imagining how the church can reorient around mission

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him (enthroned) at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to
come.” Ephesians 1:18-21

No, this is not me. 🙂

In the 1^st chapter of Ephesians there is a remarkable passage that talks about power.  In
particular, it refers  to the type of power that Christian’s possess as a result of their union with Jesus. I guess the question for me is what is that power? What does it look like? The text is emphatic; it is spectacular. As a matter of fact, Paul uses four different words, synonyms, to describe how dynamic that power is. What it is compared to in the text is the power that raised Christ from the dead and enthroned Him as King. That’s significant power (as I wrote that last sentence, my voice unsurprisingly deepened and got louder like Moses in the movie, “The Ten Commandments”)!!! read more

The below is a quote from Henri Nouwen.  Click "like" if you resonant with his vision of the church.

Those who are marginal in the world are central in the Church, and that is how it is supposed to be!  Thus we are called as members of the Church to keep going to the margins of our society.  The homeless, the starving, parentless children,  people with AIDS, our emotionally disturbed brothers and sisters – they require our first attention.  read more

I find the thinking and spirit (attitude) of Henri Nouwen some of the most refreshing of all writers.  Here are some of his thoughts about the church.

 Loving the Church does not require romantic emotions.  It requires the will to see the living Christ among his people and to love them as we want to love Christ himself.   This is true not only for the "little" people – the poor, the oppressed, the forgotten – but also for the "big" people who exercise authority in the Church. read more

What
does it mean to be a missional community of faith?  There is much talk about what that is, what it looks like
and how it works.  Newbigin (one of
the true forerunners of the current movement) identifies six characteristics of
a missional community:

1. It practices corporate praise, thanksgiving, gratitude,
   and grace;
2. It declares truth that challenges the reigning
   plausibility structure
3. It establishes relationships within a local
   neighborhood
4. It encourages mutual service in the priesthood
   of all believers
5. It expects mutual responsibility rather than
   individualism
6. It nurtures hope and a re-imagined vision of
   the future

I
love these.  read more

By Troy

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By Jannah

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By Laura When I enter into conversation about the Church, I often get responses like, “I’m a Christian, but why go to church? Tons of people are living out their faith more than those in the church,” or “The church is full of hypocrites; I’d rather just do the faith thing on my own.” While these are discouraging comments, I have to admit that I have felt them myself at times. Why do the person of Jesus and the body of Christ, the Church, often seem so contradictory?
We see throughout the Bible that God chooses to use the Church to partner with Him in his great missional and redemptive work. The Church is made up of fallen humans so we cannot expect it to be perfect, but it is also included in the holistic restorative work of God and can continue to become more Christ-like. While the Church around the world continues to grow at a fast pace, I believe the Church in North America needs to wake up to the importance of its calling and ultimately of its identity. Mission is what the Church is called to do, in following Jesus’ example of teaching, preaching and healing. 
As I am learning more about the ways in which the Church has been impacted by Christendom, I am reminded even more of the necessity of the Church’s self-evaluation and openness to change. I believe the Church needs to take the time to re-evaluate the ways in which it aims to live out its mission and identity in a changing world that calls for true faith in action, proclaiming the Kingdom of God that was and is and is to come. In the words of Alan Hirsch, we need to be like the first apostles, “…holy rebels who constantly attempted to throw off encumbering ideologies, structures, codes, and traditions that limited the freedom of God’s people and restricted the gospel message that they are mandated to pass on.”

By Josh Imagine a machine that is designed to carry large chunks of marble up out of mine shaft where it can be packaged and shipped off. Now imagine what people would say if the miners suddenly struck oil and the man in charge decided that they would use the exact same machine to elevate the oil to the surface. People would declare that the man is insane! They would say that his system was built for a different purpose and for a different environment. They would say that the oil they are dealing with is uniquely different than the marble that they have dealt with in the past. Therefore it is only logical that a new machine must be built; one that can conform to and handle this new material. In the same way, western missionaries are moving into countries and establishing church organizational structures that were built for an entirely different “substance”. It is ludicrous to expect a church system designed for a mega church in Seattle, filled with wealthy middle class Americans, to work for a nomadic tribe in Central Africa. The very “substance” that we are dealing with is different. All cultures are not the same, and the church or machine must therefore be modified or changed in order to handle different types of cultures. The machine is still doing the same thing, but simply by a different process and means. When you look at foreign missions from this perspective it seems obvious that the organization and way that the church functions must be very different from what is common in America; however, sadly, it is still very common for western missionaries to go into a country and try to conform that countries culture to his system of church organization. We might as well try to put a square peg in a round hole. With enough pressure the square will fit into the hole, but it will no longer be the square that God uniquely created to be a square. Westerners have fallen into the trap of thinking that God only makes round pegs and round holes. We think that God has made everyone like us, and that those that are not like us need to change. -JS

I started teaching my Missional Church class at Whitworth University again this week.  This is the 4th year that I have taught the course.  If I teach it again it will morph into a course entitled, "A Church for the World." One of my introductory exercises I use is asking them to give a one word description of the church and why.  Here are their responses (some were duplicates – 19 in the class):

Transforming, Alive, Colorful read more

 I am reading Todd Hunter’s short book entitled, The Accidental Anglican about his journey from Jesus People to Anglicanism.  I am particularly interested because both of us started out in the same place.  In the first part of the book he lends a quote from James Lloyd Breck, Anglican leader from the 1800’s.  It is important to me because I run into so many “Jesus yes, the church is superfluous (that is a positive spin on their view of the church)" people. 

Here's the quote: read more