Living Missional

Living a Missional Life simply means we shift our thinking, life, resources, and priorities as the church toward God's gospel mission in our community, city, and the world.

Many churches and leaders gradually lose zeal for becoming "change agents" because of either corporate chaos or personal chaos in ourselves.

Obstacle #1: A sense of superiority to “the others.” Many Christians become egocentric because of their fear of extinction.

SIGNS OF SUPERIORITY

+ “us” and “them” language.
+ elevating a good life over groups of people who lack this quality.
+ focusing on past accomplishments rather than present obedience.
+ praise others and/or children when they separate themselves from the world and perform the “DO NOTS" rather than give encouragement and praise when they obey God’s Word to “BE” and “DO.”

RESULT: Christ is offended and withdraws grace and power for he reserves it for the humble. (1 Peter 5:5)

OUR RESPONSE: Remember the depth of our own sin both prior to salvation and after salvation and humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, casting all our cares on Him (1 Peter 5:6-7)
Obstacle #2: Active Christians often have few non-Christian friends.

SIGNS of over-event-based activity among believers:

+ Not knowing everyone’s name in your small group and being a part of 3 small groups.

+ Searching for Christian events to attend each week.

+ Consuming other church’s resources by attending multiple local church events even though these events are designed to reach the unchurched.

+ Talking to non-Christians about changing their morals before telling them about Jesus.

+ Hearing a message/bible lesson, and regardless of the point, you think about how terrible a world we live in and how we need to protect ourselves from the world.

+ The majority of your relational dilemmas are centered around conflict between other Christians rather than the dilemma of how to help your neighbor, a single parent, and show compassion to those less fortunate.


RESULT: Our gospel message that Christ came to save becomes less plausible because our actions communicate “Christ came to bring isolation.” (Luke 6:32-36)


OUR RESPONSE:

+ Cut down on the number of church activities during the week in order to spend time listening, blessing, and eating with your neighbors and co-workers.

+ Rather than being a part of several Christian communities that do not know you deeply, be vulnerable with one Christian community so they can encourage/challenge you with the gospel. Be apart of a community that always lets you in but rarely lets you down.

+Do not just gather as a group for study and prayer but be active together on a mission to meet needs around you. We often spend much time teaching people how to live in the church and neglect how to live as the church in the world.