The expression of unique gifts is the local congregation’s work of art: creating beauty, seeing the other, being reconcilers and healers, reminding our neighbors who they truly are as images bearers of God.
The missional focus challenges church practices that mimic consumerism and result, intentionally or not, in the church as a vendor of religious services.
Using “missional” as an adjective doesn't change the church's identity but attempts to serve as a reminder of what she's always been. The term neither excludes evangelism nor is synonymous with social justice efforts.
In Dr. George Hunsberger’s last lecture at Western Theological Seminary he asked the question, “What difference does it make when you put the word missional in front of the word church?”
This past week the division in our nation has been illuminated by the election process, not created by that process. But as the church, we must follow Christ in offering a posture of submission to the other.
We are challenged to discern God's activity by asking: Who in the community is working on behalf of the infants so they won’t die? Who is standing up for the worker? Who is working on behalf of the old?
Churches and denominations should be known as places of great organizational imagination, creativity, and experimentation. Embracing a worldview of abundance propels our organizational creativity.
An ideology of scarcity keeps us from pursuing a common good for our neighborhoods and the world around us. As the church, we must confront the worldview of scarcity and offer an alternative way.
Calling Kansas City home means hearing lots of references to "The Wizard of Oz." As a church planter, I wanted a yellow brick road and got one, but the land of Oz is full of unexpected twists and turns.
Can we be willing to be both a host for a stranger and guest in the home of a new acquaintance? Could our churches can be that place where people could go to belong?
Before we ask what the church does or what programs a church implements, we first must recognize that the church is continuing God’s mission to bring redemption to every part of creation.
The mission of the gospel that we present and preach is not limited in direction to a place “over there” or in a world far away, but is also for our own backyard.