I know that in every movement there are buzz words which always end up being used so much that I almost barf when I hear them. The funny thing is that I am not even sure “missional” is a real word (Microsoft Word spell check doesn’t seem to think so, which of course is always right! Thanks Bill!) Basically, when people use that word today, they mean that the church should get up off the pew, head out into the streets, and do something to make this world better. It is not necessarily direct evangelism, but the thought is that if we are out there doing “good deeds”, that is the best witness of Jesus. From picking up trash to providing clean water, emerging churches are rolling up the sleeves on their Old Navy shirts and digging in. Sometimes I feel more like I am in Green Peace than serving the King of Peace.
You know what is coming next. We must look BEHIND what we see on the surface of the Emerging Conversation so that we don’t miss a key piece of our time in church history. In the Seeker movement, many churches’ goal was to create a place where non Christians felt comfortable coming to a service. Polls were used to ascertain in what way that could be done best. The Emerging church says that instead of trying to get people to come to us, we should go out to them, where they are. It is more than that though, in that there is a strong push to live out a “kingdom” lifestyle in the here and now. The traditional church is accused of only caring for people’s eternal state, and downplaying any significance of our lives before heaven.
Though Jesus clearly talked quite a bit about salvation and the eternal destination of man (for example Matthew 25), Jesus’ teaching on His kingdom clearly placed an importance on how we live our lives now. Even more importantly, His miracles showed His care for improving people’s lives here on earth. Some people say that Jesus never started a soup kitchen, but how about the miraculous feedings? Mark 8:1-3 says, “In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” This passage shows the essence of mercy ministries such as feeding programs and aid to countries with famine.
How about the healing miracles of Jesus? Matthew 4:23 says, “And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.” He could have just focused on proclaiming the gospel and providing eternal salvation only, but He healed people, immediately improving their quality of life. Christian missions has often been in the forefront of developing clinics, hospitals, and teaching medical knowledge because these people understood that the mission of Christ was both eternal and immediate.
Paul seems to catch this “kingdom lifestyle” teaching, as he often repeats the importance of “good deeds”. In Titus 2:11-14 , Paul connects his theology of salvation with the good deeds of a believer. “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
Of course, eternal salvation and forgiveness of sins is the MAIN Gospel benefit and goal of Jesus, and Scripture clearly teaches an eternal perspective. However, even if I complain about the over usage of the word “missional”, I can’t argue with placing more emphasis on the church reaching out into their communities, countries, and the world with mercy ministries. What does it profit a church if they have the coolest college age ministry ever, yet ignore the cries of the hungry and homeless around them? When we serve, we do it clearly as believers, not trying to blend in with Earth loving hippies or Starbucks drinking post modern activists. We do so because Jesus brought reformation to His people who had forgotten their God’s love for the “orphan, the widow, and the children”. So, let’s go be mercyministrysional (patent pending on this new church word).
The Bible Nerd 