pat loughery

Todd Hunter, http://www.sfkl.org and http://www.alphana.org

THe idea of “missional” comes from missiologists. The one person who’s at the forefront of this issue is Lesslie Newbigin.

Rethink the church by rethinking the gospel.

One phrase from them: the chruch cannot be a vendor of religious goods and services. (from Guder, Missiona Church book)

The church as the sent people of God – sent to announce, talki about, embody, demonstrate the gospel.

Act as a sign/foretaste of what is to come, act as an agent or instrument of the Kingdom.

I usually say this to pastors: the church is secondary. it’s a provocative thought. but the church needs to be put in her place. Not as an anti-church thing, but think of the Kingdom. Not a noun only, but the ruling and reigning of God. As Dallas Willard puts it, the extension of God’s will. The activity. that activity in our space and time CREATES the church, and CALLS people into following Jesus. The chruch is derivative. So Newbigin -> missional church asks us to rethink that, what does that mean?

So the exercdise I do in seminary classes which we will now do is to re-hear the gospel.

Activity:

As small groups, read these passages, slowly – and tell me what the gospel is. Mark 1:14-15. 1 Cor 15:3-6. Do NOT tell me what you think ghte Gospel is; tell me what the text says the Gospel is.

So… which one is right? which one is the Gospel? Some say that Jesus was the last of the old prophets; some say that Paul created Christianity.

Missional is a worldview/attitude/imagination before it is anything else. Meaning that humans don’ tlive out of theology, facts, propositoins. I’m not saying tha tthere isn’t truth – I’m sayihng that we dn’t live by them; we live out of imaginations. We all have imaginations around this word “missional”. That baggage isn’t propositional; it’s about imagination about what God’s up to in the world.

The gospel isn’t simpy a message to be announced; it’s the form of our participation in what GOd’s up to in and through the world.. A loose quote from a book called Storefront.

Dallas WIllard: our job is not to live Jesus’ life; our job is to live the way Jesus would live if Jesus were I. How would Jesus live life if he were a middleschool teacher and soccer coach? a software tester? THAT’s what it means to be missional. Jeus lived his missional life as a carpenteer/prophet from Nazareth. How is he missional in that life?

I think what has to happen is, we have to hear Paul in light of Jesus. harmonize them that way.

What you see in Jesus is what it means to live engaged in teh world.

so in order to be missional , it requries fundamentally rethinking our story.

So to rethink missional; we have to place it within the context of the Kingdom. It’s not just a message to say; it’s not merely that. It’s also the form our our participatinon in what God’s doing. Jeuss only does what he sees father doing, says what he ears father saying. Check out John 5 in the Message. “The person who hears whatJesus says and realigns their life to it…”

1. Rethink our story

2. In the context of the Kingdom

3. being missional cannot be something that one adds to an already crazy out of control life. BUT being missional must become like a spiritual discipline that we practice in our everyday life. Good marriage, bad marriage; good job, bad job. the soil of our life is wher ewe practice mission.

Q from Jim:

What ‘s happeningin our culture

Afrom Todd: Fragmentation, tings are getting smaller and smaller. But people are also seeking holism, what is really real. something that makes sense of the fragmentation and deconstruction that’s going on.

Q from Jim: What makes you think this is a trend, not just a fad

A: this is why I answer in Newbigin: the west fell asleep at the wheel, and while asleep, the very world change dunderneath our feet. postmodernism, postchristian. note, the culture here in Seatlte is a different culture than in nashville, dallas, etc. Inherent in this transformation is not just threats but opportunities.

Q: what kind of oportunities?

a: the sort of tease that you talk about with that melissa etheridge. somebody that normally yuou woulnd’t describe as in sync with Jesus, but see that song. i don’t hae any problem thinking that the holy spirit is as active in the world as in the church. Iactually think the kingdom of god is a secular realtiy. everything comes under the kingdom – worldly means ‘in solidary with the world’. that’s aprtly why jesus was so scandalous – he was in solidarity with a broken world. what scot does so brililantly wih mary was to say jesus arises in the context of mary’s story, not out of the blue.

q: what are the implications of the kingdom being secular
a: whatever you do can be holy. Ordinary attempts count. in that story, anything that we do that alighs wit h what the father is donig counts – and aligns within us the everlasting life. when you ‘re doing something that connects with god, don’t you feeel the best? vocation doesn’t mean job. it means calling. has nothing to do with job. relational thing. todd calling to jim; jim haring it and responsing. your vocation is to live a missional life under the ruberic of the kingdom.

whatever you do for a job can be holy.

Q: You said This has to happen in the context of your ordianry life; explan further.

a: There’s atheme in spiritual formation that’s around ‘practicing the presence of god’. It doens’t matter what you do; it can be made holy. i use psiritual disciplines in my life to practice the presence of god. e.g. as i’m about to take a phone call, i pray to practice the presence of god. make your life REAL by practicing hte presence of GOd in that moment. Don’t do something to ADD it to your life, but practice god’s prsence in the routines of your regular lives.

–> Singing the Etheridge song again.