Want to Be a Missional Church? Try the 3 "I"s

Churches that are truly are about Christ's mission to have all people "come unto the knowledge of the truth" 1 Timothy 2:4, rightly divide Law and Gospel in their preaching and teaching as well as center their ministry on the Grace of Christ. But, not all churches that do that are missional. There are 3 "I"s that describe churches that are. Ed Stetzer shares these in the foreword to The Multiplying Church.

Incarnational: Missional churches get connected deeply with their local communities. They focus on living, and demonstrating true Biblical community and are not so focused on buildings. They don't shy away from people who are far from God but meet them where they are to listen, understand and apply the love of Jesus.

Indigenous: Missional churches "take root in the soil of their society" and make every effort to relate and speak to their surrounding culture. Indigenous doesn't only refer to a language or ethnic group, but to subcultures in their communities. This leads some to different styles of music, preaching and programming. Have you noticed how many Cowboy churches are turning up in Texas? I wonder if there will be a Lutheran one! Who would have thought that right here in the Texas District of the LCMS we would have so many ethnically indigenous churches even 10 years ago. (Hispanic, Pakistani, Arabic, Indian, Korean, Sudanese, Ethiopian, Eritrean, etc.)

Intentional: In Missional churches, there is a great degree of intentionality about how the eternal truths of God's love and forgiveness in Jesus Christ is shared. The how of Worship style, evangelistic methods, pastor's attire, etc. are determined by their effectiveness in reaching a population in a specific cultural context. Sometimes churches which have made such decisions get criticized for such decisions. They do so anyway, because they are convinced that they have been sent to a particular people group with its own cultural nuances. If you worry about this one, try reading Romans 14:1-15:7. Paul dealt with some of this critique as well.

How could your church become more Incarnational, Indigenous and Intentional in reaching people far from God?

Culturally Relevant Mission is Dangerous to Discuss

Writing about cultural relevance is risky. Some folks think that by advocating that the church is called to culturally relevant mission, one is caving in to popular culture. Others may assume that by writing about cultural relevance your are just trying to demonstrate that you haven't lost touch with that culture. But exploring how the church relates to culture seems a worthwhile endeavor to me.

Cutting Edge, Vol.12:2 p.7 expressed it in a way that caught my attention: "Mission is the objective; cultural relevancy is the process. The purpose of the church is not to be cool, cute, popular, or any other adjective that would indicate we are "in." When the church makes cultural relevance its priority rather than a way of doing mission, it becomes syncretistic and thus sells her soul on the altar of cultural relevance." At the same time, "the church must understand the culture and the people in that culture. She must use the symbols of meaning in the culture she is in to communicate the message of the Gospel, without losing the prophetic role of speaking into the culture."

So the church sits on the edge. We contend for the truth of scripture. Jude 1:3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. At the same time we are called to contextualize the truths of scripture. 1 Cor. 9:22-23 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the Gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

Paul in Athens did both. Acts 17:22-29 First he contextualized, saying"Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Then he contended for the truth "Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you." After telling them the truths of God he contextualized and contended once again saying "As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' 29 "Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone--an image made by man's design and skill."

We are called to both contend and contextualize to communicate the truth of salvation in Jesus in the culture where God has placed each of us as missionaries and where he has placed each church as a mission outpost. If we desire to be about the mission of God, we never cease being students of our culture as well as Scriptures. Who studies and keeps your church up-to-date about the changes in your culture?

The Gospel Gone Viral

We have been praying for God to begin a Church Planting Movement among the churches, pastors, leaders and lay folks here in the Texas District. One thing I have been learning through my experiences and through my personal reading of leaders like Bob Roberts, author of The Multiplying Church is that a Church Planting Movement (CPM) looks more like a virus than a strategic plan.

In fact, the term Church Planting Movement (CPM) came about as more of a description than a prescription. Bob Roberts described how David Watson coined the phrase. Roberts wrote that "Watson then shared about being at the table with a group of other missionaries when the term crystallized. They were trying to describe what they were seeing take place in the East. 'It was never meant to be the key. It was descriptive.'"

Throughout history, when CPM's are truly taking place they are highly organic in nature. They are actually only the result of lives being transformed through the cross of Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Whole families, villages, cities and societies are changed. It is what happened to he jailer in Acts 16:30-34 . Had not whole households been affected, the Gospel would not have spread at the viral rate it did in the early church. The epidemic spread of the Gospel necessitated the planting of churches to disciple all the new believers! It was a Jesus movement first.

Viruses don't happen by addition but by multiplication and fractaling. In third world countries, it has not been that an individual comes to faith in Jesus Christ and then decides to plant a church. Rather it has been true that Jesus revolutionizes the life of an individual who tells their family and friends with so many people coming to know Jesus that churches become necessary to disciple, care for and equip the new believers who go to the next village and do it all over again.

This kind of growth doesn't happen merely by addition, but by rapid multiplication. Individual disciples share what God has done in their lives through Christ, discipling their their friends and families. In that kind of church learning to tell how God's story of redemption in Christ has intersected our life becomes the norm rather than the exception for church members.

Then the Gospel goes viral.

Looking at where it might next plant a church is always on the agenda of the local church rather than wondering if planting a church is something we might do once in our history.

Then church planting goes epidemic. It can happen!

Is Mission Optional for the Christian? C.F.W. Walther Says NO!

C.F. W. Walther, the founding President of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod says an emphatic NO! (Thanks to my friend Pastor Steve Wagner for surfacing the following quote from Walther)

"For if the entire Christian church is the real mission society which God Himself has established, then all those who ignore mission work and do not care anything for it are not true and living members of the church, that is, not true Christians. They break the oath of allegiance which they have made to Christ at their baptism. They want to carry the keys of the kingdom of heaven in their hands and yet do not want to open heaven to those who are still outside…They want to be God's wheat, and still are not fruitful grains of wheat. They want to have faith, yet have no love. They have no compassion in their hearts for the distress of the heathen, and thereby show that even though they are baptized, they still have a heathenish heart and that they themselves are in darkness and the shadow of death." C. F. W. Walther, "The Mission Society Established by God" in The Word of His Grace, Occasional and Festival Sermons.

• Being a Christian means being engaged in the Mission of Christ – It is not an optional activity for an individual Christian or a community of believers in a congregation.
  

• We often say that what matters is being faithful. That is true. Jesus says "If you continue in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free." John 8.32. But Jesus' word includes the Great Commission to "go and make disciples of all nations" Matthew 28:19. Dr. Walther reminds us that if we are not faithful to that Great Commission, we have broken "the oath of allegiance" made at our baptism.
  

• Walther also warns against desiring to have faith and doctrine down pat but not having love for those who are far from God. In fact he calls this attitude having "a heathenish heart" which puts one in the "shadow of death."

• Walther's admonition to the church of the late 19th century is to make sure we are opening the Kingdom of heaven to those who are still outside in darkness. He warns the church of then and now that if we turn in on ourselves, even if we think we have our faith and doctrine just right, we are unfaithful servants.

The good news is that we have all that we need to be the "real mission society" that Walther speaks of. We have God's Word in all its truth and purity. We have the promise of a secure salvation, won for us by Jesus in His death and suffering. We have abundant life now and forever because of His resurrection. We have the gift of the Holy Spirit who promises to work faith in human hearts. We also have an abundant supply of people far from God with whom we can share the Gospel. We have financial and technological resources that Walther could only have dreamed of.

The only things that can stop us from being missional are our own fears, prejudices and needs to feel comfortable with people just like us in our own local congregations. It is only our sinfulness that gets in the way.

I don't know about you, but I want to be part of "the real mission society which God Himself has established" as C.F.W. Walther put it. I pray for opportunities to share the love of Christ with others. I pray too that we will continue to plant many new churches here in Texas and throughout the world.

If that is your desire as well, please pray right now that God might use you and your church to be part of God's plan to save people who are far from God!