A Missional Surprise

I had the opportunity a few days ago to catch up with a long time pastor friend who I haven't seen in a few years.  It was great to hear about what the Lord is doing in his life and in the church he has pastored for the past 23 years.

In the course of the conversation, he told me about several upcoming mission trips that his church is planning.  He also told me about how they have really embraced the idea of being "on mission" in their own community.  He said, "It is amazing how the church's buying into the idea of being on-mission, has eliminated most of the little squabbles over things that don't really matter."

As one who often gets to see the results of both church members and ministry leaders behaving badly, I have come to a pretty firm conclusion: churches who truly embrace the concept of being on-mission don't have a lot of time for petty squabbles.

The opposite is also true: churches who spend all their emotional capital being inwardly focused and conflicted over eternal things like the color of the carpet or musical preferences usually don't have much energy left to focus on being on-mission for Christ.

I love the term "missional", but not so much as a technical term of a certain kind of church.  My definition of "missional" is a congregation that is deliberately on-mission for Christ.  The unexpected surprise of being on-mission is what happens to conflict.  It tends to die from starvation when the focus is our mission.  When the focus is dealing with our conflict, the conflict may consume the mission.

So, here's the question for today:  What would it take for you, personally, to focus on being on-mission for Christ?  What would it take for your church or ministry organization to really focus on the mission?  Who can be your partner is seeking that focus?

With an eye on the Harvest,
Gerry