The Relational Mission

Last week, I wrote a post that challenged the practice of complaining about the things we see wrong . Most specifically, I challenged the habit we have in the church of complaining about stuff over which we have no direct influence. We like to complain about our concerns and we get stuck there. But this raises the question: What do we do with our concerns? Or What do we do about the things we see going on in our world over which we have little to no influence? Besides re-posting something on Facebook, is there another option? The answer is found in one word: Lament. But we don't lament in our culture. We don't lament in our churches. We don't even talk about lamenting and how central it is to the a biblical imagination. Just read the Psalms or the first chapter of Nehemiah. It's all over the place. We understand complaining. But we don't understand lamenting. Jesus said, "Blessed are those who mourn." This is the most paradoxical of all the b...

God is a missional God. The Spirit of God is moving across creation to restore all things. There is nothing beyond the reach of God's redeeming touch. God calls his people to join him in his mission. Some churches (and small groups) step into the flowing river of God's mission. Others don't. In this post I want to identify one of the most significant things that keeps God's people from joining God in his difference-making venture. I call it "Attacking Easy Targets." Ultimately we are complaining ourselves out of mission as we place blame and pick fights. Like a bully at a playground who picks on those who cannot fight back, there has been much ink used and tons of rhetoric spoken by church leaders attacking these easy targets. These easy targets fall into the category of things about which we are concerned but over which we have little to no influence. Target #1: The Culture The first set of opinions can be grouped under the label “There’s a problem wit...