So we have started a discussion at h.k10 around one simple question: Who are we called to be as a church community? when we started out 3 and a half years ago (can you believe its been that long?) the basic idea was: let's reproduce heartland. but can you really just 'reproduce a church?' Can we just look at what worked over there and try to do the same thing at a different place? Is that really how the kingdom of God works?
The more I've wrestled through those questions, the answers i've come up with are no, no and no.
So...now the question is who are we called to be? what kind of community does God want us to become? what is our unique calling and mission to the world? what does it look like for us to be the unique people of God in this time and this place. I am so excited about these questions, and so excited about the community God has brought together to wrestle through this. I can't wait to see where we end up.
So, to get the discussion rolling, one of the things that i believe has to be a part of 'who we are called to be' is to be a MISSIONAL COMMUNITY. I never want to be the kind of church that is inward focused and doesn't participate with God in his mission for the world (putting the world to rights). Our calling as the church is to be a blessing to the world, and if we miss this, we miss the central calling on our lives. So i guess my question is this: What is the mission of the church? What would it look like for us to live out that mission? what does it look like to be a missional community? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, let the blogging begin!
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23 comments:
Kevin...I agree that trying to replicate Heartland is impossible and more importantly, undesirable. I believe being the church means seeking and participating in God's mission rather than following a formula for what appears successful for another church. In doing that, we sell ourselves short and remain out of sync with God's unique calling for our community.
You ask, "What does it mean to be a MISSIONAL CHURCH/COMMUNITY?"
I think a missional church would be a place which focuses all of it's activities around God's redemptive mission in the world. That means it trains people for discipleship and witness with that end in mind. A missional church should understand that the congregation itself is to be a sign of Christ's work in the world...not to solve the world's problems, but to participate in God's mission to put the world to rights.
To be a missional church means to discern how this particular congregation's calling is aligned with God's mission in the world through prayer and an openness to the Spirit.
Unfortunately, many of us (myself included) need to re-orient our attitudes and expectations, practices and habits, rules and structures of what church should be. And change won't come about by a quick fix, but long-term vision. Not a one-time program, but a system-wide and strategic formation process.
I'm not sure who said this, but I agree..."The greatest challenge facing the churches in North America today has to do with how we will address a cultural economy shaped by consumerism and self-centeredness with gospel-shaped lives of gratitude and generosity. In contrast to the cultural economy, God's economy is one of shared abundance, ruled by the promise of full and plentiful life lived in community. Christian stewardship involves cultivating a church that is shaped by God's economy, and that lives according to God's abundance."
Tracy,
Great post. I love what you said about the church being a place "which focuses all of it's activities around God's redemptive mission in the world." Well put, especially considering what you pointed out about our culture of conspicuous consumption and lack of generosity.
I'm reading some Miroslav Volf and he mentions that John Howard Yoder always would say that there is no single way Christians relate to a particular culture, no matter what that culture is. Christian response to the culture is always varied no matter what culture they find themselves in.
Volf points out that the two most common options are cultural accomodation and sectarianism. The first would be just taking the wisdom of the current culture (Oprah or Dr. Phil) and passing it off as Gospel. The second would be defining the boundaries of the faith in exclusive & negative ways and the result is a Christian ghetto or colonization, i.e., "real Christians don't this or that because that's what the world does."
Volf is recommending a third option whereby Christian live within a culture as full participants. They are to be in an important sense, insiders to the culture. But they are to live in counter-cultural ways because of their rebirth. In this sense we become agents of the transformation. In this way, Christians live as resident aliens, but full participants in God's redemptive transformation of culture.
It's a pretty cool concept I thought.
tracy,
i loved your post. you couldn't be more right about the idea that this has to be 'not about a one-time program, but a system-wide and strategic formation process'. That's what we need to do as a community. We need to re-imagine what our church is supposed to be, and how that fits in with the idea of participating in God's mission in the world (putting the world to rights.) Great thoughts!
Ok so tell me what exactly you guys are talking about ...Are'nt we already doing the missional thing? What do you mean "Gods redemptive mission in the world" or "Gods unique calling for our community"? Why do we think there is a "unique calling" for K10? I'm not really disagreeing, I just want you to speak english. So those of us without seminary degrees can get it.
the definition I found to be most pointed applicable to our discussion simply states that a mission is a special assignment that is given to a person or group.
So what is our special assignment going to be? Where are we going to contribute, where are we called to further God's community and what are we to help put right in the world?
I believe we are, should be, and continue to be, warriors for our children and children of all communities.
I see them attacked in almost all stages of their lives, whether it is severe and life threatening illness, sickness, parental neglect, family divorce,child predators, peer pressure, eating disorders, magazines, tv, movies, cartoons, violence against children in the home, violence of children on children...and the list goes on and on and....and it is TRAGIC.
Who is there shield? Who is helping them build and adorn their soul with God's protective shield? and Im not just talking about our children.
God, in our community at heartland K 10, has blessed us incredibly with new life through our beautiful children and it is amazing to see. He shows us proof daily, in the new eyes of a child, that he is our creator and king!
He wants us to prepare them for the battle ahead. I think we are doing great things for that preparation at our church but how do we turn the umbrella outward?
I saw a film the other day that spoke to the fact that more children recognize the face of Ronald McDonald than that of Jesus Christ! and you wonder why there is so much strife in their respective lives.
now I do not know how to answer Kevin's question around what would this look like to live out a mission of protecting kids, both our own and not our own, but I am sure he would guide us. I am sure it means just showing them that God loves them in ways they have not been shown yet.
I seem to be more exasorbated lately in my thoughts and want to protect our children because of the recent predator tragedy at our church as well as thinking of the pain Maggie's boys must have been going through with almost losing their mother.
tie that to recent news of an 18 year old girl from our community being abducted from a place we believe to be safe, to include stories like this all around the globe, and I catch myself filling with anger and disgust rather than moving this emotional energy into activities that WILL make a difference.
Doing "Christ's work in the world..." is not to solve all our children's adversities and to suffocate them with arms but to show them that God is there to walk with them, both while we are with them and definitely when we cannot be.
D
Hey “anonymous…” You asked some really good questions. I liked them quite a bit. Here’s my take on some of them:
Q: Aren’t we doing the Missional thing?
It seems to me that is a really good question. After all we do have a mission statement: “Connecting the disconnected to an authentic community of faith.” So we have been saying all along that we’re doing the Missional thing, you are right. It also seems as though the mission we have articulated might have some issues with the way it is conceived or written. There are many that I can think of but two issues that stick out to me are: 1) it is pretty narrow in scope 2) it seems to be church-centric not kingdom-centric.
Q: What do you mean “God’s redemptive mission in the world?”
Another good question because we really haven’t defined those terms very well. I’ll take a shot at it.
Phrases like “God’s redemptive mission in the world” are used as a way to try and describe what God is up to with the planet earth and human persons. Instead of defining God’s mission narrowly (as it has been in the past), in terms of personal salvation or “getting into heaven when you die,” this language addresses the larger picture.
In other words, using “God’s redemptive mission in the world” includes but is not limited to personal salvation. It hopes to include how we treat the poor, how we treat the marginalized or vulnerable in our society (children, minorities, sick, non-English speaking people, folks with no health care, even women still have to fight being marginalized in the workplace, etc.). In short, the phrase concerns everything about how we live our lives in God’s good creation. The mission of the church narrowly defined for the past era has merely addressed how God deals with the guilt of our sin and makes it so we can go to heaven when we die. "God’s redemptive mission in the world" seeks to address how God is putting the whole world to rights – how God is using his church to put the world back together again.
Q: “Why do we think there is a unique calling for h.k10?”
On this one I think “anonymous” has raised a really good question. Why would any church presume to have a unique calling? I’ve never really thought about that because I’ve been raised in an era where church leadership tried to act like business leadership and everything we started had to have mission, vision, values and goals. Whether it was planting a church or starting a specific ministry within the church, the first questions we asked were questions of mission. What if there isn’t so much a unique calling for any church? What if the calling to every church is essentially the same? I think that is a good place to start to answer the most basic questions of “what is the church and what is it for?”
I think part of what I’m excited about is that I believe answering that question will involve taking a step back and doing our homework a little bit on why did the universal Christian church come to be in the first place. Why did God create the church?
On being a “Missional Church,” there are two things which I believe are really important:
First, I’ll just say one thing that I’ve said before. I really don’t think the church has a unique mission, per se. I used to but I’m not sure I do anymore, (my mind’s certainly not made up on that…it’s just where I am right now). I think Christ has a mission, which is bringing redemption to all the earth. I think it is Christ’s mission which calls the church into being. Our mission, so to speak, is simply to participate in Christ’s mission. It is Christ’s mission of redemption which institutes the church. It is important to realize that Christ defines the nature and scope of the mission, we do not. So the church does not decide its own mission, but is subordinate to the mission of Christ. The discussion then is about what Christ intends for us.
Second, the word “Missional” as it is being used today also connotes a recognition that we live in a secular or pluralist society. There are many religions present in our culture, none of which enjoy any sort of privileged status. The church universal is experiencing explosive growth in many places, Africa, China, South America, but not in North America and not within the US culture. So part of what the word “Missional” seeks to acknowledge is that as Christians and as members of the body of Christ here in the US, we are in the minority and we are in decline, (i.e., 40% of Americans say they go to church each week, but only about 19% of them actually show up on a given Sunday – that number is dropping). We are part of a mission in the primitive sense of that word, like the old Shawnee Mission which was on the frontier when it was established.
When I read the Scriptures, I see "Missional Communities" as people who are more about actions than words. I also see the people of God meeting the basic needs of less fortunate people without saying much. Think Mother Teresa and her nuns...They got the job of service done without preaching.
I agree with Tracy that reproducing Heartland is undesireable mostly because trying to reprocude something with leaders that have their own unique gifts would be vain. The leaders of our church should be confident in what God has called them to do, not just be trying to copy other leaders.
Ooops! I posted my response in the wrong place this morning. This whole blogging thing is new to me.
I do think we as a church have a unique calling. It's nice to want to have an impact on the world, but I think the only way we can do that is to start in our own backyard. Until we get things right in our own comunity we will never have an impact on the world.
This may sound like a simple answer, but we need to just get in there & get our hands dirty...find out what the needs of our own community are & start serving.
I think our mission is to become a church who serves the community more than just being a Sunday service church. Please don't get me wrong, Sunday service is very important, but I feel the need, not only personally, but together as a community that we need to become humble servants to the community in which we live.
There is a saying, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." So, how do you impact the world? One community at a time. Maybe that's a good place to start.
For His Glory,
Karen de la Durantaye
tim...I think I know where you are coming from when you say "the Church doesn't have a unique mission, per se". God's redemptive mission is not exclusive to Church goers or even people who call themselves Christians. So the Church in a broad sense does not have a unique mission. In that sense "unique" denotes something that separates or attracts comparison or even elitism.
But if k10 is discerning how we will participate in God's mission, I assume it will look different in comparison with another congregation. We will be unique in the sense of how our concerns and passions are woven together to put the world to rights. And as we dialog we will discover how Dawson's compassion towards children, the Kaufman's commitment to the Hope Center, the Schmidt's work with the homeless, and our impoverished and oppressed Hispanic neighbors in Olathe will define our path as a missional church.
I also liked the idea of "living within a culture as full participants...but in counter-cultural ways because of their rebirth". It seems so refreshing and freeing to release the idea that we are to conform or rebuke. How can either bring transformation?
t-
I'll start my entry with a defining question. In what way(s) do we live or define a counter cultural life? I ask because I'm not sure that I know a single person that really lives what I might think of as a counter cultural life, myself included.
Regarding our impact on the world: I think that having an impact on the world and being counter to the consumptive and self gratifying world means that we need to get our hands dirty. It might even lead to getting a little dirt under our nails once in a while. Doing that begins in our own community and I don't mean the k.10 community but rather our local community in Olathe.
There must be 101 ways we can be in service to this community and be a real "missional church" now by actively seeking, learning and volunteering. I agree with Tracy that we need to train for discipleship and how to properly witness, but in the meantime we can witness by just showing up and living out the mission Jesus has called all of us to.
So, shut off Oprah, Survivor, The Sports Channel and Deal or No Deal, roll up your sleeves and go to work. As my dear wife Karen aptly put it, we have to eat this elephant one bite at a time. Our impact on the world starts next door.
Thank you for suffering the ramblings of a madman.
Chuck de la Durantaye
Yeah, Tracy...you probably said it a little better than I did. Nice work.
What is unique about our community is the particular way we participate in what God is doing in the world. It will be different than other churches, I guess maybe this is where the language of unique calling comes in.
The reason I prefer language of "participating in God's mission" is really because we inherited a model of church that seems overly focused on growing the church instead of growing the kingdom. I just don't want to be a community that becomes overly church-centric. Being Christ-centric necessitates that we become focused on the needs of the world.
I'm just so excited by the way our community is embracing that mission. I see nothing but potential for us and I'm blown away by the hearts of compassion that seem to be finding their voice these days. What an incredible church this is!
chuck & karen...I couldn't agree with you more. We are in Olathe, and the needs are plentiful. Let's get our hands dirty in our own backyard...well put!
I wanted to clarify that when I talked about "training people for discipleship and witness with that end in mind", I was referring to the need of a shift from the idea that God's ultimate mission refers to personal salvation as the pinnacle of the Christian experience. I think we will be closer to the truth if we train our community for discipleship and witness with the understanding that our part in God's redemptive mission in the world is the pinnacle of the Christian experience.
adrienne...I liked your reference to Mother Teresa. It's not about preaching - it's about loving our neighbor with no agenda.
Guys,
i love the dialogue here. it is so valuable to hear what everyone thinks about this idea, and i love the different ideas you all are bringing to the table. it will be so fun to see how God is going to lead us through this process. So much of what has been said is so right on, 'being more about actions than words', 'getting our hands dirty' (which by no means is a simple idea...actually very profound and deeply spiritual) 'being a community that is more than just a sunday service church', 'focusing on the needs of the world'. All great stuff.
The name 'missional church' is acutally from a book i'm reading right now called (you guessed it) missional church. I wanted to give you guys a quote from the book. the book is by darrell guder in case anyone is interested. i highly recommend it.
"Mission is not merely an activity of the church. Rather, mission is the result of God's initative, rooted in God's purposes to restore and heal creation. Mission means sending, and it is the central biblical theme describing the purpose of God's action in human history. God's mission began with the call of Israel to receive God's blessings in order to be a blessing to the nations."
I love, love, love the idea of participating in God's mission to restore and heal creation. I'm still wrestling with what that looks like, but i'm starting to think it is much bigger than 'we bring our friends to church.' While we can't lose that aspect of our church (connecting disconnected people, in fact, i don't think i could ever be a part of a church that wasn't passionate about this...) i really believe that God's mission includes more than just that idea.
Other thoughts on the Guder Quote?
Kevin--I love the part where Guder says, "...mission is the result of God's initiative." It is awesome to think of God taking the first step...that if we listen with sincere hearts He will lead us to blessings way beyond our imaginations. There are so many blessings in the act of serving & so many ways we can serve our community. I truly feel in my heart that our Lord has taken the first step with our church & now it is time for us to follow.
Joyful Blessings,
Karen de la Durantaye
Tim you mentioned in a post a few days ago that you were excited about our church embracing the "mission", the mission that is Kingdon-centric and not growth obbsessed, (my paraphrase). I'm thinking that if you took a poll of k10ers that you may find many who have not made this shift. We have been focused on survival and growth for 3+ years and now it seems we are changing horse mid-stream. It appears that those who have posted on this blog are with you in a big way (myself included), but I think we should be aware of those who have not yet joined the conversation. Moreover, those who are not even aware of the conversation. I guess my point is (and I do have one), "emergent church" and "missional church" are not part of everyones jargon.
Dawson, I like the idea of having a special assignment for K10. In a class I took recently they used the words "what is God's yearning for K10"? I think there are different churches because we are all so different and have such different gifts.
I have always believed that if we reach our children for God, it won't take but a couple of generations and we will be a world serving God and won't have to protect our children. Why do so many churches focus on adults? I am glad we at K10 realize how important it is to make sure we focus on both adults and kids.
Sorry I am so slow in posting, but I will get there.
Mandy,
you are right about the fact that everyone is not in on this conversation as of yet. I have really been thinking/wrestling with how broadly to have this conversation. REality is there are a bunch of people who have been at h.k10 for awhile, who love what they are experiencing, who might be scared of any conversation of changing. i think we have to proceed with wisdom with this conversation.
I kind of disagree (oh no, a disagreement!!! the wheels are falling of the bus... :) with the statement that we are 'changing horse midstream'. Going back to the 'Saul's Armor' analogy, i think its more about asking the question of 'what do we need to take off that doesn't fit?' that doesn't mean everything changes, or even that most things changes. It almost seems like its the underlying assumptions and ideas about church/ministry that change, and then that changes some of how we do church. Instead of the image of 'changing horses' i like the idea of 'moving beyond'. Keeping the stuff that is working and that we love about our community (and there is alot that i love about our community and that we can't lose) and then moving beyond some of the things that maybe don't fit anymore. Our job as the community is to figure out what to hold onto and in what ways to 'move beyond.'
I think the fundamental concept of growing is to change in some way, whether that's inward or outward. With any kind of change, there will be some resistance. Some people completely embrace it and others don't. The challenge is finding what the balance is and approaching it in an honest, loving way. Not to be a total nerd, but I did a Webster's search on the word "move" because I like what Kevin said about "moving beyond". Some of the definitions are very cool: move = to go, to rearrange, to progress, to change, to adjust, to encourage. I love the idea that h.k10 would be "encouraging" a deeper participation in God's mission, that we'd be "rearranging" our current ideas of how church should be and that we'd be "progressing" towards a true missional church w/in our community.
I guess the main thing I'm hoping to rethink is this idea that bigger is somehow better. I love our church so much. I'm just so appreciative of this community. I think we are doing it the right way and I'm really proud of the kind of church we've become & are becoming. "Becoming" assumes a sort of "movement" in the way Michelle described and I think that is a great thing.
I just think that it is a real shame that some people in our community feel as though we aren't really that successful because we're not bigger or not growing as fast as others. I hear that and sense that often. I think we are wildly successful. I think we have such a fantastic church that I think any metric which would make us feel as though it is not a fantastic church is probably a bad metric. It seems like pressure to grow creates that dynamic a little bit.
I'm not saying that I think we should desire not to grow. But I think we could simply concentrate on being, doing, and speaking as God would have us be, do and speak, and then leave all of the growth up to God.
I'm really not trying to throw jargon around. I don't think I've used the word 'emergent' & I preached a whole sermon on the idea of mission and wrote a post about it as well. I just want people to feel good about our church because I think our church is pretty great!
Kevin, I was simply trying to include in this conversation that I believe a lot of folks might FEEL like we are changing mid-stream. And that can be uncomfortable, ecspecially when this is ones only church experience. I appreciate that you have always been sensitive to those who might be change-averse. Loved what you said about moving beyond, well done! But even "moving beyond" seems abstract. I want us to speak plainly about what we are moving beyond and what we are moving toward. That includes on Sundays and in house groups etc. come to think of it, I guess that is kind of the whole point of this blog. I love that we are doing this, bravo bloggers!
I think we all resist change because it takes us out of our comfort zone. But, if we want to grow we have to change. I think we have to keep in mind that people at our church (or any church) are at different places in their walks...some have just stepped onto the path, some are further up the path & some are way up the path.
I agree with Mandy that we need to start talking about the nuts & bolts of what this change might look like. If it's community service maybe a good place to start is finding out the needs right here in Olathe.
Tim--From personal & business experience I don't think big is always better. Sometimes it just means a whole lot more responsibility... a whole lot more work without much gain.
mandy and karen,
seems like you both are articulating a desire to figure out what exactly we are talking about when we say 'moving beyond'. i feel that tension too, but i also really think this isn't a process that we can short circut. my hope is that dialoging about it here at the blog and also at Johnny's this summer will help us really begin to wrestle through that question. i think as we begin to discover those 'nuts and bolts' that it will be an incrediblly exciting and freeing thing for our church community.
I agree Kevin. Many of the nuts and bolts we have not discovered yet. As we keep talking I suspect we will find some things that we thought were basic to who were are to actually be fluff. I guess one area we at first thought was top priority was meeting in the theater. It was the main reason for moving from Junior High to High School. But when we got there it was toooooo big and we lost the feel of community. We quickly found that relationships and community were more important than having plush seats, a beautiful stage, and all of the extras. I hope these conversations will lead us to finding more "nuts and bolts" as we venture on.
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