whatever you do.

scott: i have been pondering over the weekend about the word ‘missional’

scott: i find that defining terms is not something that i excel at, but i have sort of narrowed it down to 3 bible passages that make the term work in my life

david: right. i’m hoping we can all help each other to understand it better

david: i have yet to put something together too.. i use it often, but I think i use it differently

david: on different days

scott: haha

scott: it seems to be the kind of word that can have more than one meaning to it

david: ya… well that’s part of it.. i wan to get beyond the missionaries/normal people way of thinking about it

scott: i am on board for that

scott: i have been seeing it as a ‘team-working’ (if you can’t tell, i just made that term up) of the greatest commandments, the sheep and goats being judged, and the great commission

david: cool

scott: for me it focuses it on the main aspect of loving people, and because of that love, taking care of their physical needs and sharing the gospel

scott: i like looking at it like that because it can work on a micro and a macro scale

david: you mean, it is about individual relationships and also relates to the call of the church as a whole?

scott: yes… to the individual and to the body. also, it relates the day to day with the long term

david: or the whole mission of god

scott: yes

scott: the mission of taking care of spiritual and physical needs in an ongoing way, based off of the love that we have for others

david: i think that’s one of the important distinctions

david: we tend to think of our mission as first and foremost shouting on street corners

david: forgetting that jesus said that the gospel is good news to the afflicted

scott: for sure… and going that out of obligation and not as an act of love

scott: going = doing

david: right

scott: so yeah… that is what i have been thinking about the word ‘missional’

david: i believe mission has to absolutely foundational to a group of people that would call themselves part of the church

scott: i would have to agree with you, sir. for most of my life, the word mission dealt with profession

david: right

scott: that is all the word was to me, but i think that it should be a purposeful lifestyle

scott: a sincere one, at that

david: i believe that is why people leave churches

david: they have not been given a chance to be missional

david: it is fairly unfulfilling to just take up space

david: many times we take away the job of everyone and give it to the professionals

scott: that is a very good point, dave

scott: being in a church like that also takes away the feeling of community. whether people want to believe it or not, community is when everyone pitches in

scott: and when people can’t pitch in, then they aren’t actually a part of a family, they are a guest

david: the majority of the church is told that their job is to fund the professional christians

david: which is great, but comes up short

scott: haha… for sure, which makes it a business relationship more than anything

david: share holders

scott: exactly

scott: disconnected share holders

scott: so really, active community is absolutely key for a missional church

scott: without the true community aspect, then there is a disconnect, and the whole congregation is not encouraged to be missional

Tags: missional, church, jesus, incarnational

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 11:55 pm and is filed under Christianity, Church, Community, Conversation, Kingdom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.