Missional weblinks

Check out the two new links "Missional Church Network" and "Missional Apologetics" for more on being missional.

Blessings fellow missioners

missional missing?

My wife and I have been exploring "organic" and "simple" Church recently. Our experience in Trad structures has not been most positive to be honest. I've been on the journey for 30 years in one way or another (i'm 33 now!) and have been a commited Jesus Follower for 15 of those. I come to a point where I'm wondering if our "christian service' is doing more to oil the Church machinary than to reach the lost with the amazing love of God. I mean it seems like mission is an 'add on' to being Church.

You go into most churches and you see a crappy mission notice board with out of date newsletters and ancient photos (ok, I'm being a bit mean !) and other than that you need to stay alert during the service (that probably lacks transcendence - being mean again!) to hear the passing mention of mission work. Mission happens elsewhere and it's somebody else's calling! It's almost like we've been blinded to God's mission around us.


we have got it all wrong - Jesus' life portrayed in the Gospels was a truly missional life. He ministered everywhere. He listened to people and to God and lived a life that connected the two together. That's being missional in my estimation.

we've got so caught up in trying to keep Church going that we've stopped going into our world and being Jesus to our neighbours. Is being 'missional' part of our life.

Read MARK 10:46-52 (go on, do it now)

Answer these questions in your own mind:
1. Ask God to show you your 'blind spots' in being Missional
2. Ask God to open your eyes and see the world as he sees it
3. Ask God to lead you to the people that you can share the love of Jesus with (in wrds and in works)

May we follow Jesus into the messinesss of people's lives and communities.

Do it

Just preparing for a talk from Matthew 25 where Jesus separates the sheep from the goats. His system of separation was simple:

Those who receive an eternal inheritance from God are those that lived lives of "Just Love" (they lived as Jesus lived - they followed Jesus' way of life).

All others were cast out eternally from God's presence.

The message is simple - if we say we are followers of Jesus we need our lived to follow him too. Saying it is not enough.


We need to Do following Jesus.

"Whatever you did for the least (the marginalised; the poor; the lowly; the loveless; etc) of these you did for me"

Faith without works is dead

No trouble

Do not let your heart be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me

Comfort. We all want to be in this state, yet often we find ourselves in uncomfortable situations. Jesus was aware of this and when his disciples were troubled in heart he advised them with the statement above. As I read the words I'm struck by how obvious they are - Don't let your heart be troubled!

I'm thinking 'like I have a choice'. As I thought about that it struck me that perhaps Jesus was saying we do have a choice. I read it like this:

Don't allow your heart to be troubled - guard your heart from trouble

There are two verses in the bible that say "Guard your heart". One is in proverbs. It says

'guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life'.

Tthe other is in Philippians 4 where Paul tells the Church:

Don't be worried about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which transcends our understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus

Those words are life and beauty to our hearts. As we pray - as we focus on Jesus - God's peace enters our hearts and minds. We guard our hearts from trouble through trusting in Jesus in the place of prayer. Prayer focusses our heart on the solution and takes it off our problems.

God's peace is not a fabrication of our imagination - it is transcendent. Perhaps we need to persevere in praying until God's peace comes to guard our hearts from trouble.

Are we in an uncomfortable situation where troubles are welling up like storms around and within us?

Then let us pray...