To Be Missional
Adapted from http://www.ubcwaco.org ©2002 University Baptist Church
From David Crowder Band website.
What does it mean to be missional?
It means that we understand ourselves to be missionaries in today's culture. Missionaries are those whose lives are constituted by a mission: to know Him and make Him known - this is our purpose, our goal, and our end in life. An ongoing relationship with God should result in a lifestyle that is God-centered and seeks to incarnate Christ.
What things do missionaries consider?
Missionaries always seek to understand 1.) the culture in which they live, and 2.) how to embody Christ amidst a kingdom that is not God's kingdom. E.g. If you were going to Russia to be a missionary there for several months, you'd spend much time in preparation learning Russian culture and the Russian language. You'd learn what aspects of Russian culture provide an open window into conveying the gospel, and what aspects of Russian culture run contrary to the gospel and need to be differentiated. You'd learn the Russian language and try to find certain words that seem to convey the gospel really well.
How does this relate to the early church in the first century?
The early church was a body of people who understood themselves to be members of a different kingdom than the Roman kingdom. Their allegiance existed first and foremost to the kingdom of God which often ran contrary to Roman rule. The kingdom of God exists wherever the lordship of God reigns…where men and women are obedient to God. Though they messed up often and were in constant battle against heresies forming within the church, they knew their entire lives had to be ordered around their mission or they would cease being Christians.
How is this mindset conveyed in Scripture?
Jesus came preaching "the kingdom of God" - Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, Matthew 6; and saying that "My kingdom is not of this world…" John 18. He was promoting a different kingdom than the one in which He lived - and a kingdom that got Himself killed because He challenged the existing powers - powers that ruled a different kingdom than the kingdom of God. He was on a mission that had to do with the kingdom of God, and after His resurrection, He commissioned the disciples to further this mission saying, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit..." His mission was embraced by the disciples and the early church in Acts. Paul gave evidence to the goal, purpose, and end in his life in Philippians 3 saying, "More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." Paul was so well acquainted with the culture in which he lived that often times in his letters to the Romans or Ephesians or Philippians, etc., he'd use certain words and phrases that were predominantly used by pagan mystery religions or contemporary poets/philosophers of his day in order to grab their attention yet redefine their understanding of life with God.
So, what's the problem?
For several hundred years now, America has always been considered a Christian nation in which Christianity has been the predominant religious influence. Since Christianity has been the predominant religious influence in America, many American Christians understood "missionaries" to be those people who take "our" gospel to non-christian people overseas…therefore, since American Christians ceased understanding themselves as missionaries, we no longer saw the need to discern the culture in which we've lived.
When we became Christians growing up, we were basically just handed a bible and told "start reading." We were never sat down and explained what our culture is all about, and what it will take to be a missionary in our culture today.
OK, you've said "culture" about 80 times now…can you give me a simple definition of culture?
{Def. - Culture is simply the place in which you live that shapes how you think and how you live.} Culture is like the water that all of us fish swim in day in and day out. It's what we breathe all day long yet never realize whether the way it is making us think is biblical or not. Culture gives us the lens by which we view life, God, scripture, each other, and ourselves. So, if American culture is highly individualistic and consumeristic, then I can only read Scripture as an individualistic, consumeristic Christian…even if Scripture is opposed to individualism and consumerism. So, often times the most difficult thing for an American Christian to do is to realize that the prescription on these glasses we are wearing is actually not good at all for Christians.
How does a Christian missionary in American culture differ from the prevailing American mindset and even from most American Christians?
Many American Christians have bought into several American (cultural - not biblical) mindsets. Here are a couple:
1. Capitalism - that our purpose, goal, and end in life is to be profitable in business or other avenues in the professional world; therefore, we understand that all of life is ordered to that end…that our involvement in school or work is primarily about capitalism, not primarily about mission. Does this mean we neglect excellence and diligence in school or work? Absolutely not. This mindset actually motivates us to "do all things as unto the Lord" with excellence and diligence, yet with a different mindset - that our ultimate goal here is not about financial profit but bringing others along in our faith journey.
2. Consumerism - that the reason things exist in this world is for me, the consumer, to consume; even though the local church is called to be a body of people sent on a mission into the world striving to establish the kingdom of God (definitely not a consumer mentality). Unfortunately, although the local church has been ordained by God to carry on the mission of Christ, most American Christians simply view the church as another venue that simply exists to meet our individual needs.
How can I be missional?
Accept the call of Christ to live out your life as a missionary amidst a culture that constantly tries to sell us a different purpose and a different vision in life. We are missional in that we desire to be the incarnate Christ immersed in the world without becoming a product of it. If we are going to be the incarnate Christ in today's world, then our purpose, goal, and end in life will revolve around knowing God and making Him known.
If we are going to be the incarnate Christ, then we will not try and sell people on a belief system made up of propositional truths…instead, we will convey Christianity as a way of life. Perhaps, we might just begin living life with people and see if they might also live life with us in hopes that they might find out in the living that this way of life is exactly what they need. Maybe this is why Jesus' evangelism strategy with the disciples did not consist of a slick brochure but just 2 words, "Follow Me." And, they did not follow Him initially because they knew Him to be the Messiah and Savior of the world. No, they found out in the living that this way of life, though incredibly difficult, was exactly what they needed.If we are going to be the incarnate Christ, then we will understand that the method and message of our mission are intertwined…in other words, the method in which we convey our message actually says a lot about our message.
Ahh, thank you. This is exactly what I think of how this message of love an hope should be conveyed and lived out to a dying world. I have always kind of agreed with these things throughout my walk with the Lord, but goodness knows that I have misconstrued how to convey it, and the message itself. In high school, I thought that swearing made me relatable. I thought that if I had the mouth of a sailor, the people who I went to school with would see this girl who says she's a Christian with one breath and a slew of curses with the next and maybe think that perhaps this Christianity-thing wasn't as unreachable and unattainable as they thought. A little misguided at the time yes. It was (is) a bad habit. I realized that it wasn't glorifying to God so I did my best to cut it out, and it worked for the most part. I soon realized that people we're treating me the same if I swore or not, so I figured, why do it anymore? Off topic..
In college, I have learned a few things about people and their views of Christians and the way the message is conveyed. I have a lot of Christian friends, but I also have a lot (perhaps more) friends who are not Christians. I have a lot of friends who have been so completely turned off from organized religion because the people who call themselves Christians made them feel judged, made them fee out of the clique, made them feel constricted and suffocated, because it had been shoved down their throats, etc, etc, I could go on and on.
And it absolutely breaks my heart.
I am not writing this because I feel like my approach to people is by any means better then any one else's. People come to know God through tons of different ways, but I have found that people in the college atmosphere react certain ways to different means.
There are a few of us Christians who chose to go to parties on the weekends, but a rare few. I go to them to hang out with people, get to know people, develop friendships, etc. I go to shows at bars because I love music and because my friends are there and because I enjoy the atmosphere of the communal music experience. I hang out with people who do drugs, people who drink, people who have made questionable choices with their lives, not because I am trying to rebel against the 'Christianity box' or because I am trying to be different on purpose, but because they are people and I enjoy their company. Understanding the culture of college perhaps involves being in those types of atmospheres, not being a product of them, no, but being there relating to people. I am guilty of judging people because of the decisions they make, but I am human and so are they. .
Anyways, I have met Christians who refuse to go into a bar, even if an amazing band is playing or something, because of the type of people in there. I understand that it might be uncomfortable to someone who is not used to that atmosphere but I have also met Christians who don't want to hang out with someone because they smoke weed on the weekends. Sure they will have a spiritual conversation in a safe public place, but when it comes to knowing them, there is a proverbial-arms-length between them because of they way they spend their time. How are we to be missional if we do not understand the culture that we are immersed in everyday? How are we to relate to the thousands of people around us who do not know God's love if we are afraid to talk to them and spend quality time with them because they have a big tattoo on their arm, because we have seen them drunk up-town one night, because they listen to music with screaming in it, because they do not come to church on sunday, because they are in a fraternity, etc. It confuses the heck out of me as to why we try so hard and spend so much time to learn the specific steps to introducing the gospel into conversations with a booklet, when we are so scared to just live with people. Like the article above says that 'we might just begin living life with people and see if they might also live life with us in hopes that they might find out in the living that this way of life is exactly what they need.' I just pray that we can try and live the principals this article. I pray that we all remember that people are loved by God no matter who they are and what decisions they make.
Your thoughts?
