At first I didn’t know what to think about this whole blogging thing. How is it going to help us learn more about missional church? What is the point? Then, once we started, I really didn’t like it. People got fired up. People got offended. Was this productive? Was it worth the hurt feelings and harsh comments? But now, at the end of the class and the end of the group blogging experience, I think I finally get the point. Our posts and comments have created the dialogue that we, as fallen, opinionated humans need in order to learn how we can and should be the people of God in the world. Now my biggest question is this…how do we keep that going once we’re done with this class and no longer have a blog to rely upon for our conversations? The answer, I think, is for all of us to be face-to-face bloggers in our own context. Pretty simple idea, pretty difficult to carry out.

But how? Be honest. People were honest about the world, church, and so many other things in their posts. We have to continue to do this in order for the church to grow and progress in society. If we are to ever make an impact on the world we must continue to look at how things are going, honestly say how we feel about them, and then grow from there. Being incarnational and missional are things that I still do not fully understand and if I stop being honest and asking questions about that then I may never know. Also, be open. We need to be willing to listen to the ideas of others. That is the one thing I have appreciated so much about this experience. Not only does everyone have to read through my posts without interrupting, but I have to do the same for them. Agree or disagree, you still have to listen. We need to do this in life. Conversations about the church and the problems (and joys!) we see within it are conversations that shouldn’t just happen on the internet. I feel challenged to carry out this blogging experience in face-to-face situations. Hopefully that will help me and those around me to better understand what it means to be missional, incarnational, and the church of God in the world. 

Sean