Transforming the Church

“The church is a work in progress. Like a lump of clay on a potter’s wheel, the church bears the visible imprints of the invisible fingers of God.” –Stan Nussbaum

God is constantly transforming the Church towards a missional mindset changing the way the church sees its relationship to the word. There are two key perspectives my church has on their mission that need to be shifted based on Stan Nussbaum and David Bosch’s model “The Relation between the Church and the World”. First, like many churches, my church sees its members simply as Church people, not Kingdom people. The members are very involved in the church but they limit their work. Members may help every now and then with some form of Kingdom work (donating money, raising awareness, doing a mission trip, etc.), but that is where the line stops. They aren’t living as if they are Kingdom workers either because they don’t feel called, which isn’t the case because living missonally is a call to every Christian, or they just don’t want to commit to more than what happens in the church walls. There isn’t an “on-off switch” for doing missions. You aren’t just a church member, you are part of carrying out the kingdom. Second they struggle with their view of what the “world” means. They see the world of evil, not the physical and social world. I hear conversations of how “evil” the world is or how justice was served to a criminal when really it is much more than that. The world is full of hurting people, people just like our congregation members.

My church needs a shift in these thoughts but the only way that would come about is if their minds were transformed into a mission mindset. Help they may need for this shift would probably be lessons taught or sermons preached, or extra classes on it. I believe my church may have these views because they are unaware and oblivious to the fact that they do not have a missional mindset at their core. The members individually need to be informed and the church as a whole needs to come together to transform the way they view themselves and the world.

Christology and Theology

            My favorite aspect of Christology that is most important in my own theology of mission is probably the teaching ministry of Christ. The Missio Dei just really sticks out to me through the way Jesus lived out what he taught: making disciples, loving the poor, seeking justice, doing life with the sinners, etc. This has been my favorite thing to study in this class and probably what I put most emphasis on in my life. Focusing on this makes my goal of mission the same main things Christ focuses on that I named above (which there are many other things he teaches on). Because of this, my main mission activities are things like making disciples, doing life with people around me no matter who they are, going out into the community to love on people through actions of hospitality and lovingness, etc.

One of my biggest strengths from having Jesus’s teaching ministry as my favorite aspect of Christology is that doing community work or living life with people are at the true center of my heart. I absolutely love doing these things. Living out that side of God’s calling for Christians is naturally not a burden for me but a huge blessing and super fulfilling, unlike people who that doesn’t come naturally for. My limitations for my choice of focusing on Jesus’s teaching ministry would probably be things like I don’t emphasize Christ’s incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, or return enough. I’m not one to naturally try to talk to non-Christians about God’s love for them and how Christ died for them. I’m actually terrible at that. I’m good with discipleship and teaching about what Christ taught on, but I’m terrible on things outside of that.

Critically Considering Missions Photographs

Watching this video going into deep detail about one specific picture helped me realize how important looking into what a photo is portraying is and also how much really lies behind a simple shot of people. We’ve talked about this in class but never had time to go into this much detail over one photo. A photo legitimately does say a thousand words, probably many more than that.

                Sometimes when looking at a picture or glancing at a person we may immediately make assumptions about them that may not even be true. For example, at first sight of this photo he describes in the video I would have thought it was a family, mother and father with three daughters, and a servant in the background, but there is so much more behind that. On top of that, no matter how hard you analyze someone or something you never truly know who they are or what it is until you’ve experienced them or it. 

Turning the World Upside Down

“These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.” Acts 17:6

                Jesus and his followers painted a wonderful picture of what it looked like to “turn the world upside down”. They loved people more than they loved laws. They threw the client patron system out the window (in a sense). They spent time with the untouchables. The list goes on and on. In our world Today what would that look like? Most would answer this question somewhere along the lines of “the world would hate you”. I wouldn’t exactly say that (although in some places maybe), but I would say the world would definitely be confused and curious. Today it would look like loving the poor (spiritually poor or economically), spending time with people in their world, meeting people where there at, a person being so transformed by Christ that they can’t help but share what God is doing in them to others, etc. Roberts even names a few things his self: “A church that turned the world upside down would… look mystical… look glocal… be multiplying… be collaborative… be filled with ecclektricity.”

                When asking someone in my community who doesn’t go to my church “what is my church known for” I think they would emphasize on community outreach, taking care of college kids, and taking care of the poor. I go to Immanuel but I haven’t been there long so I don’t know much about the church but these are three things I have seen over and over in the past few months. They do so much in the community like working with the food pantry, serving people in many ways, park events open to anyone where they serve free food, and working with children. They also have a booming college ministry with many that help provide money, food, places, and encouragement to the students. The third, taking care of the poor, is intertwined with both the first two.

Engaging in Nations

What would it look like if I stayed in my current ministerial emphasis and used that job to engage a nation? Well I’m majoring in Religion, concentration in missions so with that I could end up being a mission’s coordinator at a church. If I used that to engage a specific nation I guess I would be forming teams to go over there. I would help in training, organizing, preparing, etc. I would be raising funds to send the team or to send supplies. I’d be researching and communicating with people in that nation. I’d probably visit a few times myself. I would be praying for and having others pray for them too. Raising awareness to the needs of that nation would be important also. That is probably just a short list of things I would be doing.

When asked why my potential church/youth group/ministry could not adopt a nation I would not have an answer. There are no reasons why not to, or at least I cannot think of any. Roberts emphasizes that you don’t have to go to help nations out. There are many things that you can do if you don’t feel led to actually go.

Dreams

Have I ever dreamed of being a missionary? I know many have and I hate to burst that bubble but I haven’t ever thought about being a long term missionary and more than that I never even wanted to, at all. Up until recent years I never even imagined being a short term one either. But interestingly enough, my thoughts of what missionaries did were the things that Roberts said you can’t do in most places that need missionaries. For example: not being allowed to “build church buildings… teach Bible studies… pass out tracts… do backyard Bible clubs”. I kind of like that missions need to be more based on personal, individual relationships than these things. 

My Practices

A friend said the other night, “going through a dry season is a choice”. This statement made my mind start to analyze my life lately because I personally feel as if I’ve been going through a dry season. I started to question myself: Why is this? What am I doing differently? What am I distracting myself with that is taking my focus off of Jesus? I then, ironically, got distracted and forgot all about this statement.

                Reading this book and thinking about my practices in my quiet time that statement came back to me. Roberts says, “I’d read my Bible and pray my list every day. But it was never passionate and alive on a consistent basis. It seems there were always the ups and downs that came with that mentality.” I thought, “Oh, that’s me!” If I’m being honest, sometimes (and in sometimes I mean a lot of the times) I don’t allow Jesus to be enough. My practices of doing my quiet time: pray, read, pray, then journal maybe. One thing I know I need to fix in my patterns is if I miss my quiet time, as much as I try to deny I feel this way, I subconsciously think, “Great, now I can’t do any work for God today. I haven’t spent time with him to allow him to empower me.” Sometimes I seriously live my day for the time I’m going to read my bible, and not in a good way. Not in an excited thinking of what I’m going to get to learn or anything, but in a “I am worthless if I don’t read, therefore I should try to do nothing for the kingdom today till I can read.” And then if I miss enough days in a row of not reading I get really discouraged and like I shouldn’t even read. Such a wrong way of thinking.

Robert explains how he changed the way he did his quiet time. This is what I need to do. I’m seriously going to start now. I don’t know exactly what to change but I might try to ask myself some of the questions Roberts asks his self. I think I’ll ask God to “talk to me, reach me, tell me, convict me, show me, guide me, make your path plain” just like Roberts does.

Conversion VS Transformation

“The only way we will ever be different will be because we have moved from conversion to transformation.”

                I’ve never really sat and thought about conversion verses transformation before but reading this chapter made me first think about what I originally thought: conversion means you weren’t a Christian and now you are, transformation is where your life actually looks different than it did before. I think Roberts shares the same idea but he goes into deeper explanation. He even goes far enough to say that “closing the door on conversion” is an idea to ponder. Roberts says, “Conversion has lost its meaning. You can convert—change religions—but stay the same person on the whole.” After reading this I completely agree.

                Transformation is a process. You don’t just change from a hell-bound-sinner to a clean, Christ glorifying Child of God in a split second. In my time here on earth I will never be perfect but I will continually be transformed, putting off the old me and putting on Christ like attributes. Roberts says, “a relationship motivates us toward change.” All that being said, the gospel, when I apply it and not just read it, continually stretches, molds, teaches, convicts, and all around changes me.

Living Missionally

What is the difference between “doing missions” and “living the kingdom of God”? I think “doing missions” is like making it a task just needing to be done; putting in the time and labor just to finish a project, not necessarily investing into something. When you finish the job you are done for the day, week, or month. “Living the kingdom of God” would be the complete opposite in the sense that you are continuously trying to do work for the kingdom. This isn’t just a job to complete but more so a lifestyle or actually living out missions.

The Western world, especially in churches that I’ve known, has become so focused on this life of “doing missions” instead of actually living a missional life. This chapter talks about how the west prays for revivals continuously and revivals have come, just not to the west but everywhere else in the world. If the west would stop doing missions and start living missionally through their everyday life—if we would stop worrying about sitting back and praying but actually take action through our prayers then things might change.

Missions then, Missions now

Today our mission in America faces different difficulties than a century ago. One of the biggest difficulties, especially in the Bible belt, is that many Americans have heard about Christ and have seen us as Christians do a poor job of loving like we are supposed to. Now we have the challenge of trying to share Christ but not “stepping too hard” on unbeliever’s toes because in the past we have stomped on them. They need to know that they need Christ and on one hand we as Christians can’t make them think sin is ok, but we also can’t be forceful in a “turn or burn” type of way. The middle ground is hard to find.

The challenge for the next decade or two?  It wouldn’t surprise me if it had something to do with following through on things. Our generation seems to have a lot of really good ideas and we seem to be starting lots of programs and we’re on fire for many things, but we also seem to have an issue with being committed and following through. We get pumped to get something going, but we quickly get distracted or too busy. 

David Livingstone

“Fear God and work hard” –David Livingstone

Wow. David Livingstone was definitely a man after God’s own heart, his heart of missions. I didn’t know much about Livingstone before I watched this video. Nothing mattered to him except glorifying God and expanding his Kingdom. He was so persistent and had a ton of faith. His story inspires, encourages, and convicts me all at the same time. He suffered so much, yet I am so selfish that I don’t even want to give up my nap time to make disciples. Golly.

Inequality or Injustice?

I selected this picture not because it specifically represents missions well, but the story behind it and what is going on in it does—which in my previous blog I explained what Young Life was.

I’m not really sure how this picture could create inequality or injustice. Maybe because there aren’t girls in it, which we do have a lot of at Young Life, they just weren’t in this picture. Any picture could also do injustice if that isn’t how the specific person wanted to be portrayed. On one hand these kids are having a blast at this moment, while playing a fun game of charades, but this also could be putting on a façade that they don’t have problems and life is all fun and games. I guess any picture can have a number of different meanings, hidden or seen.

Missional Picture

“…Jesus Christ is our greatest need…He is far and away the most important and attractive person in the world and every high school fellow and girl needs to find that out.” –Jim Rayburn, Founder of Young Life

Giving your attention, time, and love to someone whether you think they are worth it or not is a big part of missions. God created every single person and he thinks they are worth it. Christians are called to accept someone no matter where they come from, what they’re involved in, or how much money they have. Christians are called to love the broken, the lonely, and the poor in spirit. Why are Christians called to love? So that through loving someone unconditionally Christ’s love will be made known.

“Young life is a group of adults reaching kids for Christ through personal relationships, using the model of Jesus Christ to love them unconditionally and meet them on their own turf.” Young Life is an organization that is centered on loving high school students because Christ loved us first. Our leaders are to love on these kids unconditionally, meaning no matter what kind of life they live. This is a picture of some of our boys having a blast at our Monday night Young Life Club, which is just a small piece of Young Live. Club is an opportunity we have to make these kids feel important, wanted, and to just have a blast. Their home life may or may not be crap, but when they come to Club they get to forget their troubles for a few hours. Club is only where we begin our relationships with the students. We draw them in with the fun and games, bond a little while, and get to start reaching out to them in other ways. I truly believe Young Life, when done the way it was originally created, is something that reflects the heart of God and his Mission.

Count Zinzendorf

Marginal Movements

If I had to choose I think I would go with the Pietists. Too me they seem to really include every person. They put an emphasis on vocational missions and also on prayer. Zinzendorf had some interesting ideas about vocational missions. They also really harped on involving ordinary men and women. Along with all of that they lead a really cool prayer thing that lasted 24/7 for 100 years. They really believed in prayer and its power.

Malaysia Trip

 I am going to be going on a trip to Malaysia to work with the Abai Sungai people group in the Southeast Asia area. The organization I’m going with is going to be doing a basketball camp for one week. We’re going to teach children from the ages of 8 to 18. This people group is 0% Christian and are 90% Islamic. They are a population of 1,400. They have no Bible translations reported, and if I’m not mistaken we will have part of our team working with making that happen. They have no reported ministry resources that we know of.

Monks

Monks played a key role because of the impact they made on society back then. Today we view monks as recluses that denounce the world and are never seen accept in the monasteries but back then they were out and about, loving on and lifting up other around them. We can definitely learn from the monks back then and how dedicated they were to the Lord. They were highly disciplined in putting their selfish desires aside and seeking the Lord. In our self-centered society we should be inspired and convicted by the models those monks put for us to follow. They did a good job at dying to themselves daily. 

Orthodox Paradigm

I think the highest compliment might be their love for love. That seems like a reoccurring theme in many of their beliefs and practices. Love is very important, the commandment of most importance in Jesus’ teachings. I think the most serious criticism though must be that the free acceptance of God’s love will not always be there. Orthodox paradigm focuses more on John but they miss out on Paul and his view of the “grace period”. There won’t always be an open invitation to God’s grace, love, and mercy. Someday, way sooner than we could imagine, the invitation will be closed.

Paul's style of Missions

Graciously, urgently, strategically, and with confidence. I’m not sure which of these specifically are least evident in the church—maybe a mixture of the first two, leaning more towards urgently. We seem to, as much as we can, understand the fact that God is gracious and wants everyone to be saved and allowing everyone to accept his gift. We also seem to understand, to an extent, that Christ is returning sometime and we need to work diligently—but we don’t necessarily live that out. I love the analogy that is given of the grace injected into the atmosphere, but one day it will be taken out. When that happens those who have inhaled the grace will be saved, but those who haven’t will have lost their chance. If that was taken more seriously I would hope we would have a fire lit under us to cause us to move and do work. The problem with urgency is that we aren’t serious about sharing the gospel and making disciples and we don’t live as if Christ is coming back. Honestly, I’m not sure what could be done to address this issue—maybe if the people preaching about this believed it themselves, had urgency paired with passion about the matter, then others would be more interested. Nevertheless, if it was addressed more would we really listen? The issue isn’t solely the fact that it isn’t addressed, it is also a heart matter. We can speak about something like this all day long but until a heart is changed there won’t be any real movements made. 

Luke and Acts-- The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit was poured out onto the church so that the church can have Christ’s power inside of them to go and make disciples, teaching them to obey Jesus’ command, with all the authority in them from Christ. The Holy Spirit connects to the Missio Dei because that is part of the entire thing—God sending his Son to then send the Holy Spirit, to then collectively send out the Church as a whole. If it wasn’t for the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of Christians that it would be up to us by ourselves to make disciples. With The Holy Spirit we have no reason to hold back, no reason to fear. “Christ, who has all authority, lives inside of us and is inviting us to participate in furthering the Kingdom of God.” The power that raised Christ from the grave lives IN US. The Holy Spirit is our helper and our counselor. 

Psalm 67 -- Missions and Worship

Psalm 67

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm. A song.

¹ May God be gracious to us and bless us

and make his face shine on us— ^e

² so that your ways may be known on earth,

your salvation among all nations.

³ May the peoples praise you, God;

may all the peoples praise you.

⁴ May the nations be glad and sing for joy,

for you rule the peoples with equity

and guide the nations of the earth.

⁵ May the peoples praise you, God;

may all the peoples praise you.

⁶ The land yields its harvest;

God, our God, blesses us.

⁷ May God bless us still,

so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.^[1]

This Psalm starts off by asking God to “make his face shine” on them in order that they reflect his face off of them onto the earth and all nations. Worship and missions together. It seems this prayer is full of praise to God, asking him to fill them up so they may go into the nations—so that people will see God through their worship in the way they live.

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^[1] The New International Version. 2011 (Ps 67). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Matthew-- Reflection #2

1) Barnabas is known for his encouragement in the Bible. The fact that he got caught up in everything with encouraging tells a lot about his loving character. The church needs to work together for the development of missions. Like Paul and Barnabas were sent, we need to send. Some are called to go to nations, if we aren't we need to send them. Some are called to go down the street, if we aren't we still need to send them. I’m sure if Barnabas was in this day and age he would be one of the best at sending people off because he was just so dang encouraging. We should be taking after Barnabas.

2)If my understanding of the Missio Dei is correct then it fits in perfectly with the Great Commission. The Missio Dei, God’s mission, sending his son, whom together sent the Spirit, whom all three are sending the Church. God is trying to bring about his Kingdom and so is the Great Commission—even though it may not say that exactly. The Great Commission is to go and make more Christ followers to be a part of the Kingdom and expand it. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Church, and the disciples made are all pointing to the same thing (the Kingdom of God) while complementing each other, working together, to point to that. I hope that makes sense? It made much more sense in my head. 

John Piper-- Missions and Worship

To be honest I don’t know if I understand the statement, “Missions exist because worship doesn’t”. Before reading John Piper’s piece I didn't get it at all. Now having read it I have a better understanding of the definition of missions and worship but I still don’t get the phrase. If what I gathered from Piper was correct I don’t know if I would even agree with that sentence. Don’t they work hand in hand? Obviously worship is the key point, the center of missions, but even Piper talks about worship fueling missions. “Missions exist because worship doesn’t”, well if worship did exist wouldn’t missions be an overflow of that worship? Wouldn’t missions still exist even if worship did? I just really do not understand what the heck this sentence is supposed to convey. 

“How can we authentically desire what God has required?” I don’t think I can answer this question properly but I will try. Now I don’t want to give a Sunday school answer for this but doesn’t that desire have to be placed there by God? To authentically desire to worship God don’t you have to earnestly seek him? Ask him to place that desire in your heart? If that isn’t the answer then I am doing it wrong. I want to worship God and I want to authentically desire to do so, so I strive to love him with everything, worship him in everything, and continually ask him to teach me, guide me, and show me how to do these things wholeheartedly. “How does this intentional passion motivate missions?” The more we worship God, rejoicing in him, the more we share about how wonderful he is and what he has done for us even though we mess up. For example, if I have a cup that is being poured into so much that it is full and overflowing, the excess water must go somewhere—either into the cups of others or spilling onto things around it. Nevertheless it is reaching to something or someone else. If we are truly passionate about the Lord’s love we will be sharing it with others around, creating missions.