It is not our Mission. This may seem self evident, but it is hard for us to truly accept as we strive for control over all that is in our world. We want to have control over our money, our schedules, and our relationships. We want control over our God. It is at this point in which we try to control mission in Church. Not to glorify God, but to command where and what we are called to. Through our struggles, through our failure, we become humbled to finally confess that we are not in control. “That the mission is not ours but God’s.”
We are part of God’s mission. We are sent people, but we must remember that is because of Jesus’ death and resurrection that we are sent to bear witness that the reign of God is and draws near. It is through this act and the nature of our triune God that we are forgiven and invited to enter into the kingdom of God. Jesus was sent so that we might know God. It is then through the apostolic people, the sinful community, that God has chosen to continue to reveal this open secret of the cross. We are then called as apostles to witness to and enter into the kingdom of God. We are only able to do this as a result of Jesus’ work to reconcile us to God through the cross. Our God is a triune God whom desires relationship with us. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, the sacrifice of Jesus, and the grace of God we participate in the Missio Dei through spiritual disciplines, Christian community, and social holiness.
Spiritual practices are one vehicle of reconciliation with to God. Through these disciplines we can become more of a disciple and focus our lives toward God. John Wesley dedicated himself to various spiritual disciplines throughout his life. He created groups to delve into spiritual matters. He rigorously pursued sanctification throughout his college years and beyond, and became known as a Methodist because of his strict methods.
While disciplined in his study, service, and prayer, Wesley never felt justified to God. He tried to earn his justification through his strict methods. I have felt the same pressure to earn God’s grace though acts of piety. As Wesley did, I wanted to sanctify myself through works. The Moravians came into Wesley’s life and gave him a glimpse of what it was to be reconciled to God. “Moravians” have passed through in my life also, demonstrating relationship with God that I have failed to enter fully. It was not until the Holy Spirit opened Wesley’s heart to accept God’s grace at Aldersgate that he finally could submit and realize he was justified. We have been commissioned by God “to bring the forgiveness of God to actual men and women in their concrete situations in the only way that it can be done so long as we are in the flesh-by the word and act and gesture of another human being.” Free grace and forgiveness are the hardest to accept for me, which is why I need Christian brothers and sisters.
Christian community is a gift from God. It is in our fellow brothers and sisters that we experience the physical presence of God. The powerful implications of this let us offer Christ to one another. Not a human love, but a spiritual love. This love is strong enough to love enemies and loves others not for their sake, but for Christ’s. This love helps us avoid seeking our own justification. “The Christian no longer lives of himself, by his own claims and his own justification, but by God’s claims and God’s justification”. Our justification and reconciliation are not our own, but are given freely through Christ. “Christ opened up the way to God and to our brother”. Fellow Christians bring the message of salvation so that we become reconciled and accept the grace that God has already given us. It is through Christian community that we are able to move beyond ourselves.
Through spiritual disciplines my relationship with God will be strengthened. At this point, true Christian community will become available as it will be easier to see Christ in the brothers and sisters we encounter. There may be moments when this is revealed to me, but never has it permeated my whole heart. With the support of community, through accountability, class meetings, small groups, and regularly engaging in spiritual disciplines I have already seen my relationship with God growing. This is a continual journey of becoming reconciled to truly accept God’s grace and to know I am justified in the Lord’s sight.
There are hindrances to forming a community like this that I have experienced such as wish dreams and domination by the strong. These idealistic wish dreams of Christian community can lead us to try and make Christian community what we want or imagine it to be. The domination of the strong is at expense of the weak, and as a result excludes Christ from the community. These hindrances have been at the forefront of most Christian communities I have been a part of.
In and beyond college I have had many different ministry experiences within church communities. These worshiping communities have demolished and formed my ideas of what it means to be the Body of Christ. These experiences have spurred tension for me as I contemplated what it means to be the Body while ministering in Baptist, United Methodist, and Roman Catholic Churches. These local churches have provided me concrete examples of different church models: Corporate, Christendom, and Missional.
Functional Christendom is a church model that has arisen in Western cultures as the church and state have distanced themselves. The churches often still operate as though they have a position of power in society. This reality has changed as Enlightenment values have made church participation voluntary and placed science, individuality, and reason as core values above moral and spiritual values. As a result “People no longer assumed that the church had anything relevant to say on matters beyond personal faith”. This model has lessened the importance of the community and has lead many churches to live in past glory.
Over the last two years as the Youth and Family Director at a small church in north Seattle, I have heard many reminisce about the glory days of their church. This is relayed in how many kids were in Sunday school, the programs that were run, or the trophies that lined the walls from the 1970s. The church wants to operate as though it still has influence and power in the community. When the pastor asks what the church has to offer, the discussion quickly shifts to survival of the institution. This example demonstrates the church’s prime desire is for what others can do for them and not how the church can participate in the Missio Dei.
At the turn of the century, led by the development of organizational management, the church began to function as a corporation by employing business like practices. This developed a modern organizational structure around “key functions and managed by administrative committees”. Focus on effectiveness and organization within the denomination led to more sophisticated versions of the same solutions. This mindset can often lead to the “illusion that managing the organization is equivalent to being the church”.
The largest church I worked in was a Catholic Church with roughly 6,000 members. When a new issue arose, so did a new policy, structure, and ways to document. The most powerful leader of the church was not the priest, but the administrator. The church has policies on who can talk to what students and utilizes programs to solve any communal or spiritual issue. Corporate America is the standard by which the church and its leaders functioned.
A missional church gives us a vastly different view from the models before. This church is grounded in the Missio Dei and missional ecclesiology. The church becomes apostolic and lives out the call to teach, preach, and reconcile. Through these three callings the church becomes a place to cultivate relationship with God. The church does not stay static and is always “becoming a reconciled and reconciling community itself”. The journey of the missional church becomes that of a pilgrim people toward the reign of God. The leadership within the missional church will not be about a solo pastor, but a place where all can be ministered to and with along the journey. The ministry of the church is always as a witness to God’s reign and in support of the Missio Dei.
One church I have worked at, Faith United Methodist Church, lived as a missional church. The youth leader modeled this best as he guided the church into deep spiritual practices that formed a community of Christians that became a source “incomparable joy and strength to the believer”. Theological discussion and questions like, “What’s the state of your Soul?” were common practice. He saw Christ in others and as a result others began to see Christ in one another. As a result of his leadership the church reached out to the marginalized in the community. Students that were rejected by other youth groups, because of status or socially stratifying identifications like homosexuality, were accepted and embraced by all within the ministry. The church followed suit and built relationships with those in prisons and other marginalized populations.
Work and relationship with the marginalized and powerless are a great mark of an apostolic church. Throughout the scriptures it is apparent that we are called, above all, to serve the poor. We are given a Holy Triad, the widow, orphan and foreigner, that we are called to. Jesus makes it a point to communicate that we are to minister to those who have become marginalized in society. This is made clear when Jesus sets a standard for participation in the Missio Dei is whether or not the hungry, thirsty, foreigner, or any in need are taken care of. It is clear that call to the poor is crucial for the Missio Dei.
Christ has drawn us to himself. As a result we have become the Elect, sent to spread the Good News of God’s reign. This is not so much a privilege as it is an extreme responsibility to witness to what it is that God has done, is doing, and will do. Through the fulfillment of incarnational ministry, witnessing to the marginalized, we are reconciled by proclaiming the Good News.
Incarnational ministry has taken on a different context through the work of those like Ray Bakke and John B. Hayes. They have taken the commandment given by Jesus “Go and make disciples of all the nations” and put it into practice. Instead of leaving for a foreign country they noticed that the world comes together in the diversity of cities. They both wanted to get beyond study and engaged relationally with the poor. “Poverty, we know about. It’s poor people we do not know”. As a result both men took their families and became incarnational in poor neighborhoods of the cities. Through the experiences that they share it becomes apparent that living incarnationally has helped them to enter the kingdom of God.
It is not only the poor who need us, we need the poor. When we enter into relationship with the poor we become more aware of our brokenness. We become aware of how selfish and sinful we truly are. We become aware of where we are storing our treasure as we collect material goods. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth…but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven”. Without the poor we seclude ourselves and leave community and reconciliation behind. It is easy then to fall into the same behavior of Israel. “Israel’s election means that it is called to be the servant and witness of the Lord for all the nations, not to be ruler of the nations”. When we take being elect as we are perfected and no longer need the cultivation of community to constantly reconcile, convert and be made new in Christ then we will become comfortable in our brokenness.
Social Holiness, as John Wesley called it, is a term that has reinvigorated my understanding of God’s call for us with the poor. Justice has a great biblical sense from the Hebrew word Mishpat. This word takes on meaning as we see it tied to how we treat the holy triad of orphan, widow, and foreigner and put into practice the second triad of steadfast love, justice and righteousness. While this should have been my understanding, culture has hijacked the word justice to go within a judiciary system that is not about justice, but about laws that those in power had created. God’s justice is more than that. Hence social Holiness reminds me that with our interactions, ministry, vocations, and service, it must all point back to the Biblical sense of Justice. Justice must once again become holy.
Holy Justice founded in caring for the poor is something all Christians are called to. “All Christians , regardless of geography, are called to be missional in the image of the Missio Dei.” We will be sent out into our community to become incarnational and offer love through reconciliation with God and humanity.
We are a part of God’s Mission. We enter the reign of God through spiritual practices. Christian community is a gift from God that helps us worship, honor, and become witnesses to what God is doing. Reconciliation, healing, and justice come through entering into community and relationships, especially with the poor. Through spiritual disciplines, community, and justice we accept God’s grace and invitation to become a part of the mission. Not our mission, but God’s mission of reconciliation.
Bibliography
1) Bakke, Ray. “Christian Formation in Ministry: Acts of Mercy and Justice.” Seattle Pacific University. Rainer Avenue Church. September 8, 2010.
2) Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life Together: A Discussion of Christian Fellowship. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers, 1954.
3) Guder, Darrell L., Editor. Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eedmans Publishing Company, 1998.
4) Hayes, John. Sub-merge. Ventura, CA, Regal Books, 2006.
5) Leong, David. “Christian Formation in Ministry: Acts of Mercy and Justice.” Seattle Pacific University. September 7, 2010.
6) Leong, David. “Christian Formation in Ministry: Acts of Mercy and Justice.” Seattle Pacific University. September 9, 2010.
7) Newbigin, Lesslie. The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eedmans Publishing Company, 1978.
8) Strong, Doug. “John Wesley.” Seattle Pacific University. Camp Casey. August 31, 2010.
9) Strong, Doug. “John Wesley’s Sermons and Conversion.” Seattle Pacific University. Camp Casey. September 1, 2010.
Lesslie Newbigin. The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eedmans Publishing Company, 1978), 55.
Doug Strong, “John Wesley.”(Seattle Pacific University. Camp Casey. August 31, 2010).
Doug Strong, “John Wesley’s Sermons and Conversion.” (Seattle Pacific University. Camp Casey. September 1, 2010).
Darrell L. Guder, Editor. Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eedmans Publishing Company, 1998), 43.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: A Discussion of Christian Fellowship (San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers, 1954), 19.
David Leong, “Christian Formation in Ministry: Acts of Mercy and Justice.” (Seattle Pacific University. Emerald City Bible Church. September 9, 2010).
Ray Bakke, “Christian Formation in Ministry: Acts of Mercy and Justice.” (Seattle Pacific University. Rainer Avenue Church. September 8, 2010).
David Leong, “Christian Formation in Ministry: Acts of Mercy and Justice.” Seattle Pacific University. September 7, 2010.
