Our conversation on Sundays at the Launch is asking a single question right now:
"Who are we called to be?"
Maybe a better way to phrase it is, "what is the Launch all about?"
In a sentence it is this: "We are a mission minded community of Christ followers who worship, serve, and live life together."
Each of those words is packed with meaning. And we'll be talking about that sentence for the next 4 weeks.
For now - the starting point: Mission minded. This does not refer to our mission program (though it includes that). This does not refer to missionaries who go to other countries (though that is a part of it). When we say that we are mission minded, this is what we mean. We recognize that the fundamental reality of our identity as a church is that we are sent into the world. We believe that God has raised up our church (and every church) with one primary purpose - to give the world a little foretaste of what God intends for the whole world. In other words, God has called us together as a church in order to send us out to the world to show them God's extravagant love.
So in everything we do, we have our eye on those who are not with us. We exist not for ourselves, but for our neighbor. So as we craft our worship services, we are thinking about those who don't really understand why we have liturgy and an order of worship. When we form small groups, we are thinking about those whom we might invite into our small groups who probably wouldn't come to church just yet. When we think about building a church in the SW cornfield, our thoughts are not on how the building will meet our needs. Our thoughts are on our SW neighbors whom we can serve through our building. When we think about how God is calling us to use our resources, our thoughts turn first to those who need God's wholeness, those who hurt, those who suffer, those who are without. Our thoughts are on a world full (and our own neighborhoods full) of people who could really use a little taste of God's love right here and now. That is our mission. Our lives are mission. Everything is mission.
We are mission minded...
This is an excellent post. As I think about and pray about our mission statement, "We strive to be a servant-missional church...", I wonder if that vision has gotten lost in the committee meetings and personnel issues and administrative debates. Too often we get caught up in what the church can do for us and how better it can meet our needs, preferences and schedules. It is good to be reminded that a servant-missional church, and a servant-missional heart, are what we are called to by God.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughts Scott. It is certainly possible to get bogged down by the task, so that we forget who we are called to be. I think the growing edge for us (and for every church in North America)is to redefine ourselves in such a way that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that everything we do is Mission. Because everything we do points people towards the love of God and the sacrifice of Jesus.
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