The Relational Mission

Have you ever been so hungry that you eat food that is half-baked? The hunger is so great that you can't wait any longer. Sometimes this is how we try to follow Jesus. We are not willing to wait on what God has for us so we go for it and make something happen. We cannot live with the hunger that is growing so we settle for half-baked answers to fill that hunger. God is a God of: Word and action. Promises and promises kept. Proclamation and fulfillment. If you want to follow Jesus well you must view how God both states and acts. He makes promises and he comes through on what he has promised. However, for the most part, we have become very accustomed to following God as if his actions, promises keeping, and fulfillment cannot be trusted. God gives us a holy hunger for him. God stirs up a thirst for righteousness and justice. We hear his calling to live out a certain vocation or pursue a specific line of work. Then we set off on our own path to make it happen. If you want...

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." If we are truly following Jesus, we will be growing in mercy. This means that we will be offering sacrificial, other-oriented love to those around us who do not deserve it. Think about it this way: Imagine neighbors, family members, co-workers, and friends in your life. Think about them all in one large room. Now in your mind, put them into groups. Group 1: Those who can benefit you. Those who have something to offer you. And most likely they offer something to society. Group 2: Those you consider your equal. They are friends you like to hang out with. Your relationship with them is not really about what they have to offer you. They are just friends. Group 3: Those you know but you don't particularly like, for whatever reason. Maybe it's a neighbor who annoys you. Maybe it's a friend who drains you when you spend time with them. Or a family member who is a downer. Group 4: Those you know who seem ...

Recently, a friend asked my opinion about the difference between missional communities and holistic small groups, or what has traditionally been called "cell groups." Here is an open letter (slightly edited for the sake of clarification): Dear Randy, In theory, they are very similar. This is especially obvious in the international cell churches. Holistic small groups in churches like Elim in El Salvador (150,000 people) are by nature missional. They seek to provide redemptive places for both community and mission. But mission goes far beyond mere evangelism and getting new members. They are seeking to bring redemptive life to neighborhoods, not just to get people saved and into the church. However this imagination does not always transfer well to America. When small groups in the West aim to be holistic, at best a few might be evangelistic. But more often than not holistic just translates to "open" (vs. closed) which means that they are willing to add new pe...

 Last week, I wrote a post about five reasons or motivations for small groups that I've observed in various churches (See post here ). Here's a quick summary: Small groups as one of the systems required to make the church work well.  Small groups as a way to close the back door. Small groups as a way of producing the fruit of discipleship, evangelism, and developing leaders. Church is organized with systems to make the groups work.  Church is organized with systems to mobilize community that is equipped to live for the sake of the world.  The more I reflected on this over the last few days, the more I realized that there is a progression in breadth of vision.  As you move down the list, the previous are included.  If you shoot for #1, you will only get #1. But if you shoot for #2, you get #1 thrown in. And #5 gets all of the other four as a part of the package. If you think in terms of #1, the vision is small and the potential limited. But if...

With leadership comes discouragement. In fact let me so bold to say that if you never experience times of discouragement you most likely are not taking many risks. Or you don't care that much. But if you don't care you most likely are not reading this blog. Discouragement is just part of leading. You will hit walls when you don't know what to do. Your group will go through times that make you want to give up. People will disappoint you. And you will disappoint yourself. What do you do with this? Let me suggest a few things that I’ve learned about discouragement through the years of leading. First beware of the temptation to ignore the reality of what you are facing. Avoid the tendency to ignore your discouragement. Some will tell you to have faith, to get back in touch with the vision, to claim God's promises and to act as if there is not a problem. When we do this we are not dealing with reality. God knows where you are on the journey and wants to meet you In you...

Remember that rule from high school geometry? Something like: the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Well if you want to increase your hunger for righteousness, the way to get from where you are today to the point of greater hunger is not a straight line. If it were, then all that would be required is to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and by our own will, effort and hard work we would develop hunger for God's righteousness. We would just start walking to that place and make it happen. But there is no straight line to hunger and thirsting for righteousness. You cannot make it happen. This is not because Jesus was setting up something that is impossible for us to attain and therefore we are in need of grace, as if hungering for righteousness is some kind of magical gift bestowed upon us just because God wants it. No we grow in righteousness as we meander along the path of following Jesus in this life. It's what happens to us as we follow the ways o...

Church buildings dot the landscape in Western countries. Many are old and represent an bygone era. Some are very new and look more like modern shopping malls or office buildings. Most fall somewhere in between. These edifices are an unquestioned part of Western culture. The church has become so unquestioned that we rarely think about the role or the purpose the church plays from God’s perspective. For most, it is assumed that the church provides spiritual services for the sake of people who feel that they need such things. Sadly, the idea that the church is a provider of spiritual goods and services is not limited to those outside church life. Many faithful church members perceive the church as being a spiritual association that is primarily designed to provide a certain set of spiritual services. And if those services are not met according to their liking, there are plenty of church options who may meet their needs better. As a result the church is often viewed as a spiritual vend...