an it, something outside of me, something I go to, something I support, something I bring friends to. But the missional movement is about who. Until we get this, we will never join God in the streets where he is doing most of his work. Wherever I am, the church is already planted. Instead of planting "a" church, we plant "the" church.
2.partnering
with God,
It's not our mission; it's his. We try to get God to fall in love with our efforts, when we need to fall in love with his mission. We consider "children's ministry" inside our walls, so we're so busy doing that, but we don't worry about the low reading levels of 3rd graders in our community. We honor Sunday school teachers as doing children's ministry, but we don't honor public school teachers as doing children's ministry.
It's not our mission; it's his. We try to get God to fall in love with our efforts, when we need to fall in love with his mission. We consider "children's ministry" inside our walls, so we're so busy doing that, but we don't worry about the low reading levels of 3rd graders in our community. We honor Sunday school teachers as doing children's ministry, but we don't honor public school teachers as doing children's ministry.
3.in his
redemptive mission
One church cancelled staff meeting on Monday afternoon and sent everyone out to pray, in a place where people are: park, Wal-Mart, Starbucks, etc. For 60 minutes, they were to pray one prayer, "Lord, help me see what You see." When they came back to their institutional agenda, they shredded it and were recaptured by the heart of God for people. They sent the entire church out to do the same; that night they had the church write what God showed them.
One church cancelled staff meeting on Monday afternoon and sent everyone out to pray, in a place where people are: park, Wal-Mart, Starbucks, etc. For 60 minutes, they were to pray one prayer, "Lord, help me see what You see." When they came back to their institutional agenda, they shredded it and were recaptured by the heart of God for people. They sent the entire church out to do the same; that night they had the church write what God showed them.
4.in the
world
What if we asked if marriages in our community were better next year? If schools were better? In Cincinnati, every single school teacher is placed on a prayer chain, and receives a letter asking for any prayer requests. Open our eyes.
What if we asked if marriages in our community were better next year? If schools were better? In Cincinnati, every single school teacher is placed on a prayer chain, and receives a letter asking for any prayer requests. Open our eyes.
We often loose sight of God's mission because we ask the wrong questions and come to the wrong conclusions about what God is calling us to do. Reggie would say, "We need to change the way we keep score.
For instance, only church people ask, "How many were in church on Sunday." God isn't anxiously waiting to hear the attendance figures for Sunday worship to determine how we're doing at his mission.
God has a different way of
keeping score:
- How many children will go to bed hungry?
- How many marriages are in trouble?
- How many sons and daughters feel abandoned?
- How many people have lost their jobs?
- How many have lost their homes?
- How many have lost hope?
Jesus said, "I have come to seek and to save that which is lost." He didn't come to count and record those who are present. His parables make that clear:
- The Parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15:3-7)
- The Parable of the Lost Coin (Luke 15:8-10)
- The Parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15:11-32)
- The Parable of the Lost Soul (Luke 19:1-10)
No comments:
Post a Comment