monkinabus: blog of derek dominguez

Where Does the Missional Journey For a Church Begin?: "Introducing the Missional Church," by Roxburgh & Boren

Lately, I have been asking myself how is a missional culture in a church cultivated? Where does the missional journey begin? What I have often done as a leader and believed previously, is thinking the appointed leaders seek God for His leading for the community and then come back to the community with a "vision" or direction they sense the church should move towards. Up until the last few years I had believed this is the best way to "lead" a church. I'm not so certain anymore. 

Instead, I've started asking questions like, "How do you as a leader cultivate a space where the Spirit has the freedom to move in the hearts of the community to collectively clarify how God is calling them to embody the Missio Dei in their community?" Is the leader(s) the only ones who have clarity from God as to the direction of community? Are they the only ones with the correct faculties to hear how God is at work? In many cases I think the body has opted to not even think they too, need to be listening and discerning because they are expecting the leaders to bring it to them.

I've continued to read, "Introducing The Missional Church: What it is, Why it Matters, How to Become One" and it is challenging, confirming and refining my perspective. Below, they answer the question, "Where does the missional journey begin?"

"The missional journey begins where people are, not from some vision for where we would like them to be. Visioning and radical language about what the church should be are of little help; in fact, they create barriers to entering this journey of catching the winds of the Spirit. In order to begin where we are, we have to make the time to attend to and listen to the narratives and stories of our churches and our people. Usually when a leader comes with a vision or a plan, he or she is not in a place for listening to the whispers and narratives of the people" (123.)

There need to be leaders in the church, but I'm beginning to think their role is to create the space where the people of God can listen to the Spirit of God as to how they are to live out their unique calling as a community. Maybe the leaders ask the question, "How is God at work in us, in our community, in our families, and how are we called to move into the community with the message of redemption?" Leadership asks, creates the space, and facilitates the dialogue and learns to listen for God as to how He is at work in the ordinary.

It's in the ordinary day to day life of the people of God that the Spirit is at work. Or, as Roxburgh and Borne state, "The conviction that the Spirit is among the people of God is not positive thinking or wish fulfillment; it is a conviction about how God is present both in the world and in our experience" (123-124.)

"The Missionary Who Wouldn't Retire"

Just read an inspiring story about what Leslie Newbigin's contribution still has to offer to the North American church as Christianity continues to decline. One of the quotes from Newbigin hit me square between the eyes. He discusses how one of the greatest winsome ways the church can impact society, is how it reflects the character of Christ in its unity within its own community. It's inspiring to see how God chose to use a man who was confident of his role in the kingdom and was used significantly in his later years to impact the kingdom for eternity.

"I have been called and commissioned, through no merit of mine, to carry this message, to tell this story, to give this invitation. It is not my story or my invitation. It has no coercive intent. It is an invitation from the one who loved you and gave himself up for you. That invitation will come with winsomeness if it comes from a community in which the grace of the Redeemer is at work." ~Newbigin

To read the whole article click The Missionary Who Wouldn't Retire | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction.

Inttroducing the Missional Church by Roxburgh & Boren

I'm already loving "Introducing the Missional Church: What it is, Why it matters, How to Become One, " by Roxburgh and Boren. It's affirming to me and encouraging. Like other books it summarized and puts into words concepts my heart already embraces. Here is a nugget from the first chapter as they quote Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury,

"It is not the Church of God that has a mission. It's the God of mission that has a church.""

Missional Order 1.1: Values- Mission/Incarnation

In a previous post I shared a desire to want to ask what values and practices would define a missional order for today? I previously stated, "At the heart of an order is a commitment to a set of values and practices that allow a community of people to be formed in peculiar way, so that they can maintain a prophetic and tangible 'witness' to the culture they reside within." The key defining value would be a full fledged embracing of the Missio Dei. It's very nature and being would have to be tied up in understanding its identity as the people of God "sent out" into the world to incarnate God's compassionate love (Jn 20.21.)

The church has an example to follow as it lives out the Missio Dei. Jesus came in "flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood" (Jn 1.14, The Message.) He moved into the neighborhood of humanity and he moves into the personal neighborhoods of peoples' lives. He did not remain far off in the abstract and heavenly realms but Jesus was the sent one, who came to us in real flesh and blood. He became a human and embodied "all the fullness of the Deity" living in bodily form. He left us the example of being "sent" as well as modeling for us how to go about being "sent" into the world, his incarnation. An order therefore must value and embody in it's DNA this idea of being sent out into the world as a prophetic witness of God's love and does so in an incarnational manner.

This idea of drawing upon the incarnation as a model is challenging. To take the incarnation seriously is to take being among the people and living among them. It's a continuous ongoing presence as we become one of the community we feel called to serve. This is different than merely serving among a particular community for a couple of hours a week, but to actually live among them as one of the participating members of the community. How do we do this well as individuals living in a culture which reinforces upward mobility, continuous independence from one another, isolation from those in need, and security in our tangible possessions?

I was asked a couple of weeks ago to head down to the Rowland Rebele Family Shelter for dinner with the residents to discuss with them about starting a non-denominational service or small group for those residents who wanted to be supported in their spiritual lives. As I chatted with the interested residents we brainstormed certain aspects they would want included. By the time we finished dialoguing one of the residents stated how excited they were in the prospects of shaping and forming a group. He stated, "We may play a part in starting our own little congregation here."

None of this would have ever been possible unless we had consistently built relationships with the shelter staff and residents through the tutoring of the children for the last two years. We sensed two years ago we were "sent" down to the shelter to be a blessing to the kids. We from the beginning wanted to incarnate Christ's love for the families living in the shelter. God has chosen to bless those relationships and yet, I can't imagine the impact we could have if we were living among the residents down at the shelter, not just being among them at certain times of the week, but actually living among them and being one of them. I don't know what this would look like. As we as the people of God meditate upon the incarnation I don't how we can't move to asking these types of questions about how to truly love in the name of Jesus. I confess to God I don't know how to do this well and ask for his guidance and help, His mercy and grace to stretch and guide as he forms us to serve these people.

A missional order needs to take the Mission of God seriously. It needs to recognize we are "sent" ones and called to move into the neighborhoods and lives of the marginalized, oppressed, abandoned, and orphaned. As we go we must look to Jesus and his incarnation to guide us.