Meeting People Where They Are - The Missional Path

Jesus provides a subtle yet powerful example of how we should engage with our cities. When reading about the beginning of Jesus' ministry, you will discover that He is always going and seeking people. This is how He found His disciples. Matthew 4 notes that He found Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John simply by walking by the Sea of Galilee. He did not expect them to come to Him while He sat in His house or the city square, but He was proactively searching for His disciples.

Likewise, Matthew notes that Jesus went throughout all of Galilee (think going throughout Central Arizona) teaching in the syngogues (he went to where people gathered). As His famed grew He continued going to different regions and cities. He went to Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and beyond the Jordan river.

It seems that this can be very instructional to us. Jesus was on a mission to save His people from His sins and in order to accomplish His mission, He had to go and seek out His people. He had to let people know who He was and why He was there. Some would argue that this is what present day evangelists do (they go region to region and city to city proclaiming the Gospel) which certainly is true, but do they reach your neighbors, friends, co-workers, or family? Possibly some of them, but not all of them.

This is where we come into the picture. God wants to use Morningside as His instrument to reach those we know and there are two ways of accomplishing this: either going and seeking them individually or going where they gather as a group. Notice that either option involves going and seeking, it does not involve them coming to us.

Moringside is each of us...it is you. It is not a building...it is you. God want to use you as His instrument to transform the city of Phoenix for Christ...one neighbor, one family member, one friend, or one co-worker at a time by following Jesus' example and going and seeking them. Let us do that very thing.

The Goal of Being Missional

As we are serving and loving others, there will come a point when spiritual conversations begin to occur. Using wisdom and discretion, we need to be able to winsomely point out the differences between the life in the world and the life in Christ. We need to ask rhetorical questions that reveal self-evident answers to the powerlessness of there current way of life like “how is that working for you?” (We stole that one from Dr. Phil.). We must remember that they have a spiritual wound somewhere in their soul that can not be healed through their philosophy of life or their spiritual practices. It can be only healed by repenting to the God of the Bible (Isaiah 45:22), who sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins.

Carefully listening to people’s life stories and engaging them in conversations about the God of the Bible and His Son so that they may know the truth that the Bible proclaims seems to be the goal of being missional. Serving and loving our cities without conversing with them about the Gospel will certainly produce good will and positive perceptions (which is sorely needed), but it does not have the power to save…only words do. (Romans 10:14-17)

We encourage our people to step up to the plate when the time comes and deliver the Good News. We remind them that they have they know how God saves and now they opportunity to share that knowledge with someone because God has brought them together at that time for that purpose. He has done the difficult work of getting that person in a place to be receptive to hear the Gospel and all we have to do is deliver it.

May we all follow through when it's our time to step up to the plate.

Staying Focused in the Midst of Temptation

At the heart of being missional is turning the affections of our cities to Christ and away from idols and other gods. This proves to be a very difficult challenge because as Christians this too is our battle. Our hearts are idol factories naturally prone to desire those things that gratify us, that give us pleasure, and that take up residence at the center of our lives.

If God's plan for redemption uses us as His instruments to turn the affections of our cities toward Him (which it is), then wouldn't it make sense that our affections must be turned toward Christ? That we must walk the walk? God instructs believers to forgo the temptation of worshiping other gods three times in Deuteronomy 13 and the temptation comes from three different directions: prophets, family, and everyday people. It seems that we will be tempted multiple times from multiple levels. The prophet is somewhat of an authority figure, the family member is close to us, and an everyday person can be persuasive. Scripture is telling us that our faith will be tested by those who seem like they know what they are talking about, by those who know and love us, and by those charismatic strangers who can make compelling arguments. Yet, God tells us not to listen to any of them, but to listen to Him only.

Today, let's commit to not getting persuaded by others, no matter their relationship to us, to pursue idols and other gods no matter how good they sound. Rather let's keep our eyes fixed on Jesus so that He can use us as His instruments to turn the affections of our cities (if ever so slightly) to Him and away from idols and other gods.

Dave Dunbar - "A New Imagination for the Church"

This is a very well developed and insightful article by Dave Dunbar, President of Biblical Seminary and publisher of Missional Journal for those of us who are interested in truly transforming our cities for Christ:

A New Imagination for the Church

Also, spend a little time on Mark Priddy's blog which posted Dunbar's article. He has many good ideas.