The Hsu’s Views

I’ve blogged elsewhere that I like the word Missional, but I’m concerned that it is used in such a broad way that it loses it meaning. Mostly I’m concerned with how “missional” serves as a sort of synonym for “outreach” or “missions.” When used this way, it simply describes the same sorts of activities we have always been doing in our community, and “missional” gets robbed of its power.

(for a quick explanation on Missional and Attractional, head over to an article at Allelon. The second point is a good quick explanation.)

What so much of the church needs today is not just an outward orientation. If we see the number of churches in our country become more outward focused, serving its community in the name of Christ, then that would be awesome. But if this outward activity merely gathers people back to the sending local church, then being missional in this sense is merely “attractional” and it is still the same posture and the same attending problems that churches should be trying to rethink.

I think it is important that we pair the notion of missional with the idea of the incarnation so that we are talking about a missional-incarnational approach to being the church. Why so important?

One of the most profound lessons we learn from the incarnation is that a person or a people is the proper medium for the gospel. The gospel is not just a message or a word, it is an incarnated one. God could have sent the gospel as a document, or written on tablets as the first Law was given, but he didn’t. God did send his Word, but it was incarnated in the person of Jesus.

This has huge implications…

The incarnation teaches us that the gospel is best presented when displayed in the life of a person. It is our lives that serve as the medium that either display the rich, satisfying, purpose giving, life filling reality of the Kingdom, … or not. It is in our real, authentic, and loving relationships with others that the gospel flows most easily. It is in our own transformation of the inner life (heart, soul, mind, etc) that facilitates this flow. Transformation of the unseen dimensions of our life is precisely the purpose of discipleship.

I think missional must be attached with incarnational because it reminds us that when we go to be salt and light, we are not recruiting to an organization, we are going to represent Christ and his Kingdom. We don’t go out for the sole or even primary reason of bringing people back. We go to stay. We are a sent people.

Missional-incarnational also reminds us that (and now I finally get the title of the post) the transformation of our own lives must occur in tandem with our outward missional activity. It places great importance that our own lives are touched and changed in ways that simply shine the life-giving truth of our message. This transformation means I find myself humble, thankful, obedient, dependent on the Holy Spirit, and willing to love others. It means I’m not judgmental or arrogant. It means many things… many things that I still wait to see in my own life.

But without this inner transformation, our desire to be a blessing to the community can become little more than an activity we do to feel better about ourselves. It might even be seen that way by the community we seek to bless; almost a divine marketing plan that isn’t divine.

We don’t want to create a new way of getting more people to a place, or organization to encounter Christ. We want to get more “Christ” (or perhaps Christlikeness) into our people so that while they are out, others will encounter Christ through them.

Living missionally/incarnationally is a call to discipleship.

What are you incarnating?

Formation, Theology