Missional Church as a Repentance Movement

The missional church has been described as many things. Some see it as a fad. They claim that this is just a temporary over-reaction and that eventually these wayward souls will return to the fold and once again see church "their way." Some claim that it is offensive. They say that those practicing missional church are against the church and are at war with tradition; something that they hold dear. Some make it a means of salvation. They say that church that looks alternative to tradition is more authentic (okay, I don’t know if anyone actually says this, but they seem to think it). After 6 years of pursuing missional church I have seen truth reflected in many of these. But I have come to see missional church as a repentance movement.

Movement from Mission Centered on Growing a Gathering

The traditional form of doing church has been struggling for many decades (maybe centuries) to shake the one troubling characteristic that has plagued it: having a larger mission than their own growth. Some have outright embraced growing their church as synonymous with growing the kingdom (I am looking at you, Rick Warren). This has been turned over and over by eloquent and charismatic speakers to convince us that if the “local church” is growing then the kingdom of God is growing. After all, “isn’t Jesus’ point to grow the Kingdom of God; therefore, invite your friends to church this Sunday.”

The problem is that we walk away feeling sticky. We feel like we have just taken part in some kind of fraud but it is too complex to argue. We don’t really have an alternative. So, we invite our friends (which are probably all Christian) to church this Sunday. Deep down inside we feel that the Kingdom is bigger, that the purposes of Jesus are not for the number of people in a building, that our mission should expand our personal horizons and grow us as more Kingdom minded people. The reality is less compelling. A successful pastor will be the one that adds people to the congregation. Period.

Movement from Collecting Money to Pay for the Building

No one likes to talk about money. Except for the church. People that preach and teach in the church seem to love the topic. Truth is… they don’t. They hate it. They hate asking for money. Pastors feel like they are beggars sometimes. They have a unique burden that many don’t see. They feel the weight of the bills. The lights, water, gas, teaching materials, repairs, landscaping, cleaning supplies, coffee filters… the list is seemingly endless. But two line items are particularly burdensome, salary and building. These weigh immensely.

The pastor’s salary is significant but it is even more burdensome if there are other staff. Then he feels especially responsible for another person. Then there is the rent/mortgage of the building. The truth is simple, for the leaders in the gathering to continue to teach and preach then the building must survive. If the building must survive then money must continue to grow. But our money was never meant for such purposes alone was it? Should it really feel like begging? Is this constant burden and pressure not a danger to the spiritual position and growth of the pastor? Is the mission of God to the poor and needy of this world really second to these practical priorities?

  

Movement Toward the Church Described in the Bible

These are no the description that we find in the Bible of the church; increasing a gathering and giving. The missional movement is attempting to step toward the description of the church that is found in the Bible. Not as an addition to the gathering and giving numbers being a priority, but as a movement to make the care for the poor and broken a priority and building expenses the secondary concern.

In order to do this, there is a need to shed the weight of the building. This doesn’t mean that the building is always gone but that the weight is shed. Some move to homes and gather as smaller communities throughout the city. Some use a business or some other way of sharing the costs of having a building. Not in some temporary way like when planting a church gathering but as a constant way of staving off the costs that demand church “look” a certain way.

This allows for money to be decentralized from a collection called for by the pastor. No longer does he feel the need to “convince” you to pay for the cost of “doing church.” Instead there can be a focus on the real needs of real people and the Spirit has freedom move your heart toward those needs and those lives. This is mission.

Movement Toward Affirming the Mission in Everyday Life

The mission and vision of the Kingdom of God that Jesus proclaimed is not beholden to a certain few or fixed on working a certain way. It is compelled by the Spirit, led by him, moved forward by him, it depends on him. So, every Spirit indwelled person is a part of this mission and vision. So, here it is… Jesus has a mission for you… He has a vision for your life. It does not need filtering through your pastor. It is around you… your everyday life.

Jesus did not make you less than your pastor, or the preacher on television, or the famous (sort of) Christian author that you like to read. He is on mission right now, all around your home, in your workplace or school, in the lives of many people that are in your city. He is working in the lives of those that go to the synagogue, the mosque, those that are atheist. He is moving. Do you see him? Those people that he is calling and reaching are people that you are passing every day. You are on mission.

You are at the ends of the earth. Your driveway, your job, your favorite gas station, or grocery store. Mission is not another country or culture. Mission is the movement of Jesus into the lives of other people. There is no church in Scripture that is not a missional church. It is true that Jesus calls people to go to other countries, and he may call you. If he does, then it will probably be in response to your obedience where you are.

Missional as a Movement of Repentance

So, I don’t see the missional movement as another way of doing church. I see some problems with the way the church has been for centuries and many attempts by many people to repent and change to better fit the mission that Jesus has called us all to in the Scriptures. This repentance comes from outside and inside the traditional church but ultimately leads to one place: an acceptance of the consequences of Jesus’ way of life and his commands.

Discipleship is Impossible!!!

I admit that for the nearly 10 years that I spent working on a church staff I am not sure if I made one reproducing disciple of Jesus Christ. I am a hard worker. I take pride in my books and teaching. I have worked hard to make sure the Gospel is the center of all I do and teach. Yet, not one reproducing disciple.

Why?

Well, I guess along my journey this is what I learned about discipleship.

DISCIPLESHIP IS NOT EASY

I spent much of my time focused on writing lessons. I tried to make sure that they communicated truth from the Word of God. I sought to make every lesson, every story, every teaching opportunity point to Jesus. I wanted to display to the people that I was teaching the grace of God toward the lost, hurting, and broken. That took a lot of time.

Time is a key to relationship. Relationship is the core of discipleship. That is hard when you are busy.

So, I substituted teaching for relationship. I counted time on a stage or in a classroom or in an office as time that I was engaged in discipleship. It is not discipleship. Discipleship is not easy. You cannot create a curriculum (or buy one), develop a 101-501 class structure, or bring people to your office once a week and call that discipleship. That is easy. But that is not discipleship.

I know why we do it. Well, I know why I did it. I was busy. I was working. I was trying. I cared. But I did not pursue the only thing that Jesus commissioned me to do, "make disciples of those that need to know the real Jesus."

DISCIPLESHIP IS NOT HARD

The truth is that I had a load full of excuses but there was nothing in the way of me forming relationships that centered on the person of Jesus Christ. Discipleship happens in everyday life. It happens as you go out to eat and have a chance to share Christ with the waitress (with someone else watching). It happens as you discuss the Bible and then look at each other and say "okay, let's go do this...right now." It happens when you gather people over at your home from around your neighborhood and love on them (with someone else watching). Discipleship is not hard.

I think that is why it hurt when I graduated seminary, looked at my relationships in the church, asked myself if this is the life Jesus called me to, and began to get honest about the people that I had discipled over a decade of ministry. It hurt. Because it is not hard.

DISCIPLESHIP IS IMPOSSIBLE

I have been discipling reproducing disciples for less than a year. I have already seen Jesus move in mighty ways. I am not very good at this. But that is okay. I am learning. We walk together through the real stuff of real life. We share life on life. We see the people that gather in my home being moved by God and we get excited because we get to share life in community. I have a schedule arranged to reach my neighbors and we get to rejoice with every conversation, game of kickball, or opportunity to share food. We share life on mission.

But life is messy. We take steps backward, We takes steps forward. And we get stuck in the status quo for days and weeks at a time. My heart has rejoiced...my heart has broken. I have tried. I have failed. I have tried again.

One thing that I have learned...Discipleship is Impossible.

For me.

But God's Holy Spirit keeps reaching, keeps moving, and keeps changing our lives.

So keep in mind...Discipleship is not easy...Discipleship is not hard...Discipleship is Impossible.

I see God reach into people's hearts in ways I never could. I see him teaching and using me every now and then to share some helpful truth from his Word. I see him drawing us together by the power of the love of his Son and his Holy Spirit. It encourages me to take risks, to talk to people I might not have before, to share more than I think I can. Because I have found freedom when I venture out into the impossible.

It is the best experience of my life. 

Put Sex in its Place!

1 Corinthians 7:1-16

"But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband." 1 Corinthians 7:2

Paul is addressing one of the most sexually driven societies of history. The Greek and Roman legacy of uninhibited sexual conquest is well known. Sex was a way to make money for those that were slaves. Sex was a form of worship that was expressed through temple prostitutes as a sacrifice to the idols of fertility. 

In short, sex was a money making enterprise. Sex was big business, and business was good.

The natural response to becoming Christian for these Corinthians was to refrain from sex. If sex was the problem then the problem could be eliminated. Some of them decided to simply stop having sex. Yet, Paul does not approve of this response. Sex is a problem. More pointedly, the desire for sex, unabated, is a problem. To remove sex from the marriage was not a way to solve the problem. In fact, it made the problem worse. If the man and wife were to withhold sex from the other it could increase the temptation to fall back into previous ways of obtaining sexual satisfaction. Paul says, keep sex in marriage. But he means, keep having sex in marriage.

We face a society that sells sex. Here, sex is big business and business is good. Our kids are taught to relent to their desires for whatever they want. We are sold a lie. So that we will buy the result of that lie. This is not enlightenment. It is indulgence. Indulgence leads to becoming inconsequential. As a person. As a nation. As a culture.

Sex belongs.

But it does not belong in public.

It does not belong outside of marriage.

It does not make me a better person to have control over my sexual desires.

But those that have control over their sexual desires (including the ones that share them with their spouse) are more consequential people.

Run!

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

"Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body." 1 Corinthians 6:18

Paul deals with a cultural and religious issue that was the hot topic of the day in Corinth. Is having sex with temple prostitutes wrong? Is sex with whomever I choose wrong? Can anyone tell me what I should do with my body? Shouldn't I be able to love whom I want? Isn't sex simply an expression of love? Paul doesn't entertain these questions. Mostly because they are asinine at the core.

Paul really has some simple advice. Stop talking and start running!

We can talk ourselves into anything. When we are done talking ourselves we will tune into hear other people talk for us. To hear someone else say the same things that I wanted to say helps concrete my assumption that I must be right. So Matt Lauer, Oprah, Tia Fey, or Will Farrell have authority over my moral choices. Not because what they say is right. Rather, what they say is what I want to hear. So the talking continues. I feel better about what I am doing. Yet...what I am doing still doesn't seem right. More Talking. More doing. Yet, I still feel guilt. The answer is not 1,200 hours of a therapist trying to get you to stop thinking about your guilt.

Paul has therapeutic advise for you, stop your crying (you mamby-pamby) and turn from the destructive behavior! Turn off the idiotic television and take control of your life. You are responsible for you! Like it or not. 

And I know you don't like it, get over it, there is no amount of enabling that comes from the media that will remove your sin. Just stop!

The only way to stop is to run in the other direction.

Away from doing whatever you want.

Run away from excusing your indulgence.

Run away from trying to excuse your moral failure (we all have them).

Own up to who you are and strive to do the right thing.

God made you. He loves you. He has sent his spirit to guide you. But for the sake of the one that died to free you.

Stop crying!

Start running!

The Church's Dirty Word

1 Corinthians 5:1-13

"And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you." -1 Corinthians 5:2

The church is full of sinners. We have all sinned. Are not all sins the same? The answer, bluntly is, no, they are not. Although all sins are egregious before a holy God. All sins are not of the same magnitude and not all sins afflict God and others with the same ferocity. A few things that need to be considered are, who committed the sin, who was the sin committed against, and how much damage has the sin caused? This leads us to interact with the dirtiest word in the church, discipline.

Paul has received a report that a man has become sexually active with his father's wife (his own stepmother). This is lauded by the church in some way that makes the Corinthians come off as arrogant. This is possibly because the man is affluent and the members of this church do not want to offend someone that could have negative social implications. This leads Paul to label their behavior as arrogant.

So, what should be done to this man? What form of discipline does Paul suggest is fitting with this man's sin? The answer, he is to be removed from the church. Now some may look at this and see little compassion or understanding. So, I think it is fitting to investigate the details here. One, this man's sin is well known (it came in a report to Paul). Two, it must be assumed that he is unwilling to relent from his behavior. Three, his behavior is repulsive (seen as incestuous). Finally, his behavior has negatively impacted the behavior of the church (leading Paul to call them "arrogant").

What will happen to this man once he is removed? The indication from Paul is that the man will hopefully see that his heart is indeed not focused on God and he will repent and believe. If this man is an unbeliever and he is allowed to stay in the church then he could die never knowing that he was never a believer at all. Many of our churches are filled with people that have claimed to pray a prayer and therefore believe that they are saved (mainly because that is what they have been told). The outside world looks at them and calls them "hypocrites" and I think that Jesus would agree (he had harsh words for hypocrites). The greatest gift that can be given them is a removal from fellowship and some time to honestly face themselves and God.

The reality is that we do not like discipline. Even this extreme example leaves us grasping for reasons not to be so "harsh." At the same time, Christians look at those outside of the church and throw judgment like it is theirs to wield.  Paul pulls our focus to the rightful place of our judgment, on ourselves. If we could every now and then live up to our own high standards then we would find more friends outside of our walls.

If I would allow my Christian brothers and sisters to hold me accountable then I will be a far more humble person.

A person of compassion.

A person of understanding.

A person of...discipline.