Missio Dei 6
April 1, 2009
10 ways NOT to live missionally.
1. Live as if the only soul that matters to God is your own.
2. Busy yourself with what matters very little in the kingdom of God.
3. Seek all the things that you need first, then seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
4. Believe that the power of God resides in the Gospel, but evangelize and disciple others as if that were not true by using consumerist means.
5. Don’t pray for neighbors.
6. Use the Scripture as an instrument to judge rather than to motivate loving actions and good works toward neighbors.
7. Model a lone ranger approach to evangelize without connection to a close knit community.
8. Depend on the preacher to get it done. After all we’re not all learned and gifted to live missional lives.
9. Promise heaven to motivate acceptance of the claims of Christ rather than a life with God in the here and now that looks forward to eternal life with God.
10. Believe as if God bypasses the believing community in drawing the non-believing community unto himself.
Let’s make it 20 ways not to live missionally. What would you add?
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11. Remember that the best way to not be “of the world” is to stay out of the world. Immerse yourself in work, family and church.
12. Do not be concerned that you incarnate and communicate the gospel in ways that are culturally appropriate and polite.
Thanks Jerry. These are great additions.
I want to change #9 (a man’s prerogative). I want to change the word eternal to the word continuous. It did not sit right after I reread it to make eternal life future only.
Georges, I might add to #5 that prior to “Don’t prayer for your neighbors” we should completely avoid our neighbors. Things like:
1. Build a security fence around your property.
2. Use automatic garage door opener at all times.
3. Do not go outside when neighbors are outside.
4. Tell neighborhood children to stay off your property.
5. Do not go for walks in your neighborhood.
6. NEVER invite others into your home!
These will do, Brad. Guaranteed not to foster a missional life.
Hope it is ok for me to ramble a bit about Georges #7 and #10 - recently I think God is speaking to me about the need for christian community in becoming a missional christian. I have been reading for nearly a year on becoming missional but, as is always my problem, I am struggling to get going living it out. I love the world of books, theories and discussions but I am timid (maybe that is the wrong diagnosis) about acting on those things. My uncle, a retired missionary, told me to pray for a “partner” to go with me as I step out. Many of the things I am reading and hearing lately speak of the need for us to grow and minister to our neighbors in and through a christian community (or church for most of us). I am deeply moved by God’s mission throughout history, its continuity in scripture and just the granduer of it. It is a vision I am moved to give my life to. But I also deeply feel my need for the support and comradery of my bretheren in doing so. I am also starting to see the missional power that a believing community living and proclaiming the gospel could have. I was really seeing it in the “lone ranger” mode for long while.
My pastor is committed to these things and is the one who led me into them. He working to lead our church this way as well. I am a deacon and sunday school teacher and I try to use my speaking opportunities to bolster what he is doing. My effort to ask for a committment to some weekly missional rhythms from my class was met with silence and blank stares. I guess I have more work to do there. But I know and have discussed with my pastor that my “talk” is not backed up yet by my “walk”. I can’t lead people where I have not been and I can’t seem to get myself moving very well.
I am drawn to this Missional Order website because it sounds like you are trying to provide the practical steps and advice that believers like myself need to actually experience change in these things.
I know this was long and rambing. Thanks for reading it if you got this far. I covet your prayers. Please press on with the goals you have for Missional Order. May God bless you and lead yor in your efforts. I suspect there are others like myself who long for it and need it.
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I would add two “ways not to live missionally”:
1) Think that the primary place you can/should do church is when you’re in a building called a church.
2) Think that you have nothing to learn from non-Christians, and therefore approach them as people to be taught, rather than as people with whom to share a journey as co-learners.
Excellent additions, Josh. I especially like your number 2. It resonates with me with the idea of journeying together with people as co-learners. What’s hard about this is that we learned back then that evangelism is about having all the right answers to all people’s objections in a packaged presentation. Journeying with others into learning God is a novel way of good newsing people.