imagining how the church can reorient around mission

            “Church” as we know it in the West (a building with pastors and a sermon, etc.) is not the best missional tool.

            For some reason, we keep coming back to the conclusion that many people like Jesus, but not the church. The “church” to people on the outside is political, hypocritical and full of hate. And I completely agree with them. I do not hate the church, but I really dislike it. If this is how Christians are portrayed in the world then missions will be met with hard hearts. read more

               For me one of the most difficult things in the world is being patient. Due to the fact that I have grown up in consumer based culture, patience is not my best virtue. I find myself many times wanting something as quick as I can get. I believe this type of attitude transfers over to some of the attitudes in our churches. I can only speak from my own personal background and feelings toward this subject. It seems to me that some churches do take a more consumerist approach to cater to the needs of a certain group. The church has become commercialized. I see the church emphasizing programs that stress numbers. The numbers of Christians and converts become more important than actually developing people into Christ followers. The attentions of most modern day churches here in America have taken a corporate approach to the Gospel. This compromises of the Gospel highlights the positive attributes of Christianity and disregards the intense struggle Christianity can be. I believe that Jesus personified the Gospel through his relationships. This gets me to my point. I believe that many churches have concentrated on sheer numbers and not enough on actual discipleship. What is the point of numbers? Do numbers help us here or in heaven? This is one area of the church where I believe we have missed the point. Many new converts end up leaving the faith because the Gospel was not fully expressed to them. In other words they find the faith to be fraudulent and more difficult than expected. People new to the faith who undergo discipleship programs at least learn what Christianity is. I believe that churches need to be patient when they construct new programs and sermons. Understand that this is about God’s kingdom and his will. It’s not about having meaningless social status or having Christianity become the biggest religion based on numbers, but not actually practiced. Christianity is centered on God and should be taught accordingly. I’m not suggesting that this will fix the churches problem or create Christendom, but I’m suggesting that this will create people who are serious about their faith. Relationships take time and patience. Jesus took the time to express the Gospel to his disciples so that they could carry it out to all nations, and we are called to do the same.

-Cory      

Andrew Marin, the primary blogger for Love Is an Orientation recently began a series of posts about his life in Boystown, Chicago's primary gay neighborhood. His organization, The Marin Foundation, tries to build bridges, break down stereotypes, and open up conversation between the Christian and GLBT (Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Trangender) communities. At the very center of his ministry is the recognition that the attractional model is doomed because of Christian's actions in the past, as well as the stereotypes of both communities created in our culture. We cannot expect to bring in to our churches today a group that has been the victim of countless attacks from within the church throughout our entire history. In his book UnChristian, David Kinnamen provides countless statistics and research on the perception of the church by outsiders. At the top of his list of negative perceptions of Christianity is that it is anti-homosexual, a view held by 91 percent of the participants in the survey described in his book. To be clear, this does not mean that 91 percent of Christians are actually anti-homosexual. Rather, it means that there is a tremendously strong preconception that the Church is actively against homosexuality. 

The call of the Holy Spirit is unique. The Spirit empowers and leads people according to God’s will. For me I have wondered how we are supposed to decipher the call of the Holy Spirit. I would like to focus on the
individual call from the Spirit and how we as followers of Christ are to determine a true call of the Spirit from mere intuition. What does a call from the Spirit look like? How do we know that this is God? Is it wrong to question and wrestle with God’s will? These are the types of questions I have been struggling with. With regard to missions I believe that the call of the Spirit is difficult to interpret. How do we know what’s real? The call of the Spirit works differently to different people, but one thing is constant; the Spirit calls us to do something we were not doing before. For me this call can be personified in this saying “get up and go out”. As followers of Christ we are called to be in an actively growing relationship. The embodiment of this call is to go and be actively involved in not only Christ but his Church as well. The Body of Christ his Church is complied of sent people. The Church which is made up of these sent people are commissioned to constantly proclaim the Gospel. Truly living your life for Christ alleviates fear and doubt. It takes absolute faith grounded in Christ to accept the call of the Spirit. The call of the Spirit acts to move people toward God’s will. It calls people to truly serve God and do his will. I believe that in one way or another the Spirit is calling us to “get up and go out”.

-Cory

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Diego is a part of one of our projects in Latin America.  The Project's name is El Living   Listen as he explains the unique nature of doing mission in Uruguay.

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 Just in from Spokane where Rob Fairbanks and I facilitated our second session of INFUSE, CA’s training in the theology and practice of missionary living. Some 70 – 80 leaders, missional pioneers and church folk participated in this second beta. From a presenter standpoint I think it went okay, though I feel I have yet to find a stride in presenting some of Lesslie Newbigin’s ideas. On a conceptual and very practical level, Newbigin has really helped me understand the church’s call in a much broader and more positive light. When Newbigin returned to his native England in 1974 after decades of cross-cultural immersion and ministry all across India, he recognized the dire need of his own culture to have what he called “a missionary encounter with the gospel.” The church in the UK had lost its ability to relate to the lives of normal people. It had failed to listen and adapt to the soundings of context, which left it seriously crippled in its capacity to interact and juxtapose its own key Story within the cultural milieu of secularism and emerging postmodern diversity. The gospel (which literally means “good news”) was no longer viewed as relevant to the needs and lives of Western people.

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"Tell the students to give up their small ambitions and come eastward to preach the gospel of Christ." — Francis Xavier, missionary to India, the Philippines, and Japan

In an era where we are wonderfully recapturing the realization that each and every person is a missionary, in context, I am also seeing a bit of a shrinking away from the idea of leaving land and family for the sake of the Gospel.  In my situation, I am seeking to inspire and recruit people to a very unchurched land – Europe.  I know, it is not seen as needy like India or Asia, but the stark reality is western Europe, in the words of the late missiologist Lessilie Newbigin, is the last great mission field. I am just going to say it: will you pray about involving yourself in missional/incarnational church planting in Europe?" read more

 "The relativism which is not willing to speak about truth but only about ‘what is true for me’ is an evasion of the serious business of living. It is the mark of a tragic loss of nerve in our contemporary culture. It is a preliminary symptom of death." 

– Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society

 It was a great night at INFUSE getting a chance to unpack the issue of Mission; in the context of passionate thinkers and faithful practitioners from multiple churches. Felt good to be in a room full of people that are speaking a language you’re hearing in your soul. It was also great to meet some new friends who are working it all out in their own neighborhoods in the same city. Props to Dan and Rob for facilitating great discussion, solid content all within an engaging format. 

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