Rachael’s helpful perspective galvanized my conviction of what our focus in the pulpit needs to be starting in early September.  Now that we have spent seven weeks looking at the story of God’s mission and have emphasized the necessity of engaging in mission as an overflow of our identity as God’s people, it is time to ask some pressing questions of our hearts and lives.

Take, for example, Jesus’ imperative to make disciples of all nations.  We saw this as the mountain peak of the church’s mission until Jesus returns.  But if we are to seriously engage the command to make disciples, we need to address some nitty-gritty questions:

–What specific non-believers are we hoping will become disciples of Jesus?
–What other believers are we relying on for this work?
–Are we spending time in prayer for God to empower this work?
–If our mission is to put God on display, how are we going to intentionally do that with these specific non-believers?  That is, how we will practically be a blessing to them?  What are their needs that we can address in a way that portrays the gospel?
–What is the cost of this mission in terms of time, money, resources, emotion, and energy?
–How will we engage these non-believers with the verbal message of Christ crucified and risen and call them to repentance and trust in Jesus?
–Are our relationships in the church currently filled with grace, forgiveness, and sacrifice for one another?  If not, what steps do we need to take so that God’s character is more reflected in our fellowship?
–Is our desire to engage in the steps above driven by our mission as God’s chosen, priestly, beloved, redeemed people?  If not, what aspects of our identity as God’s people do we need to embrace more deeply?

These are the types of rubber-meets-the-road questions I want us to explore in September.  Until then, let us plead with God to embed an awareness of our identity as his people deeper into our hearts as we seek to join in his mission until Jesus returns.

On God’s mission with you,

Pastor Chris

I have two developments in mind.  First is Anne Rice, popular atheistic-vampire-author-turned-Christian, who last Wednesday made this announcement: “Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being ‘Christian’ or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.”

Rice further qualified, “In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.”

This is provocative, to say the least.  Leaving aside the “Can she do that?!?” response, let us hear what Ms. Rice is saying.  To her, the church in our day, specifically the evangelical and Catholic church, is essentially defined by what it is against: gays, feminists, Democrats, etc.  And she cannot continue to affiliate with such an organization.

The second event emerged in the news this Wednesday, namely a US district court judge’s decision to overturn California’s Proposition 8, which states, “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”  Of course, this will likely go to the Supreme Court, so nothing is final, but the ruling serves as a litmus test to determine whether Ms. Rice’s critique truly applies to us.

Here is the test: when we heard the news about Proposition 8 being overturned, did we feel this as a blow to the church and to the mission of God?  Setting aside all our convictions about how our country should function, was this political event a setback for the kingdom of God?

If we answer in the affirmative, then perhaps Anne Rice was right in her decision to abandon this institution.  Perhaps we have become defined by our antagonisms and are worthy of disbanding.  However–speaking only for Whitton Avenue Bible Church–I cannot imagine that our pursuit of engaging God’s mission will put us in such a category.

As we have seen throughout the story of the Bible, the mission of God is to make himself known in all the earth through his people.  Thus our purpose in this world is nothing short of displaying the character of God–his mercy, loyalty, holiness, creativity, wisdom, kindness, etc.–through our relationships within the church and toward our neighbors.  Essential to this mission is our proclamation of God’s holiness and impending judgment of sinners, his provision of deliverance from this wrath through his own Son’s death, and his inaugurated work of redemption and New Creation through his Son’s resurrection.

Within this context it would be accurate to say that the church defines homosexual activity as sinful behavior.  Likewise, our embrace of God as creator will be labeled “anti-science” by many.  These are hot points over which secular media love to hover.  But as far as it depends on us, we must never allow these “anti-” points to ultimately define us.  What defines us is our commitment to make our glorious God known in the world through our life together and through our proclamation of his truth.

Let us prove Anne Rice to be wrong.  Let us not equivocate in our Biblical convictions about contemporary issues, but neither let us allow such issues to become central to our identity.  May the Spirit so work in our church that the singular testimony about our community is this: the church is where we see what God is like.

Pastor Chris

Firstly, if you’re already heavily involved in full-time ministry - paid or otherwise - for your church body, find time to rest. Rest well. We try very hard to shepherd the flock, and we place ourselves on a pedestal in which we must be strong, and take on an increasing amount of duties, and we attempt to appear strong, but instead we wear ourselves to the bone. If you feel bogged down by your work, take time to stop what you’re doing to reflect, reinvent, and revamp your own ministry. Make a habit of staying in the Word, deliberately creating a quiet-time to listen to the Spirit, and meet with other church leaders who undertake similar duties throughout your community. It’s not weakness – it’s being smart, being in touch with yourself, and being in touch with the Holy Spirit.

For everyone else? I’ve said this many times – if you attend a church body, you’re in full time ministry. We are called vocationally to glorify God and portray His image to others through our communities, schools, and workplaces. Furthermore, as we live in our body, the church, we all have a role to play, as the Spirit has given us all gifts to serve Yahweh in His church. Remember when Paul talks about “some are an eye, some are an ear” and so on? There’s nothing in your physical body that doesn’t do anything, but many of our Western churches act as if this were true. Yes, the brain and heart are the important ones (though, allegorically, these places are taken by Christ and his Gospel) but does that mean that the skin is unimportant? Or the kidneys, or lymph nodes, or hair? We all have a part to play, so please act like it.

I’ve heard so many people saying how they want to be a part of full-time ministry, but they want the glorious parts, and perhaps they aren’t listening to the Spirit in how they can serve their local church. Sure, everyone wants to sing up front to show off their voice, but do they have enough passion for Christ to fold bulletins? Most people don’t jump at the opportunity. Or to voluntarily clean up, or give rides for those who can’t drive themselves? This is a challenge to myself primarily, and to anyone in the body. But Paul says in Philippians 2 that our motivation to serve one another comes from our encouragement in Christ, not something we bring about on our own. Reflect on Christ’s passion for us in worship, letting the Spirit flow from you, and serving can be as refreshing as worshipping through song.

Find a role, plug in, love God, love others, drink the Water you serve, and be the Body.

Setting aside that the article was trying to disprove a creator God, what alarmed me most about it was the blatant pot-shot to the idea of Christian faith in general. The article ended with the Mennonite-raised (an assumedly turned secular evolutionist) archeologist celebrating the inspiration of the whales in connecting you to something bigger than yourself.  “There’s room here for all the religion your could possibly want.”

The assumption here–and in our culture at large–is that Christianly is, as a mentor of mine recently put it, “in a state of continual dying.”  It is not dead, but always dying. Christianity has lost its credibility, its plausibility, and appeal in western society at large. It is always seen as pathetically gasping for its last breath, and our culture can’t wait for it to stop being a bother… The question is, what does this mean for the youth of our church as they face a future as believers in Jesus where they increasingly “can no longer rely on cultural support systems to keep [Christianity] alive”?

It means that the only way to be a Christian is by living the life of faith that God calls us to live, as opposed to living the Christian life because our (sub)culture dictates it to us.  This is a faith that must deny holding onto its culture for tradition’s sake, as well as deny applying worldly glitz and glamor to validate it. This is a faith that must leap a little farther in trusting God as circumstances grow more adverse, love God a little deeper than our stuff (as ones who have been perfectly loved by Him already), and pull together as an authentic community identified as God’s true family in Jesus - which is the only way of communicating to such a culture that God and his love for humanity is real.

This is the idea behind the Missional Communities that WABC Student Ministry has endeavored in the last year, and a vision for Missional Communities at Whitton in general. Not only is the life of Christian faith the only way to really be a Christian, its also the only way that Christianity will impact people in a culture where Christianity is in a perpetual terminal state.

Is Christianity endangered in our culture? I don’t think so. Jesus said He is the builder of the church, and even the gates of hell won’t overcome it. Christianity isn’t loosing. We simply find ourselves following Jesus into new territory, and we are excited for what he is going to do.

Following Jesus with you,

Aaron