'As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you!'

[trinityisunity]

The missional church.....
In John's Gospel Jesus sends out His disciples. Today we also must go out from the church to reach the lost. The days of just opening the doors of the church and hoping people will come walking through the door are from a previous era. The days of running the programs and waiting for the unsaved to turn up are gone. The post war 'Baby Boomers'- who are the epitome of consumerism combined with individualism began to leave the church in numbers.

Congregations now live in a vast mission field where many are apathetic regarding the Gospel. However we continue as nothing has changed.

Previous generations went to church, not because of a relationship with Christ but because that's just what you did. They lived in a culture shaped by Christendom.(Post-Christendom is the culture that emerges as the Christian faith loses coherence within a society that has been shaped by the Christian story).

Congregations now live in a pluralistic society, ie. different ethnic groups, religious or political backgrounds. As a result of this Christians can now find themselves living next door to a muslim, buddhist, new ager, homosexual or even Oprah worshippers.

In this expression of faith there is no room for the Sunday Christian- where church attendance has little effect on the lifestyles or values or priorities expressed from Mon. to Sat.

As Christ was incarnated we to as a church must be incarnational in approach to mission. We need to be people allowing the claims and teaching of Jesus to bite hard in everyday life. These will be the people who rediscover the Christian experience as it was intended: a Biblically radical, compassionate community of followers of Jesus.

'As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you!!!' (John 20:21)

[doughboy1234563]

Amen and amen! Another problem with the Church Culture is that people can get a greater spiritual lift from listening to a CD or going to a concert. God has Layed on my heart these things. For instance, why do we have a "come and get it" attitude? we should have an attitude geared towards our mission. The Great Commision goes into what we as the Church should be doing; making disciples of christ, baptisms, and then sending them out.

One thing I see in a "church" mentality is that it is a safe place that we can go to in order to escape the world. Church is not ment for this, it is a sending point for ministy!

What if, instead of meeting in your church building on sunday night or wednesday youth, you were to go out into a place that is heavily traffic by "Pre-Christians" people who have a spiritural want, not just a church membership.

People today are very spiritural, we have lost that part in most churches. "In a world Screaming for answers, christians are stuttering."

[BereanTodd]

Amen and amen, from someone who has given his life to a future in the missions field. It is not the job of the pastors to spread the gospel, it is their job to equip and prepare us. WE are ALL to be His witnesses. Some of us that will take to the far corners of the world, others it is in their neighborhoods and workplaces, but we need to get out of this mentality of giving God a slice of the pie in our life, and realize that the whole pie is his. When we are at work, we are HIS at work, when we are at the ball fields we are HIS at the ball fields, when we are at school, when we are in our neighborhoods, in the parks, with our families we are HIS.

:amen::preach:

[trinityisunity]

We are all missionaries going out into the work force, shopping, sports clubs, etc, etc. Overseas missionaries are often commisioned with the laying on of hands but why aren't the butchers, bankers and mechanics who go out into the mission field everyday???

We use to have a sign above the inside of our church exit. It said, 'You are now entering the mission field'

[doughboy1234563]

dude that is awesome