12/05/2011
Author: John Powell
The word “missional” has become a buzzword. Like many “buzzwords” it helps us deal with a tension or transition developing in the church. When Christian culture was at the center of American society everyone expected us to talk about biblical themes. But as we become more secular, we have to define our terms and be more careful as we talk with those who don’t follow Christ. This is causing tension and moving us to make transitions whether we are prepared or not.
So, is First Evangelical Free Church a Missional church? Depends on what you mean! Let me try to focus our lens to get a good snapshot of who we are and who we should be becoming as a disciplemaking church on mission with Jesus. Yes, that’s what Jesus sent us to do in Matt. 28:18-20.
“Therefore, a local church is missional when it intentionally pursues God’s mission for His glory among all peoples by following His patterns and His ways of expanding His kingdom." - Van Sanders
“Following His patterns and His ways of expanding His kingdom…” So what are His patterns and ways? These we find in the Bible. We don’t just imagine them or make them up.
The Bible keeps a balance between individual and corporate actions and relationships. God called one man, Abraham, and made him into a nation. Jesus came to earth alone and builds his church among all the “ethnics” of the world. Individualists that we are we have a hard time keeping that balance like God does.
As Dr. David DeVries describes in the diagram included here, every believer is sent with the cross to live on mission to the culture we’re sent to (local or across the sea), in community for the King and His kingdom. Pretty concise statement. Notice the balance between individual and community?
As individuals we are sent into the world, not alone but with the cross for empowerment and in community for teamwork and balance. So we need to consider both our own calling and the mission of the church as a whole in everything we do, whether living before unbelievers at work or in our neighborhood.
As we consider becoming the sending church for several new missionaries, and evaluating missionaries of retirement age, we need to keep this balance as well. What are the “patterns and ways” in the Bible for doing that? In Acts 13:1-3 the Church at Antioch gathered and guided by the Holy Spirit sent Paul and Barnabas out. In 14:24-28 they returned from the first missionary journey and gathered the church and declared what God had done. They didn’t make individual transactions and come back and meet with individuals, they acted as a whole, deciding, going and then declaring what God had done. This is hard for individualized Americans to do, but it is the pattern God sets out for us.
The only thank you letter from a missionary was sent by the Apostle Paul to a church, not an individual. That’s the letter to the Philippians. Check out 4: 10-18! After telling them he had learned to handle little or much in Christ who strengthens him, he thanked them for being the only church in their area who partnered with him in giving and receiving. Epaphroditus was charged with handling the funds.
He exhorted the individuals in Corinth to bring their relief funds for the church in Jerusalem to their church each week so that when he arrived to take it to Jerusalem they would be ready. These are the patterns and ways of God: Individual involvement, expressed through corporate church community.
Soon, the FEFC mission board will be asking us to seek the Lord as individuals so we can act together as a church to discover how God wants us to channel our mission funds. Let me ask you to help us stay on the disciplemaking path by keeping this balance between
