The Relational Mission

I am reading David Benner's new book, Opening to God . It's well worth the time. Last night I finished the chapter on what he calls "Attending." He plays off the four parts of Lectio Divina and uses the metaphor of paying attention to help us understand what it means to practice Part 1, which is traditionally called "Lectio." He challenges us to expand our ability to practice Lectio, that is "reading," by calling us to pay attention to what is going on in life around us. He invites us to read life, to read ourselves, and to read creation. He calls us to wake up to what is already present but we don't often see. In many ways, we could apply the four parts of Lectio Divina to the call to "being" missional. It provides us with a tool to see how life on mission is much more than doing some activities that look missional. (As I have stated before, I am not against "doing" missional things. Therefore, don't hear me promoting...

We all have an imagination, but many of us don't think that we do. Christianity has been so shaped by Western logic we can't even see that the logic we use is itself a kind of imagination. It's just not a very imaginative one. Still we all have one. And I have found that when it comes to the idea of "missional", being a missional people and leading in missional ways, we all come to the topic with an imagination about what missional is. Sadly, most of us need our imaginations reframed. How do we do this? Step #1: Realize that you already have an imagination. See introductory paragraphs above. Now begin to articulate what that is. Step #2: Imagine that "missional" might actually mean more than what you now know. If you want to learn something new, you have to make space in your mind to ask different questions. Step #3: Stop thinking that "missional" is first about how to do church better. If you have not truly done Step 2, then this will be...

I love reading the vast literature that has been published over the last ten years on spiritual practices or spiritual disciplines. But I get troubled by the consistent use of language that assumes the reader has a college education. I guess this assumption is made because most resources seem to use a lot of Latin words. They talk about things like "lectio divina", "purgation", "solitude", "Psalms of lament", and "the daily office". Who talks like that? Why can't we use words so that we all know what we are talking about, like "dwelling in the Word", "purging", "alone with God", Psalms of sorrow", and ... well I've not come up with a good term to replace "the daily office" yet. Any ideas? I grew up on the farm, and while I have read more than my fair share of 500 page books that use lots of "five-dollar words," I still talk language that my friends from high school could u...

I'm in Richmond, VA, the home of VCU, on Final Four weekend. I'm about to head out to watch the game with a bunch of VCU Ram fanatics. Secretly, I'm rooting for Butler. I say secretly because I don't want to get skinned alive and I have no allegiance to Butler. So to be secretive about it is not compromising any conviction I might have or loyalty to Butler. But if Texas A & M were in the Final Four playing VCU and I withheld my convictions and commitment to rooting for my alma mater, then that would be compromise. I would not be being true to my convictions. I would not be a truthful witness to what is real within me. I think this has bearing on what it means to be missional. Sometimes we stir people up to "do" something missional but what they are doing is not truthful to who they are. They are "doing" more, i.e. "witnessing" or serving or something of the like, but it not true to their nature. It would be like me going tonight and a...

On Friday, I ate at an Indian restaurant by myself. I chose not to pray before I ate. Not sure why. I probably didn't do it because I have been rather litigious about that in the past. When I was in college, I started praying before meal at restaurants. I was motivated by the desire to be a good witness and resist the fear to be intimidated by others. After not praying at the Indian restaurant on Friday, it hit me why I might actually pray before a meal. I pray not because I want to influence others. I pray not because I want to combat any fear of judgement. (At least not now) I pray because Jesus people are thankful people, because Jesus people recognize the source of food. Prayer is not about other people. It's about being who I am. If that impacts others then so be it, but that's not my motivation. A "witness" only needs to demonstrate what is true. A "witness" does not have to be more than that to make an impact. I think this also relates to what...

(This is the fourth entry in my series entitled "Leading Missional Small Groups." I want to move forward and develop my constructive alternative to "doing mission," but before I do so, I need to challenge one more aspect of how "doing" has pervaded our life in the church. Maybe I need to write this for myself so as to exercise my own "doing missional" demons. From what I read in various books and what I have observed in church life (and actually participated in, sadly) much of our ministry in the world has turned people into projects. Whether involved in evangelistic outreach, in social justice agendas or planting churches, I've observed that we use project language that focuses on accomplishing goals, articulating an abstract vision or reinforces something like a purpose statement. We measure these projects in the number of people who get saved, the number of people involved in a project or the number of churches we start. But we are talki...

I've not read Rob Bell's book. I'm not sure if I will any time soon. My list of books to read is far too long and I'm no where close to being caught up on the research I need to do right now for the various projects I am writing. But all the hubbub about this book has caused me to reflect on the way various leaders in the church have responded to it. Today, I read on Twitter that a few Christian bookstores have even refused to carry the book. The reaction of reviewers is fueled with a great passion and very strong opinions, both for and against. While sitting back and watching all of the "conversations" I began to ask a different set of question: What would happen if church leaders responded as passionately to books that promoted a heretical Gospel that clearly embraced American consumerism at its core? What if we responded just as strongly to teachings that promote individualism and personal success that seem to come out under the banner of "Christian...