Simply Missional - Continued
Published: October 27, 2008
Related
3. Simple churches offer less at the church building, thus creating opportunities for missional living.
The Scripture paints the picture that we are God's ambassadors in this culture (II Corinthians 5:20). Our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20) and we belong to His kingdom, yet He has sent us into this world to represent Him. Because we belong to His kingdom, the apostle Peter describes us as aliens in this culture. "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us" (I Peter 2:11-12).
The first part of Peter's challenge is critical: Live a holy and pure life. But the second part of Peter's challenge is equally important: Live a holy and pure life among those who do not know God.
Among. Not removed from. Not against. But among. Too many Christians have believed that lie that holiness is separation from sinners, instead of from sin.
Thus many churches remind us of the movie The Village. In the Village, a group of people is disgusted with the culture. Each of them has been dramatically hurt by the world, thus they decide to create their own village deep in the woods. They build their own homes, make their own clothes, raise their own food, and marry other villagers. They never leave the village. From recreation to education, the totality of their lives is self-contained within the village. To prevent their children from desiring to wander outside the village, the founding elders construct an elaborate story to keep their own from wandering off to "the towns."
Many Christians live in a secluded village. They seek jobs with other Christians, spend several nights a week at church, place their kids in Christian little leagues, and only "fellowship" with other believers. They enjoy Christian radio, purchase gifts at Christian bookstores, exercise at Christian fitness centers, sip coffee at Christian coffee houses, and watch videos on the Christian version of youtube.com (Godtube.com). They lay their heads on their pillows at night thanking God they lived another day unscathed by the world.
Village life is not the Christian life. While those who disengage from the world believe they are obeying God, they are living the antithesis of the gospel. While the warehouse feels safe, the warehouse is dangerous. The warehouse mentality pulls us off mission and gives us a myriad of excuses to disobey God.
We have heard the cries from pastors for years, "Our people just do not seem to know lost people."
Hmmmm.
Perhaps our church people do not know lost people because our churches have kept people in the warehouse, losing opportunities to deeply engage in relationships with lost people. Church leaders often "guilt" people into coming to the church, removing them from the world that Jesus came to save.
All too often we have discovered that church programming dominates the schedules of members to the point that there is just no time nor energy left in members lives to do the very thing they were created for--live as redemptive agents of the Kingdom of God. This results in both a de-energized body and a gathering of individuals who do not feel fulfilled in their own lives because they are not using their natural, God-given gifts to work in the fields in which the Lord has placed them.
Churches with minimal programming help their people live among the world as missionaries by not asking them to live at the church, but to live as the church.
Churches with minimal programming encourage their members to know their neighbors, coach their kids' little league teams, attend the PTA meetings, and play in the city recreational leagues. And as Christ stepped into our culture, these church members are living incarnationally in the everyday environments life offers us. As Christ is Immanuel (God with us), these church members live God with us lives within the context of their communities.
4. Missional and Simple leaders know the culture.
Unlike many busy church leaders, the apostle Paul knew the culture and effectively engaged people with the gospel. His example in Athens (Acts 17) is a challenging reminder to enter the marketplace. Athens was filled with tons of little "g" gods spread throughout their culture. Every building was dedicated to a god and statues of gods filled the streets. The ancient satirist Petronius once joked that it was easier to find a god in Athens than a person. Athens was also the cultural center in the Greek world. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle all taught in Athens. They spoke in the same place that Paul would speak.
Paul stepped into the culture of Athens and reasoned with people in the synagogue and also the marketplace, the agora. He spent time in the church building (the synagogue), but he also went to the marketplace. His words created such a buzz that he was invited to the Areopagus so the people could hear more. The Areopagus was the epicenter of ideas and philosophy.
Paul stood in front of the crowd and said, "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you" (Acts 17:22-23). Paul essentially told the people, the only statue you got right is the one to the unknown God because you are admitting you do not know Him. All the other gods/statues are false; so let me explain to you the one true God you have admitted you do not know.
In his discourse to the people of Athens, Paul displayed his cultural knowledge in a missiologically discerning way. He walked around and noticed the statues in Athens, was disturbed by them, but still used them to build a bridge to start an evangelistic conversation. He also quoted a Stoic poet in his message because in the crowd were Stoic philosophers. Even his opening words to the crowd revealed his understanding of his context. He addressed the crowd with the words, "Men of Athens" because in the crowd were devotees of the great philosopher Plato. In Plato's famous writing about his mentor, entitled Socrates' Apology, Plato placed Socrates in the same position as Paul - in front of the men of Athens defending his teachings and beliefs. In Plato's writing, Socrates addressed the crowd, "Men of Athens." Now Paul, in the same position as Socrates, addresses the crowd in the same manner: "Men of Athens."
In other words, Paul did not wing it. Nor did he drive from his home to the warehouse and back to his home again. He understood his context, the culture surrounding him. And he placed himself and the timeless, flawless, and perfect message of Christ in the context of the culture.
Missional leaders fall deeply in love with the city or town in which God has placed them. They embrace and embed themselves in their community. Such leaders understand the vital key of incarnational ministry by living out the words of Jesus on a daily basis through a missional rhythm of being a blessing to the people (community) to which they are sent (Genesis 12:2).
When a church is marked by complexity, it is usually not filled with church leaders engaging their neighbors. They are too consumed managing the systems that keep the warehouse functioning. The warehouse has become the end instead of a means to effectively release and distribute people into the world.
5. Both Missional and Simple are people-focused, not program-focused.
When some Pharisees confronted Jesus for picking grain on the Sabbath, His response was, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). In other words, the Sabbath was a tool given by God for man's benefit. Man was not created for the benefit of the Sabbath.
Perhaps some church leaders need to hear a new pithy: "The program was made for man, not man for the program."
The problem is that for far too many churches what were once tools have now become a detriment. When tools become rules, our focus shifts to what we do and not who we are. But, there is a better way: missional disciples not tied up by programs, but using programs for what they originally were intended--tools to help them live better, follow more fully, and serve more readily.
Instead of utilizing people and resources to keep church programs functioning, missional leaders view their programs and resources as tools for people to encounter the grace of God. The goal is people, not program. They view their resources as tools for people's lives to be transformed, and they train their members to think this way.
Such Christians are trained to view their wallets as their missional budget, so that as they move through their daily paces, they are openly and consciously looking to respond to needs and opportunities. Missional focus is not just about monetary resources and responses either. Kindness, mercy, gentleness, and joy are viewed as fruit to be shared daily as disciples move in and out of restaurants, offices, and stores.
Churches with a simple discipleship process view their programs the same way --as tools. Their programs are slaves to the discipleship process God has given them. Their programs are offered as environments where God may bring about spiritual transformation. And because wise church leaders know that significant life change occurs when people engage in mission endeavors (personal or group), simple church leaders intentionally move people to mission environments. In fact, mission is a significant portion of the discipleship process in these churches.
6. Neither Missional or Simple is a church model.
While we are both grateful for the response to Breaking the Missional Code and Simple Church, we never intended either book to be perceived as a church model. Frankly, the proclivity of leaders to look for another church model is a sign of the church's shallowness, not its maturity.
There are so many unaddressed issues in our books (intentionally so) that prevent "missional" and "simple" from being comprehensive church models. We did not advocate or discuss issues that are critical in a church model: music style, teaching style, dress, type of sermon, church architecture, or church organization. All types of churches should be simply missional. What we are advocating is for church leaders to distill their ideology of what church is to the irreducible minimum that defines a church as God's gathered people, sent to a particular community as His redemptive gift to that community.
We need all types of missional churches--big, small, traditional, contemporary, with country music (did we say that?), hip-hop, some with guitars, some with organs. We need churches in homes and churches in well-marked buildings.
The container is not the issue. The issue is not staying contained.
All types of churches should seek to release their people to be missionaries in the culture. And all types of churches need a discipleship process based on knowing and doing. We believe having a process for discipleship is essential in any effective church model and that process must contain an equal amount of lab work and classroom study. We believe any effective church model will challenge and cause their people to be missional.
As you read this, Dell's parts are being moved to the street. Out of the warehouse.
What about the people in your church? They are your greatest resource. Are they being distributed to the world around them?
Do you have a simple process to move them to missional involvement?
Copyright © 2008 Ed Stetzer. All rights reserved.
0 comments so far...
Leave a comment
Use the form below to add comments, suggestions, and the inevitable off-topic banter (please keep to a minimum). Feel free to use HTML code (optional), and be aware that we reserve the right to edit any raw language or banter that's too far off topic.
2 of 2 | ‹ Previous Page
Recommend this 316 story on your favorite social bookmarking site.
Simply Missional
Published: October 27, 2008
Ed Stetzer discusses six reasons the relationship between being missional and being simple is apparent for the local church.
To link to this article from your blog, copy and paste the url below into your blog or homepage. Using this link will ensure access to the article, even after it becomes part of the 316 archive.
Permalink: