The Movement of the Kinetic Church

There's a pun there. But that's okay.

Kinetic energy is energy in motion. It is the power of built up potential energy which then moves into kinetic energy when movement occurs. There is potential energy built up in the church today. It's the missional energy to go forth and be passionate followers of Jesus making disciples who transform lives and communities. Yet this potential energy which is built up (and sometimes bursting at the seems) can't be moved until the church empties itself with the love of Christ for one another and for those who are far from God. This movement from potential missional energy becomes the kinetic energy of love and moves forward by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This is where things get interesting.

Let me back up a bit.

Much language today in church renewal and in church talk itself, there's much to do about being an Acts 2 type of church. This Acts 2 kinda church is the missional church. This is the church where people devoted themselves to the apostles' teachings, to breaking bread in each others' homes, to prayer and to ministry. And God added to their number daily. Awesomesauce.

But there's something missing in this missional language. That's the language of Philippians 2. In Philippians 2 Paul writes that our attitude should be the same of Christ Jesus who emptied himself and humbled himself in love. And in an outpouring of love, died for all upon the cross so that we might have forgiveness of sins.

I want to be clear: Missional is important. Jesus says in John 21 that as the Father sent Him, so He sends us. David Bosch, a wonderful missiologist, once wrote in the tome Transforming Missions that as the Father sent the Son, and the Father and Son sent the Holy Spirit, so the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit sends the church forward on mission. This is key. This is so important.

Yet it is the divine love of God that holds the Trinity together as three in one. This divine love is what was poured out by Jesus when He humbled himself and made Himself a servant to others.

And as followers of Jesus, we are to do the same.

He tells His disciples

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35

Dude.

The movement of the love of Christ, the divine love that holds the Trinity together, is the same love that we as followers of Jesus are to show. This is the mark of being a disciple of Jesus. To show this love. We are built up with the potential energy to go forth into the world as Jesus commands in the Great Commission from Matthew 28. It is in our spiritual DNA. But if we don't have love, the very act of what we do is like a bad drummer not hitting the beat. It's just annoying and filled with the din of dystopia.

The movement of the kinetic church leads to the actions of the missional church. You can't have one without the other. They are two sides of the same coin. You need the love of Christ to move forward in mission. Without that love, it doesn't make sense to go forth in mission.

Being the kinetic church means that we remain and abide in Jesus in order to move forward on mission. Jesus says later in John to his disciples

"Remain in me, as I also remain in you...I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing...This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." John 15:4, 5, 8

This fruit that we bear is the love of Christ. God is a sending God. He is a God of Mission. He is the God who's mission from the beginning was to have humanity in a loving relationship with Himself. And He literally moved heaven and earth to make it happen. And as His people, we are sent as His change agents into this world to help people become in that loving relationship with Him. But if we don't have the love of Christ, how can we show that this God of Mission (who is also a God of Love) cares for them?

So, you who are part of the Church universal, need to step forward in mission by the power of the love of Christ in order to be used by God to redeem and restore all things.

But how?

That's for a whole 'nother post.