Without Being Missional - You Are Dead!

The dirty and grungy soldiers struggled to take the small knoll before them. Bullets flew everywhere. Bombs were being dropped with a fierce rage to stop them from taking the small knoll in the middle of no where. They had left the “comfort” of the trench last night and were now about to come very close to giving their lives for a small, grassy knoll that was originally part of someone else’s farm. In fact they were giving away their life effort and loves and very existence just to see a victory in a war that wasn’t even caused by them. They were fighting somewhere that would be forgotten in years to come.

This is great stuff for a movie years later. Yet as they fight on they have no idea about a movie and who might “star” as them. They only know that someone up above has given the orders to move out and take that hill. And with everything they have they are going to work together to get the job done. Personal comfort and personal wealth is set aside to win the war in front of them.

This article could be about the Remembrance Day, November 11, 2007 – which comes in two days time – but is not. It is about being “Missional” in what we do and say and think and work at. Without being Missional – you are dead.

The scene that I painted for you is from a movie that I watched about a war that was being fought somewhere I do not know. It was about real men that did amazing things with their gutsy effort. They won the battle but at a great cost. They were together in all that they did. They won together and they died together. The job got done.

The word Missional is being used widely now to describe the church that is emerging from its usual ways of myopia – it is all about us and our nice building, pews and painted Christianity. It is used to tell the story of a church or churches that have caught new fire to reach a world around them that is dieing. They are doing something that is so amazing that their little world that faces them on all sides is feeling their impact.

I am just beginning to learn what the writers of various articles and books are saying about this. One that I discovered recently is a man that has given his name only as “Rick”. Unlike other authors on the different Web Sites – he is almost hidden from site. Rick works with “Blindbeggar” another creative Blog that has rocked me.

I had to go to New Song Church to have “Missional” finally make sense….
This past weekend was a turning point for me – again. At 63 you would think that I am all over the change thing. At 63 you might think that I would settle in to a nice comfortable mode and stop looking for the answer. In fact at 63 you need to have more answers than questions normally. Sorry something went wrong with my internal system – I am still young and I need to know why?

The interesting thing about New Song Church in Windsor… is that it was and is “Missional” long before Missional was written about. It was birthed Missional when other churches were being designed to be anything but Missional. In fact the world Missional in some churches – at least the meaning of it will leave dear saints uncomfortable.

New Song Church is Missional. That being stated – you need to know why.

In a Web Site entitled “Friends of Missional” – Rick draws my attention to the following quote from two authors – Ed Stetzer and David Putman in their book, Breaking the Missional Code (Broadman & Holman, 2006) like this:

• From programs to processes
  
• From demographics to discernment


• From models to missions


• From attractional to incarnational


• From uniformity to diversity


• From professional to passionate


• From seating to sending
  
• From decisions to disciples


• From additional to exponential


• From monuments to movements

Then Rick adds a couple more to Ed's list:

• From services to service


• From ordained to the ordinary


• From organizations to organisms

When I review the list above… and use it as a Check List – New Song Church has hit every point solidly or is working actively towards it. They have made a conscious decision to be unlike other churches around them… and have done so. The refreshing that I feel attending is overwhelming – because it is so unlike where I normally attend…not just Northview Church – the one that presents this Blog – but all the churches that I have ever known.

I realize that this is a powerful, possible condemnation of the people that I love so much – but if they are honest too – they see that it is very true.

My opening statement is simple – “Without being Missional – you are dead!” Now I want to make that my new mantra. I want to shout it out – to make it known to everyone. I feel the passionate rising within me. I need change in the church… but more than that I need change in me – a 63 year old forever pastor… that was once young, passionate and very missional… but learned from solid and conservative and nice and steady and powerful and good Christians – that is good to slow down… and do little or nothing.

Ouch – that virus hurt! It is going to kill me dead – if I don’t break out of it. It has killed a wonderful church that was built “missionally” but lost it fervour in paying a huge debt for a beautiful building….

Go back to the Soldiers on the Grassy Knoll…
These are the guys that must work together to take the hill –if not they are dead. This is a ‘best example’ of the fighting spirit that drives a body of ‘believers’ on. If this group of soldiers acted like the average church today…. They would be dead in a few minutes after leaving the trench they were in last night. Worse yet they would rot in the Trenches! Did you every think of it – the Army didn’t make Trenches comfortable – if they had the soldiers would never get out of them!

Can’t you just hear the soldiers in the trenches - if they were like the average church today? Listen to the statements…

• I am not going there with him… he is dirty!


• I will not take part in that activity… it isn’t in my portfolio!


• I wouldn’t be caught dead sitting with that guy… he has been in jail!


• I will not listen to the Sergeant, The Captain, and particularly The General… they didn’t play my kind of music today when I climbed out of bed… and they certainly won’t if I crawl out of this trench… in fact I doubt that the dirty people out there even know anything about good ‘church music’!


• If I leave this trench to do something – someone will take my favourite seat… It is my seat I have sat on it since I was a little kid!


• I will not do that… I might get hurt or worse… die!


• If the General wants that hill so badly – let him come and carry my gun!


• Yawn… just two more days until we leave for Florida and the relief we so desperately need… I am looking forward to the Gospel Concert in Old Gospel City, Florida… all of my friends will be there too…fight today? NO WAY – I have a suitcase to pack along with my Christian CDs!

Can you add anymore conversations from the Christian Trenches?

Let me shout it this time – WITHOUT BEING MISSIONAL – WE ARE DEAD!

~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~ older and becoming Missional…

PLEASE READ….
Friends of Missional - http://www.friendofmissional.org/

The Blindbeggar - http://www.blindbeggar.org/