Value # 3: “Missional/Sent”
Missional…
Buzz words…this has become one of them in the Christian faith. Just about everyone you ask, or listen to, in modern Christendom is in some way saying they are “missional”.
The word “missional” can’t be found in a Webster’s dictionary. Often the heart attitude is absent from of our church philosophies, programs, and methodologies… sadly, at times from the words and deeds of the people claiming Jesus as Savior.
Being missional, or sent, is an attribute we find at the core of the heart of our God. For this post, I would like to focus on one foundational idea which influences everything we know about, and do for, God:
That the God of the Bible has always loved, and relentlessly pursued, his fallen creation…
We see this clearly exemplified through the actions of God in the Old Testament as God breaks into the course of human history and reveals himself to the world through Israel. In the New Testament Jesus tells his followers they are being sent into the world in the same way God sent him (Jesus) into our world.
To do what?…to reveal God’s goodness through our words and deeds.
Our greatest example for missional living is found in Jesus. He used his life to invest in real people, to show them God. He spent his days living, working and socializing amongst the people God had sent him to.
His message…humanity has missed the mark (what we more commonly refer to as sin) and Jesus had come once and for all to help us find it! There is no greater evidence of Jesus’ commitment to the mission of God to redeem the world than the death he suffered on the cross for us.
While there is much I could write about being a sent people…I would prefer to leave you with one brief, but important, idea. We are hard pressed to find a more clear instruction from the mouth of Jesus in the Bible than the one found in John 20:21- “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
As Restoration church, our missional value influences everything we do. To be a sent people means that the earthly work God began through Jesus (seeking, loving and saving those who are far from God) is to be continued by God’s church.
And that church is you and me.
So what do you think?
outside the gate 
Hey Anthony,
You won’t believe what college students are being exposed to in the classroom. The secular college campus environment has created a climate of vitriol and condescension toward the Christian faith as evidenced by the following link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPJQw-x-xho&feature=popt00us06
other authors, such as Christopher Hitchens with his NY Times bestselling book, God Is Not Great, spend great effort to ridicule and defame Christ and Christians. I offer these examples as real issues the Church is going to have to address as these students go out into the real world after graduation with a view that the Church is irrelevant and/or (worse yet) misleading people away from truth.
Hi Jack. Good to hear from you.
I haven’t had a chance to look at the clip you linked to your comment, but I will.
I might be in the minority here, but I think challenges to the faith are good because they cause Christians to think through a credible way to give an account for the faith they hold to.
These challenges can be great opportunities to begin conversations with people who do not believe as we do.
Hi Anthony,
I came across your blog because you came across mine. Just had a snoop through your stuff here and the Christ Community Church blog. I’m really thankful for you all and your heart for Jesus and making Him known as God of very God who is to be worshiped!
And I agree with you (so be it if we are indeed a minority) that challenges to the faith are good. It was a great faith challenge that God used to draw me to Him after His grace drove me to start finding answers.
I heard something interesting from Tim Keller when he spoke at the Veritas Forum at U.C.Berkley. He said that the best thing the Chinese government could do for Christianity in China was drive out the foreign missionaries. This forced Christianity and the Chinese Church to become indigenous, making it far more powerful.
Similarly, when we have to provide a defense for why we believe what we believe (1 Pet. 3:15), our faith transfers from being perhaps the faith of our parents to becoming our own faith. It becomes “indigenous” to us, and once God awakens that hunger and thirst in us for Him, it is the beginning of the end for the Self, and the process of bringing ourselves under subjection to the rule of Christ is underway (which won’t stop until He is finished [Phil.1:6]).
Then, as individuals are brought under submission to Jesus’ rule, the collective is also then being brought under submission to Jesus’ rule. It’s so sweet! God is so mind-blowing in His methods!
Anyway, all that to say hello and may God continue to bless His work in you!
at His feet,
jae
Jae…what a small world! Glad we’ve become blogging buddies! Was your post entitled “Two Great Questions”?
I too heard Keller’s talk at U.C. Berkley. His point was valid and true. I believe we in North America have become accustomed to a Christian comfort level that is not typical in most areas of the world.
As a result, ridicule, rejection, trial and persecution are often viewed as bad, or even God withdrawing his blessing from us. This I believe to be wrong. Keller’s China example stands as proof positive.
The difficulties the church is and will face leave us two options: 1. To bury our heads in the proverbial Christian sand, or 2. To observe and obey the teachings of Jesus referenced in this post.
What an opportunity!
Thought you might enjoy this short video in light of this post:
http://calvaryleatherhead.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-is-missional-church.html
Hi again Anthony…
I couldn’t agree more! What an opportunity indeed!!
And the post was “Two Great Questions”. Thanks for poking around.
Again, really glad that you’re doing what you’re doing. Praise God for the change He brings about in His kids. God bless you and yours, brother.
at His feet,
jae