Question #1: What is a missional community?
A Missional Community is a Family of Missionary Servants who make Disciples who make Disciples.
Family – First of all a missional community is a group of believers who live and experience life together like a family. They see God as their Father because of their faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ and the new regeneration brought about by the Holy Spirit.
This means they have and know of a divine love that leads them to love one another as brothers and sisters. They treat one another as children of God deeply loved by the Father in everything – sharing their money, time, resources, needs, hurts, successes, etc… They know each other well. This knowledge includes knowing each other’s stories and having familiarity with one another’s strength and struggles in regards to belief in the gospel and its application to all of life.
They speak the gospel truth to one another, regularly building each other up in love. They also love the people around them as if they were part of the family, showing them what the love of the Father looks like and in so doing inviting them to experience life in the family of God.
(John 1:11-13; Rom. 12:10-16; Eph 5:1-2)
Missionaries – God’s family is also sent like the Son by the Spirit to proclaim the good news of the kingdom – the gospel – and fulfill the commission of Jesus. A missional community is more than a bible study or a small group that cares for other believers.
A missional community is made up of Spirit-led and filled people who radically reorient their lives together for the mission of making disciples of a particular people and place where there is a gospel gap (no consistent gospel witness). This means people’s schedule, resources and decisions are now collectively built around reaching people together.
(Matt. 3:16-4:1; Jn. 20:21; Acts 1:8; Acts 13:2)
Servants – Jesus is Lord and we are his Servants. A missional community serves those around them as though they are serving Jesus. In doing so, they give a foretaste of what life will be like under the rule and reign of Jesus Christ.
Living as servants to the King, who serve others as he served, presents a tangible witness to Jesus’ kingdom and the power of the gospel to change lives. A missional community serves in such a way that it demands a Gospel explanation – lives that cannot be explained in any other way than by the Gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus.
(Matt. 20:25-28; Jn. 13:1-17; Phil. 2:5-11; 1 Pet. 2:16)
Disciples – We are all learners of Jesus our rabbi who has given us his Spirit to teach us all that is true about Jesus and enable us to live out his commands. Jesus commanded us to make disciples who believe the gospel, are established in a new identity, and are able to obey all of his commands (Matt. 28:19-20). The missional community is the best context in which this can happen.
Disciples are made and developed: 1) through life on life, where there is visibility and accessibility 2) in community, where they can practice the one anothers, and 3) on mission, where they learn how to proclaim the gospel and make disciples.
Question #2: How is a Missional Community Different From a Bible Study?
During our Missional Community leadership training we start with a definition of missional community. Then, we clarify what it is not. A Missional Community is not primarily a Bible study.
The goal of most Bible studies is to study the Bible. We believe the goal of a missional community is to make disciples who make disciples. We clarify that the mission of making disciples with our missional communities will require studying the bible, but often bible studies don’t require that you make disciples.
In fact, our discovery has been that many people have studied the Bible for years and have never led anyone to faith in Jesus, equipped people for ministry and sent out more to do the same. It’s as if we have come to believe that knowing the Bible equals faith in and obedience to God.
Often when I speak to leaders and people who wish we did more bible studies at Soma, I ask them what was the last book of the Bible they studied. Let’s say they’ve respond with “James”.
I then say something like, “That’s great! I’m sure you’re now caring for widows and orphans, visiting the sick, caring for the poor, etc…!” To which I generally hear, “Well no…not really!?” Then, I say, “But I thought you studied James?” “Well, yes, but I’m not necessarily doing that.”
I go on to explain that the intent Jesus has for studying his word is that we would hear it and do it, not just hear it and know it. The next thing I say is: “So how about getting involved in a missional community and doing what you have studied and know for now? In fact, maybe you should practice obeying what you know with some others for a while before you add more biblical knowledge that you will be accountable to obey.”
The missional community is the best environment to study the Bible because it is only in the context of community that you learn to obey what it teaches and it is while on the mission of making disciples that you come to see how powerful God’s word is for bringing about transformation.
So for us at Soma, we call people to obey the mission of Jesus to make disciples; obey what the Bible teaches; grow as effective ministers of the gospel; get on mission with other believers to reach the lost and build up those who know and believe in Jesus. All of this requires that our people go back to the Scriptures over and over again to inform and equip them for all of this.
Doing mission together pushes our people to study the Bible more intently together. In fact, I have found believers’ hunger for and engagement with the Bible only increases the more they exercise obedience to what it says and also need it to teach others to know, love and obey Jesus.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
What is a Missional Community?
While I've made a pair of attempts at explaining what I believe church should be, it seems I can never fully express it. I'm sure that's natural, and likely unavoidable, but I'd love to be able to have a succinct description of this new (to me) style of Christian living when others ask me about it. Specifically, I've been very excited about a lifestyle (worldview, whatever you want to call it) seen in a group called Soma Communities. So, when I saw a recent article which had some relevant questions which were answered by Soma founder Jeff Vanderstelt, I read through it. Jeff does a great job of answering a couple of questions in a relatively succinct manner and in a very clear way. Check it out:
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Can I get a witness?
There are two types of Christians that make me cringe. And before you think I'm about to go all hypocritical on you, hear me out. The first type of Christian is typically a "star"...someone who is in a position of public prominence, like an actor, professional athlete, musician, televangelist, politician, etc. who uses their platform to say stupid things in the name of Christianity. I'm sure that sometimes they're really a Christian, and sometimes they're not.
The second type of Christian that makes me cringe can have, in many cases, a lot of overlap with the first type. This type is the type that completely misrepresents Biblical Christianity. Allow me to describe them.
WARNING! DISCLAIMER! (I.e. confession time) While I still have plenty of issues in my life, many of which I'm likely completely unaware, I have to admit that the Christian I'm about to describe was....me. Okay, maybe not specifically me, but it's the type of Christian I was. So I guess that makes me some kind of expert or something. On to the description.
Many Christians today portray themselves and, more detrimentally, the entire global church as:
Stuffy (aka boring, stiff, anti-fun)
Hateful
Unloving
Judging
Graceless
Legalistic/Anti-pleasure (Seeing sin in things that are not sin: sex, alcohol, card playing, dancing, etc)
Unhappy
The ironic thing is that these ALL are complete antonyms to Biblical Christianity. Jesus was a social radical who flew in the face of religious tradition and leadership by dining with hookers and scum, drinking alcohol, having parties all while loving those who needed loving. He gave grace to those who needed it and rejected those who abused their power. Yet, somehow, many modern American Christians have ignored Jesus' life and have chosen to go the path of the very people Jesus condemned.
So, because of many (probably the vast majority) Christians who have cloistered themselves away in "safe" little bubbles surrounded by Christian culture, all the while looking down upon their neighbors, the world around them has seen them for what they, unfortunately, really are: Stuffy, hateful, judging, graceless, legalistic, and unhappy.
But why?
Why are so many Christians this way? I think these attitudes are typically caused by one of three things:
1) Failure to truly believe the gospel - In order to live with happiness, grace, and love as a Christian, you really need to believe the gospel. This may, on the surface, sound obvious, but functionally I don't think it is. What I mean is that we, by our very nature, are driven to work. The offer of the gospel, of Jesus doing ALL the work with us merely trusting in Him, seems too good to be true. So, whether consciously or not, we find ourselves working. We compare ourselves to others. We try to put on the "mature Christian" mask. We try to hide our suffering and pain for fear that they are indicators that something is wrong with us. Well, in reality, something IS wrong with us. That's why we need Jesus. If there was nothing wrong with us we'd be fine on our own. But we're all broken and this world is broken! I've said it before, but this attitude turns out to be an attempt to disprove the gospel. Why? Well, if you can live a stainless life without Jesus, then you wouldn't need the gospel. And if you don't need the gospel, which itself says you DO need it, then it's a lie!
This whole attitude leads to an "Us vs. Them" mentality. We forget where we came from and we view ourselves as superior, rather than viewing ourselves as we really are: In daily need of Jesus. Recognizing your constant need for the gospel completely changes how you view the people around you. You can't help but love them. When we forget about the gospel, judging and lack of grace alleviates our fears about whether we're doing enough because we can always compare ourselves positively to someone else. It's just like a bully who desperately needs affirmation that they're good enough.
2) Fear of contamination - By this I mean that many Christians live believing that objects contaminate and cause them to sin rather than recognizing that their own heart is the root cause. Really, most things in the world are pretty harmless on their own. Humans are very skilled at taking good things and turning them into focal points. Into idols. Taking God's good gifts (sex, wine, food, relationships, etc.) and replacing God with them. Making them ultimate. Placing their hopes and dreams on those things and hoping that they don't fail. And yet, they do fail. Every time. As long as we believe that the world is full of dirty things which will cause us to sin, then we will likely live a legalistic life which seeks to avoid anything which may trip us up. With this mentality we fail to address the root cause: our own heart. Nobody said this better than Martin Luther:
"We must not…reject [or] condemn anything because it is abused. This would result in utter confusion. God has commanded us in Deut. 4 not to lift up our eyes to the sun (and the moon and the stars), etc., that we may not worship them, for they are created to serve all nations. But there are many people who worship the sun and the stars. Therefore we propose to rush in and pull the sun and stars from the skies. No, we had better let it be. Again, wine and women bring many a man to misery and make a fool of him (Ecclus. 19:2; 31:30); so we kill all the women and pour out all the wine. Again, gold and silver cause much evil, so we condemn them. Indeed, if we want to drive away our worst enemy, the one who does us the most harm, we shall have to kill ourselves, for we have no greater enemy than our own heart."
Jesus didn't hide from the hurting. Why should we? Jesus lived with them and loved them. So should we. Jesus didn't come to establish sets of rules, He came to abolish the law. Ever heard the phrase "freedom in Christ"? Ever heard the apostle Paul say "Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ." I could go on and on... but I think you get the point.
3) They're not a Christian - This is not a condemnation, but you've got to admit that it's hard to not treat your faith as mere religion if you don't really believe it. Not much to say here.
Listen... Christians should be able to recognize that they are no different than the world around them. That we all need Jesus help and that we're no better than anyone else. More than that, Christians have freedom. We've been forgiven of our debts and we have nobody to impress. We can live with complete freedom and peace knowing that the Creator of the universe loved us so much that He gave us His Son and there is NOTHING more for us to do. We are free from the slavery to our idols (and hoping they'll satisfy us...at some point!). We are free to love others openly and to enjoy God's blessings. This truth frees Christians to live peaceful, happy, loving, rule-free lives... I so wish this were the reality for most Christians; but I fear it isn't.
For more detail on how I think this should be played out in our interactions with others (essentially helping them to experience the same restoration and freedom that I've experienced) see my June 29, 2011 blog entry entitled "Why Do Good?"
The second type of Christian that makes me cringe can have, in many cases, a lot of overlap with the first type. This type is the type that completely misrepresents Biblical Christianity. Allow me to describe them.
WARNING! DISCLAIMER! (I.e. confession time) While I still have plenty of issues in my life, many of which I'm likely completely unaware, I have to admit that the Christian I'm about to describe was....me. Okay, maybe not specifically me, but it's the type of Christian I was. So I guess that makes me some kind of expert or something. On to the description.
Many Christians today portray themselves and, more detrimentally, the entire global church as:
Stuffy (aka boring, stiff, anti-fun)
Hateful
Unloving
Judging
Graceless
Legalistic/Anti-pleasure (Seeing sin in things that are not sin: sex, alcohol, card playing, dancing, etc)
Unhappy
The ironic thing is that these ALL are complete antonyms to Biblical Christianity. Jesus was a social radical who flew in the face of religious tradition and leadership by dining with hookers and scum, drinking alcohol, having parties all while loving those who needed loving. He gave grace to those who needed it and rejected those who abused their power. Yet, somehow, many modern American Christians have ignored Jesus' life and have chosen to go the path of the very people Jesus condemned.
So, because of many (probably the vast majority) Christians who have cloistered themselves away in "safe" little bubbles surrounded by Christian culture, all the while looking down upon their neighbors, the world around them has seen them for what they, unfortunately, really are: Stuffy, hateful, judging, graceless, legalistic, and unhappy.
But why?
Why are so many Christians this way? I think these attitudes are typically caused by one of three things:
1) Failure to truly believe the gospel - In order to live with happiness, grace, and love as a Christian, you really need to believe the gospel. This may, on the surface, sound obvious, but functionally I don't think it is. What I mean is that we, by our very nature, are driven to work. The offer of the gospel, of Jesus doing ALL the work with us merely trusting in Him, seems too good to be true. So, whether consciously or not, we find ourselves working. We compare ourselves to others. We try to put on the "mature Christian" mask. We try to hide our suffering and pain for fear that they are indicators that something is wrong with us. Well, in reality, something IS wrong with us. That's why we need Jesus. If there was nothing wrong with us we'd be fine on our own. But we're all broken and this world is broken! I've said it before, but this attitude turns out to be an attempt to disprove the gospel. Why? Well, if you can live a stainless life without Jesus, then you wouldn't need the gospel. And if you don't need the gospel, which itself says you DO need it, then it's a lie!
This whole attitude leads to an "Us vs. Them" mentality. We forget where we came from and we view ourselves as superior, rather than viewing ourselves as we really are: In daily need of Jesus. Recognizing your constant need for the gospel completely changes how you view the people around you. You can't help but love them. When we forget about the gospel, judging and lack of grace alleviates our fears about whether we're doing enough because we can always compare ourselves positively to someone else. It's just like a bully who desperately needs affirmation that they're good enough.
2) Fear of contamination - By this I mean that many Christians live believing that objects contaminate and cause them to sin rather than recognizing that their own heart is the root cause. Really, most things in the world are pretty harmless on their own. Humans are very skilled at taking good things and turning them into focal points. Into idols. Taking God's good gifts (sex, wine, food, relationships, etc.) and replacing God with them. Making them ultimate. Placing their hopes and dreams on those things and hoping that they don't fail. And yet, they do fail. Every time. As long as we believe that the world is full of dirty things which will cause us to sin, then we will likely live a legalistic life which seeks to avoid anything which may trip us up. With this mentality we fail to address the root cause: our own heart. Nobody said this better than Martin Luther:
"We must not…reject [or] condemn anything because it is abused. This would result in utter confusion. God has commanded us in Deut. 4 not to lift up our eyes to the sun (and the moon and the stars), etc., that we may not worship them, for they are created to serve all nations. But there are many people who worship the sun and the stars. Therefore we propose to rush in and pull the sun and stars from the skies. No, we had better let it be. Again, wine and women bring many a man to misery and make a fool of him (Ecclus. 19:2; 31:30); so we kill all the women and pour out all the wine. Again, gold and silver cause much evil, so we condemn them. Indeed, if we want to drive away our worst enemy, the one who does us the most harm, we shall have to kill ourselves, for we have no greater enemy than our own heart."
Jesus didn't hide from the hurting. Why should we? Jesus lived with them and loved them. So should we. Jesus didn't come to establish sets of rules, He came to abolish the law. Ever heard the phrase "freedom in Christ"? Ever heard the apostle Paul say "Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ." I could go on and on... but I think you get the point.
3) They're not a Christian - This is not a condemnation, but you've got to admit that it's hard to not treat your faith as mere religion if you don't really believe it. Not much to say here.
Listen... Christians should be able to recognize that they are no different than the world around them. That we all need Jesus help and that we're no better than anyone else. More than that, Christians have freedom. We've been forgiven of our debts and we have nobody to impress. We can live with complete freedom and peace knowing that the Creator of the universe loved us so much that He gave us His Son and there is NOTHING more for us to do. We are free from the slavery to our idols (and hoping they'll satisfy us...at some point!). We are free to love others openly and to enjoy God's blessings. This truth frees Christians to live peaceful, happy, loving, rule-free lives... I so wish this were the reality for most Christians; but I fear it isn't.
For more detail on how I think this should be played out in our interactions with others (essentially helping them to experience the same restoration and freedom that I've experienced) see my June 29, 2011 blog entry entitled "Why Do Good?"
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
My "Review" of Blue Like Jazz
Okay, I'm not really going to review Blue Like Jazz... I'm just going to give a short description and endorsement.
My wife read this book a few years back and really enjoyed it. I only recently got around to reading it, but I really liked it. I had heard that some Christians were offended or put off by the book and I cannot understand that. I mean, I can understand it because I know how a lot of Christians can be (self-righteous, scared of liberals, offended by "curse words" and smoking/drinking, etc) but I just don't get it.
The book is written by Donald Miller and is basically just a story of his journey and a compilation of his thoughts. The subtitle of the book is "Nonreligious Thoughts On Christian Spirituality". I didn't find it to be terribly well written, but Miller is very creative and self-aware. By self-aware I mean that he thinks about himself deeply, considers his actions and beliefs, etc. He also thinks deeply about the world around him and doesn't take things for granted... and I think that should be respected. Too often we take our own experiences, or our own understanding, and we assume them to be truth. Miller honestly examines his thoughts and beliefs... he struggles through big questions, like why hippies are more loving than the Christians he knows.
I'm not going to say too much about the book except that it was a fun, easy read and can prod a person to question why they live the way they do.
Oh, and I think this is also a great book for people who aren't Christians to read as it shows that not all Christians fall into the same category. There are plenty of Christians, myself included, who break the mold of "typical" Christians. I think it's probably a topic for a different time, but I'll just briefly say that I'm saddened to think that the image of Christianity portrayed by most Christians is:
My wife read this book a few years back and really enjoyed it. I only recently got around to reading it, but I really liked it. I had heard that some Christians were offended or put off by the book and I cannot understand that. I mean, I can understand it because I know how a lot of Christians can be (self-righteous, scared of liberals, offended by "curse words" and smoking/drinking, etc) but I just don't get it.
The book is written by Donald Miller and is basically just a story of his journey and a compilation of his thoughts. The subtitle of the book is "Nonreligious Thoughts On Christian Spirituality". I didn't find it to be terribly well written, but Miller is very creative and self-aware. By self-aware I mean that he thinks about himself deeply, considers his actions and beliefs, etc. He also thinks deeply about the world around him and doesn't take things for granted... and I think that should be respected. Too often we take our own experiences, or our own understanding, and we assume them to be truth. Miller honestly examines his thoughts and beliefs... he struggles through big questions, like why hippies are more loving than the Christians he knows.
I'm not going to say too much about the book except that it was a fun, easy read and can prod a person to question why they live the way they do.
Oh, and I think this is also a great book for people who aren't Christians to read as it shows that not all Christians fall into the same category. There are plenty of Christians, myself included, who break the mold of "typical" Christians. I think it's probably a topic for a different time, but I'll just briefly say that I'm saddened to think that the image of Christianity portrayed by most Christians is:
- Stuffy
- Angry
- Unloving
- Judging
- Un-gracious (I don't think that's a word)
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