what the heck does "missional" mean, part 3...

The last entry talked about having a “missionary stance.” What does that mean?

Think for a bit about what you might do if you suddenly found yourself a missionary in a foreign culture. What would be the things you would focus on first?

First, you’d probably have to learn the language of the locals. It wouldn’t really be enough to learn it in a textbook. You would have to get out on the streets and learn how people really talk. You would have to learn their idioms and the figures of speech. You would have to get a feel for their sense of humor. Bottom line, you would have to be able to talk their talk.

Then you would have to learn to walk their walk. In other words, you would have to go hang out where they hang out. Learn what they like to do. You would want to know about their music, their art, their expressions of creativity. You would want to have a firm grasp on the ways they express spirituality, fear, hope, despair, longing, and meaning. You would have to learn about the ways they approach birth and death, and what happens after death. You would have to discover the ways they think about right and wrong. You would have to figure out the way they approach truth (for example, in many cultures, there is nothing contradictory about believing several different things that might seem to be in tension with each other).

After doing all that, then you would have to prove yourself really. I mean, if you don’t demonstrate a way of living that seems to be a genuinely better alternative, how could you ever hope to convince them of the validity of your message. So you would have to show them love, sacrifice, and presence. You would have to prove that you care about them more than you care about yourself. You would have to pour your life into their lives.

Finally after doing all that, you could begin to explain Jesus in a way they might understand – which of course means you would have to explain Jesus in their language, using their metaphors, and working within the framework of their culture.

So hopefully the metaphor is clear.

We live in an increasingly foreign culture. It’s not a Christian culture anymore. It’s a secular culture and we are the aliens here. And we are sent by God into this culture to be missionaries.

That’s our purpose. So every one of us, as individuals, are called to be missionaries in the immediate contexts in which God has planted us. You are called to live a missional lifestyle. And the church is called to be a missionary community in the foreign culture in which we live.
(note: if you doubt the whole foreign culture idea, go sit at Kopi Café for a few hours and just watch and listen; go to the Canopy Club one evening for a show – watch and listen)

So, as missionaries, we have to first learn the language of the culture around us. Obviously, I’m not talking about English. But what I am talking about is the way that those outside of the church talk about spirituality, morality, values, meaning, God, hope, death, after-life, whatever.

The flip side of this coin is that we have to start understanding that the words we have used inside the church are virtually meaningless to the generations of people that have grown up in a non-churched culture. Words like sin, grace, salvation, redemption, hell, forgiveness, - they don’t convey much of anything to the foreign culture in which we live. That doesn't mean the concept cease to be true. It means we have to find new ways of expressing our brokenness and God's way of dealing with it.

So we have to learn a new language. We have to discover new metaphors, new stories, new illustrations.

We also have to learn how to BE Christ followers IN the world. We have to learn to go onto their turf and engage them in their terms. We have to hang out where they hang out and love them and serve them right where they are. We have to prove our love for them by showing up for them consistently. To quote McNeil: “They won’t hear our truth until they see our love.”

And finally, we have to learn how to be PREPARED to invite people into grace and love whenever the opportunity arises. This is the heart of being a missionary. We love people because they are worth loving. We love them because God loves them. And as our demonstration of love builds a bridge of trust, we then can speak the truth of God’s saving grace into their lives.

So what do you think of this idea of living like missionaries?