Categotry Archives: missional

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A Changing Sense of Mission (part 1)

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Categories: changing mindsets, General, missional

My friend Kathy recently posted about why the word “missional” bothers her. One of several reasons she cited was: “It feels pretty cruddy to be someone’s mission.”

True dat.

The other reasons she gives are pretty valid, too, but this one really resonated with me because since my journey of deconstruction from institutional Christianity began, I’ve found myself on the radar of some well-meaning Christians, as well, and felt like I had become part of their personal “mission” as they tried subtly (or so they thought) to steer me back to the fold. (Assuming, of course, that I’d actually left said fold.) I’m saying I know what it’s like to be targeted in that way, and Kathy’s right–it feels pretty cruddy.

This is a preview of A Changing Sense of Mission (part 1). Read the full post (766 words, estimated 3:04 mins reading time)

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What Does Mission Really Look Like? (part 3)

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Categories: changing mindsets, love, missional, Tags: , , , , ,

Okay, so here’s the first post….

Aaaand the second one….

I closed out the previous post with a question: How can each of us make the transition into what I call “agenda-free” mission? Once we recognize how much unnecessary (and often damaging) baggage we have attached to mission by our institutional thinking, how do we change our thinking to participate in the mission of Christ in a more organic way, without worrying about what we might have to gain from it?

This is a preview of What Does Mission Really Look Like? (part 3). Read the full post (909 words, estimated 3:38 mins reading time)

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What Does Mission Really Look Like? (part 2)

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Categories: church, missional, Tags: , , ,

First of all…Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers. 🙂

In my previous post, I began rambling about my re-thinking of what mission is, and what it really can look like in the Biblical sense. I talked about how I think we need to get back to the basics with this idea, stripping off the ulterior motives and getting back to something closer to what Jesus modeled for us. (If you need more detail, read the last post to get caught up.)

This is a preview of What Does Mission Really Look Like? (part 2). Read the full post (1110 words, estimated 4:26 mins reading time)

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What Does Mission Really Look Like? (part 1)

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Categories: food for thought, missional, Tags: , , ,

As I continue on this path of deconstruction, along with many others, it can get very easy to get caught up in just pointing out things that are wrong with the institutional form of church. I think that’s an important part of it–we can’t re-think the things we won’t be honest about–but I also think that’s just one part of the healing process. There are a lot of things in the church that began as right things–we’ve just been going about them the wrong way, and muddling them up in the process. Those are elements that should not be thrown out–just stripped back to basics, or reinvented, or at least placed in a context where they work better.

This is a preview of What Does Mission Really Look Like? (part 1). Read the full post (938 words, 1 image, estimated 3:45 mins reading time)

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Embracing the Changes

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Categories: creativity, How I am, missional, moments of truth

So you’ve probably noticed that over the past few weeks, the number of my posts here has been dwindling considerably. I generally try to get over here at least three times a week, but lately I’ve been fortunate to post once a week. A couple of weeks ago, I simply asked a couple of questions, and the comment section ended up providing enough content to do us all for a month! 🙂

But there is a reason for the reduced posting. I’ve been working on some things on this end, and now it’s time to let you know what I’ve been up to.

This is a preview of Embracing the Changes. Read the full post (817 words, 1 image, estimated 3:16 mins reading time)

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Hijacking the Mission

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Categories: changing mindsets, food for thought, missional

All through March in house church, we’ve themed our meetings around “the mission of Christ”, or missio Dei, whatever term you use to describe it. We’ve been pondering the idea that God has been at work in the earth before we ever got here, that He is working in people’s lives before we encounter them, and will remain after we leave. We’ve talked about how we can participate in God’s mission, and we’ve encouraged one another not to spend this time just trying to “find our place” in the mission, but to try and tap into the heart of it.

In thinking and studying about this, I’m seeing how important it is that we absorb this simple truth, that mission belongs to God, not to the church. Why is it so important to make this distinction?

This is a preview of Hijacking the Mission. Read the full post (1077 words, 2 images, estimated 4:18 mins reading time)

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If God Is My Father, How Can Jesus Be My Boyfriend?…

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Categories: food for thought, missional, theological questions

Umm….don’t linger there too long. 🙂

A good friend of mine said something recently that has really resonated in my soul. He said, “Every metaphor breaks down at some point.” NOW does the title make a little sense? 🙂

Since the fall of man, when man essentially became separate and alienated from God…God has been on a mission to redeem man back to Himself, to restore the relationship that was lost. It is a constant theme throughout Scripture, and I believe it continues today. Emergent/Missional types like to refer to this idea as “Missio Dei”–the mission of God.

This is a preview of If God Is My Father, How Can Jesus Be My Boyfriend?…. Read the full post (801 words, 1 image, estimated 3:12 mins reading time)

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Missional: What It Means to Me

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Categories: changing mindsets, church, missional

(This is part of Rick’s synchroblog on “What Is Missional?” See the end of this post for the list of participants.)

I hope I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew.

Although I’ve been a Christian most of my life, and involved in some form of church “ministry” function for most of the time I’ve been a Christian…I have only known of terms like “missional” and “emergent” for the past year and a half. And just when I’m getting used to reading, hearing and saying these types of words…apparently there is already some frustration about their usage, about the labels, about what is associated with them–what they mean, or what they should mean. Hence, the reason for the synchroblog.

This is a preview of Missional: What It Means to Me. Read the full post (1036 words, 1 image, estimated 4:09 mins reading time)