Being Missional Continued

(my apologies in advance for the big words I'm about to use. This may not be interesting for everyone...)

Being missional is a holistic approach to church.

Missional is ecclesiology- it's how are are the church.
It's theology- it's who we understand God to be.
It's evangelism- it's how we share Jesus.
It's outreach- it's how we live incarnationally.
It's intentionally an all-encompassing word.

It's seeing everything through the eyes of Jesus.
It's seeing everything you do as part of your mission, fully integrated into being the church.
It's how you work, as well as what you do.
It's telling the story of Jesus and living the model of Jesus.

When a church "does mission" it often evolves into some unbiblical ways of thinking and being.
Mission then becomes separated from the whole.
It gets outsourced to the specialists and professional Christians and para-church ministries.
It's something we give to instead of something we are called to do.
Or it's something we do once a week when we serve soup to the poor.

I'm not saying we shouldn't have missionaries or para-church organizations.
I'm not saying you shouldn't have some community service that you are passionate about.
Everyone should.
And we should do that service quietly, without putting our deeds on display.

But at it's worst, sometimes folks will do a community service, pat themselves on the back, brag about it, then get on with their life, utterly unmoved, unchanged, unaffected in any real way.

I've seen churches literally throwing money at missions to make themselves feel less guilty about having money.

Of course it sells really well in the church.
And it does the mission some good.
But the people in the church remain uninformed, uninvolved, unchanged.

But I also really hate it when churches brag about their service.
Jesus says that when you brag about your good deeds, that's your reward- the bragging.

I often try to tell about service or good deeds being done by our people at Connections.
But I always do so with a little fear and trepidation.
I try to inform, but not make a show of it.

Being missional is about being consumed with Jesus' vision for his church- who we would be, what we would do, and how we would live.

Being missional says, I'm being the church in mission to the world when I love my spouse and when I love the poor. When I'm playing with my kids, and sponsoring needy children. When I'm feeding my neighbors in a great Friday night cookout, and when I'm feeding those who starve. It's when I'm living simply and and when I'm seeking justice and systemic change.

It's doing all these things, and in many ways, not making a fuss about it.

Churches, as a whole in North America, need to focus less on doing mission, and more on being mission. If we get the mission right, then being the church will fall into place naturally. And when we are being the church, we are Christ's mission to the world. People in our midst will meet Jesus, find life, save their marriage, get fed, fed others, help the sick, care for the hurting, and so much more!