Tuesday, June 06, 2006
What Mission? -- To Whom?
JollyBlogger is looking at what congregation one should join. Buddy David is "discussing" the issue with another blogger. I don't really want to join the particular fray, but comment on a side issue. To get there I want to look, briefly, at where their argumenets reside:
We should all be missionally minded, and our mission is not to the neighborhood or the Dominican Republic, or Latvia, or wherever - OUR MISSION IS TO THE BODY OF CHRIST. What do I mean by that? I am called to build up that body. HOW that is accomplished can take different forms at different times. Sometimes I do so by teaching, sometimes by door-to-door evangelism, and sometimes by cooking for a pitch-in dinner.
Having said that I don't think this is an either/or question. The question is not whether I like a church or not, or even whether it has the right idea of mission or not - the question is simply, "Is the congregation a reasonable facsimile of the Body of Christ?" If it is, then I need to go there and find where I am supposed to serve.
It's even possible, in fact sometimes I think likely, that the image of Christ's body will be so faint as to be nearly unrecognizable, and where I am supposed to serve is to increase that image in the congregation.
This implies that there are congregations out there that are not reasonable facsimilies of the body of Christ. That statement is sad but true. I must state; however, that I think that is a congregation-by-congregation thing, and not a denominational thing. The congregation I now belong to, I rejected some 15 years before, for a bunch of reasons.
There is some bad in how I developed this viewpoint, but the result is, I think, completely positive. The bad in how I came to this place is simple. In a congregation one should both nurture and be nurtured. I; however, long ago gave up on the expectation of resonable and consistent and good nurturing from any congregation. I've simply been let down too many times. It happens, to be certain, but it is usually a pleasant surprise. Which leads to the complete positive in the stand itself.
This viewpoint, I believe results in the kind of positive denial of self that God demands of His. This is the point that I think Bradley is ham-fistedly making. God can meet us anywhere, in any circumstance. I am not looking for a congregation to find Him; He is after all everywhere. I am looking simply to be His. That means I cannot be mine. In the end, the congregational decision cannot be about what I want, but about what He wants.
If, when seeking a congregation you don't ask about anything but, "God what would YOU have me do?" I think you will end up in the right place, near or far, denominational or independent, missional or not.
Cross-posted at How To Be A Christian And Still Go To Church
Related Tags: Christianity, church, congregation, denomination, self-denial, service, mission
- mission emphasis
- local mission
- theology
Something about the discussion is eating at me, so I am going to try and work it our as I write.
First of all, I find the discussion foreign simply because I have not been "in love" with a church in nearly forever. I tend to stick to the closest denominational church, as David's discussion partner suggests, out of default. For the last 9-10 years I have attended a church that is literally across the street. We can see the front facade from our bedroom which aften results in calls on rumors that the church is on fire...seriously.
I think the reason this sticks in my craw a bit is because of these two statements. First from Anthony Bradley, who set David thinking
I don't understand at all how it's possible to justify going to a good church that's NOT in your own neighborhood UNLESS you've sold out to the idol of personal preferences.And then this one from David
Mission - most churches aren't missional. What happens to the missionally minded person who goes to a church that is not missionally minded?I think there is more sense to Anthony's position than David's - but Anthony robs his point of impact by stating it as a negative instead of a positive.
We should all be missionally minded, and our mission is not to the neighborhood or the Dominican Republic, or Latvia, or wherever - OUR MISSION IS TO THE BODY OF CHRIST. What do I mean by that? I am called to build up that body. HOW that is accomplished can take different forms at different times. Sometimes I do so by teaching, sometimes by door-to-door evangelism, and sometimes by cooking for a pitch-in dinner.
Having said that I don't think this is an either/or question. The question is not whether I like a church or not, or even whether it has the right idea of mission or not - the question is simply, "Is the congregation a reasonable facsimile of the Body of Christ?" If it is, then I need to go there and find where I am supposed to serve.
It's even possible, in fact sometimes I think likely, that the image of Christ's body will be so faint as to be nearly unrecognizable, and where I am supposed to serve is to increase that image in the congregation.
This implies that there are congregations out there that are not reasonable facsimilies of the body of Christ. That statement is sad but true. I must state; however, that I think that is a congregation-by-congregation thing, and not a denominational thing. The congregation I now belong to, I rejected some 15 years before, for a bunch of reasons.
There is some bad in how I developed this viewpoint, but the result is, I think, completely positive. The bad in how I came to this place is simple. In a congregation one should both nurture and be nurtured. I; however, long ago gave up on the expectation of resonable and consistent and good nurturing from any congregation. I've simply been let down too many times. It happens, to be certain, but it is usually a pleasant surprise. Which leads to the complete positive in the stand itself.
This viewpoint, I believe results in the kind of positive denial of self that God demands of His. This is the point that I think Bradley is ham-fistedly making. God can meet us anywhere, in any circumstance. I am not looking for a congregation to find Him; He is after all everywhere. I am looking simply to be His. That means I cannot be mine. In the end, the congregational decision cannot be about what I want, but about what He wants.
If, when seeking a congregation you don't ask about anything but, "God what would YOU have me do?" I think you will end up in the right place, near or far, denominational or independent, missional or not.
Cross-posted at How To Be A Christian And Still Go To Church
Related Tags: Christianity, church, congregation, denomination, self-denial, service, mission
